Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

"Good afternoon, Miss Jomalerta," Camila's doctor, Dr. Mininguez, greeted her. "What seems to be the problem today?"

"She's been puking her guts out since last night," Josh answered for her.

"Um, yeah, and I've had an intense headache, spells of minor dizziness, and my eyes have been hurting," Camila added. Josh looked at her in somewhat shock; he had thought it was just the vomiting.

"Like they are being strained?" Dr. Mininguez inquired.

"Yes."
"Well, I would suggest a simple twenty-four hour virus, but they eye strain is peculiar. I'll be right back," he said, then rushed out of the room.

"It can't be that bad," Josh reassured, seeing the extremely panicked look on Camila's face.

She coughed, then said, "Not that bad? Did you see the look on his face?"

At that point Dr. Mininguez entered the room, and Camila coughed again, heavier this time.

"Have you had trouble breathing?" he asked.

"Since a few moments ago," she replied.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to go to the hospital to have a few tests done," the doctor said.

Camila coughed again and nodded as the doctor excused himself and left once again.

"That's not good," Camila said. scared out of her mind.

It probably showed too, considering Josh then said, "You look like you're gonna shit yourself. Calm down."
She gave him an unpleasant look then dashed off to the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She lifted the toilet seat and vomited into it. She flushed, wiped off her mouth, and sat on the floor, leaning her head against the cold wall. What could possibly be wrong with me?

"Camila, you all right?" Josh asked, knocking on the door.

"Yeah, she coughed, then flushed and washed her hands. She opened the door and was nose to nose with Josh. Literally.

Her heart started racing at the little contact. "Excuse you," she snapped, and he stepped out of her way.

________________________________________

About three hours later they sat in the waiting room of Rota Naval Hospital, awaiting the first round of test results.

"You should call Aimme or Guthren," Josh suggested, flipping through a three month old issue of Sports Illustrated.

"Yeah, and maybe you should call Director Austin," she retaliated, coldly.

"Ouch, harsh," Josh said, smiling, as a nurse approached them.

Camila smiled back, then coughed. When she was finally finished with her coughing fit, the nurse asked, "Could I speak with you for a moment, Miss Jomalerta? Privately?"

Camila nodded and followed the nurse--whose name tag said her name was Marie--down the hall.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news, Miss," she said, looking down at the clipboard in her right hand. She sighed deeply, and then said, "You have been diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. See, this type of leukemia affects the lymphocyte cells, which normally fights infection. The bone marrow then makes too many lymphocyte cells that don't mature correctly. The lymphocyte cells overproduce and crowd out other blood cells. So you just caught a minor infection that basically exploded. There are a few different treatments; chemotherapy, radiation, and bone marrow transplant. I am so, so sorry."

Camila stared ahead blankly in complete shock. Marie was saying something in a soothing voice to her, but she could no longer hear. Cancer? Of all people, me, she thought to herself, over and over.

Marie grabbed Camila's elbow and walked her back to the waiting room. After a few minutes, Camila snapped out of her trance and Josh's face was a few centimeters from her own.

"Camila, Marie said that you would probably prefer to tell me yourself. So tell me, what's..." he started to say, but stopped, and Camila knew why. Tears had started streaming down her cheeks uncontrollably. Josh looked deep in her eyes, actually looked, and engulfed her in a hug. She buried her face in his jacket and inhaled his scent. God, he smelled so good.

"Camila, please tell me what's wrong."

"I...I have...Acute...Lymphocytic...Leukemia," she sobbed, then launched into another coughing fit. He held her close again and stroked her hair. This seemed to be the only good thing about this whole situation.

"Shhh...okay...calm down, it'll be all right," he soothed as she continued to sob like a baby. "Come on, let's go."