Zayn

It was Monday today, meaning I was getting my very, first, chemotherapy session. My family had stayed over, so they could be here for me today, which I was very grateful for. They were already dressed but I had woken up only half an hour ago, so I had just gotten ready.

Once I was washed up, teeth brushed and my clothes on, I sat down on my bed and felt how mum stuffed something in my hand. Opening it, I saw my favourite, small, chocolate bar.

I gulped, "Mum, you're spoiling me way too much." I couldn't help but laugh, slowly opening the packaging.

My mum stroked my hair, "You might get nauseous because of it after your chemotherapy so.. you better eat it now."

Kissing her cheek, I stared at her for a while, a smile on my face. "Thanks, mum." I took a bite of the chocolate and closed my eyes at the taste of it, sighing in content. I didn't know why but it was just so good. My sister hated the structure of crunch and smooth filling, I couldn't understand why.

When I opened my eyes, I noticed my mother staring at me. It made me chuckle, "What are you looking at?"

"You." She replied, a small smile visible.

"Why?" I took another bite and slowly chew on it while looking at my dad and sister, who had to go to the toilet, as usual. My young sister couldn't ever hold it, which had intruded a lot of family days out.

My mum sighed, but she was still smiling. "I just like how you're enjoying your food. You're adorable."

"Mum." I groaned, though, a chuckle left my mouth. "I'm twenty one."

"I don't care. You're still adorable." She grinned and grabbed the empty package out of my hand, stuffing it in her purse. I shook my head and looked up when Caroline, my dad and Safaa and Doctor Lane came into the room at the same time.

Swallowing thickly, I knew this was the moment it would all happen. I couldn't help but feel nervous.

Doctor Lane spoke up, "Good morning Zayn. Did you sleep well?"

I nodded, "Yeah. Thanks."

"That's great. Alright, my colleague- Doctor Martins- will come soon. He'll bring the infusion for the chemotherapy with him, which will be standing next to your bed. If your family can take a seat?" He smiled at my dad and Safaa. My dad sat down next to my mother and pulled Safaa on his lap.

She only had eyes for her stuffed horse at the moment, which made me feel relieved. I didn't know how she was going to take it. She knew I was sick, but she was too young to understand the concern of it. Which was probably better, anyway.

Eventually, after a few minutes another Doctor came into the room. He walked over to me and shook my hand. "I'm Doctor Martins and I'll be giving you the chemotherapy today." He was wearing a cap to cover his mouth and he was wearing medical gloves, making me feel like I was a toxic person, though, obviously I knew it was the toxic chemo.

"I'm Zayn." I nodded, not really knowing what to say and I watched him as he introduced himself to my mum, dad and Safaa.

I watched him as he rolled the infusion into my room, placing it next to my bed. There was a small bag hanging up high, which was for my medication, so he said. A lot of tubes were connected to the infusion, some of them needing to be connected to my veins soon, and I observed the whole thing for a while.

"Alright, so what we're going to do is bring a thin needle into one of your veins and it will stay there until the session is done. We're going to attach it to your skin with band aids and the needle will be attached to one of the tubes, which brings the chemo, so the medication into your blood." The doctor explained, to which I nodded.

Needles didn't really scare me. The feeling wasn't comfortable, but I had already done so many blood tests I was almost used to it.

Suddenly, the door opened and Rose stepped inside my room, making me remember that it was Monday, so her work day. Caroline had asked me before if she could join us to see how chemotherapy through infusion worked and I had said yes, but I forgot it until now.

She smiled at me and I gave her a smile back, feeling some sort of relief washing over me. I saw her introducing herself to my family, her cheeks a rosy colour. "Hi, I'm Rose." She shook their hands politely, giving them a warm smile.

"I'm Yaser, Zayn's dad." My father smiled back at her.

She smiled and shook my mum's hand. "Trisha, Zayn's mother. This is Safaa, one of his sisters."

"Nice to meet you all." Rose flashed me another smile and rushed her way over to Caroline. My room was crowded and I usually didn't like it, but the people who were here needed to be here so I had no choice.

The doctor smiled at Rose while getting the needle ready for my treatment. I watched him as he did so and Doctor Lane walked over to the door. "He will be with you. I've got to visit my other patients."

Nodding, I frowned when Caroline walked over to the door as well. "A patient is calling for help. I'll come back soon." It disappointed me, as Caroline made me feel comfortable around here, but Rose, weirdly enough, already had the same effect on me, so I waved them goodbye.

Now I was left with my family, Rose and the doctor I didn't know. Rose sat down on a chair on the other side of my bed and she was focusing on how the doctor was preparing everything for the chemotherapy.

