You Will Die

A short story:

Your alarm will go off at 7:45am. Your second alarm will go off at 7:50am. Your third, fourth, and fifth alarms will go off at 7:55am, 8am, and 8:05am respectively.

You will wake up. You will check your phone. You will have 3 unread messages. You will answer one of them. You will text your mom, “Yeh, appointment’s today.” 

You will put on your frog t-shirt. You will pull on your jeans. You will wear your new colorful socks that your friend Nick got you for your birthday last week. You will brush your teeth. You will not eat breakfast because you’re late.

You will get in your ‘03 Ford Focus and drive 45 minutes to the doctor. You will wait in the waiting room for 17 minutes. You will try to find the differences in the Highlights magazine. You will only find 9 out of 10 differences. Your name will be called and your weight will be recorded. Your height doesn’t matter for this appointment.

You will be taken to your private room. Your nurse will say, “Dr. Wilson’ll be in in 5 minutes.”

You will watch your nurse leave. You will look at the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse poster on the wall. You will grab a popsicle stick from the jar. You will press its dry wood against your tongue. You will not like the taste. You will throw it out and take a plastic cup from the aluminum dispenser hanging on the wall. You will fill it with lukewarm tap water and drink it even though you’re not that thirsty.

You will wait 8 minutes.

You doctor will come in. She will look at her clipboard. She will say, “I’m sorry.” You will not say anything. She will say, “Your test makes it look worse than it is.” You will not say anything. She will say, “We’ll start the treatment in 3 weeks. After you’ve started the medication.” You will not say anything. She will say, “Jessica at the front will give you your prescription.” You still will not say anything.

She will say, “We’ll see you in 3 weeks.” You will say, “Thanks.”

She will leave.

You will get your prescription from Jessica at the front.

You will return to your ‘03 Ford Focus in the parking garage.

You will pick up the medication on your way to work.

You will take meetings.

You will answer calls.

You will listen to Otis Redding while you work.

You will live.