The transfer procedures from the military hospital to the general pediatrics hospital was a successful one. Sara was currently in one of the rooms scrolling through her iPad.

"How do you feel now honey?" Stacy asked taking her seat next to her and stroking her hair.

"A little bit okay, the drip they gave me earlier reduced the nauseous feeling".

"Alright sweetie, that's good news".

Placing her pad on the bed, she straightened her posture and tucked her legs under the sheet.

"Mum, I haven't seen Cedric this week at all. Is he okay?" She asked thinking her mum didn't know about their misunderstanding.

"I don't really expect him to be alright, not after the discussion you both had on Friday last week".

Sara's face flushed as she bent her face down,avoided her mother's intense gaze.

"That's why I'm worried mum. I was just upset that he hadn't been around for a while and only showed up when I became sick, it didn't make much sense to me".

"Really?" Stacy's eyebrows arched up. "Then explain".

"He wasn't around to care for me when I was agile. Now I'm sick and he comes around to show support, its clearly sympathy and I find it annoying" she replied, her face carrying the pain she felt in her. "Where was he when I was normal?"

"Although I understand how you feel baby but it's certainly not how you consider the situation. Cedric adores you".

"Is he here with you guys? I want to speak with him"

"No Sara, he left for Juarez on Sunday morning" she ended her sentence and glanced at Sara to see her face fall.

"But I thought he was returning for good. Wasn't he?"

"Maybe he was but I don't know what made him have a change of mind, he disagreed to our plans of him switching schools and insisted on finishing in Juárez".

Hurt settled in jabbing her skin like a thousand needle pricking her followed by disappointment then anger, each of them building up a turmoil of emotions inside her. How could he leave even when the golden opportunity was placed before him? This was the perfect chance to settle things,to make up for lost years and he threw it to the dust?. Some kind of adoring he had for her.

He didn't care after all. She mumbled to herself.

"Sara, are you okay?" Concern was lingering in her voice as Stacy looked at her daughter, she could see that different thoughts were racing through her mind.

"Yes mama,I'm alright" she released a short sigh. "I just didn't expect him to leave so soon" she replied coldly. As Stacy made to talk, a knock came on the door, it opened and a nurse walked in.

"Sorry Mrs Ramirez,you are needed in the doctor's office now. Your husband is waiting there" the nurse relayed her message and left immediately.

Stacy nodded her head and turned her attention back to Sara to round up their conversation but she had her back to her. There was a strong aura of coldness emanating from her.

"I'll be back soon baby. Stay strong for me"

Sara rolled her eyes as she heard the door close behind her. No amount of conviction would change her mind; she simply won't forgive Cedric for leaving.

XXX
Stacy turned down the hallway and soon found the doctor's office; it wasn't hard to locate. As she walked in and took her seat,she did a quick study of the expressions settled on their faces. Her husband had a calm look on his face, it was obvious he was masking the anxiety in him while the doctor had a gloom expression on her own face. Her eyebrows were knotted together and she was going over some files on her desk. She felt her heart thump when her gaze settled on the doctor, whatever news that would be relayed would definitely not be a good one.

"Good to have you here Stacy Ramirez" the doctor greeted casually looking up. "I'm Doctor Susan Page but you can address me as Susan..... I'll be working with Doctor Fred to handle your daughter's sickness and monitor her progress"

"You are welcome. So what's the result of all the tests carried out?" Alvin asked eagerly.

"Well, from the reports gotten in the military hospital" she paused and picked up a file to read from. "The neurological exam diagnosed the presence of a tumor and the consequent CT scan showed it was malignant" she stopped and allowed the impact of her message to flow down on her visitors before speaking up.

"Now I want you to understand the severity of what we are talking about here. I don't intend on scaring or freaking you out". The looks on their faces gave her the go-ahead signal so she went on with her explanation.

"The stage of cancer we are dealing with here is very dangerous and life-threatening. Your daughter's cancer is in stage IV"

"Sorry Susan, I don't get what you mean" Stacy said clearly confused.

Placing her hands on the desk,she removed her glasses and laid it down. Now this was the part of her profession she detested and never looked forward to; breaking news of death or any unpleasant information to her visitors.

"There are different stages of cancer and your daughter's case is the most acute one. It is the stage IV of the cancerous growth. Now, at this stage, the cancer would be spreading at a rapid rate to other organs in the body. It is called Glioblastoma cancer"

    The words 'malignant', 'dangerous', 'life-threatening' and acute fused together in Stacy's head making her feel dizzy. Her face paled off and her knuckles turned white. Deep down,she felt happy she wasn't standing cos her legs would have given way under her.

"This usually grows in the frontal and temporal lobe of the brain and brain stem" Susan explained. "From the last CT scan I performed on her, the tumors are spreading at an alarming rate and we'll love to a surgery as soon as possible to take out the amount of tumor we can. The earlier we do this, the better the chances of her staying alive"

The room was spinning as Stacy stood to her feets abruptly, this made Alvin and Susan turn their faces to her simultaneously.

"Are you alright dear?" Alvin asked with deep concern on his face, the beads of perspiration on her forehead gave him the answer he needed. She was definitely having a panic attack.

"Stacy, calm down and take your seat" he coarsed gently standing up from the chair he sat on.

Meanwhile Stacy had spaced out already,she could hear husband call her name but it felt like he was planets away and her name only echoed like whispers in her ears. She couldn't even make out the figures standing in the room.

Holding the wall,she tried to gain support but her knees buckled and gave way. As she fell to the floor with a thud,the light in the room dimmed constantly before her eyes. Before she passed out,two hazy figures could be seen bending over to help her but she was already unconscious.