Page 39 of The Wish

H elmet in hand, Alex knocks on Jesse’s front door.

Stepping back to wait for it to be answered, he admires the manicured front yard, the flower gardens that border both side fences, the quaint gnomes carefully placed amongst the flowers, and wonders if they were put there by Jesse or Sam.

He can’t help but smile. So, this is what a ‘normal’ home looks like.

Realising it has been some time since he knocked, he knocks again.

He is startled when someone speaks from behind.

‘There’s no one home,’ a neighbour over the fence is telling the woman who is walking up the drive towards him. The confused look on his face has her repeat, ‘They’re not home.’

Realising it is his turn to say something Alex blurts out, ‘Oh thanks, I guess I’ll come back later.’

He smiles as he walks back to his bike parked at the bottom of the drive, pausing by the woman.

‘Excuse me. Are you a friend of the Morgans?’ she asks.

‘Yeah, kind of, I’m a friend of Jesse.’

‘Are you Alex?’

Alex stops walking and faces the woman.

‘Yes, how did you know my name?’

‘I help look after Sam; he told me about you. Alex, Mandy has taken Jesse back to the hospital.’

‘What? No, Kelly would’ve called me—’

‘They only just left. Anyway, I’ve got to pick Sam up from a play date.’

Without another word, Alex jumps on his bike, slams on his helmet, and takes off – missing the neighbour’s call: ‘Drive carefully.’

Alex runs from the lift into the ward and heads towards Jesse’s room.

Sandy is walking in the opposite direction, sees him and raises her hand for him to stop.

Taking him by the hand she attempts to lead him away as his eyes remain glued to the closed door into Jesse and Amy’s room.

Sandy tries again to coax him away gently, by pulling on his arm in a ‘follow me’ motion.

Shrugging free Alex freezes, still staring at the door.

Neither sees Dean approaching from behind.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’ he demands of Alex.

Dean grabs Alex by the jacket, propelling him into a nearby wall. Visitors observing the showdown gasp and pull small children close to them. Sandy hears a nurse call out to get security here now. Sandy calls back to the nurse, ‘No, we can deal with this.’

Turning around, she sees Dean still has hold of Alex’s jacket with one hand, his other arm forced up under his chin.

‘I asked you, what the hell are you doing here?’

Alex tries to shrug himself free, but he’s holding his helmet in one hand which hinders his struggle – and he’s also trying very hard not to get angry and use force.

‘I have to see Jesse; I’ve got to tell her . . .’ Alex tries to stay calm and steady.

‘I’ve told you to stay away from my daughter.’

Dean looks around at the commotion he has caused, at the concerned looks from nearby staff, visitors and children who cling close to their parents. Sandy gently places her hand on Dean’s shoulder, noticing he is tightening his grip on Alex.

‘It’s all right, Dean; I’ll take care of Alex.’

Dean slowly releases his grip on Alex but doesn’t step away. He brings his face closer to Alex’s, whispering in a threatening voice.

‘Do you know what it’s like to be told you’re going to lose the single greatest joy in your life? Can you possibly have any idea?’

Alex looks down. He can’t tell Dean he does know what it’s like to lose the most important person in his life, the pain of being told his mother had died stabs at his heart.

He can no longer look Dean in the eye, his shoulders drop.

Defeated. Sandy indicates to a nearby nurse to take Dean away.

Face red with a mixture of shame and rage, Dean allows himself to be led off.

Sandy takes Alex gently by the arm, and he allows her to lead him down the corridor.

‘I’ve got to see her, you don’t understand,’ he mutters.

As Sandy guides him past the nurses’ station, she asks the receptionist to find Kelly and send her to her office.

In her office, typing up a report on her computer, Kelly answers the ringing phone. The person on the other end is still talking when Kelly hangs up and runs from the room.

It takes all her effort to not run through the hospital, aware that a running person can signify an emergency and cause panic in others.

Kelly pauses briefly by the bank of lifts.

None are open, waiting for her, so she hurries to the stairwell and runs up the six flights, bursting through the door onto level 6, unaware of the looks she receives from people around as she continues hurrying to the doors that enter the ward.

Forcing herself to slow down, trying to catch her breath, she walks quickly through the public area of the ward, barely acknowledging the staff who greet her.

She pauses outside Sandy’s office, slowing her breathing before turning the door handle and walking in.

