Houses

"N- no," she said slowly, growing more impatient with her limited speech ability. "They- uh- drugged me. I don't rem'mber much." One hand wandered carefully up the left side of her scalp, and she looked a little surprised as she felt tiny pricks of hair coming through already. It was coarse and uncomfortable to touch, but hair nonetheless.

She let out a brief laugh, cut short by the pain in her jaw. "What's the oc- occasion?" Her fingers brushed the hard, wiry end of one of the sutures and she froze, very aware of the fact that they were probably holding her head together. The skin beneath her fingers was smooth; they had clearly shaved it to make the incision. I suppose there's no chance of me wearing a wig to hide this any time soon. I bet it looks a mess.

Tessa nodded, a tentative smile touching her lips. She hadn't even contemplated what would happen after the operation; until now it had seemed utterly unobtainable. "You should... Should be here as well."

"Yeah," she mumbled, preoccupied by the sensations shooting through the skin of her scalp. She had managed to trace the incision on its path around her head, her fingers coming to rest just behind her left ear. At last, she lowered her hand. "They were talking about stopping the che- chemo now." She was definitely struggling with the 'm' sounds, and her voice stumbled over most of the consonants as she spoke. That was the least of her worries though. The doctor had said that memory loss was common, and sure enough she was having difficulty remembering certain things about the operation, or indeed about the fifteen years that proceeded it.

She found herself blushing slightly at the compliment, and smiled. "'m not sure. Never really thought 'bout it." The idea of change excited her, though. Perhaps Elizabeth was right. "Anyway, they're gonna think 'bout radiotherapy next."

"They- uh-" she thought about the best way to describe it. Truth be told, she wasn't certain about how it worked herself, but the doctor had seemed very confident. "They use radiation to get rid of the last bit of tumour."

Tessa murmured her agreement, although a small part of her constantly toyed with the notion that the tumour could return at any stage. She had won a battle, but the war wouldn't end until she was dead. "When's ev'ryone coming 'round?"

Tessa leaned back, exhaling in a soft puff of air. "Bet I look a mess."

"You were supposed to say I look fine," she grumbled in response. Trust Elizabeth to not sugarcoat things.