Until Then

Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Quinn

Kelsey is the last patient I have a long-term connection with. The others have just come to the floor and I haven't had more than a handful of shifts with them. She is the last of my little super-hero team. I stand outside her door gathering myself and trying to get the strength to go inside.

"Are you going to tell her everything?" Kenneth asks me.

I shrug my shoulders. Telling my friends and fellow nurses that I've been taken off duty indefinitely was difficult, but it was nothing compared to what I'm about to do. I close my eyes and take in one more deep breath before pushing open her door.

"Hey Kelsey," I say as I step inside. Her room is dark even though it's daytime. I can see that she's had a visitor. A bright pink balloon dances above her bed.

"Hi Miss Quinn," she says cheerfully. "I thought you were off today."

"I am." I look down at my regular clothes.

She smiles larger but then she must realize my visit brings some other news. "What are you here for?"

"I came to talk to you." I grab the chair near her bed and pull it close. She watches me, turning her head so she can follow my movement. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Ok," she says.

"I'm sick, Kelsey. They found a tumor on my pancreas." I keep my voice calm and deliver the news the same way we always deliver news on this floor, but it still hurts so terrible inside. Her hand finds mine on top of the sheets and she squeezes it.

"They'll take care of you." She sounds sure and that only adds to the weight of the grief I feel knowing she's going to lose some faith in the doctors she will have to trust with her life.

"They will," I say, "but they won't be able to save me."

"It's that bad?" She knows just like many of the other children on this floor that sometimes this disease wins.

I don't risk speaking. Instead I nod my head. She nods hers too.

"When?" She asks.

"Soon." I answer even though the word feels like a razor cutting my throat as it leaves.

She nods her head as if she accepts my timeline. "Then you tell the Hulk and Thor that they'll have to protect Heaven without Wonder Woman because I'm not ready to leave yet." She turns her face up towards the ceiling and I watch a tear fall down her cheek. "If you're in Heaven, then this place is going to need Wonder Woman. No one takes care of us like you did."

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