Heartbreak

This isn't like my other stories, so if you shed a tear you have been forewarned.

*****

At the age of nine Abel Carter was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma. He had no idea how he could have coped with all the pain of the chemotherapy, the bone morrow transfusions, if it wasn't for his very loving parents. It was because of them he could endure all the treatments the doctors put him on, and what do you know after three long hard years Abel beat those pesky little tumors. And so, for six long peaceful years he enjoyed life to its fullest knowing how lucky he was to be alive. Yet he knew how narrow his margin of survival was. So he had come to terms with his death at an early age that no child should ever have to experience. Then again, life is never known to be fair, or caring to those that live within this world of man. So Abel's mother Carol took him every month to ensure herself and him that his cancer was truly gone for the first year then every six months after that. However, we all know how fate can be the cruelest to those of us that has let to truly live. A day before his eighteenth birthday Abel knew it had come back, although this time worse than before.

"Abel!" Carol cried out as she walked in through the back door that led to the kitchen to find her son on the floor having a seizure. Quickly moving objects out of the way so he wouldn't harm himself. Dialing her husband's cell as she paced the kitchen waiting for her son to come out of his seizure.

"What's wrong sweetheart?!" Dan asked as he heard his wife's whimpering over the phone.

"It's Abel..."

"What's wrong, what happened?!" Dan asked fear creeping into his voice.

"He's had a seizure," Carol said breaking down. Crying her heart out as she watched her son's body jerk.

"Call 911, I'll meet you at the hospital."

"M-mom," Abel said weakly as he came out of his seizure. Confused as to where he was.

"I'm here baby," Carol said tossing the cordless phone aside once the ambulance was on its way. That hard piece of plastic bounced, skidded, and crashed into the wall before breaking apart. "I'm here, I got you," she cooed softly as she gently brushed his hair, "don't get up, the ambulance is on its way," Carol said her eyes red and puffy as she looked down at her son.

"O-okay," Abel said groggily. "What happened?"

"You had a seizure baby," Carol said her lip trembling.

"It's back isn't it?" Abel asked his heart raced in fear of the truth.

"I don't know, let's wait until Dr. Mott has a look at you, alright?" Carol said praying that his cancer hadn't came back.

Seven minutes later the paramedics arrived, Carol moved quickly out of the way as they looked over her son before they helped him onto the stretcher. Her hands wrapped around his as she rode beside him as the paramedics went about their tasks. Squeezing his hand reassuringly as they raced towards the hospital.

"Where's Abel?!" Dan asked as he came rushing into hospital room they had set his son up in.

"Oh Dan!" Carol cried throwing her arms around her husband. "They just took him to run some test."

"Shh, we got through this before we can do it again," Dan said softly as he held onto his wife for support.

An hour turned into two as they waited for their son to return from the MRI. Waiting on Abel's doctor to come in to inform them what was happening to their only child. Dan was growing restless as the minutes wore on. Stopping in his tracks as the door to Abel's room opened. His heart swelled as his son smiled weakly at him, and it broke at the same time when he saw the pain in his son's eyes.

"Hey bubby, how you feeling?" Dan asked as the nurse finally left after she hooked her son to the machines. His hand slipped into his son's who gave it a weak squeeze.

"Oh you know, woman undressing me, dudes poking me in dark places," Abel said jokingly.

"We'll get through this Abel," Dan said into his son's hair as he placed a kiss on his head. "You just have to be strong like before."

"Yeah," Abel said weakly. He was tired of fighting. Tired of always being sick, tired of doctors poking at him. Tired of all the test they ran, so, so very tired of the hand life dealt him. Most of all he was tired of seeing the worry, the fear, the helplessness in his parents eyes because they were given a faulty son.

"Hello Abel," Dr. Mott said as he entered the room carrying the folder of the MRI scans underneath his arm.

"Hi," Abel said messing with the heart monitor clip on his left index finger. The room was silent as his doctor looked over the scans. Abel knew it was bad given the dark spots on the film. He could tell his cancer had spread from his brain to the rest of his body. The look on his doctor's face told him such as Dr. Mott turned towards him.

"What is it doctor?!" Carol asked gripping her son's hand hard.

"I think it be best if we..."

"No," Abel said speaking up, "tell me I want to know."

