Chapter 22: Chapter 22

MARK

"Wake up! Wake up!" I yell to wake Alyanna up.

"5 more minutes." She groans.

"No now. It's the official start to our honeymoon." I pull the covers back from her and she's sweating. Like, crazy sweating.

"Fine I'm up." She says sitting up and going to the bathroom to change. "What's on the agenda today?" She asks from the bathroom.

I didn't answer her right away. I'm too focused on how she could be sweating so much. I come back as she walks out of the bathroom and gives me a look of question. "Oh uh. Surfing." I still think about that.

"Cool. I'll just grab my swimsuit, we'll get breakfast and then go to the surfing lesson?" She asks.

"Yeah that's the plan." I answer by following her out of the room.

Everything is really good at breakfast and when we get to the surfing lesson she whispers something to the instructor. I can't help but be jealous. This guy is good looking and he doesn't know she was taken because we took our rings off so we wouldn't lose them.

What am I doing? Why am I jealous?

Before I know it she's ruining out to the water and paddling out. Both the instructor and I watch as she catches a wave and does all this cool stuff that I have no clue what it is.

"Wow. That is hot." The instructor says.

"Hey." I say to get his attention. "That's my wife."

"Yeah right. You can't surf for the life of you." He says back. Man, I want to punch him. But I don't because Alyanna is coming back over here.

"I thought you said you couldn't surf." I ask, smiling.

"I just wanted to see you fail." She smiles back.

"Well I'm not satisfying your needs now." I say backing up "I wanted us to fail together."

"Come on, it'll be fun." She smiles at me.

"Yeah why don't you just try it." The instructor nags because he wants me to make a fool of myself so he can impress Alyanna.

"How about you teach me?" I ask Alyanna.

"Come on Mark. I can't teach." She says, throwing her arms up. When she does I see a couple bruises along the side of her.

"Oh you're gonna teach." I say grabbing her and lifting her up over my shoulder.

"Come on Mark stop." I can tell she's ok with this because she's laughing. I keep doing it. "Put me down." She says still laughing.

I finally. "You ok?" I ask because she seems very dizzy.

"Yes I'm ok." She says still laughing and placing her arms on my chest to balance herself.

"Are you sure?" I ask putting my arms around her for more support. "Yes." She says looking up at me and biting her lip.

I don't know if I'm right but from what I've heard that's a classic seducing method so I just go for it. I kissed her. She kisses back and I hope the instructor is watching or saw us and now is walking away. I want to keep this moment between us. Just Alyanna and I.

We part. "That was something." She says.

"Yeah. I just didn't like how the instructor was eyeballing you." I say. Did I just say that out loud? I feel my eyes widen a little. Hopefully not enough for her to notice.

She sighs. "Fine, I'll teach you." She changes the subject. Thank goodness.

That's what practically the next 9 days were like. Just with different activities like snorkeling, cave exploring, volcano hiking, regular hiking. All the normal touristy stuff.

Alyanna woke up all sweaty everyday. I tried to ask her about it. She blamed the heat one night and a bad, stressful dream another. I stopped asking after that.

On our 10th day there we rented a boat and went out. I saw Alyanna rub her head and neck a few times. Her knees were somewhat shaken when she stood up. She gripped her stomach when we were bouncing on the waves. I saw her shiver when it was 80 degrees outside and the wind wasn't cold. Her arms and legs were getting more bruised up everyday. And she's yawning at noon. I don't know what's wrong with her. Maybe she's getting sick but she hasn't said anything so I don't do anything.

As we're getting off the boat she jumps off and her knees give out. She falls to the dock.

"You ok?" I ask as I rush over to her sitting on the dock.

"Yeah fine." She says as I brush the hair out of her face. As I do that I feel her forehead a little. She's burning up. I feel it purposefully now. "What are you doing?" She asks, pushing my hand away.

"I think you have a fever." I say feeling her neck. "And your neck is swollen."

"I'm fine Mark." She pushes me away and begins to stand up. She falls instantly but this time passes out.

"Alyanna. Alyanna. Come on, wake up." I say frantically trying to wake her up I'm shaking. "God what do I do?" I ask myself.

