"Mom, what's the surgery going to be like?" I tug on her shirt. She looks at me with her green eyes that Vylad got from her.

"Well, Garroth," she sits down next to me, "the surgery might or might not be long, but you'll be asleep. They're going to take the bad cells out of your head, remember?"

"But will it hurt?" I've never had surgery that I have remembered, I'm nervous.

"No, baby. You're going to be asleep, you won't feel a thing." I liked how she called me baby still, even though most eight year olds don't like it.

"Will it hurt when I wake up?"

"It shouldn't." She strokes my hair, "You will be on medicines to take away the pain."

I don't like medicine. My parents give me cold and cough medicine when I'm sick with a cold, and I don't like it. All the flavors taste bad.

"But I don't wanna take it!" I whine, hoping that maybe it'll work.

"No, baby, you don't have to swallow this medicine. This is medicine that they put in you through a needle."

That just made it a hundred billion times worse.

"But needles hurt." I say, making a face.

"I know. Your dad and I will be here when they put them in, okay?"

"Okay." I sigh, still shaken up from the thought of needles.

She smiles and gets up off my bed. I look back down at the movie I was watching, Avengers. The movies take away the thought of cancer and cells and all the things doctors talk about.

Maybe when the doctors take the bad cells out, my eyes won't be funny anymore. I can't see the movie well, so I hope so.

~•~

"Garroth?" A tall, blonde nurse comes I with a name tag that reads:

"Hannah"

I scoot over to the other side of my bed, unknowing of who she is. Mom looks up at her, and nods at me. I stay at the side of my bed. Mom might feel safe, but I don't. She comes over and kneels next to my bed.

"I need you to come with me. We're going to find out if you can have the surgery or not." Her smile shines against her tan skin.

"W-Who are you?" I look at her, but don't dare get closer.

"I'm your nurse. My name's Hannah. I'm going to take care of you while you are recovering. Can you come with me now?" She has brown eyes, that beg me to go with her.

I nod and get off my bed, covered with blankets and stuffed animals from home. Mom and dad said I'd be here for a long time. Mom comes with me as the nurse grabs my hand. I accept it, but only gripping onto her hand gently.

She takes me into a room with a cushioned chair, a scale, and a bunch of other machines that I don't understand. I sit down in the chair, and she grabs a blood pressure cuff.

"Have you had your blood pressure taken before?" She asks, holding the cuff up. I nod.

"Good." She smiles, "So, you know it just feels like a tight hug, right?"

I nod again, remembering what doctors tell me all the time.

She wraps it around my arm, and I'm stiff as a statue. It hurts as it gets tighter around my arm, but it stops eventually. Then, it goes down, giving a nice feeling.

"Good job, Garroth." She unwraps it from my arm, "Step on the scale for me?"

I nod and stand on it. She looks at my weight and writes it down, and motions for me to sit down again. There's way more tests that confuse me.

~•~

"Hey, buddy?" My dad sits next to me on my bed. I look up from my iPad.

"Yeah, dad?" I ask, turning my game off.

"You know you're going to have surgery on your head, right?" Sadness fills his eyes. I don't like where this is going.

"Yeah. What's wrong?" I start to shake, and he grabs my hand.

"Bud, you're not going to be able to keep your hair. I'm sorry." He looks down, and I do too.

I don't want to lose my hair, I don't want to be bald! My hair is a part of me.

"But..." Maybe begging for it not to happen, will make it not happen?

"Garroth, with the medicine they're going to give you, it's going to happen anyway. Can you be brave for me?"

He tries to look stern, but he looks on the verge of tears. I nod, nearly crying. He pulls me close to him. I bury my head in his chest. It smells like him, a mix of sweat and cologne. It's a calming smell, it makes you feel safe.

"Let's buzz your hair now, buddy. We'll have fun with it." He pulls me away with him smiling brightly. I smile back and nod.

Dad grabs clippers that he uses to occasionally cut me and my brothers' hair. We walk into the bathroom not far from the hospital bed. Dad takes a stool that is in the shower, probably so when I'm too sick to stand I can sit. He puts it in front of the mirror and I sit down slowly, still scared of the thought of losing my hair.

"Okay, bud, which hairstyle first?" He has the clipper in hand, near turning it on. I look in the mirror of the bathroom.

"Mohawk!" My hair is pretty short already, but long enough that it'd show.

He winks at me and turns the buzzer on. I shift in my seat as the buzzer touches my head, and glides backward on my head, taking my hair away.

I look in the mirror at the Mohawk that he gave me. I'd never had one before, it feels weird.

"Like it?" He looks over my head, and I look up at him.

"Yeah." I smile at him, kicking my feet in the air.

"Ready to take the rest off?"

"Mhm." I nod sadly, preparing myself for having no hair.

The clipper glides over the middle of my head, the rough plastic itching my head. My eyes shift around, some by myself and some by the bad cells. I don't like having funny eyes.

I look in the mirror at my head with no hair. It looks weird, not having hair. I look like an old man.

My father grabs a blue stocking cap and folds it over my head. I look up at it, it slightly itching my head. It has Captain America on the side. I like it, personally.

"I see you've done it." My mother's voice says. I turn around to see her leaning in the doorway.

"Yeah." My father nods and puts a hand on my shoulder.

"That's good." She smiles lightly, "Are you ready for your surgery tomorrow, Garroth?"

Wait, it's tomorrow?

"Y-Y-Yeah..." I don't want to cry, but I'm about to.

"Garroth," my father kneels down to my level while sitting down, "you'll be fine."

"I promise."

••••••••
Hallo peoples.
The qod is in Luck. Or, qod for yesterday technically.
Thanks for reading! Bai!
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