They woke up the next morning to silence.
Pure silence. "wait here" whispered Heather, she stood up and walked across the room. "Can't I come?" Alex asked her, "no" said Heather as she left the room. She made her way across the hallway to her parents bedroom door, she waited a few seconds before knocking. "Go away" a weak voice replied, Heather opened the door to see her mother. She was sitting with her head in her hands, "I said go away" she said again. She lifted her head and heather saw a cut on her forhead, Heather gasped. "Mom your head!" she said pointing at the cut, "he threw a shoe at me" her mother replied. "But I'm fine" heather didn't believe her, she looked anything but fine. Her face was red, and there was tears running down her face. She was shaking, and struggling to no cry. "Mom your not okay" Heather said firmly. "I want to help" no matter how much she tried not to, her voice shook. Her mother shook her head "just go," she closed the door slowly. She walked slowly down the hall, "what do you think you're doing?" she halted. Turning around she saw her step dad, she always found him to be.....scary....."I..um..was just getting some water" she mumbled, he glared at her as she ran into the kitchen. She climbed onto the cupboard, she was always too short to reach the top shelf standing up. She grabbed a plastic cup and jumped down, she filled it with water and ran to her room.
Heather layed there for hours thinking, she finally managed to fall asleep.
****
She woke up gasping, she had a dream. A nightmare. She closed her eyes seeing the girl, she was frail and was basically skin and bones. Heather remembered her bloodshot eyes and grey leathery skin. She remembered how she screamed at her, yelling "you will never escape!" She reached for her glass of water and stopped, her skin was a ghostly pale. Heather felt sick. Very very sick. She ran out of her room and headed for the bathroom, she yanked open the door and ran inside.
*****
Heather sat on the floor breathing heavily, she never got sick never. "Heather? are you alright?" her mother asked her, running into the bathroom. Heather looked up at her slowly, her eyes stung and she wiped them with her hands. "I don't feel good" she whispered, "it's okay" her mother said helping her up. Her mother placed her hand on her forhead, it felt cold and soft. "you've got a fever too" she said shaking her head, "I'll have to take you to the doctor." Heather started walking, she immediately felt queasy. Heather ran back to the toilet, "today's gonna be a rough day" her mother said patting her on the back.
******
They waited in the waiting room for what seemed like hours, "Heather Jaycox please" the nurse called. Heather and her mother stood up,the nurse came over and gave them a "i hate my job but I'm acting like I don't so I'll get payed more" smile.
They walked down the hall to one of the doors, "the doctor will see you soon" the nurse said in a fake cheerful voice. They waited in the room for half and hour, Heather went in circles in an office chair until her mother told her to "stop or else I will take you out and beat you with a stick!" She sat miserable until her mother told her that she was nine years old and shouldn't look miserable Heather was about to tell her that she was sick, and of course she looked miserable when the doctor came. "Well let's take a look at you shall we?" he peered at her through big glasses, "how are we feeling Heather?" He asked her, she shrugged her shoulders. She hated adults, especially adults who were doctors. He chuckled, why are you laughing? she thought as he started asking her mother a lot of questions.
******
The doctor had told her that it was just the flue, but after weeks of getting sick Heathers mother said the doctor was a "nutcase!" They visited several doctors until one told them to get a X-Ray, she had several X-RAYS until they finally found something.
"A tumour."
"What?" her mother screeched, "she's nine yrs old and your telling me she has a tumour?" Heather swung her feet, she didn't know at the time what a tumour was, but it didn't sound good. "She'll need surgery, but she'll be okay" he told her showing her the X-RAYS. Her mother looked like she was going to faint, "surgury" she mumbled. Heather looked at her, what was wrong she wanted to ask but didn't.
****
Later on in the parking lot she finally decided to ask, "what's a tumour?" She said, the word still felt new and strange. "You'll be fine, that's all that matters, you'll just need surgery, it won't hurt at all, totally painless"
Painless....Right
Thanks for reading :) :)
