Another week went by but the pains and bruises did not go away. Devon came straight home each day and slept, only waking up to dance and eat. Her mom could sense that something was wrong, but she didn't know what it could be. She decided they would skip Saturday morning practice to take a trip to the doctor. Her mom was worried, but she told herself it was nothing.
"Devon, I'm taking you to the doctor tomorrow. I'm sure you're fine but we should probably just make sure. You're due for a checkup anyways."
Devon knew this was more than nothing, but she said nothing. She would let her mom have peace of mind and let the doctors decide tomorrow.
I was looking forward to the next day. That was the part I loved most about my job; the diagnosis, when Devon would find out I was slowly taking over her body. She would be poked and prodded, tested and retested, until they knew for sure. They would take her into a room with her parents and break the news. It happened every time, I was getting used to the routine.
They would tell the family it was me. They would explain how vicious I was. I would smile as they explained what I was doing to the body. I would laugh as they told her what was going to happen next and the horrible things she might go through. I would feel so powerful as I listened to them tear down her hopes and dreams.
The next morning Devon slept through morning practice, she awoke to her mom like she did every morning but this time the smile did not spread across her face. She knew she would not get to dance today, instead she would spend her morning in the doctor's office.
She got dressed, but in jeans and a tee-shirt instead of her usual tights and leotard. She got ready so slowly this morning, hoping she could put off this visit for just a little longer. Her hair was not pulled into a bun today, but instead she left it flowing down her back, beautiful and carefree.
The doctor's office had always scared Devon, and especially today. She had never had anything wrong with her besides the common things that everyone had. She had never heard of anyone else with these strange symptoms. She was worried, and deep down she knew it was something serious. She knew I wasn't a joke, she could almost feel me multiplying myself, taking her down, one blood cell at a time.
After a few minutes of sitting in the waiting room staring off into space, a nurse called her name.
"Devon?" Devon and her mom stood up. "We're ready for you, follow me."
She led her down a hallway and into a small room. She examined Devon, checking the usual things such as her weight, blood pressure, and heartbeat. Nothing seemed to be wrong so far. The nurse carefully recorded each of these things, and left the clipboard on the door. Now it was time to wait for the doctor. I was soon going to be found.
The doctor arrived and Devon told him what had been happening. She told him about the unusual pains and tiredness. She showed him her bruises and told him how strange this was for her. She was a dancer and nothing even close to this had ever happened to her before.
He looked at her with concern as she told him about her pain. He thought long and hard about what this could be. Her symptoms all led to me, but he didn't want to say it.
"We'll have to run a few tests, to see exactly what this may be," he told her.
Some of Devon's blood was taken, and it went off to the lab to be tested and Devon went home to go back to sleep, she was exhausted.
So far they had found nothing wrong, they were only going to test her blood, she reassured herself that everything would be okay.
Everything was okay, until a few days later, while Devon was at school, the phone rang.
