Page 119 of Moose

I shrugged, “I’m fine. Just need to eat.”

Moose eyed me but moved back to the kitchen to cook. I finished stacking my papers and went to stand when everything spinning.

“Oh, fuck.”

Moose rushed over. “Lily! You need to sit.”

I shook my head, but that made everything worse.

“I just need... orange juice. I’m fine. Low blood-”

Everything went dark and I could feel myself falling and then…. nothing.

Iwasfreezing,andeverything smelled like bleach. I laid in the stiff bed and listened to the noises around me; beeping, puffing, static.

Slowly, I cracked my eyes open and looked around. There were walls covered in rustic wood with black and white pictures hanging on them. A TV was in the corner, playing the news but on mute.

And there in the corner was Moose, sleeping in an overstuffed chair. His long hair was down and his mouth was in a frown. I looked around some more and noticed all the monitors around me; a hospital room.

I groaned as I moved my head, causing Moose to jump awake and rush toward me.

“Shit, princess. I was so fucking worried about you! How are you feeling?”

I looked up at him and blinked. “I'm okay? What happened?”

“You passed out and hit your head on the edge of the table. Just a few stitches needed there. They’re doing some bloodwork to figure out what happened.”

The door to the room opened and Lilah came in wearing a cute pair of dark blue scrubs with a festive Christmas sweater over them. She smiled as she moved next to my bed and started looking at all the monitors.

“How are you feeling, babe?”

I sighed. “Fine, I guess. Head hurts a bit.”

“Well, that’s pretty typical after you slam your head off the corner of that damn table and get stitches.”

I smiled at her before she took out a piece of paper from her pocket.

“What’s that?”

Lilah just smiled. “Read it and I’ll be back soon.”

She handed it over to me and walked out of the room. I looked at Moose, but he just shrugged. I unfolded the paper and read it in my head before gasping.

Moose jumped up and came over to me. “What is it? What the fuck is going on?”

All I could do was stare at the prognosis. Slowly, I handed over the paper to Moose. He took it and stared at it before turning back to me.

“I’m so sorry, Jacob…”

He grabbed my hands and pulled them up to his lips, kissing them before wiping my tears away.

“Princess.”

I shook my head. “This can’t be real life…”

“Baby, look at me. Tell me the first thing that comes to mind.”

“I’m scared.”

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