See You Soon

Chapter 5

I felt strangely calm, this new kind of cold feeling settling in my body, making me numb. My mind was reeling from what she had told me, still trying to grasp the concept of it. I looked over to see Aaron wearing the same expression I felt, almost paralyzed.

We both pulled her into a big hug, staying like that for several minutes.

"Hey, look. The keyword here is might. Let's not worry too much about anything until we know for sure," Aaron said, bringing us over to the couch to sit down, his knees were shaking.

"And another thing... the reason I wasn't at school on Wednesday was because I was getting an MRI. I have an appointment tomorrow; that's when we'll know." Brooklyn was staring hard at the wall, something I always did when I was trying not to cry.

"We'll come with you," I said, speaking up "were with you no matter what."

Aaron nodded firmly, than managed a smile, "How about I go upstairs and grab some of that ice-cream?"

I thought about how I promised myself I would tell them about everything; tell them that I had been lying. Compared to what had already been brought up tonight, my problem seemed almost silly. That was months ago, this was now. Past versus present. Plus there'd already been enough drama to last a lifetime, why add to the pile?

The rest of the night was spent eating ice-cream and playing board games, some we were probably too old to be playing. We decided to call it a night around two in the morning, settling in our sleeping bags and wishing each other a good night's sleep. This probably wouldn't happen.

The moon was full and bright outside, just visible from one of the high windows. I went over everything that has happened since I moved here, not even a week ago. I couldn't even remember what normal felt like.

My thoughts kept coming back to that conversation I had with my dad, about one of his patients. He said that she was being re-diagnosed with cancer, that she was about my age. What if he meant Brooklyn? She said that they didn't know if she had cancer yet, but my dad made it sound like they already knew... could the patient be Brooklyn?

I woke up gasping, covered in sweat. I must have fallen asleep, and of course had another of my nightmares. Except this one was different; it not only included my brother, but a different figure standing alone among the shadows.

Taking my phone and being careful not to wake anyone else, they were all asleep despite my noise, and headed into the bathroom. It was already nine, which meant my dad would be up. Good, then I didn't have to wake him, I thought as I dialed our home number.

He picked up on the first ring, sounding concerned, "Skylar? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just woke up early, and I was wondering about something," I said trying my best to sound perky.

"Yeah? What about sweetie?"

"Well, you know how you told me about that patient? I was just wondering if she knew about her cancer yet..."

"Oh, you shouldn't be worrying about that. But, she has an appointment today. So no, she doesn't know yet. Good thing I'm not working today."

"Ok, thanks dad. Oh look! Brooklyn's up now, bye!" I hung up after that and stared at myself in the mirror. The sick feeling in my stomach returned at high-speed as I crumpled to the floor. My cheeks were soaked with tears already, and I felt like throwing up.

Brooklyn had cancer. Again. There were no doubts in my knowledge this time, making it all the more real.

Eventually I heard some movement coming from the other side of the door and I had to get up. I flushed the toilet making it sound as if I was just using the bathroom, and washed my face up. I came out and saw that they were both up, chatting easily on their sleeping bags.