scarred.

{7} unfair.

{7}

S E V E N | U N F A I R

“I have the perfect idea!” Angela said to me, wearing a very soft smile on her red lips. I found myself in her office again, sitting on that same, worn down leather chair. I could feel the leather’s soft rips when I placed my hand on the edges of the seat.

“For what?” I asked her, almost nibbling on a chocolate chip cookie she had offered me. On her desk sat a square, white plate with even more cookies placed on it. I never took more than one. Two at the most.

Cookies just weren’t my favorite. Especially the chocolate chip ones. They reminded me of my mother, and that brought back memories I wanted to keep tucked away.

“A punishment,” She stated, “For your little rendezvous with your boyfriend.”

“Rendezvous? Boyfriend? Angela, you have it all wrong—”

She interrupted me, “Jill, I’m teasing.”

I sighed softly.

“Anyways, you do know the rules, darling. I have to give you some sort of punishment for running off without telling anyone. If I let you off the hook, then the next time Lidia sneaks off to see a rock concert, she’ll say that it’s not fair that you never got punished for sneaking off and she always does.”

I tried to laugh lightly to show my politeness towards Angela for being kind about this.

“So, I’ve decided that you’re going to join a program.” She began to open up a drawer in one of her wooden desks.

“A program? What type of program?” I asked her.

Placing a beige folder flatly in front of me, she looked deep into my eyes.

“It’s for children who have cancer,” She began to explain.

Cancer?

I had a bad feeling this was going to drag me deeper into my depression.

She reached over to the folder facing my way. When she opened it, my eyes fell on a picture of a teenage girl, definitely younger than I was. She had a big smile on as she showed her teeth.

“This is Anette Maddox,” She started to explain, “She’s been diagnosed with leukemia.”

I gulped. In the photograph, the young girl looked so carefree. I guessed that it was summer when the photo was taken, judging by her white summer dress and wavy chocolate brown hair. She seemed to be on a small boat, either the ocean or a lake surrounding them. The sun was out in the picture. She was smiling like she was happy to be alive. Maybe it was taken before she had been diagnosed.

Poor Anette.

“How does she have anything to do with my punishment?” I asked, looking under the photograph to spot a few sheets of paper with information about her, like her height, weight, and favorite foods and such.

“Good question. See, when the program’s administrators asked Anette what her biggest dream was, she said she wanted an older sister.”

I kept my eyes on Angela, waiting for her to continue.

“Now as you know, that’s impossible since Anette is an only child.”

“Can’t she settle for a younger sibling?” I asked. It wasn’t until that sentence left my mouth that I felt like I shouldn’t have said that.

“Odelle, her mother, is a single-mom. Her father passed away when Anette was barely three. He died of the same thing—leukemia.” Angela explained.