"Alright, it's time to attach the needle. It might hurt a little." He said honestly.

I stretched my arm out and he grabbed the needle, finding the right spot. I felt the needle pierce through my skin and a sharp pain was followed after that. It lasted a few seconds and I watched the doctor as he started attaching the needle to my skin with band aids and to the tubes from the infusion. It took him a few minutes before everything was settled and he set up the infusion, so the chemo would slowly drip into my blood.

"The first session takes twenty minutes. You can just watch television if you want, I'll be back soon." The doctor greeted us and as my dad had picked up on what he said, he switched on the television.

I only had eye for the infusion, though. I stared at the fluid that was sliding through the tubes into my blood. It was pure toxic they were bringing into my body, but if it was going to kill the wrong cells, then I didn't have a choice.

My mum was looking at me, her eyes roaming over my face, "Do you feel anything?"

"Not really." I shook my head and went back to staring at the needle in my skin. The sight of it wasn't really pleasant and it still wasn't really comfortable but, I had to go through it. This was only the first session of the cure ( the cure had seven sessions) and I probably had to get more cures after this one was done.

He explained me that after this whole week of chemotherapy, I had three weeks to rest. So my body would get rest as well and could gain its own strength again. After those three weeks, I would probably start another chemo cure again which consisted out of three times a week.

But it all depended on how my body would take the medication as it was quite an aggressive sort of medication and it could damage a lot of things.

Suddenly, a warm hand was felt on my arm, and when I looked up- I realised it belonged to Rose. Her eyebrows were furrowed, a small frown visible on her forehead as she was intensely staring at the needle. It made me laugh softly, "What are you doing?"

Rose gulped, "Oh, I'm sorry. May I? I want to know how he attached the needle into your vein and onto your skin and then the tubes. I have to write an essay about it."

"Yeah of course. Go ahead." My laughter turned into a smile instead, and I nodded, moving my arm closer to her so she could see it clearer.

I felt how her soft fingertips grabbed my arm and how her eyes were focused on the needle. She frowned but when she understood it she mumbled something to herself. It was quite amusing if you ask me and that's another moment when she made me forget about what was actually happening to me, with the chemotherapy and stuff.

She stood up and let go of my arm, making me feel a little cold at the lose of her warm touch. She walked over to the other side of the bed and carefully grabbed my arm again to follow the tube towards the infusion. I watched her brown eyes as they roamed over the infusion, following the tube into the small bag full of the chemo medication.

My eyes met my mum's ones and she had a small smile playing on her lips. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, quickly focusing on the television again.

Rose sat down on her chair and wrote things down in a small notebook, my eyes trained on her small hands freely moving over the pages.

"Mummy, I saw kids and they had no hair, will Zayn get no hair?" Safaa asked while looking at me, her eyes trained onto my hair.

She sighed a little, stroking Safaa's long and thick black hair. "Zayn will lose his hair, yeah."

Safaa giggled and climbed on the bed, "Then you will look like Caillou. From tv." She wrapped her arms around my neck and I thought of the kid program that was basically my childhood, which Safaa loved watching it as well.

I laughed softly and poked her sides, "Yeah, I will."

"Caillou has no hair, mummy. Zayn will look like him and that's good because Caillou is funny." Safaa smiled, showing her small teeth, that had yet to fall out.

Rose laughed at Safaa's comment and as she gave a tiny nod, I could tell she knew who Caillou was. It made me smile at her, which she returned widely.

Safaa climbed off the bed and went back to my mum's lap and I stared at the television, though the images displayed didn't quite process in my mind. I was feeling tired and I wished this would be over soon, so I could take a nap.

Eventually, the doctor came back into my room and he walked over to me, his hands reaching for the infusion. "Alright, Zayn. The first session is done." He unattached the tube from the needle after stopping the whole infusion, reaching for my arm after that.

"How did it feel?" The doctor asked me while carefully taking off the band aids, that were stuck to my skin.

I shrugged. "I didn't feel anything really." He threw away the band aids and took the needle out of my arm. I, again, felt a sharp pain but it was gone within a second. He pressed another band aid to my skin to stop the bleeding and he cleaned everything up. I stretched my arm and felt how needed that was as it was laying in the same position for a while and it became stiff.

"That's good. Tomorrow, at the same time we will give you the second one. Rest up, okay?" I nodded and shook the doctor's hand.

Later, my family said their goodbyes to me because they had to work again and Safaa had school the rest of the week so they couldn't stay here, which was understandable. Rose went away too because Caroline gave her other chores to do, much to my disappointment, though, I had time to finally sleep.