as confused and worried as he was when he rode with Sheila to the ambulance. It seemed like two hours had gone by before Miles had anyone come to check on him for an update. He was sitting there talking to himself, trying to figure out what could have happened when a nurse approached him. “Hi Miles, the patient is awake and has given us consent to let you know the status of her condition. Please follow me this way to her room.” The young nurse instructed. Condition? Miles was scratching his head, trying to figure out what was going on with his lady. When they entered the room, Sheila was hooked up to all kinds of machines, but when Miles’ eyes landed on her, her face displayed a beam so bright, all of Miles’ worries subsided. “Hey, you,” she cooed. Miles grabbed her hand, giving it a soft kiss. “Okay, doc, can you tell me what’s going on with my Sheila. Why all the technology?” He asked, looking around. The doctor cleared her throat before explaining, “Well, let me introduce myself, I’m Dr. Yvette Stevens, I’ve been Sheila’s doctor for five years now,” she said looking at Sheila who gave her a smile. “And I heard your concerns about her working out earlier without eating, and you’re right that would be normal for her to faint. But with her history, we just want to make sure we aren’t missing anything. We’re going over everything on our checklist to make sure we can send her back home with no concerns.” “I’m sorry, what history?” Dr. Stevens looked over to Sheila, who nodded her head, prompting her to continue. “Sheila has been diagnosed with Galentosis, it’s a very rare condition that comes and goes but can be very fatal if not caught at the right time. That’s why –” “Excuse me what?” Miles was looking dead at Sheila this time. “Um excuse me, Yvette, can we maybe get a little privacy?” Sheila asked, knowing this conversation was long overdue. Dr. Stevens gave her a reassuring smile and ushered the rest of the nurses out of the room. “What’s going on, Sheila? Where is all this coming from, how come you haven’t told me this before?” Miles wasn’t sure how to take the news that the doctor broke to him; in his mind, Sheila was perfectly healthy. Sheila began rubbing her arms fluidly, a habit she had picked up on when she didn’t want to talk about something. “Baby, listen, I’ve had this disease since I was five. It’s been a part of me for as long as I can remember, I’ve gotten used to its place in my life. I’ve watched this disease drive my parents crazy trying to control when and how I’d get my next flare-up, and let me tell you it doesn’t do anybody any good. So, I decided a long time ago that I’m going to live my life as I see fit. You and me we got lucky the first year we were together, it’s like this stupid illness seized to exist the moment I met you. Now it’s back rearing its ugly head, and all I want to do is protect you from it.” “Protect me?” Miles was pacing the room now. “Sheila, have you been listening to yourself; you’ve had a fatal disease since childhood, a disease you never felt comfortable telling me about, and you’re trying to protect me?” “I don’t want you to feel burdened to be with me. Sweetie, we’ve had such a beautiful time together I don’t want our relationship to be tainted with you taking care of me,” she reached out to take his hand, but he roughly pulled away. “Tainted. Burdened.” He stressed each word with malice as if it was painful to say. “Is this how you really feel about me? About our relationship? Cause the way you describing it, it’s like we just had a little fling.” Sheila could see her words were causing more harm than good to her lover, and that’s the last thing she wanted. This wasn’t how she envisioned telling Miles about her diagnosis would be at all. “You’re not listening.” “No, I can hear just fine. It sounds like you got this. Like you have had this for a while without me. So, why don’t I leave before I ruin the rest of this fantasy relationship for you.” He huffed, not giving her a second to react as he stormed out the room. Sheila put her hands to her face and quietly screamed. She wouldn’t allow the tears that started to form in the corner of her eyes to drop because she anticipated this outcome. What she didn’t understand is why he sounded so angry. In the past, when she told old boyfriends about her condition, they took it as a free pass out of dodge. They would barely leave her with any time to explain what it meant to have Galentosis. But Miles was different. “Of course he’s hurt, I practically told him I don’t trust him to handle this,” Sheila sighed, talking to herself out loud. Knock Knock.... To be continued in next issue
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