"You're cancer has returned Abel... and it's inoperable," Dr. Mott said somberly.

"What?!" Dan roared rising from his seat.

"Are you sure?" Carol asked not believing a word.

"I'm afraid so," Dr. Mott said. He hated telling love ones that there was nothing they could do. Even after twenty years it still broke his heart. "Abel has advanced to stage IV descending," he said gesturing to the film that his cancer had spread passed Abel's lungs.

"Is there nothing we can do?!" Carol asked trying not to tear up.

"Sadly no, all we can do is make Abel as comfortable as we can. See here," Dr. Mott said pointing to Abel's brain scan. Pointing to the tumor that was sitting in-between the right and left hemispheres of Abel's brain. "Even if we were able to rid your body of these tumors," he said pointing to the ones below Abel's neck, "we can't operate or eradiate this one, to do so would either kill you on the table and destroy your brain cells trying to reach it with radiation."

"How long?" Dan asked his hand trembling in his son's hand.

"A month, maybe three."

"Then I want to go home," Abel said finally speaking up.

"Baby..."

"Mom, I don't want to die in a hospital. If I'm to go, I want it to be in my bed," Abel said his thumb brushing along her hand.

"Abel think about this..."

"I have Dad," Abel said looking over at his father, "thought a lot about this the last time we were here, and I want to go home. I want to be with you two as much as I can," he said his lip trembling.

"I would like to keep Abel here for the night in case he has another seizure," Dr. Mott said his hands resting on the railing at the foot of his bed.

"O-okay," Abel said trying not to see how his parents were fighting back their tears.

Carol collapsed in the hallway that led to Abel's room. Her wails causing the hustle of the nurses station to die down as her grief poured out of her. Burying her face into her husband's chest as his tears joined hers in their inability to help their sweet boy. The worst fate life can ever give a parent is to watch as their own child waste away before their eyes and unable to do anything to save their own child.

"My baby! My sweet, sweet boy!" Carol cried out her tears staining Dan's shirt.

"I know sweetheart, I know," Dan said his voice breaking as he held her tight. "Come on, this cold hard floor isn't good for you," he said lifting his wife up.

"No!" Carol shouted shaking her head. "My son isn't going to die! He isn't!" she said pounding her fists into his chest. Dan took the blows. "He hasn't even lived yet! He's only..." Carol broke down once again.

"You sure?!" Dan asked after his wife calmed down after two hours.

"I'm not leaving Abel here alone," Carol said in the quiet chapel.

"Okay, we'll get through this... somehow," Dan said his hand covering hers.

"I don't know how Dan," Carol said in a whisper. "I don't how to go on without our boy."

"I know," Dan said tears reaming his eyes, "I'm losing a son too."

"Oh Dan," Carol said throwing her arms around his neck, "I didn't mean..."

"I know baby, I know," Dan muttered.

"Abel," Carol whispered as she opened the door once Dan had left to prepare a room on the ground floor of their home for Abel. So should his body get to weak in the end he wouldn't have to climb the stairs for his bed.

"Yeah," Abel said his drugged mind tried to focus on the tv as his morphine drip eased the pain he was in.

"I brought you dinner," Carol said the grease of his favorite dinner soaked the brown paper bag in spots as she carried in a try of drinks. "I hope you're hungry."

"Starving," Abel joked as he turned down the volume.

"So is there someone I should tell that you're here?" Carol asked her thumb brushed along his bicep.

"Like?!" Abel said in-between bites of his french fry.

"A girl, Abel. You do have a girlfriend you're seeing at school, don't you?" Carol asked her eyes studying his face so she could always remember her son.

"No, high school girls aren't into sickly guys that looks like they're about to kill over Mom," Abel said shyly.

"That's too bad they don't know what they're missing," Carol said sweetly as she ran her hand through his hair.

"Mom, you have to say that," Abel said feeling his cheeks heat.

"Maybe," Carol said with a slight smile, "but it's true nonetheless." Pulling out her phone texting his father below the bed as Abel munched on his burger.

"What do you want to do about it?" Dan texted back. "Surely you aren't thinking of hiring a prostitute?!"

"No, of course not! But my son isn't going to die without knowing what it is to know what love is, and how it feels to be made love to," Carol said texting back.

"Well... does he have a girl or something?"

"No..."

