AllFreeNovel
Share Us
PROLOGUE
AUGUST
It is the hardest thing in the world to do as a doctor, telling parents that their child is very, very sick.
I tell the Parkers the terrible news in the exact same way I have told countless parents before – with directness, honesty, and the utmost respect I can give them as a mother and father who love their child to the ends of the earth. It is the very least of what they deserve. They are having to hear from their doctor that their world is tearing apart in this dingy hospital office. That’s hard enough without unnecessary deceit from the man taking care of their son.
With Nate and Vicky Parker, there are none of the sort of melodramatic reactions to the news you might expect if you were solely raised on a diet of Hollywood popcorn entertainment - there are no hysterics from the parents as they hear the words they don’t want to hear. No crying screams. No bursts of high-strung distraught emotion.
No, this is a lot, lot worse.
This is a very real, and very understated response from the two of them, and that makes it far more devastating than any theatrics.
The parents stand up once I have said all I need to say, the meeting clearly finished. I stand up too. They take the time to shake my hand from across my desk. Both of them individually, in turn. Nate’s grip is still firm, even after receiving the most catastrophic news he’s ever had.
They’re both so... polite.
Even when I’ve destroyed all hope for their son.
“We’ve heard about you,” Nate Parker says to me as he lets go. “We’ve heard you are a good doctor who has done some amazing things.”
“We read it in an interview profile about you in a newspaper,” Vicky adds. “They said you were a prodigy, and that you were fast-tracked to this position because of your talent. It sounded so good. We wanted to meet you immediately.”
They’re both staring at me. I can see they’re still processing what I’ve just told them about their little boy, Ethan.
I’ve seen this look many times before: they are waiting for guidance, for a reassuring word from their son’s doctor. They are waiting for me to say that everything is going to be okay.
But I can’t do that.
I can’t deceive these loving parents.
“I will try my best with Ethan,” I reply to them solemnly. “But I honestly can’t make any promises, not when things look this dire. I have sworn myself off lying in my profession, to the kids I look after and to their parents. I prefer to speak the truth, and what I’m saying is happening to Ethanisthe honest truth. Things are not good.”
I notice a tear roll down Vicky’s cheek. I know she’s trying to stay strong until they at least leave my hospital office. There will be plenty of time for them to work through the news - to let themselves go and cry properly in the privacy of their home.
“We only want to hear the truth,” she whispers to me. “That’s all.Please.”
“I will try my best,” I repeat. “That’s all I can promise.”
I know there is nothing left to be said, and they understand that too. Nate opens the office door for his wife to pass through. He turns to me and nods.
“We know you will try your best, doctor,” he says to me.
I hold the door for him as the couple step out of my office and into the hospital hallway and head down the ward towards their son’s room.
I watch them walk away from me, a nauseating emptiness forming in the pit of my stomach.
No matter how many times I have delivered news like that, it still hurts like a gunshot. It will never leave me.
Everyone expects a doctor like me to work miracles - to swoop in and save the day, no matter how bad the situation is.
And sometimes I can do exactly that.
And sometimes I can’t.
This situation might very well be the latter.
Why did I ever agree to that newspaper interview?