Alex stops his pacing as the door opens and Kelly enters, shutting the door behind her. They each take a tentative step forward, unsure of their boundaries, aware of the growing feelings between them, fed by the long night spent with Steve and his friends working to make Jesse’s wish come true.

‘Why is she back here?’ Alex blurts.

‘I don’t know, I’ve only just found out myself.’

‘I need to see her; she doesn’t know that we’ve finished the first part of her wish.’

‘I know, and I want you to be the one to tell her, but you have to be patient. She needs to be with her family right now.’

‘But how can she come to the studio and finish what we’ve done if she’s here and can’t leave? And how can we convince Dean to take part when he’s just told me to stay away? Did I take too long to get this far?’

‘Nobody could have done what you did in the time you had Alex. Nobody. Jesse knows that, we all do.’

‘But how can we finish the project, make the wish, if there’s . . .’ Alex can’t finish the sentence. He can’t bear to say that there is no time. It’s too much.

Kelly shrugs. ‘I don’t know. I’m really sorry, but I don’t know the answers right now. We just have to wait.’

They are disturbed by a gentle knock. Sandy pokes her head around the door, takes in the scene, then enters, placing a glass of water on her desk.

‘She’s OK. Mandy panicked when she couldn’t get the pain medication right for Jesse.’

The relief at hearing this has both Kelly and Alex take a step closer to each other before both looking back at Sandy: the chemistry between them obvious to the older woman.

‘Mandy and Dean are settled, Jesse’s feeling good now, and I overheard Mandy telling Sam on the phone they’d both be home soon. Jesse is going to stay the night but should be able to go home tomorrow.’

‘Can I see her?’ Alex blurts out.

‘Well, we’ll see. I’ll have to clear it with Mandy.’

Alex nods. He’s suddenly overcome by a wave of exhaustion. Kelly touches him on the arm, and he stares down into her vivid blue eyes.

‘I have a few things I need to do. But why don’t you wait in the café, and I’ll text you when – and if – it’s OK to see Jesse?’ she says.

Alex nods. He’s so tired, so upset, that he doesn’t trust himself to speak. He mutters thanks to Sandy and leaves her office, making his way down to the café.

Sitting with a coffee and a muffin he has no intention of eating, Alex stares out the window into the garden where he and Jesse first sat together.

Around him, doctors and nurses, some in differently coloured scrubs indicating their work in the hospital, others in civilian clothes.

There are children and babies here, teenagers, some with attached IV poles and tubes leading into their arms. He focuses on a young boy playing a board game with a couple Alex assumes are his parents, and an older sibling.

He looks like any normal boy of nine or ten, dressed in a Spider-Man T-shirt and board shorts.

A baseball cap sits on the table beside him: the boy has not one hair on his head.

He laughs and slaps his hands on the table. ‘I win!’ he shouts with glee.

A text from Kelly brings Alex back to time and place. He can go to see Jesse. He races out of the café.

Entering the ward, Alex sees Kelly talking to a nurse.

He reads her face carefully and notes that she looks calm, is smiling and talking normally.

His shoulders relax just a little. He waits to catch her eye, his gaze darting from her to Jesse’s room.

When Kelly sees him, she hurries over and pulls him to the side of the corridor.

She appears normal. ‘It’s OK to go in. Dean’s not here and Mandy has said it’s OK.

Just . . . she might be a little quieter than usual, OK? ’

Alex nods. He gets it.

Jesse is the only one in the room, the bed beside hers neat and unslept in. ‘Knock knock,’ he says at the doorway.

Jesse looks up. ‘Alex!’ she says happily.

She has a beanie on her head and is connected to an IV.

Her eyes seem very bright, and she looks both paler and more fragile than at any other time he’s seen her.

Her appearance worries him, but he tries to keep his face neutral as he sits on the end of her bed.

‘Hey, kiddo,’ he says.

‘Kiddo?’ she says, teasingly. ‘You’ve never said that word in your life, have you?’

Alex shrugs and laughs gently.

‘So, what’ve you been doing the last few days?’ Jesse asks playfully.

Alex fiddles with the blanket he’s sitting on. ‘Not much, how about you?’

‘Just hanging out.’

They look at each other for a long moment. Alex doesn’t know what to say next.

‘Kelly told me you tried to visit me earlier,’ Jesse says, rescuing him. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t see you then.’

‘Hey, you don’t owe me an apology. Never. OK?’

She clears her throat and looks at him, forcing him to meet her eye.

