Deep Waters

BONUS CHAPTER: JAY POV

          I watched Delilah leave for the guest room, my eyes left gazing in that direction after she was out of sight. For the last hour, I had been in disbelief as she explained her story to my parents. Even I learned details that I hadn't known about. She told them everything, while I had been more than ready to lie about every little detail about her. This girl was always catching me by surprise. I had to shake my head to get me out of a daze.

"What's wrong, Son?" my mother asked, reeling me back into the present. "There's someone else wrong isn't there?"

I swear this woman could read every thought on my mind just by glancing at my eyes. Maybe my stare always told on me and I just never knew. For a long moment, I just stared between my parents. Finding them still together and living in the same house was surprising, but a good surprise. After that night of my dad stumbling in wasted with another woman, I had wanted my mom to leave him then and there. But she didn't. She stayed and worked everything out with him. After I left, I expected her to be gone, maybe after finding out he cheated again or something. But I guess he never did and kept his word because here they were.

"Jayden?" my dad spoke up.

Clearing my throat, I folded my hands on the dinner table in front of me, wondering where in the world I should start. How was I supposed to tell my parents that I was dying? And that I had no idea how much longer I could fight this dumb cancer? I was already coughing up blood pretty frequently and feeling weak in general. How in the world was I supposed to tell them that I turned down treatment?

"I have lung cancer," I flatly stated. Why beat around the bush?

The shock was written all over their faces. "What?" my father asked, though I knew he had heard me correctly. For a long moment, there was a long silence as they took in my words. I watched the pain grow in my mother's eyes but I hadn't expected a sob to escape her throat so quickly. Dad immediately scooted closer to her and wrapped a secure arm around her shoulder, pulling her against him. I could see in his eyes that he was wanting to stay strong for both of us, but he could hide the glassiness of his eyes. He was fighting against his emotions. "How long? When did you find out?"

Taking a breath, I scratched the back of my head. I had gotten over the sadness of being infected with the cancer months ago. But seeing them sad, definitely made me emotional too. I shrugged. "I guess I've had it for a long while now. I found about four months ago."

"Baby, why didn't you come home immediately?" my mother cried. Tears flowed down her face. "We can get you treatment. You know we have good insurance and credit—we can get you help. We can go straight to the hospital now and start figuring everything out..." she rambled.

Wiping a tear from my own cheek, I shook my head, making her words trail off as she just stared at me in surprise. "I'm too far along for all that," I admitted to them. "When I found out I was already stage four."

Another loud sob shook my mother as she lost complete control. I even watched tears start free falling from my dad's eyes. All I could do was sit there for a long moment as they cried. I didn't know how to comfort them. How could I? "Did you try treatment at all? Even though...?" my dad tried talking between disrupted breaths.

I shook my head. "I decided not to," I told them, clearing my throat after. "Stage four is already incurable. Treatment could try to extend my life by maybe six more months at the most, but I decided against it..." I'd be seeing the heartbreak in my parent's eyes for the rest of my nights. I swallowed back the boulder residing in my throat. "I didn't want to spend the last of my days in a hospital bed."

"So you kept traveling," my father said, sniffling.

I nodded. "I wanted to see more places. Meet more people. Do good where I could know it was needed." I breathed deeply. "And one day when I was wonderin' what in the world I wanted to do before my last day, I met Delilah...I was heading inside the gas station when I spotted this girl trying to use a public phone that clearly hadn't worked in a long time." I smiled at the memory. "She was beautiful, though covered in dirt, scrapes, and bruises. There was an infected gunshot wound on her arm...By the look she gave me when I caught her eye, she had been through hell and back." I huffed. "When I asked if she needed help and she told me just a ride, I thought she was in trouble with the cops and was about to tail out of there." I chuckled. "I could only think of you, Dad, and what you'd say to me when I helped an escapee get further away." My father even chuckled at my words.