Help Me

“Mommy! Mommy, help m-,“ Evelyn’s cry was cut off by a very loud dry heave. “Mama!!”
My heart clenched painfully at my baby’s crying. I rolled off of my bed and scurried over to her room to see Evelyn sitting up in her giant Hello Kitty bed as she had already turned on her lamp, sweating heavily, huge tears rolling down her face, with her small fists balled up against her stomach. Her breathing came in hiccups, her chubby cheeks were blotchy and red, the rest of her skin flushed and pale.
Evelyn dry heaved again, I could tell she was trying her hardest to throw up, but since we had been up most of the night sitting in the bathroom while she emptied her stomach, there was nothing to come up. I looked up at the flower shaped clock that hung over her canopy; 4:30 was what it said. We had hardly slept tonight. Although this was almost normal, tonight was one of our bad nights.
“Mama…” Evelyn’s tiny voice shook, giant crocodile tears rolled down her cheeks. Her little fists quivered as she started to remove her shirt, once she started moving, she dry heaved again and began to cry harder. I moved to her bed and took her shirt off for her, I threw the blanket off of her and pushed her pillows off of the bed as well.
“Lay down baby girl,” I said softly. “Calm down baby. I’m gonna go downstairs and get you some water. Okay?”
Evelyn’s bottom lip trembled, “Okay mama.”
I walked out of her room quickly, skipped down the stairs and threw the thermostat down so that the house would cool down. Looks like I might be getting a cold, but I don’t care. My poor baby girl was sweating up a storm. I went to the kitchen to grab one of Evelyn’s kiddie cups and filled it with cold water, and grabbed another cup and filled it with Gatorade. After I put everything away, I grabbed the kitchen counter and hung my head. I let the tears fall, letting everything out before I went to see to my baby girl. I can’t stand seeing my daughter like this. Seeing her in pain was too much for me… I grabbed the house phone from the jack next to the microwave and dialed the number to the emergency room.
“Hello,” said a chirpy voice on the other end of the line.
“Hi there,” I sniffled. “Uh, I’m got a four year old who’s going through her first cycle of chemo. I was informed of complications, but I wasn’t really sure what exactly to expect. I need a little help.”
“Oh sweetheart,” the voice said. “Don’t you worry about it. Chemo is a very complicated thing. Here, my shift ends at around 11:30, I can schedule you at 9:45 since that is the only early slot available.”
I sighed. “Uhm, yeah. That’s fine. Thanks.”
“I’ve been there done that kiddo. Don’t you worry. You’ll get through this. The both of you,” the woman said sweetly.
I bit my lip to keep from crying again. “Thank you so much. It means a lot…”
After giving the necessary information I needed to give to make the very much dreaded appointment, I took a deep breath and stood up straight, wiping my face clean of all the evidence of crying with my pajama sleeves. I grabbed both cups and headed up the stairs to my Evelyn, where she was lying flat on her back, still hiccupping from her sobs.
“Here you go baby,” I said to her. She sat up immediately and took the cup of Gatorade from my left hand. “Drink up.”
Evelyn downed the contents of the cup as quickly as she could, almost forgetting to take a breath while doing so. She put the cup on her little nightstand and looked up at me.
“Mama,” she mumbled. Her eyes were drifting closed, “Come sleep with me?”
I let out a small smile, “Of course baby.” I crawled into the Hello Kitty bed and pulled Evelyn to my side. She pushed her head into my ribs and snuggled against my shirt. I ran my hand through her hair and shook off what strands hand fallen off with the movement.
I let out a shaky breath at the sight of my Evelyn’s hair falling out, and felt her small hand move to my stomach. She pat it a few times before saying, “Its okay mommy. I don’t like brushing it anyway.”
I shook my head at my silly daughter, and closed my eyes for a much needed snooze.

Notes

Hooray for the first chapter! Hopefully I can get through these intro chapters so I can get the guys in sooner. :)