HEY GUYS.! SO I'VE BEEN CONTEMPLATING THIS CHAPTER AND I THINK I JUST MIGHT HAVE IT NOW. I HOPE YOU GUYS WILL TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS AT THE END. IT WOULD MEAN EVERYTHING TO ME. YOU'VE BEEN AMAZING WITH GIVING ME FEEDBACK WORTH THIS STORY SO PLEASE, CONTINUE.
P. S. YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME AND I JUST THINK YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT.
P. P. S. ENJOY THE CHAPTER
I turned and closed the door behind me. With a deep breath I turned back to him and said "Sure".
Damien had his hands in his back pockets as he looked up at me. His eyes were guarded but his posture was faltered. He couldn't hold still, slightly fidgeting in his spot.
I held in the urge to go back into my house and close the door in his face. What was he doing here? He had made it more than clear that he didn't want to be friends anymore. I had needed his friendship in the hospital be he had been nowhere to be found. Olive had given up on making excuses for him then and the pain had festered.
"What did you want to talk about?" I asked.
"I'm sure you know what needs to be said," he responded.
"Really? I was sure you had said everything you needed too," I replied crossing my arms.
He sighed.
"Look, what's done is done. I have guest inside and-."
"Carmen, please."
I took a deep breath and looked up to the sky to keep the tears in.
Don't you dare cry, Carmen. Don't do it.
I felt a tear trickle down my cheek.
Dammit.
"You need to know why I stayed away and why Olive was making those excuses. It wasn't just because I needed space and to think about what happened between us. Please look at me."
I looked back at him.
"Carmen, I'm sick. Really sick."
The cold truth feel over me and in that moment I saw him. Really saw him. He had loss weight and a lot of it. His face was slightly sunken in his eyes guarded but no longer holding the brightness in them.
"What's wrong with you?" I asked.
"A few years ago, I was diagnosed with Lupus which is a chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when your body's immune system attacks your own tissues and organs. They told me it would get worse as I got older and that there was no way to prolong it. They told me I'd be lucky to see thirty five."
I tried to push the need to cry away. Where was the good when you needed it?
"I didn't want to believe it so I didn't tell anyone. The only people that knew were my family because Olive was at the appointment with me and made me tell our parents. The disease runs in our family so one of us was destined to have it. I guess I was the unlucky one," he coughed, pulling out a napkin to cover his mouth. When he removed the napkin I could see a hint of red on it. My stomach churned at the same time my heart ached.
"Anyway, things had seem to slow down until about the time your mom went downhill. My health began to deteriorate. The day after our argument, I couldn't move out of my bed. The pain was unbearable. I was sent to ICU for about a week. The door down the hall from you that didn't open? That was me, under twenty four hour watch. I made Olive swear she wouldn't tell any of you."
"But why?" the words croaked out.
"You had too much to worry about and I didn't want to be one of them. Besides, after our argument I didn't know where we stood."
YOU ARE READING
The Ballerina Inside
Teen FictionCarmen Hills is your average teen. And just like any average teen she goes to a high school where you have the popularity group and the not groups. Carmen falls right smack in the center by herself. She doesn't have friends at her school and she's o...