Three Month Ultimatum

13 year old Jane has just found out that she is not going to live much longer. She is devastated and so is her best friend Carly. This is their story told from both of their points of view.

 

 

     The rain was trickling down my window. It was just like the tears that were running down my cheeks. I usually loved the rain. But today it matched my mood perfectly: gloomy and sad, like there would never be sun again.

       I had just been told I had cancer. The doctor had given me three months to live. Three months. Thirteen years and my life was already coming to an end. I was dying.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

       The sun was just beginning to shine through the clouds when Jane called me. It had been raining all week and now the sun was shining at last. There was a magnificent rainbow outside. I almost didn’t go to the phone when it began to ring. But in the end I pulled myself away from the window to see who it was.

“Hello” I said.

“Hey Carls can we meet somewhere? We need to talk”

“Yeah sure, how about the edge of the woods?”

“Sounds great, see you in a few.”

“Yeah see you.”

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

       I hung up the phone and pulled on my rain boots and grabbed a jacket. I had to tell Carly I was dying, how exactly, I wasn’t sure. She wouldn’t know what to say. Maybe she would but she hardly ever did. I wouldn’t know what to say in a situation like this. I would have to think of how I was going to tell her on the way there. I opened the door and stepped out into the wet afternoon.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

       I was lying in the damp grass when Jane appeared in the mist. She looked sad and she had streaks on her face. Almost like she had been crying, that was how she had looked the day her dad left. Jane had been through a lot lately and I really hoped she was okay. But the way she looked, she didn’t seem okay.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

       Carly had a look of concern on her face when I approached her.

“Have you been crying?” she asked.

“Yeah I have.” I said.

“Why? Are you okay?”

“Not exactly”

“Jane, what’s wrong?”

       She really looked worried now. I didn’t know what to say. I was searching for the right words but they just wouldn’t come. We stood like that for awhile, Carly trying to look at my face and me staring at the ground. I had just drawn the sixth heart in the dirt when I finally spoke.

“Carly, I’m dying.” I said.

“What?!”

“I have cancer,” The tears started again, curse these stupid tears. “the doctor gave me three months to live.”

“NO” Carly said “No no no no no!” “This isn’t happening Jane, it’s not!’

“It is Carly, as much as I don’t want it to be, it is.”

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

       NO! Even after Jane had left that was all I could say. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t be losing my best friend, I just couldn’t! I’d only had her for five years. We had been there for each other whenever we’d been needed. And now, Jane was going to be taken away from me, just like that. It just didn’t seem right! It couldn’t be happening, it just wasn’t real. Only, it was real, and there wasn’t any stopping it. My best friend, my un-biological sister, would soon be gone forever. I was totally helpless and unprepared, and I hated the feeling. I didn’t know what else to do, so I threw myself onto my bed and cried myself to sleep.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

My head hurt when I woke up. Not only my head but my whole body ached. My head just hurt the most.

       Death scared me more than anything. With the current happenings it was more an impending doom, than the distant occurrence it had seemed like only a week ago. Three months was all I had to live the rest of my life. How do you live 70 years or more, in three months? I didn’t know the answer to that, but I intended to find out. I was going to live the best life I could with Carly, my mom, and Carly’s mom. They were the only people I needed. I didn’t need my dad. The low life he was, leaving us like he did. That was a terrible day but yesterday, the day I found out I was dying, was by far the worst day of my life. I only hoped my father cared his only daughter was dying.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

       I had a plan. Today I was going to give Jane the best day she’d ever had. I’d called her mom last night to plan out everything. I would pick Jane up at 10:00. Then we would walk to the ice cream stand and get her favorite ice cream. After that we were going to go to the mall and shop ‘till we dropped. I just hoped she would be able to go that long. With her getting weaker in the passing weeks, it was hard to say. She was still doing pretty well; she just didn’t have the energy she used to.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

       Carly had just taken me shopping. I swear I felt like I was dying, well, more quickly than I actually was. I had been strong for Carly. I had shopped until I was going to drop. When I finally got home I headed straight for the couch, I didn’t think I could make it up the stairs to my room. Just then, the doorbell rang. My mom answered the door, and there he was. He was wearing a nice shirt and slacks. He looked quite well off in fact.

“What are you doing here?” my mother hissed at him

“I’ve come to see Jane, I have rights, and after all, I am her father.”

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

       When Jane called she was whispering, and there was yelling in the background.

“Carly” she said “He’s here, he showed up out of nowhere. I don’t want him here Carly I really don’t” she choked out.

I could tell she was really upset.

“I’ll be right there; do you want me to come in the window?”

