Love, Nene〖Tbhk AU〗

〖 fourteen 〗

Dear Diary,

Today I met a boy who is in the hospital long-term. He is the boy in the room next to mine, the one whose mother constantly weeps over his condition.

I met him by the vending machine in the cafeteria. He was getting a small bag of popcorn for his sister, he said, but it turned out the machine was broken.

I was on a walk through the hospital when I saw him. I'm not sure why I walked up to him, why I started a conversation, why I was so interested in his story. He responded to everything with a smile, a laugh, and an answer through a voice that was not at all tinged with anxiety or despair.

He said, "I know what's happening to me, and I know what's being done to stop it. If I can't win, at least I tried."

Remembering he had mentioned his room, which was the one next to mine, and because I remembered his weeping mother, I asked, "But what about your family?"

"'What about them?' I love them lots. But they know it's not my fault. It shouldn't have to be, right? I wanna fight for them, but if I lose, they'll know I tried to stick around. And that should be enough, they told me."

"What about your mother?"

A sadder look washed over his face. The first one of his I saw.

"She just doesn't wanna lose me to the same thing she lost her mother to."

He whispered the next part, saying it more for himself than for me, "She doesn't think I can win."

In the end, the two of us sat at the same table and talked for some time; I wasn't keeping track of how long.

He has lymphocytic leukemia. He was diagnosed when he was ten years old, and now he is thirteen. He has been through multiple unsuccessful treatments. His little sister's name is Ryouka and his father passed away when he was six.

We talked until my nurse came looking, wondering where I was. As I left, he promised to come see me again sometime.

I think I made a friend.

Love, Nene

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