Apollo & Stella with Cancer

Story by: David Weishner
Based on the piece: Apollo with Cancer by Jeffrey Katrencik

"Apollo, is that you? Can you hear me?" asked Stella, Apollo's childhood nemesis, the female version of a high school bully. "I can barely recognize you. Are you in any pain?" she wondered allowed. "You really don't remember what happened, do you? My God, it's a miracle you survived. You're an excellent driver; I did everything I could to run your car off the road."

Apollo had been driving to her hotel, directly from a body building contest in which she took first place. Her lifetime of commitment to health and fitness had paid off well for a woman in her late thirties. She was on a roll, placing first in each of the last four contests she entered. Yet fate was not kind to her this night.

Immediately after Apollo claimed the first place trophy, she was approached by her estranged, childhood schoolmate. Apollo remembered her well. Too well in fact, but thought perhaps she had changed after all those years of court-ordered therapy. Stella was a school bully, a violent bully. Demented even, to the point where police and psychiatrists got involved. Apollo still had the scars on the back of her legs, but was used to ignoring them in the mirror. It only made her train harder when any thought of the past entered her mind.

“Apollo! Congratulations! You look fantastic, do you remember me?” asked Stella cordially.

“Yes, of course I do. You look well,” offered Apollo hesitantly. “What brings you to this part of the country?”

“Well,” said Stella, “I thought we should clear some things up, and now is probably my last chance because I have cancer.”

“What!?” exclaimed Apollo. “What makes you think I want to clear anything up? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

There was a long pause. “Didn’t you hear what I said?” asked Stella.

“Yes, I heard every word. You said you wanted to clear some things up, but I don’t recall having issues with you about anything. I think of our times together quite fondly, don’t you?” asked Apollo.

Stella responded, “Listen to me Apollo, I have cancer. It’s inoperable, and I don’t have very long. There are some things I need to get off my chest, and you know what it is I’m referring to.”

“Oh Stella, it’s so good to see you after all this time,” said Apollo. “It brings back wonderful memories for me. Why don’t we get together soon and have dinner? But right now I’ve got to drive back to my hotel and shower.”

“Why not get together tonight?” asked Stella. “I can follow you back in my car.”

“I suppose,” said Apollo, somewhat hesitantly, “I think the restaurant there is open until midnight. I need something to eat before I turn in anyway. That will be fine.”

“Excellent,” replied Stella. “I’ll wait for you outside.”

Apollo went backstage and gathered her belongings in a duffle bag. She snickered at the thought of ignoring Stella’s mention of having cancer. She had been hoping for years that some horrid, unfortunate circumstance would turn that girl’s world upside-down and render her distraught and impugned with emotional turmoil, just as she had endured at the wicked hand of Stella herself.

Apollo got in her car and signaled for Stella to follow her. She had an ever-increasing chagrin that began to feel better than having just won her fourth contest in a row. In fact, Apollo was beginning to outright laugh out loud as she drove along the narrow two-lane highway back to her hotel.

As Apollo cruised along a dark stretch of road halfway to her hotel, she saw the bright lights of Stella’s car grow increasingly larger, until finally she felt a jolt to her back bumper. Was Stella falling asleep? Did she lose consciousness? What was going on? As Apollo began to slow down, she saw the headlights disappear, and then reappear right next to her door. Then she felt another jolt that sent her car careening along the berm of the road.

Apollo was able to regain control and managed to steer her car back into her lane. She looked in the rearview mirrors, but didn’t see lights anywhere. She looked straight ahead but could only see lights in the distant horizon. That’s got to be my hotel, she thought, and began to speed up to get there as fast as she could. As Apollo looked up from checking her rearview mirror one last time, she saw for only an instant Stella’s car parked perfectly across the highway, with Stella standing directly in front of it.

Apollo slammed on the brakes and swerved to the right, missing the front of Stella’s car by only inches. But immediately in her path was a concrete bridge abutment for a train trestle that Apollo hit dead on at nearly 80 miles per hour. There was a deafening noise, and then everything went silent and dark.

Once the firemen were able to extricate Apollo from her mangled car, it became immediately apparent that she was paralyzed from the neck down. And even if the paramedics could control the profuse bleeding of her exposed spinal chord, it was no guarantee that she would live.

Along with her legs and forearms, Apollo’s face had been crushed, with every bone from her jaw to her forehead being shattered. The impact was so intense that the trauma surgeons found Apollo’s front teeth fused with the remnants of her spine, exactly where her shoulder blades used to be. Her nasal cavity was split open so that the inside of her throat was visible, right to where to the back of her tongue had been cut off. Her brain was visible through her eye sockets, her eyeballs having been dissolved upon impact.

But Apollo was strong, her body was pure muscle. Her vital signs were good, and her brain activity was healthy.