Adopted by Beetlejuice

Chapter 15

If there was one word to describe how I've been feeling these past few days, albeit depressing, I would say I've been feeling hopeless. Let me backtrack. I knew I was going to survive this, I was pretty optimistic about that. But the doctors have been telling me that there was a chance that the dialysis wouldn't work and I'd need a kidney transplant sometime in the future, so all the pain and the agony and the fear was going down the drain.

Dana was terrified. I've never heard or seen anyone in my family cry before this. She was scared for me, and part of me couldn't help but thinking it was all my fault. I was helpless, afraid and in pain, and all I wanted was to spend a whole day at home without going to school or the hospital. I just wanted to relax, get my mind off of medicine.

Shame on me for getting my hopes up when Dana got that phone call last week.

"Hey Penney." Dana said softly, snapping me out of my daze. "You ready?"

"Ready for what?" I asked, slightly confused and a little scared as well. Dana hugged me and said, "To go home, sweetie. Remember? You have a day off tomorrow, it's Saturday. And as a special treat, do you want to come to work with me tomorrow? See the rest of your family again?"

I lit up and nodded, I hadn't been able to go to the Winter Garden for weeks now. I slid off of the hospital chair and grabbed my bag.

It would feel awesome to get out of here.

_________

"Hey." I said to Alex. He sat down next to me and said, "Hey Penney- what's wrong? You're not sounding like yourself."

"Oh, it's just that the hospital and the medicine they gave me seriously took a toll on my body, I'm fine, just a little sick and tired." I said. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, baby." Alex said, giving me a huge hug and not noticing the tube that was in my stomach. He then noticed it and said, "What's this?"

"It's permanently there, I got it installed a few days ago." I said. "It's a pain in the butt but I've been managing."

Truth be told, I haven't been "managing," and it was more than just a pain in the butt. It was an insecurity of mine, I felt embarrassed that it was there. I felt broken, with my AFOs and the brace on my arm and now with the tube, I didn't feel like a "normal" kid anymore.

"Hey Penney." Presley said, handing me a chocolate bar. I slowly unwrapped it and said, "Hi."

"You okay?"

"Feeling a little better, at least it's not cancer. It's still rough though, thanks for asking. I've missed you over the past few weeks." I said. Presley hugged me and said, "I missed you too."

I smiled sweetly and then noticed something odd. I felt like I was going to faint.

I didn't think much of it at first, the medicine I've been given over the past few weeks has made me really lightheaded and nauseous, but this felt different. This felt wrong in a way and I started to get really scared.

"Penney? You okay?"

"No." I said, right before everything went black.