Chapter One
“Hey Autumn!” my best friend and roommate, Paige, called out as I made my way into our apartment. “You got a call from a Dr. Sullivan. He said it was urgent and that he needed you to call his office as soon as possible.”
“Thank you! Did he happen to leave a number?” I responded as I dropped my backpack and notebook on the coffee table and made my way toward the kitchen for a glass of water. Walking into the brightly lit room, I saw Paige sitting on one of the stools that my mother insisted on buying us when we moved into this place.
“Hey! You don’t look so good,” she said as she jumped up and made her way to my side. “Is your stomach still hurting?” The concern in her voice reminded me why she was my best friend. We had met the first day of kindergarten and had become inseparable. I honestly think that I spent more time with Paige and her family than I did with my own mother.
“I am fine. Nothing two aspirins and a glass of ice water won’t cure,” I lied. I had been in pain for so long that I didn’t even remember when it started. I thought it was just period pain, but it never let up. It was definitely something else going on with me and no one seemed to have any answers for me. I had already seen three different doctors who told me to rest and take some aspirin for the pain. It wasn’t cutting it and I had reached out to Dr. Sullivan after talking to some of the girls from school. He came highly recommended and wasn’t too hard on the eyes either. The first thing he did during our first appointment was listen to me. I think he is the first doctor that I have seen that has actually taken the time to listen to me.
“Autumn! You’re shaking! Sit down!” Paige said as she guided me to the kitchen table that was located across the kitchen. Sitting down slowly on the padded chair, I smiled as the sun hit my face and warmed me up a bit. I didn’t even realize that I was cold. “Here, take these.” The sound of the two tiny white pills hitting the wooden table snapped my focus from outside back to Paige.
“Thank you. I could have gotten them myself.” Taking the pills and downing the glass of water that was waiting for me, I looked up at Paige and smiled. “I feel better already.”
“You are such a liar,” Paige sassed at me. She really was worried about me and I didn’t need that on top of everything else going on in my life. I was only four months away from graduating with my degree in elementary education. I already had a job lined up at Allenville Regional Elementary School teaching second grade. Paige was going to work for an Advertising Agency in the next town over, Ruby. We had plans on keeping our apartment and living together until one of us got married. Everything was mapped out for the foreseeable future and I couldn’t wait to really live. “The doctor’s number is on the answering machine. He said that he wouldn’t leave the office until he got a chance to talk to you.” The smirk on Paige’s face told me that she was hoping for a love connection between Dr. Sullivan and me.
“Never going to happen!” I said as I slowly stood up and made my way to the island that housed the phone base with a built-in answering machine. “He is too old for me and has seen inside my body.”
“Hello. This message is for Autumn Grant. Hi Autumn, it is Dr. Sullivan. Your results are in and I really need to discuss them with you. I’ll be in the office late tonight waiting on your call. I’m calling from my direct line, please call me back on this number as soon as you can.” The tone of his voice was not the joking one that I was used to. Dr. Sullivan was handsome with his chocolate brown skin and light grey eyes. I always imagined what it would feel like to run my fingers through his long chocolate dreadlocks. If he weren’t my doctor, I would have spent my time scheming with Paige on how to get his number.
“Earth to Autumn. Where did you go?” Paige asked softly from behind me. She placed a gentle hand on my shoulder to help bring me back to the here and now.
“Oh nowhere.” I giggled. Looking at the number one that was no longer flashing on our answering machine, I picked up the phone and called back the last number on the caller id.
“Dr. Chase Sullivan,” the familiar deep voice rang out through the phone that was now resting on my shoulder.
“Hi Dr. Sullivan. This is Autumn Grant. I am returning your phone call from earlier,” I said as the pain right below my stomach intensified. Sucking in all the oxygen that I could manage, I heard Paige pull out a stool so that I could sit down.
“Autumn, are you in pain?” Dr. Sullivan asked with a concerned voice.
Releasing all the air that I had just sucked in as I sat down in the stool that Paige pulled over for me, “Just a little bit, Dr. Sullivan. I just took some aspirin and was planning on lying down for a little while.”
“Autumn, is there any way that you can come into the office right now? I really need to go over your test results with you.”
“Can’t you just tell me what is going on over the phone and then I will make a follow-up appointment with your office?” I asked as the pain intensified. I closed my eyes in the hopes that shutting out all the light would help lessen the pain I was feeling.
“I really can’t do this over the phone. I need you to come into the office.”
“I can drive you,” Paige whispered from behind me. I had almost forgotten that she was in the room with me.
Taking in another deep breath, “My roommate can drive me over.” Looking back at Paige, I offered her a weak smile.
“Autumn. The door to the office is open. When you get here, just come on back to exam room one.”
“We’re on our way,” I said defeatedly into the phone. I didn’t want to leave the house after the long day of classes that I had.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Paige said softly as I hung up the phone and placed it back onto the base.
Wincing in pain as I stood up, I looked at my best friend. “Thank you,” I whispered as she grabbed her keys off the top of the kitchen island with one hand and one of my hands with her other one.
Leading me to the front door, “Everything is going to be fine. Dr. Sullivan just probably wants to make sure that you have some medicine to help whatever is going on with you.”
“You really don’t have to do this. I can drive myself across town to the office,” I said, not really meaning the words that were coming out of my mouth. The pain was really intense, and I didn’t know how much more of it I could take.
“I am not letting you drive in the condition that you are in. We can stop by Vee’s Sweet Treats and pick up some of her famous sweet tea on the way home.”
“Ooh and a dozen of her old-fashioned donuts, too,” I said with a little bit more pep in my step.
“Well that was a given,” Paige said with a smile as she shut the front door to our apartment behind us.
Chapter Two
“Thank you for coming in on such short notice,” Dr. Sullivan said as he walked into the exam room I was waiting in with Paige. “Miss Samuels, thank you for driving Autumn over here tonight. Would you mind waiting in the reception area while I go over Autumn’s results with her?”
Standing up from her seat next to me, Paige started to make her way toward the open door that Dr. Sullivan just walked through. Turning to look back at me, “I will be right outside if you need me.”