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AS SOON AS NOAH AND RYA stepped foot inside the house, they felt as if they had just been slapped in the face repeatedly by the sight in front of them. Ralph was on the floor, he was clutching his chest in agony while they could hear the loud breaths that he tried to get into his lungs, to no avail. His mother and father were sobbing loudly while holding each other in their arms. They were looking at their son in helplessness, knowing that his time had come.

Chris was on the other side of the room, speeking to 999 on the phone, urging them to 'hurry up and get your arses over here'. Josh was next to him, biting his nails, an action that seemed to be too childish for an adult. He kept looking back at Ralph for some reason. Each time he did, he squirmed in place and quickly looked away before repeating his previous actions.

Ralph had stopped struggling now. He was unconscious and unable to breathe. Seeing this, Rya rushed forward and kneeled beside him. She rolled him on his side and put him in a position that guaranteed he wouldn't choke if he happened to have a seizure due to the lack of oxygen that was going to his brain or vomit. She layed beside his unmoving body, staring straight at him, unable to look away for what seemed like hours.

Heavy knocks on the door and yelling were heard by her, though she remained in that position, his hand in hers while sat beside him, mumbling "Don't die. Don't you dare die." over and over again until she started whispering it.

Suddenly, a body was next to hers. Her father. He gently pried her hand away from Ralph's and took her into his arms, cradling her head so that she wouldn't she the paramedics putting hin on a gurney and rushing him out of the front door.

Christian sensed his heart break when he felt her shoulders  shaking and heard her quiet sobs into his chest. She clutched tightly his shirt in the palm of her hands and shook her head from side to side as if she could shake this bad dream awake.

Sacha had volunteered to go into the ambulance with the paramedics while the rest followed behind in their cars.

The three families piled up into two seperate cars. They traced the same route the ambulance did with it's siren blaring out into the afternoon and led lights flaring to get everybody out of their way.

They got to the hospital in five minutes by overtaking the londonien traffic. The lot waited patiently for a doctor to let them know what had happened to him and if he survived, anxiously. The first few minutes turned into an hour, an hour turned into two and now the doctor was right before them, explaining how he had to undergo a thoracentesis procedure to remove excess fluid from his lungs that was caused by the tumor he had there. He explained that the cancerous cells had growed into the pleural space which cause a malignant pleural effusion (excess fluid in the plural space which  is a thin membrane that lines the surface of the lungs and the inside of the chest wall.) What happened with Ralph was that there was too much fluid in this space and so he had a lot of difficulty breathing. But, he was alive. Resting inside his room. They could finally go in to see him. Two at a time.

The first to go in were his parents, understandably. They had stayed inside his room for a whole hour and came back out only so that Rya and his brother could be able to talk to him.

Rya and the eleven year old stood before his hospital room, hand in hand, their hearts in their mouths, about to come in. As much as she wanted to go in, she had to wait until her cousin was ready, until he would stop holding back her hand each time she tried to go in.

It took a couple tries before be stopped keeping her back. They got into the room and saw Ralph laying in the hospital bed. He turned his head to them and smiled lazily. He was pumped full of drugs which made him look like he was high.

"Hey guys! Did you know I almost died?" He drawled out and then started full on laughing. He laughed so hard but it soon turned into sobbing as he realized and took in what had happened.

He almost died. All because he had decided that he wanted to play catch with his brother.

He kept shaking his head while tears ran down his face. Rya approched him slowly and got onto his bed. She beckoned Julian forward and together, they comforted Ralph as much as they could. Soon enough they found themselves surrounded by the rest of the family, they were all talking together, laughing and enjoying the moment. Christian watched from afar Rya explaining to Ralph what had happened to him. The whole time she was talking, she kept making movements with her hand and pointing to her chest to make him underst better. He could see how passionate she was about it, hoping to make her cousin feel better.

It was alluring to Noah the way Rya could explain things so well. He loved her brain, how it worked and how it thought. He never thought that seeing her explaining the effects of a pleural effusion would be so addicting and enticing. He could listen to her all day.


A U T H O R ' S   N O T E :

This chap is dedicated to solaakinfesola and broshuddup

This is a shorter chapter because I just posted one yesterday and longer ones take much more time to write.
I seriously kill myself each time while writing a new part. It is so exhausting but at the same time entertaining to do.
I really hope you liked it!!
Thank you to all the people that are reading this story. I really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.

If you could support me by voting and commenting on this story I would greatly appreciate it❤️🥰

If you could support me by voting and commenting on this story I would greatly appreciate it❤️🥰

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