Six Months to Live

Chapter Eleven

'Come outside, I have a surprise for you,' Toni said as she walked into Cheryl's bedroom.

'Isn't it a bit late for that?' Cheryl asked, it was 10pm and pitch black outside.

'Just trust me,' Toni replied, putting her hand out for the redhead to hold.

Once they got downstairs, Toni led them onto the field to the side of Thistlehouse. It was bordered by trees, so there was lots of privacy.

On the ground, there was a blanket with two sleeping bags on, there were fairy lights around the top of the blanket and bowls of food on either side.

'Wow, this is amazing!' Cheryl exclaimed, pulling Toni into a kiss. 'Thank you,' she whispered into the other girl's hair, holding her close.

They both got into their individual sleeping bags when Toni pointed up to the sky.

'See that?' She asked. A star danced across the sky, leaving a faint trail behind it, 'make a wish.'

Cheryl did as she was told, silently wishing for something that she would never reveal to anyone.

'Did you plan that?' She asked once the shooting star was out of view.

'Yeah, I wanted to make tonight special,' Toni said, slipping her hand out of her own sleeping bag and into Cheryl.

She reached for Cheryl's hand, interlacing their fingers once she found it.

'It was very special babe,' Cheryl told her.

'We just need to go in a helicopter now, then all of your goals will be complete,' Toni said, sad that they'd only do one more fun thing together.

Her thoughts were broken by hearing little snores coming from next to her, Cheryl looked so peaceful.

Leaving her hand holding the other girl's, Toni allowed herself to fall asleep.

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She was awoken by her hand being jolted repeatedly. She looked to the left to see Cheryl having a seizure.

Her head was jerking back and forth, her body doing the same but at a different pace.

Toni's heart dropped into her stomach, she quickly took her hand from Cheryl and unzipped her sleeping bag.

She knelt down next to the redhead and supported her head to stop it from getting hurt.

Reaching for her phone, she dialled 911.

'911, what service do you require?' She heard a woman say.

'Ambulance, I need an ambulance,' Toni shouted, crying.

'What is the emergency?' She asked.

'My girlfriend has a brain tumour and she's having a seizure, I need help,' she explained, trying to make her voice understandable through the sobs.

By the time the ambulance got to Cheryl, the seizure had stopped. She was put onto a yellow stretcher with a neck brace on in case she went into another one.

She was half conscious, her eyes were open and she understood what was happening but she couldn't speak or move.

Penelope arrived when she heard Toni's screams. They both travelled in the back of the ambulance to hospital, but they were asked to wait outside while a doctor looked Cheryl over.

Dr Charles came rushing to them in the waiting room.

'I heard about what happened, you can come in and see her now,' he told Penelope and Toni.

They went into a small room with white walls. The bed had one chair either side, Toni walked around the bed and sat on the far side while Penelope was sat closest to the door.

Cheryl's body laid lifelessly with a ventilator on her face. She was so pale, more pale than Toni had ever seen her.

'So we had to put Cheryl into a medically induced coma whilst we stabilised her, we are going to try to wake her up from it tomorrow,' he explained.

'What damage has been done?' Toni asked quietly, dreading the answer.

'An MRI scan showed that the tumour is now pushing against the facial nerve and the nerves that control her legs, so if- when-,' he corrected himself, 'she wakes up, she will struggle to talk and will be paralysed from the waist down.'

Toni broke down even more at that point, her head felt like it was about to explode from the pressure, God, what did Cheryl's feel like?

'I think it would be wise to prepare yourselves for the worse outcome when we try to wake her, just in case it doesn't go as planned, I'm so sorry,' he finished, leaving the room.

Penelope reached for her daughter's hand, rubbing small circles onto it.

Toni couldn't move, all she could do was cry.

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Author's Notes:

Ah this is so sad :((
The next chapter will be the doctors waking Cheryl up from the coma, hopefully it'll go well 🤞.
Please vote and comment if you enjoyed!! ❤️❤️