Treasure Hunt | Three

940 32 0
                                    

[ Comment & Vote.🖤 ]

I hadn't talked to my parents much over the next few days. Or my siblings. They had all seemed to steer clear of me since I lashed out at our parents. Maybe they were scared I'd go on some kind of homicidal rage.

So now I sat in the waiting room of the pediatrics' office by myself, Ariel ended up having to go into work.

I watched the other people in the waiting room along with me. To my right, there was a young family, a mom and dad with their two young daughters. The younger of the two was sleeping in her dad's lap while the other played quietly on the floor with blocks next to her pregnant mother's feet as she read a magazine. To my left, there was, I assumed, a single father as he had no wedding ring on, and his son that looked closer to my age, maybe a few years younger.

"Dalton McKnight," A nurse had come through the door and was now propping it open with her foot. "Come on back, sweetheart." Every time I was here, she was always my nurse, and she always had that same smile plastered to her face. She measured me and took my weight, which I'd definitely gained some, before she gave me a room. Once in there, she took all my vitals. "Your blood pressure is a little higher than usual, but it's still normal, and your temperature is raised a little bit, but other than that everything looks fine. What brings you in today?" She pulled a sticky notepad from her pocket, double clicking her pen, waiting.

"It's kind of...it's not really normal. I don't know how to explain."

She only laughed, though. "Sweetheart, I've been a nurse a long, long time. If it's 'not normal,' I guarantee I've heard it before. Now, lay it on me." I let out a deep breath, flashing her the pregnancy test. "I'll go grab Dr. Christine."

A few minutes later, there was a light knock on the door to which I just barely managed a "come in" with a raspy voice. She opened it and greeted me with a smile, closing the door behind herself. "Good morning." She sat down on the wheeled chair and set her things on the counter next to her.

"Morning," I murmured, my throat trying to dry out again.

"So, what brings you in today?" She looked up at my for a split second before resuming writing on her laptop.

"I took a pregnancy test and it came out positive."

Her eyes went wide enough, I'm surprised they didn't come out of her head. "You...you what? Hold on, start at the very beginning. Please."

"Well...I started getting and staying really sick in the mornings—"

"Sick how?"

"It can go from being a dry heave to violently throwing up."

"Violently? What do you mean by that? And how long does that last?" She raised a brow, now looking at me with concern.

"If I eat in the morning, it almost instantly comes back out, and it's extremely painful. It mostly happens from the time I wake up for school to maybe around twelve? Some days longer. I'm exhausted, and there's times when I can't stop peeing, and I'm having a hard time focusing on a lot of things," I stopped so that she could catch up, "there's more that I can't think of, and my parents would say its just an attitude problem but I'm really moody, too. My parents think I'm depressed, but I know I'm not."

She stopped typing for a second to look at me, "Why do your parents think that you're depressed, Dalton?"

"Because I've been eating and sleeping more and all the other stuff I just told you." I probably should have told her. Though, I don't think it would've made a difference since it was months ago.

I should have told her months ago.

"And where did you get the conclusion of being pregnant?" She raised a brow. "I've been your pediatrician since you were born. Biologically, you're completely male."

I felt my face heat up with embarrassment, and I pulled the test from my pocket, presenting it to her. "I know it's bad to, but I searched my symptoms and pregnancy was in every single one so I bought the rest and took it."

She took it from my hands, "You took this test?"

"Yes."

"And it came back positive?"

"Yes."

"Yes." I nodded. "Positive. But also, look at this," I lifted my hoodie, exposing my stomach. "I used to be relatively in shape, but now I have a belly, and it moved, on the inside." Her eyes grew large as she stood up.

"I'm going to order you a urine and blood test so that I can see these results for myself." She started examining it. "I don't want to scare you, this could be nothing, or this could be something towards this completely separate issue."

"What do you mean?"

"Dalton, sometimes, if...a man were to take a pregnancy test and it comes out positive, it can be a sign of testicular cancer. Now, I'm not saying it is, and I professionally can not rule it out, either." She let out a heavy breath. "But, before we get ahead of ourselves, I'm gonna get those other two tests, okay?"

"Okay." I nodded.

She turned towards the door, but hesitated, again. "Do your parents know that you took this?"

"No." I shook my head.

She wanted to say something else, I could see it in her eyes, but she didn't. Instead, she left, pulling the door closed behind her.

A different nurse than the previous one came in a few minutes later, a metal tray in her hands filled with a few different things that were tightly wrapped, minus the specimen cup she handed off to me to pee in.

I wrote my name on the cup and returned with it, only to have another nurse take that one away. The nurse with the metal tray was prepping to draw my blood.

"It'll be over before you know it." She offered me a smile, pressing her finger against a vein. She tied off the tourniquet and started. I tried not to think about it, and soon I felt the blood flow returning to the rest of my arm. "Doc will be back, soon."

I wondered if she knew what she was drawing my blood for.

My phone dinged from my pocket. How's it going? It was from Ariel.

I texted her back, just a quick update of the tests that was being ran.

Text me when you get out of there.

I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything, but then there was almost instantly another ding.

Also, Loran said to tell you that he was sorry.

That almost made me nauseous. But...a good kinda of nauseous? I didn't get a chance to respond, a knock coming from the door.

"Come in."

Dr. Christine looked just as anxious as I felt. She sat on her chair once more, but was silent for what felt like forever. "Your blood test and your urine test both came back as a positive pregnancy test."

"So what do I do?" I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Firstly, before anything, I'm going to send you to a colleague of mine, she's an obstetrician and but I know she will take you in for an ultrasound, immediately after you leave here. I'm going to call her office and tell her you're coming, as well as write out a referral."

"Are we not going to freak out about how this is even a possibility?" I felt like I was going to explode. "I literally feel like I don't know what's going on, anymore!"

"I honestly don't know, either." She said softly.

"What if this...what if this all turns out to be some sort of weird fluke." I asked, numbly.

"Then I send you to a oncologist to talk about testicular cancer."

"That's not what I wanted to hear."

"I can tell." She started typing out on the small laptop sitting on the counter, looking up to give me a half smile, "I promise, no matter what is the cause, you're not going to be alone."

Treasure Hunt (boyxboy) [Rewrite]Where stories live. Discover now