Midnight Moon's new Luna

Chapter 3 - The Alpha

Vera

Mom was sleeping, and since her care wasn't up to me anymore, I could do whatever I wanted. I decided to go down to the cafeteria. I wasn’t hungry. But some coffee would be nice. I was alone in the elevator, and the clock told me it was 11:23 pm. Good thing the cafeteria here was open all day, every day. My daily rhythm was getting royally messed up. But I didn't care. Finally, my mom was where she needed to be, and I could let go.

It was a large hospital, and to help patients and visitors to navigate, there were maps on walls with regular intervals. Still, it took me some time before I made my way to the cafeteria.

I ordered a black coffee and a cinnamon bun, and sat down by the wall at an empty table. There weren't a lot of people in the cafeteria. It was almost midnight after all. I sat down and opened the book I had brought with me.

I sat there for a few minutes, sipping my coffee and reading my book. But then I was distracted by a lot of noise. Raised voices and other sounds came from the emergency room. The double doors to the E.R. department burst open, swinging on their hinges for dear life, and a large man stormed out. Every move he made screamed of anger, and he stomped away in seconds.

The cafeteria had fallen silent. The few people who were there were either watching the door to the ER, or their eyes were following the man as he stomped away.

I shook my head, going back to my reading. And slowly the cafeteria came back to life, and things went back to normal.

I sat there for a while. I'd finished my first coffee and was working on my second one. I needed to come up with things to do here. I couldn’t spend all my time here, either in the hospital room or reading in the cafeteria. I was getting restless and bored.

I put my book away and pulled out a pamphlet that Dr. Graham had given me, and I'd meant to read.

“Excuse me.”

I looked up. It was the same man who had stormed out of the ER earlier. He held a meatball sub and a latte.

“Can I sit here?”

I shrugged. There was plenty of space in the cafeteria, and he could easily have his own table. “Sit down if you want,” I said.

“What are you reading?” He asked as he took a seat.

I looked up, and for the first time got a good look at him. He was large and had short, dark hair and a 5 o’clock shadow.

I folded the pamphlet and pushed it aside. “So what was the emergency?” I asked and I swear he flinched.

“My Beta was injured”.

So he was an alpha?

“Will he make it?” I asked.

“Probably. They'll know more soon. What about you? Why are you here?”

He glanced down at the table and drew the pamphlet closer so that he could read the front.

“Cancer treatment?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“My mother,” I said. “She's sick. And I'm trying to learn what we can expect. Cancer treatment is grim.”

“Yeah. I'm sorry.”

This was getting too personal. “Who hurt your Beta? Rouges?” I asked to deflect.

“No. We have a … dispute with a neighboring pack,” he said. “Jacob, my Beta, was out on patrol at our border, when they encountered a group of enemy worriers making their way into our lands. The group was from that pack, and it was one of them that nearly ripped his throat out.” His fists were clenched and his jaw locked.

A nurse emerged from the E.R. walked up to our table. “Alpha Ray? Your Beta is now being moved from the ER to surgery. From there he’ll be taken straight to the ICU.”

He stood up to follow her.

“What's your name?” I asked before he left.

He seemed caught off guard. “What…? Oh, I'm Alpha Caleb Ray.”

“Nice to meet you, Alpha Caleb. I'm Vera Jones.”

He smiled a careful, slanted smile. “Hi, Vera. I hope your mother’s doing better soon. And if there is any way for me to help either of you, don't hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you, Alpha Caleb,” I said. “But I’ve got everything covered.” I picked my pamphlet back up to keep reading and heard him walk away. Finally, I was by myself again, and I could enjoy my solitude. It was odd, though. I’d felt weirdly comfortable in his presence.

The days passed in the hospital, and my mother just seemed sicker and sicker. I asked her doctor about it, but she just said “your mother needs to get worse before she can get better.”

It was hard to see her go through this. It was almost enough to make me question if I'd done the right thing by bringing her here. Maybe, if not for me, she would have denied treatment all together, and lived out her life at home, in peace. However short that life might have been.

I did my best to keep mom company, even though the small hospital room was growing extremely boring. It would be worse for her, since at least I could come and go as I wished.

I was sitting in the armchair, and she sat in bed. We were watching the news on the small TV, when there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” mom said.

“Is this a good time?” It was Dr. Graham.

“As good as any.” Mom said as I muted the TV.

“The results from your last scans are in.” Dr. Graham indicated the tablet she was holding. I tried to read her face. She was smiling. It was good news then?

“There's still some way to go, but the results so far seem promising. The masses in the breasts have shrunk and there are no signs of new lung nodules.”

I exhaled a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. I sipped my coffee and turned to look at my mom. I expected her to be smiling, but she wasn't.

“But?” She asked. Had she read something in the doctor's face I hadn't seen? She'd always had an uncanny ability to read people.

“But we are seeing some new growths in the pancreas. They could be benign, so there's no point in worrying yet. I want to do a biopsy to investigate. We'll know more then.”

Had it spread to her pancreas? Well, there were much worse places it could have spread to. It wasn't good news, but you could live without a pancreas if need be. She would have diabetes without a pancreas and her ability to digest food could be affected, but we would manage.

The biopsy would cost money though. I was suddenly very happy Jessy had given me more money than I first thought would be necessary.

Goddess, bless that girl. And bless Holden and his family, too, I thought.

“All in all, this is good news, Mrs Jones,” Dr Graham said. “We are seeing that the cancer is responding to treatment. I recommend we continue with the chemo- and radiation therapy as planned, and schedule the biopsy for tomorrow afternoon.”

“Can we afford this?” Mom asked me.

