A Time With You

Aiden *** "I'm sorry to inform you but your son has stage four thymic cancer." The doctor uttered with a heavy voice, and my mom instantly wept in the corner while burying her face on my dad's shoulder. It has been two weeks since I felt sick and coughing non stop, my chest would hurt from time to time, but I just shrugged it off thinking that it was something that I must have eaten. It's been hard, they've been on a leave for three days from their job to take care of me, my brother also couldn't focus on his work anymore. I was told when I was a kid that I may have difficulty perceiving the emotions emitted by people. Yet now, I am quite certain that I sense sorrow from the way my mother was crying. I wanted to console her, except, I didn't know how or if I could be of any help at all. They had no idea that I was awake, and I couldn't bear seeing them like this. So I pretended to be asleep and listened to them as they continued talking about my worsening condition. "Is there any way for him to be cured?" Dad asked. "Well, there is a standard treatment that we can perform. We can do surgery and may have to put him under radiation therapy after, just to ensure that all the cancer cells are killed." The doctor replied, and my fingers twitched a little hearing what he said. "If the surgery is a success, the road to recovery will be painful for your son. Constant medication will be applied in order for the remaining cancer cells to die, and especially to avoid recurrence of the cancer." I fluttered my eyes a little and saw my mother's hand shaking, my father kept rubbing his hands in her back as he too looked somewhat – afraid? I don't really know at this point. "But he'll successfully recover after — right?" My dad apprehensively asked the doctor who looked at him with a skeptical look. "I'm sorry, but I cannot assure you that. I'll have to put your son under chemotherapy first to shrink the tumor before we can do the surgery. We'll conduct a follow-up test subsequently to see how your son has progressed, and I'll contact a specialist to attend to your son the moment his body is set and ready – and by then, we'll do the best we can for him to get better." Doc answered carefully, trying to elaborate things as much as possible to them. "When will he start taking the treatment?" Mom questioned with a quivering voice as she turned her head to face him, face full of tears, and her eyes deeply red from crying. "The sooner the better. I know this is hard for you to take, but ma'am, sir – have faith." He said to my parents with a sincere and well-meaning tone before he left the room. My mother slowly approached my bed and stroked my hair while weeping. - Why do I always bring trouble to my family. If only everything would easily go as the doctor said, my situation would then be less of a burden to them. But even so, I'm not entirely naïve. I am very well aware that every trial we face in this world will never be simple. - And just like that, my world changed, and so did I every single passing day. Like the wind that blows, time also moves. It doesn't stop to accommodate each one of us. The constant change that I can never escape from. I guess I have no other option but to face it.