The only thing I can think of is to call an ambulance but what if she wakes up by then? I call anyway because what if she doesn't wake up soon and the ambulance is just to help.

I dial 911. "911 what's your emergency?" The operator asks.

"Hi. My wife just passed out on the west dock in Hualalai. She's not waking." I say still frantic trying to find her pulse. It also feels weird to call her my wife, yet natural.

"Alright, help is on the way. Would you like me to stay on the line?" The somewhat soothing voice asks.

"No thank you." I hung up without another word.

I feel like it's forever before the ambulance arrives but I know it's actually soon. I'm glad I called she still hasn't woken up. I found her pulse but she hasn't moved.

"What happened?" A man asks me as.

"We just got off the boat and she fell. She tried to get up and fell again but this time she passed out." I explained shakily.

"Did she hit her head?" The man asks.

"No. I caught her before her head hit the dock." I answer by running my hands through my hair. "Is she going to be ok?" I ask as we both move to get in the ambulance with her.

"We're going to do everything in our power to make sure she is." He assures me as I sit and grab her hand.

When we got to the hospital she entered the ER first then that got her a room after someone comes in and does something. I don't know if I'm too frantic to understand or try to understand.

All I know is that she's getting a room and I have to wait outside in the waiting room.

I wait.

And I wait.

And I wait.

And nothing. Nothing at all for an hour.

I'm just sitting there helplessly tapping my leg over and over again until it turns numb.

Finally a doctor came over. "Are you Alyanna Hernandez's husband?" She asks.

"Yes. I am. Is she ok?" I ask, still tapping my foot as I stand up. Also how did her records change already? My dad must have done something right after we signed the papers. It just makes it more official.

"She's doing better. We have her in an induced coma. We'll be able to wake her up within the next few hours." She answers.

"So what's wrong?" I am still shaking.

"We took every test imaginable that we could and we'll have the results for them as well in a few hours and that's when we'll be able to wake her up. Ok?" She asks with a sympathetic look.

I take a deep breath. "Ok." My shakiness has gone down. "Can I see her?" I ask. The doctor nods and lets me in.

"I'll be back soon to check up on you." She says. I don't turn back. I just rush over to Alyanna's side and grab her hand.

I just say that. I stayed with her.

I wait.

I call Chris.

And I wait.

I call Charlie.

I wait.

I call Liz.

I wait more.

I even called my dad. He doesn't answer. Figures.

The waiting is over. I've called every person who would want to know by the time the doctor comes back in.

She has a somewhat glum look on her face. "Most of her tests came back negative." She tells me.

"Most of them?" I ask.

She takes a breath. "I was looking through Alyanna's file and I noticed a history." I look at her expecting more. "Mark there's no easy way to say this but Alyanna's She has..." She pauses again. Stop with the pausing! I want to scream at her. "She has leukemia. Again."

Everything stops. My hearing. My feelings. Everything. All I feel is hurt. I just got married to this great person and now I found out that she has cancer again. Again! This is not her first go at this. She has had this before. She can't go through it again. She shouldn't have had to go through it in the first round. No one should have to. Out of all the people in the world she had to get it again. She had to get cancer.

"Are you ok Mr. Hernandez?" I hear the doctor ask.

"How bad is it?" I ask.

She sighs. "It's treatable but it's going to be rough. We're going to wake her up in a few more hours. I want you to be here with her when I tell her." She tells me. "You can go out and get some food. Take a walk. Anything to help you so you can be here for her."

That sounds like a good idea. I nod to her and go out the door. I go out to the parking lot. Down the road to a small bar. It's dark. I've been at the hospital for so long it became dark. I don't know what time it is but it's dark. I go inside the bar.

I look around. There's a table of men over in the corner and a few people at the bar. I tend to notice that there are only female bartenders.

I sigh and just sit at the closest stool to the door. I put my head in my hands on the bar and try to comprehend what happened.

"What can I get for you?" A woman asks me to clean a glass.

"I don't know." I answer. It's the truth. I don't know what I want. Actually... I do. I want Alyanna not to have cancer.

"Bourbon, beer, whisky, wine?" She asks. "I'll have to card you for that though." She says almost seriously. I take out my card. "21. Nice age. And you turn 22 in 4 months." She smiles as she gives me back my card. "Happy early birthday. Now what will you have?" She asks again.