“Yes, we have the money,” I assured her. “But you let me handle that part, and you focus on getting better.” I reached over the armrest of the chair and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

The next day it was time for the biopsy. I held mom's hand through it, but I had to look away as the needle went in. Just the thought of it going all the way into the pancreas almost made me faint.

“Are you alright, sweetheart?” Mom asked me when it was done. “You look pale.”

“It's not uncommon for family members to lose consciousness during medical procedures,” Dr Graham said. “Especially fathers in the delivery room. I always have the nurses keep an eye on the father so he doesn't fall and hit his head. The last thing we need is another patient. But I don't think I have ever seen someone pass out from seeing another person getting a needle biopsy before.”

“You should have seen your father when I had you,” mom said, chuckling. “He was paler in the face than you are right now. I thought for sure he was going to pass out. Either that, or throw up. But then, when he held you for the first time… I have never seen a man look prouder.”

At the mention of my father it all got too much for me. I gave my mom a quick kiss on the cheek and excused myself. There was just too much going on, too much on the line.

I held my breath all the way down the elevator, and found a small door leading out. There were no people here, thankfully. If I'd gone to the main entrance, I would have been surrounded by strangers. Here, where I was alone, I could finally draw a shaky breath and allow myself to cry.

Caleb

I had found a way outside to get some fresh air, and there she was. Her back was turned toward me, and she appeared to study the treetops and sky.

Without seeing her face, I knew it was the girl from the cafeteria a couple of days ago. No one else had that shade of dark red hair. It was almost too beautiful to be natural, but no artificial color was that… vibrant.

It wasn't until she turned around I realized she'd been crying. Her brown eyes were red, and her face was fixed in a mask of apathy.

Her mother, I thought, she’s got cancer.

She seemed a little startled to see me standing there.

“I didn’t hear anyone coming,” she said, quickly wiping her cheek with her sleeve.

“Is your mother doing well?” I asked softly. She looked away. “As well as can be expected.”

“Are you doing alright?’”

She looked back at me, surprised. “Are you asking me how I’m doing?”

“Why not? It's not easy being the support person.”

She looked at me for a while, and just as I thought I wouldn't get a reply, she asked: “How's your beta, and how are you?”

I smiled in amusement. “I'm alright, now that I know he's going to be okay. But don't think you can escape my question that easily.”

She frowned, before relaxing and letting out a breath. “I'm… dealing. But I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing. I more or less forced her into this treatment, and it's painful. Maybe I'm just being selfish.”

“Giving her a chance to live isn't selfish. If she really didn’t want to try, she wouldn't. She’s an adult, and can say ‘no’.”

Once again she seemed to be studying the trees for a while before nodding. They were pretty, now that they had started changing color.

“Okay. Yeah, I think you might be right.”

“Are you hungry? I am. Let's go find some food.” I said

“What?”

“I didn't have any breakfast, and I haven't had lunch yet. Let's go eat something.”

Since she'd been busy crying, I assumed she hadn't eaten either. But there was an easy solution to hunger. Eating helped with a lot, I’d found. And it seemed she could use a break.

“What do you want to eat? My treat.”

An odd smile played on her lips. “Fast food,” was all she said.

“Fast food?”

“Yeah. Others in my class often went out to eat fast food, but I never joined, since I had to save up. But if it's your treat…” Her eyes were almost predatory.

“Okay. What do you want?” I asked. “burgers, pizza, hotdogs?”

“Hamburger.”

I had seen a ‘Mat’s Burgers’ sign while next to the hospital, and I took her there. They had normal burgers, an array of vegetarian burgers, chicken and/ or fish burgers. They served nothing but burgers, but they had so many options it was crazy.

Her face lit up when she saw the menu, but soon fell into a mask of deep concentration. I decided to let her think for herself, and looked out the window. The restaurant wasn’t very crowded this time of day. Most people would have had lunch already, and it was too early for dinner. The sun was about to set, night came earlier and earlier each day.

The waiter came over to take our order, and then left to get our drinks.

“Hey, Vera,” I said, “look outside.”

“The world is on fire.”

It really looked that way. The setting sun was casting an orange-reddish light over the cityscape. The skyline was backlit by a fiery red, and every reflective surface was casting that red light onwards.

“If the Crispy chicken Burger is as good as they say, then this day hasn't been that bad,” she said.

“I know mine hasn't.” Despite looking tired, she was so pretty. And the color and texture of her hair was so intriguing. The setting sun made it truly come to life.

“That's right!” She turned to look at me. “You said your Beta's doing much better.”

“He is,” I said. “He’s stable, and he can be moved to the pack hospital.”

“So I guess you’ll be going back home, then.”

“Yes, in two days,” I said. “Tomorrow I'll be going over his future care with his doctor. And our hospital needs to prepare for his arrival. Then we’ll head back home.” I turned to look out the window. “It’s about time. My pack needs me back.”

“So you’ll be here tomorrow?” She sounded hopeful as she asked.

“Yes. Why?”

“Well… Tomorrow is my birthday. But my mother has chemotherapy in the morning, and will spend the rest of the day very sick. And she doesn't want company when she’s feeling that bad. I was hoping you might drop by, just for a minute or two, so I don’t have to spend my whole birthday alone, or in grumpy company.”

“I’ll be rather busy,” I started to say, but her face fell as I spoke. “But I’ll try to set some time aside for you. Maybe we could take a walk? Get out of the hospital for a while.”

“That would be nice,” She gave me a careful smile.

The waiter returned at that point, bringing our drinks, and a few minutes later our food. The burgers were amazing, and Vera smiled the whole meal.