"Then what? What are you trying to suggest Carol?"

"That I do it...," Carol sent to her husband. Her thumbs hovered over the keyboard as she tried to think of some rational reason.

"Do what now?!"

"Do you want some woman laying with our son that only wants money, or would you rather have someone that loves him to bring him into adulthood?" Carol sent back glancing up noticing how her son was struggling to finish his meal.

"But Carol, he's our..."

"I haven't forgotten Dan. I did carry him for nine months."

"I don't know Carol. I need to think about this. He's not eighteen yet."

"He will be here in four hours and twenty minutes," Carol sent back.

"And you sure this is what you want to do Carol?"

"I want to give my son every experience he can have before..." Carol sent back trying to hold back her tears.

"Okay, I understand. Just don't get caught, alright?"

"I won't," Carol said with determination.

All was quiet expect for the beeps of the machines as the hour reached twelve twenty-one in the morning. Carol eased herself out of her chair. Walking silently to the door, knowing she had thirty minutes before the nurses came to check on her son as she locked the door. She wasn't going to have sex with him, not yet, no that would come later. Right now he needed to know what it was like to have a woman give his now eighteen-year-old body pleasure. Slowly easing down the light blanket, pulling up the gown they had put her son in. Her eyes studying his face as she inched down his underwear.

Abel slowly awoken as he felt something strange. Feeling a finger on his lips as he fought through the haze of drugs they had him on. Once his eyes finally cleared, his eyes quickly darted down as he watched as his mother's hand was gently stroking his cock.

"Happy birthday baby," Carol said sweetly.

"What are..."

"Giving you something that you should have experienced if life was so cruel to you," Carol said leaning in placing a kiss on her son's lips. "Was that your first kiss?" she asked. Her son shyly nodded his head. "Then watch baby," Carol said leaning over his bed. Her lips wrapping around the head of his cock, turning her head to the side so her son could watch as his rod slid into her mouth. Doing everything she had learned in twenty-four years of being sexually active in her thirty-nine years of life. She wanted her son to have everything before her time came so he could go without any regrets. She also knew it wouldn't take her long and she was right as she felt the twitch of his cock. Making him watch as she drank down his cum. Her eyes had a little sparkle in them when his cock sprang back to life as she was cleaning his cock to insure herself she got every drop of his semen. Listening to his heavy breathing as she pleasured his tool once again. "Now you go back to sleep baby," Carol said kissing his forehead, "and when we get home I'll show you a lot more."

Four days had passed, Abel set in the passenger seat of his mother's car on his lap a box of his things that he knew his best friend would cherish once he was gone from this world. It was only an Xbox One with all of his games that he knew his friend had been eyeing when he got it. Abel knew his friend's parents couldn't afford one and knew he would take care of it long after his passing and whenever he played he would be reminded of their friendship. Abel knew he didn't have too much longer. He could felt his body weakening by the day. Just this morning after a huge coughing fit, seeing blood coating his hands, he knew it was going to get worst before it was over.

"I'll wait here baby," Carol said her eyes quivered in sadness as she rubbed his arm. She had found his bloody tissue in the wastebasket. How it was killing her that she couldn't do anything to ease her son's pain. She would willing take his place if it meant her son could live, yet god, fate, or whomever ruled the cosmos seemed intent on taking her sweet boy from her.

"Okay," Abel said weakly trying to hide his struggling breath.

"Abel!" Mike said nearly running down the steps as he saw his friend struggling to walk up the few steps at the front of the walkway. "What's going on, why weren't you in school?!" he asked trying not to look at the box in his hands.

"I want you to have this," Abel said holding out the box to Mike, "I know you'll take care of it."

"O-okay?! But..." Mike's eyes fell upon the gaming system through the creak of the lid. He knew what it was, and he knew Abel wouldn't part with it if something wasn't very wrong. "Wait here," he said scurrying quickly to the porch setting the box down. His head snapped around as he heard Abel doubling over as if it sounded like he was coughing up a lung. His eyes went wide as he saw a large red splotch on the Kleenex in his hand and his blood stained lips. "Abel are you alight?" Mike asked worryingly as he helped Abel to stand.

"No," Abel said wiping his lips, "my cancer came back, nothing they..." Releasing a huff as Mike threw his arms around him. Mike could see Abel's mother tearing up, her lip trembling as she sat in her car watching her son.