‘Alex, you know I’m not going to get better this time, there will be no remission for me, I can’t take any more chemo, and the bone marrow transplant I had from Sam didn’t work. Seems I’ve got funny blood, and donors don’t grow on trees, apparently.’

Alex can’t find his voice so simply nods, but he holds her gaze. She’s so brave it takes his breath away.

‘I want you to know something, Alex. These past few weeks, since you became my friend, with trying to make my wish, with us fighting, our balloon ride – oh my God, that was the best – well, it’s all been wonderful.

I’ve never had a friend like you before.

I want to thank you, I know it’s been tough on you, particularly with my dad and everything. ’

Alex nods again. He’s not sure anyone has spoken to him like this before – like he matters. Like he’s made a difference. Like he’s a true friend.

‘I need you to do something else for me,’ Jesse says.

‘Anything.’

‘Make it work out with Kelly, you two need each other,’ she says, grinning.

Alex is stunned by her audacity and finally finds his voice. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Alex, please, I may only be fifteen, but we’ve all seen what’s going on between you two, or what you’re both trying so hard to ignore. You could be soulmates if you just let it happen.’

Jesse pauses, looking at Alex, watching his reaction.

‘You’ll have to go after her though, she’s a tough cookie, or so she thinks.’

Alex shakes his head, marvelling at the wisdom and maturity of the teenager in front of him.

‘Can you keep a secret?’ he asks.

‘No.’

‘OK, appreciate your honesty. I’ll tell you anyway. You’re right, the more I fight and argue with her, the more I want to see her. And, she hasn’t said it, but I think she might feel the same way.’

Jesse bounces on her bed. ‘I knew it, I knew it.’

‘And it’s all because of you,’ Alex says beaming.

‘Aw shucks, me, cupid?’

‘Yes, you, cupid, well maybe, let’s see. Do you want to know something else?’

Jesse struggles to sit up more, leaning towards Alex.

‘We’ve done it. We’ve finished the main part of your wish. We just need you, your family and friends to come into the studio to bring it all together. Oh, Jesse, I gotta tell you . . .’

It’s suddenly all too much for Alex. He abruptly stands, turns his back on Jesse and walks to the window, looking out at the night sky. Jesse watches his back, sees his hand rise and wipe at his face. With his back to her he hears her whisper, ‘I knew you could do it. When can we finish it?’

Regaining his composure Alex returns to Jesse’s bed and sits.

‘As soon as you, your mum and Kelly can make it happen. But are you going to be able to leave here and come to the studio? And what about your dad? It isn’t your wish if he isn’t in it.’

‘Leave my dad to me, I can bring him around. He loves me, he’s told me many times there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for me, so it’s time for him to listen and act on those words. I’ll be well enough. Alex, we can do this, I can do this, I believe in you. You just deal with Kelly. Deal?’

‘OK, it’s a deal. Is there anything else I can do for you?’ Alex asks staring intently at Jesse. He wants her to know that there is nothing he won’t try to do for her.

Jesse looks away. ‘There’s a place I’d like to go one more time. With you – I’d like to show you before it’s too late. Will you take me?’

Alex knows he was lucky to get away with it last time. But he also knows he’d do anything for Jesse, anything he can. ‘When?’ he asks.

‘Tomorrow morning. Mum is taking Sam to a movie, they planned it ages ago and I’ve told her she has to do it, and Dad said he has to clear some things up at his work so he can take some time off, and we both know why he needs to do that.

I’m being discharged tomorrow afternoon, now they have my pain nearly under control.

I could probably go home today but Christine wants me to stay. ’

‘Yeah. OK. But we’ll have to tell Kelly and Sandy and a doctor or something.’

He looks at the IV connected to her arm, and she sees him looking at it.

‘Oh, don’t worry about this, it’s easily removed. Ten o’clock, will you be here?’

‘This is going to get me in all kinds of trouble, isn’t it?’

‘Yep.’

‘Your dad’s going kill me, isn’t he?’

‘Probably.’

They both laugh and are interrupted by Sandy knocking gently on the open door.

‘Break it up, you two. Sorry, Alex, but it’s late, Jesse needs her rest.’

‘That’s fine, Sandy, because me and Jesse have a plan,’ he says, standing up.

‘Shall I pretend I didn’t hear that?’ Sandy asks.

Jesse giggles. ‘Maybe,’ she answers.

Alex winks at Sandy and leaves the room. They have a plan, and he’s going to do everything he can to see it through.