Wretched Roses √

Chapter 17-Sister

I imagine Layla looking something like this^

*a lot of emotions in this chapter and talk about death and cancer*

Leona, Saturday
"So, who's this boy you've been talking to?," I asked, a grin placed on my face as I looked down at Layla. A blush crept onto her cheeks and I immediately understood she had a crush on him.

"His name is Julian, I met him at the hospital a couple of weeks ago after bumping into him. You where there actually," I could tell how giddy she sounded when she talked about him, like a high school girl with a crush, it made me smile to see her so happy, I hadn't seen her like this in a while.

"Too bad that I didn't meet him," I replied, she gave me a smile before answering.

"We started talking a lot, he's at the hospital a lot," she said, her voice trailing off, she suddenly sounded sad and her smile diseappered. She cleared her throat before continuing. "He has cancer," she stuttered, my smile was quickly wiped off my face when I heard her news. A tear fell from her cheek.

"He hasn't had it for long and it just reminded me so much of how it was like for me when I found out," she continued, her voice now brittle. I pulled her into a hug and held her for a couple of seconds before pulling away.

"I just-" She took a deep breath before continuing. "It hit me, I'm dying, sure I knew it was happening before but hearing that he might die as well, it just weirdly enough didn't feel as real until now. I just, I just don't wanna live like this anymore, I'm tired and I've had to stay in the hospital for months. I had to drop out of college for fucks sake." I looked at her, shocked. What was she saying? A tear escaped my eye, and another one, until eventually they were streaming down my face. Layla pulled me into a hug, comforting me, I should be the one comforting her, not the other way around. I cried in her arms for a few minutes before finally gathering myself and pulling away.

"What do you mean by that?." I knew exactly what she meant. She tilted her head slightly, raising her eyebrows, she knew that I understood what she meant.

"You know exactly what I'm implying." She looked me dead in the eye but I continued acting oblivious, not wanting this to be real.

"I'm quitting treatment, but I wanted to talk to you about it first, I know you're against it and you're gonne tell me that I shouldn't do it, I shouldn't give up. But I'm not, I'm not giving up. The treatment is making me miserable, and I'm dying anyways, I don't wanna spend my last few months of life in a hospital, miserable." I stood up at light-speed.

"No, with treatment you could pull through this, sure there's a slim chance but it's a possibility, you can't give up, you can't leave me," I told her, basically shouting at her at this point, pacing like an idiot around the room. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it tightly, stopping me from panicking.

"Calm down, I'm not giving up, okay? The treatment doesn't help much except for keeping me alive for a couple more months at this point, I'd rather live for a month or two, happy, rather than spending my last time on earth, miserable." I took a deep breath.

"Why? Why now?," I asked her, furrowing my eyebrows in sadness. She gave me a faint smile. "Because of him, we kissed yesterday, it made me realize that I don't wanna waste my time here."

"Does mom and dad know?"

"Yes...," her voice trailed off.