I take a breath. If I'm going back to the hospital I shouldn't drink. "How about a diet coke?" I ask, trying to smile to be polite.

"Sure why not." She says as she leaves. She comes back and hands it to me. "So what brings you here?" She asks.

"Vacation." That's not a total lie. If I said honeymoon she would have asked where my wife was and I don't want to get into that now.

"I'm a local. So I can show you around if you want." She says, biting her lip. Classic seducing methods. I'm not proceeding with this one. I don't want to.

"I've been here for 10 days now. I've been snorkeling, rock climbing, surfing, and volcano hikes. I've done all the touristy things that you should do in Hawaii." I ramble. I make myself stop. I've been so busy making sure that we have something to do that I didn't stop to look at what was happening. Alyanna was sick the whole time and will be for a while longer.

"How long are you here for?" She asks. Are bartenders the new councilors?

"4 more days." I answer automatically. I didn't think of that. Alyanna will have to spend the next 4 days of her supposed honeymoon in the hospital.

"Well that gives you plenty of time to..." She pauses and looks up at me. "Sightsee." She smiles.

"No." I start. Here we go, time to explain. "I think I'll be spending my time at the hospital." I finished. There's definitely going to be more questions.

"Why?" She asks. Called it.

I've been told from a very young age that I ask too many questions. I wonder if Alyanna gets annoyed by it.

"Hello?" She snaps her fingers and I come out of my trance. "Why are you going to spend time in the hospital?" She asks again.

I take a breath. She's going to feel stupid. And I'm ok with that. I'm wearing my ring and I've given her plenty of time to see it. "I'm going to stay with my wife."

She houghs. "Really? A 21 year old guy like you tied down? I don't think so." She states.

Ok maybe she won't feel stupid. "I'm telling the truth." I sigh.

"Yeah sure. Can you prove it." I showed her my ring. "Not convinced." I pulled up my home screen of our engagement picture. "Could be an old relationship." Now I go into my photos and pull up the wedding ones. "Ok I'll give you that. So why is your 'wife' in the hospital?" She asks to put quotations around wife.

"She has leukemia." I breathe out and put my head in my hands. I don't look up or wait for her to respond. I just continue. "We got married just short of 2 weeks ago and we're here on our honeymoon. I planned all this cool stuff we were going to do. I was too busy to notice that my own wife, The girl that I've been in love with for 3 years now," I add that lie for more effect. "Is having the same symptoms she had when she was younger. Yeah that's right she's had it before." I almost yelled at her. I don't really yell. I don't even think that the table of men in the corner heard me. Or even the men at the bar. I feel the tears coming along.

"I'm sorry." She breathes out.

I chuckle a little. "The doctor told me to do what I had to. Then come back and be there for her." I chuckle again. "Then this happened." I finished.

"Do you feel better?" She asks.

"No." I sigh. "Not really but I can't change that." I sit and stare. I don't want to go back to that hospital. I don't want to see her mad or sad or anything.

"Why are you here?" The bartender asks.

I give her a confused look. "What?"

"What are you here? In this bar?" She asks more specifically.

"I don't know. Do I have to have a reason?" I ask.

"Kinda yeah. Most guys come here to get drunk or pick up girls. Sometimes both." She says.

"I still don't see your point." I'm deadpan.

"You ordered a Diet Coke and now you're sitting here with a girl you rejected because you have a wife and you're talking about her. I don't see you getting drunk or girls here. So let me ask my question again. Why are you here?" She asks slowly.

"I have to go." I say taking out my wallet.

"On the house." She smiles. I return it and run out.

I run as fast as I can. On the way I call everyone again to tell them the news. Charlie's on the next flight, Maya's staying with Abby, Chris is going to be here as soon as he can, and Liz is really mad about living so far away. She has about a 14 hour plane ride. I don't know if the rest of the family is coming.

As I was in the elevator I debated calling my dad. I decide to and he doesn't answer. I left a message. These are my exact words. "Hey dad. It's Mark. Uh. I don't know how to say this but we're staying a week longer and something happened. Bye." Nothing else. If he wants more news he can call me back if he cares he will. If not, I don't know what I'll do.