Page 8 of Realm of the Wicked

This is it.

Did you do enough?

Was it enough?

Was it worth it?

Dr Murphy flew into the room, folder in hand, a blank look on her face. ‘Good morning. I apologize for the wait.’

‘No worries,’ I said, even though there were, in fact, a lot of worries.

She sat down in her chair and flipped open her files. ‘I know last time we discussed potentially having Grace transfer over to hospice care, and you were hoping for more time.’

‘Yes.’ My heart was going to pound right out of my chest and sit on the floor between the three of us. Maybe that would finally shock the doctor. Probably not, though.

The doctor cleared her throat, a quick crease crossing her forehead as she gazed down at the papers in front of her. ‘Well.’

If every minute had felt like a year while we waited for her appearance, each second now felt like a light year waiting for her to explain the results in her hand. ‘Yes?’

She ran her fingers down the page hidden by the Manila folder, mouth moving without making any sounds.

By now, I was in the next solar system. Now the next galaxy. I couldn’t even be certain Grace was still breathing next to me.

Finally, Dr Murphy closed the folder and looked up at us with that same smile she wore the entire last appointment. ‘It seems there’s been a change of plan.’

My heart sank deep into my stomach. Grace had gotten worse. There was no point in even going to hospice; the doctor was going to admit her right here, right now. This was it.

‘Grace’s last scans showed no evidence of disease. Unexpected, but true.’

I blinked, and my hand felt lighter as Grace dropped my grip. No evidence of disease. Did that mean she was cured? But there had been no way. They told us there was no way.

My sister was the one who spoke first. ‘Are you sure that’s my file?’

‘Certain.’ Dr Murphy flipped open the file again. ‘Your labs all came back perfect. Your scans were clean. Currently, you are disease-free.’

‘I thought you said there was no way,’ I said. ‘You said there was nothing you could do.’

She shrugged. ‘The only explanation I have is that some combination of the treatments we’ve been doing over the last six months must have worked. But look for yourself.’

The doctor turned the large file over to me, where two printouts of Grace’s MRI sat in front of me. She pointed to the one on the left. ‘This was two months ago. Do you see all the white spots? That’s the cancerous tissue. You can see how much it spreads across the scan. Now, this one here is from last week.’ She pointed to the other image. ‘Do you see any of the white tissue from the previous scan?’

Grace’s body in the first scan was absolutely riddled with glowing white spots. The second image was completely clear. Nothing marred the body pictured. It looked like two completely different people.

‘Before you ask, yes, I triple-checked the names on the reports. They’re both Grace. Just one shows a very sick young woman, and one shows a completely healthy one.’

I looked over at Grace, sitting next to me with wide eyes.

‘What do we do?’ I asked.

‘You go home and live your life, the same as you would do if Grace hadn’t been sick. Obviously, it’ll take some time for her to regain her total strength and energy, but she’s healthy. We can follow up in a few months to confirm, but as of right now…’

I wasn’t sure I was capable of processing the information I had been given. It was too much, too soon. Compartmentalizing my brain did little to help the overwhelming emotions surging through my body. ‘Have you ever seen this before? Like is there a chance the cancer is just hiding?’

I didn’t want to reject the gift we’d been given, but I wasn’t sure either of our hearts could handle being given hope, only to have it ripped away.

Dr Murphy sighed. ‘It’s incredibly rare, but there have been instances where the treatment combination was delayed in its effectiveness. On the other hand…’ She hesitated. ‘On the other hand, you could look at this as a miracle.’

The word resounded in my chest, landing firmly in my lungs. A miracle.