//------------------------------// // Chapter 42: News // Story: Through Crimson Eyes // by Level Dasher //------------------------------// A few days later, I sat in bed as Mom and Gramma woke up at the window like usual, right around the time Starry and Tess would be arriving at school. I had been up for a few minutes already, recalling what had happened a few nights ago. Both Starry and Tess had met Princess Luna, so we could all talk about her without one of us feeling left out. I chuckled as I remembered Tess literally dragging Starry out by a hoof once Mom and Gramma got back. They were upset they had missed the Princess again, but conceded that maybe the Princess intentionally only appeared when adults weren’t around. I looked through my telescope at the star the Princess and I had picked out each night after she visited me. There were never any clouds— I was a little suspicious about that, but I let it go. The star always shone nice and bright through the window, and whenever I checked through my telescope lens, it kept up with that wink-like sparkle. It was like Princess Luna had known something about it… like she had found a way for Dad and me to check on each other and say ‘hey’ every night. I always looked forward to it during the day. I actually felt alright, all things considered. My stomach hadn’t hurt too badly for a while, and I slept fairly well. I didn’t feel that crummy during the day, and I’d gotten used to most of the chemo side effects… except one that bugged the hay outta me— the mouth sores. They started appearing in the last few days— they were like blisters on the inside of my lips. They were annoying as Tartarus; they made it hard to talk, and it hurt if I said certain stuff, usually because of particular letters. The only thing the docs let me do to try and help was suck on ice chips, but that just made my mouth freeze, so I didn’t do it that much. Other than that, I actually felt okay. I had just taken to keeping my mouth open during conversation so the sores didn’t touch my teeth or each other— keeping my lips apart was pretty obnoxious… When I heard the usual courtesy knock that preceded High Flyer’s entrance, I sat up and stretched. “‘orn, High. S’ut?” I had to use shortened or messed up words since I couldn’t speak properly. Fortunately, it wasn’t too hard for him to figure out my lingo, and I’d figured out how to speak without making it hurt pretty quickly. High Flyer smiled. “G’morning, Crimson. Well, I have some news— nothing bad, nothing good, so don’t make any assumptions yet.” I glanced at Mom and Gramma, and we all shrugged at each other before I turned back to High Flyer. “Well, you’ve been on this chemo regimen long enough that we want to do a scan to see how it’s doing. You seem to be generally feeling alright, so that’s a good sign. The only problem is those mouth sores, and that’s a side effect from the chemo, so it’s not really a contributing factor here. Now, if the scan comes back with good results, then we’ll stop the regimen, and hopefully those sores will start going away. After that…” He paused. “…Well, we’ll see where things go from there. We’d like to get you into the scan room in about a half-hour. That okay?” I cocked a brow and shrugged at High Flyer. “‘ell, I ain’t goin’ any-ere else,” I said. It elicited a laugh from everypony in the room. Despite the annoyance of the sores, I still needed to keep a positive attitude—just like Princess Luna said—so even though I couldn’t speak properly, I still tried to joke. “Good point,” High Flyer chuckled. “I’ll see you in about twenty-five minutes to get you set up, then.” He nodded and walked out. “Well…” Mom started as she came up to my bed, “…that sounds like the start of some potential good news. Let’s not get our hopes up, though.” I nodded and laid back, closing my eyes for just a second. “Hey!” I jolted awake when I heard High Flyer call my name. “No sleepin’ on the job!” He smiled as he hung my IV bag on a wheelchair, instead of the usual pole. I laughed back as he explained, “I’m actually going to wheel you downstairs for this scan, so you get a free ride. How’s that sound?” “‘riddy good,” I replied, as I slid off my bed and got into the chair. “Okay. I just have to get you hooked up to this portable pump first.” “‘ait— horta-ul huh?” I asked, my brows arching. High Flyer caught my expression and said, “Before you ask, I know what you’re thinking, Crimson. We couldn’t have used this when you first had the tube put in. It’s not as strong as we needed it to be then. I promise, if we had been able to use this to let you see your dad, we would have. This is just temporary.” He picked the tube off the wall and attached it to a little box which he put under the chair. I let out a short sigh. At least High Flyer had been nice enough to give me the explanation before I got upset. Mom asked, “How long do you think you’ll be?” High Flyer responded, “Well, the whole process of getting down there, doing the paperwork, and completing the scan should only take about forty minutes, so I’d expect us back in—” “An hour at minimum?” Mom cut him off. “Exactly,” High Flyer replied, laughing with Mom as he opened the door. “I see you’ve converted to hospital time pretty well.” “We’ve been doing this for a while,” Mom said with a smirk. “True— Crimson’s file is pretty thick,” High Flyer said. “We’ll be back ‘soon’.” He waved his hooves in a quoting motion before he turned around and pushed me out the door with his wings. The scan was pretty uneventful— nothing new, aside from having the tube running out the top of the machine. After about 15 minutes of laying still, they let me back into the chair and High Flyer brought me back to my room. Including waiting time, it only took about 45 minutes, like High Flyer said, so it was unusually quick. As he hooked me back up to my usual wall machines, High Flyer explained, “Hopefully we’ll get Crimson’s results back as soon as possible— if all goes well, we should have them by later this afternoon. When that comes around… if things are going well, we might have some good news for you.” He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows as he walked out. I cocked my brow and looked at Mom and Gramma, then narrowed my eyes. “Hmmm… that smile was unusually wide,” Mom commented. “And those eyebrows sure were promising,” Gramma added. “I guess we’ll have to wait until the results come back to see if they actually mean anything.” I put a hoof to my forehead. “Al’ays itha aiting. Know uht? I jus’ gonna chai n’ slee, okay?” “Sounds like a good way to wait it out,” Mom chuckled. “Well, sleep as much as you can, sweetie. If the results come back, we’ll make sure to wake you up, okay?” Gramma said. “Okay,” I responded. I laid back and closed my eyes, slowly putting my lips together so the sores didn’t hurt as much. Gotta say, trying to fall asleep without actually needing to is harder than it seems. I listened to Mom and Gramma chat between themselves about boring stuff. I figured that might help get me to sleep. Fortunately, I was right— I probably learned about seven different kinds of recycling materials in the process of dozing off.