Emma

Emma loses her mom because of cancer

Emma walked out of the lift as gracefully as she could pull off; blocking out all the pitiful stares the nurses gave with a smile. Almost all the staff in the hospital knows her as ‘the girl whose mother is dying’ and she is aware of that. The last two months she’s been greeted with the same sad eyes and sincere wishes, telling her everything would be okay and her mom would be fine, to which she would just smile, nod her head and quickly moved along.

She knew the truth despite all those wishes; she knew that her mother was dying. It was stage IV breast cancer and the cancerous cells have already spread to other places of her body.  Emma knew her mother only has a few months left in her and tried stay as positive as possible, so that she didn’t have to spend her last few months worrying about Emma.

Behind these smiles, however, was a scared little girl who was about to become an orphan. When Emma’s father died 5 years ago, her mother held her in her arms for hours and made things a little easier for both of them to handle. Now that her mother is dying, Emma cries herself to sleep every night knowing no one would be there to hold her soon anymore.

She smiled at another staff member before reaching ward B-14, where her mother was staying. She straightened her back, gave out a sigh and walked in.

Aunt Sylvia was there. That’s weird, she thought. Aunt Sylvia rarely visited them, the last time Emma saw her was when they found out her mom had cancer. She stayed for a few hours, comforted them, and left. After 6 months she decides to visit? Why is she sitting out here?

Aunt Sylvia kept her head down with her brown hair covering her face as Emma approached her. “Aunt Sylvia?” Emma asked, “Is that you?” Startled by the voice of her niece, Aunt Sylvia wiped her tears as quickly as possible to hide her devastation.

“Hi, Emma, eaten your lunch yet?” Her voice quivers. Even layers of make-up can’t hide her sorrow here.

“What’s going on?” The question came out before it hit her, “is mom okay?”

“Oh Emma,” Aunt Sylvia stands to hold Emma’s now tearful face, “I’m so sorry, Emma”

Aunt Sylvia held Emma’s hand as she led her into the room where her mom laid, limp and lifeless. Emma let go of Aunt Sylvia to hold her mom’s, she cried even harder as she felt the cold, clammy hands of her mother. Emma had known this was coming for so long, yet she still wasn’t ready for this.

“I haven’t even said goodbye yet.” She choked out. She heard nurses and doctors coming in but she didn’t care. She just cried. She held her mother’s hand and bawled for a long time. Aunt Sylvia just stood there, with her hand on Emma’s left shoulder.

Emma didn’t know what she was feeling, it a mixture of sorrow, fear, anger and confusion. She lost her mother; she lost both of her parents and was now an orphan. She was scared because she didn’t know what to do; all she was able to do was cry and she hated it, why her? Why did she have to lose everything? What did she ever do to deserve this?

“I miss her, Aunt Sylvia.” She whispered, voice hoarse through the tears, “I miss her so much.”

“I miss her too, Emma.” Aunt Sylvia replies sympathetically. She pulls out a piece of folded paper from her pocket and placed it gently on the bed. “This was your mother’s note to you before she… left. I have to speak to some doctors, and then I’ll go get something for us to eat.” She kisses the top of Emma’s head, “You’ll be okay, dear. Remember that”.

After about an hour, Emma’s tears finally stopped. Trying hard not to break down again, she slowly sat up, revealing her dry lips and swollen red eyes. She picked up the piece of paper and unfolded it. Seeing her mother’s handwriting almost sent a few more tears down her cheek;

 

Dear Emma,

I guess by the time you read this, I wouldn’t be here anymore. I’ll be with your father I hope. You’ve been a wonderful daughter to me, and I know these last few months have been very hard on you.  But somehow you never failed to give me a smile when you come in to see me in this pathetic condition. Your strength makes this a little bit easier, but it’s still hard to let you go. You’ve always been my little girl, and I love you. I really do. I’m going to miss you. I want you to know that even though I’m gone, our relationship lasts forever. You can always find me in your heart. So I’ll never miss out on your future graduations, your future wedding, or seeing your children in the future. I’m excited of what’s to come in your life and proud to have been your mother. Goodbye sweetheart

Mom

 

Reviews

[Sumaid Qaiser]

Nice story................especially the bond between mother and child is attractive