The nine lives of Scott Edwards...Part 5

"Well, since my baby left me, I found a new place to dwell. It's down at the end of lonely street at Heartbreak Hotel. You make me so lonely baby. I get so lonely, I could die."

Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel

The Grim Reaper and Scott were now six years into their game, and even though the Reaper had failed in his previous attempts to take him. He had succeeded in leaving a path of destruction in his wake that resembled the plight of a dead man. "Scott, I love you and I always will, but things are so much different now." The plan was simple, after graduation Scott and his high school sweetheart Lizzie were going to attend college together and most likely get married after. The Reaper altered that course! "It is time for me to move on. Things have become too hard between the two of us. You will always be a part of me." Lizzie was in her second year of college while Scott was cooped up in Madison recovering from his illness. She had stood by him through all his misfortunes, but now it was time for her to go her own way. As she was leaving, she turned to him and said one last thing. "Scott, I wish nothing but the best for you and I want you to know, no matter what course our lives take. I will always love and care for you."

She was his first love and those are always the hardest to overcome. The years of fighting off the Reaper had taken its physical toll on him, but the pain he was feeling after Lizzie left him was unimaginable. He loved her and she loved him, that was never the question. It was circumstances beyond both of their controls that drove a wedge between them. By now he was use to the pain cancer had caused him, but the agony he was feeling this time was different. Maybe it wasn't going to be the cancer that killed him in the end. Maybe it was going to be the loneliness it caused, or a broken heart.

Despite the breakup, his physical condition continued to improve. His family decided to take a long awaited vacation to his Aunt's house in Texas. Upon arrival in the Lone Star State, everything seemed normal. Scott and his family had just finished a day at the beach and upon their return to his Aunt's. Things went wickedly awry. "Scott, are you OK?" His mother, who long ago developed a sixth sense for his well-being could tell something wasn't right. "I must have ate something that didn't agree with me. I am going to lie down for a while and see if that helps me feel better," he told his mom.

The Grim Reaper had wasted enough time with the young Mr. Edwards. So much in fact that he decided to follow the Edwards clan to Texas in order to finally finish him off. "I can't find his pulse!" The seizures were something new, and then they stopped suddenly. It was now time for the Reaper to make his final move. "Please Scott, come back to us. Don't let it beat you." His mother was hovering over his limp body whispering words of encouragement to him. "You can do it my love. Come back to us," the whispering was now accompanied by a stream of her tears dripping across his cheek. "He's breathing again!" Scott's father yelled. An ambulance showed up shortly afterwards and whisked Scott to the hospital. The doctor's prognosis was encephalitis-condition that occurs with a weakened immune system-somewhat common with a lot of cancer patients. Fortunately, the medical experts were able to bring his condition under control and Scott was released from the hospital a few weeks after the incident.

At twenty years of age; Scott Edwards had been diagnosed with cancer three times, received two bone marrow transplants, survived a bout of encephalitis and lost the love of his life. When he returned to Kansas from his near fatal trip to Texas, he was a changed man forever. All he wanted to do was continue his college studies and proceed with life. Well, the Grim Reaper is afforded the luxury of wearing many hats. He was growing tired of Scott's ilk. The next time they were to meet, he would be disguised as a drunken eighteen year old in a souped-up camaro.