“You’d better” she said. Then she hung up the phone.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

       I was hiding in my closet with the phone when I heard a faint knocking on the door. It was Carly, I knew without opening the door because of our special knock. One knock pause four knocks and then both hands. I opened the door and pulled her in. My closet was my sanctuary. It had pillows all over and it was quite cozy. But right now it was our hiding place, our hiding place from my psycho dad. He wasn’t exactly a bad man, but he wasn’t a good one either. He had left me and my mom a year ago. I’m not sure that he wanted to, but he went to jail for drug abuse. He was only supposed to be in for three months, but when three months passed, he never came home. We think that he found someone else, someone else to love. That hurt, both me and my mom. But we couldn’t do anything about his stupidity. Besides, we didn’t want him back.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

       I was scared, mostly for Jane, but a little for myself too. Her dad was back, her terrible, terrible dad. There was so much yelling going on downstairs. We were both afraid for her mom. I was trying the best I could to comfort her. Unfortunately, I hadn’t ever been any good at that type of thing. She was just staring blankly at the door. I went over to her and pulled her down so her head was on my lap. She re-adjusted herself, to get more comfortable I guess, and then went back to staring blankly.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

       I didn’t know what to do. The fighting downstairs was so loud now. I was so scared. Then suddenly every then went silent. ‘What if he hurt my mom?’ I thought. I was so busy picturing all the bad things that could have happened that I didn’t realize I was sobbing.

“Are you okay?” Carly asked

“What if he hurt here” I managed to say between sobs. I finally decided to go check on her. I tore away from Carly and ran as fast as I could down stairs. What I found wasn’t at all what I was expecting. I was expecting blood and hatred. Instead I found my mom with her head down on the table, crying, and my dad with a twisted expression of pain on his face. When he saw me he abruptly turned and headed for the door. First, though, he stopped, kissed my cheek, and hugged me tightly. Then without another word, he was gone.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

       The first thing Jane and I did was run over to her weeping mom. Jane looked at her mom anxiously, but neither of them spoke. They seemed to be having a conversation with their eyes, their stunning blue eyes. Finally Jane spoke, but she spoke in a voice so small and scared. It didn’t seem like her voice at all.

“Did he hurt you?” she whispered.

Her mom pushed Jane’s light brown hair out of her daughter’s face and just stared at her.

“No he didn’t hurt me,” she said “I just had to tell him that we were going to lose you.”

The tears were running down all of our faces now. I was trying to be silent but a pitiful sob escaped my lips. The beckoned me over and embraced me in a giant hug. We stood like that for at least ten minutes before I finally pulled away.

“I have to go.” I said, and then I left.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

       It had been two months and two weeks sense I had found out I was dying. I had been in bed for a week straight. All of my strength was gone. I knew that my end was near, but I was only focusing on the present. Facing death was something I thought I would do in about eighty years, not three months. I’d lived as much as I could in the past two months. Now all I could do was wait. I scared me to go to sleep and know I might not wake up in the morning. My mom had taken to sleeping with me and kissing my face all over when I woke up. Death was close for me, and we both knew it.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

       Jane died today. I wasn’t there with her like I promised I would be. Her mom called me at about 10:00 in the morning and told me that Jane was gone. I ran all the way to Jane’s house in the pouring rain. I got there at 10:05 and found Jane and her mom in Jane’s room. Her mom was sitting at the window, silently crying. Then I saw Jane. She was laying on her bed, pale as could be, with her eyes closed. I walked slowly over to her and touched her hand: cold. All of the life was gone here, Jane was gone.

“NO” I cried “Please no!”

For the rest of the day I sat there talking to her, hoping that she would open her eyes and smile, but she never did.

       We laid Jane to rest three days later. I was never completely at peace with losing her, but it gets better every day. Jane’s dad didn’t show up to the funeral. He must not have cared enough to show up. It was okay though, if he felt he didn't want to go, he wouldn't have been needed.

       I spend my time with my family and Jane’s mom now. We’re all doing better. It was just hard losing a beloved friend and daughter after she only lived thirteen years.

 

~*~*~*~THE END~*~*~*~      

   

Reviews

[Rainbow Rider]

Hi and welcome to the Cafe. I enjoyed reading this, it began so beautifully and ended tenderly. I don't know if this came from a real experience or not but as a reader it felt more like the writer actually did experience this tragic lose. If that is the case I would leave it as it is. If it is just a story, I personanlly found the comments regarding the father, especialy at the very end to be an upsetting distraction from the tenderness and sadness of the story of the two young ladies.

[Cory]

Lucky! I Barely Have Any Reviews On Any Of My Stories!

[well_written]

Your story revolved around a deep subject, and a hard one for some to really imagine. I had a cousin who died of cancer. The disease, his cancer, took his life away slowly, and yet too fast. He knew he was dying, but I saw him deal with it in a way that brought out his life, made it stand out. Just something to think about if you decide to take this further. I really liked it, and was a bit thrown off at first with the switch narration. After about five paragraphs it had grown on me. There is a lot of potential in it, as well as your writing style. Good job! Keep up the good work.