"How long did they..."

"A few weeks, maybe three months," Abel said balling up the tissue in his hand before jamming it into his pocket.

"Shit!" Mike cursed.

"Well, if it isn't sick boy," Darla teased as she walked out onto the porch.

"Shut up Darla!" Mike snapped at his sister.

"Always nice to see you too Darla," Abel said with a halfhearted smile. "I have to go," he said weakly stumbling backwards slightly as Mike hugged him again. "Goodbye my friend," Abel said patting his back, "do keep my character alive, won't you?"

Mike's head collapsed into his legs as step on the steps of his porch as Carol backed out of their driveway. Abel could see Mike's sides heaving as his sister quickly hurried down the steps. Wrapping her arm around his shoulders, pulling him into her as Mike pointed at Abel. Darla's head turned towards them as Abel waved goodbye as his mother pulled away.

"Welcome back Abel," Dan said from behind the camera as his son walked through the door once Carol took him to say goodbye to his three closest friends.

"Dad?!" Abel said looking weirdly at the camera in his father's hands.

"What?! I don't want my son fading from my memory ever!"

"But I don't want you to see me sick," Abel groaned yet wore a small smile as his father centered the camera.

"You're my son, it doesn't matter if you're sick or not," Dan said his words carried a hint of mirth underneath it. "Easy son," he said reaching out catching his son around the waist. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just a little dizzy," Abel said his head feeling light yet pounding at the same time.

"Lean on me Abel, I got you," Dan said leading his son into the living room where he had set it up as Abel's bedroom until the time came. Helping his son to the couch, squeezing his shoulder trying to pour his own strength into his son to give them just one more day with their son. Walking over to the tripod, mounting it to the stand centering it solely on his boy to record every moment they could. So he and his wife could always remember his smile, the spark in his eyes, and yes the strength his son had facing his own mortality.

It was around eight that night when Abel was nodding off. He knew it was the pills they gave him to ease his pain. Jumping from his seat as his son suddenly bent over coughing into his hands. Watching Carol race into the kitchen as they saw the blood dripping from between his hands. Dan didn't even think, he was there on his knees rubbing his son's back as his fit slowly subsided.

"S-sorry," Abel said weakly.

"Don't you worry about it Abel," Dan said fighting back his tears as he was forced to watch as his son's body slowly betrayed him. "It isn't your fault son," he whispered lovingly into Abel's hair before placing a kiss on his temple while wiping Abel's hands clean with the washcloth Carol handed him. "There's my boy," Dan said smiling warmly as he cleaned his face.

"Sorry you couldn't have a normal son."

"Don't you ever think like that! You are my son, I love you regardless if you're sick or healthy. You will always be my boy," Dan said bringing Abel into a tight hugged, "so you get that thought out of your head right this instance. I'm the lucky one that got to have such a fine son," he said his hand gently rubbing his back. "Let it out Abel," Dan said stroking his son's hair as Abel cried into his shoulder.

His eyes fell on his wife as she wrung out the washcloth as she stood over the sink. Walking silently behind her as her shoulders shook in her silent tears. Hugging her lightly as he placed a kiss on the back of her head, swaying her body slightly as they wept for their son in that small space.

"Okay... do it," Dan said finally giving his consent to Carol. He knew this was the strongest his son would be. He had seen the cancer ward years ago and knew how weak his son was going to get as the end neared. He wanted his son to experience this while he had control of his facilities.

"You sure?" Carol asked quizzically. She had been trying to bring it up since that night in the hospital, yet Dan always tried to change the subject. Maybe he thought his son could get better, she hoped so too even if it was just wishful thinking.

"Yes, show our son a night he will always remember," Dan whispered into her ear. "I love you sweetheart," he said knowing this would be as hard on her as it would be on him. However, if she was strong enough to see this through then he had to be just as strong if not stronger.

"Okay, let me got get a quick shower and prepare myself," Carol said lightly kissing her husband.

"Why are you recording this?" Abel asked as he sat on his bed in his underwear.

"You'll see in a moment Abel," Dan said setting the mood, insuring that the camera was centered on the bed. Closing the curtains to keep this night hidden from the world. The only ones that needed to know what went on in this room was him, his son, and his wife.