One day in Brooklyn

Chapter 3

Mrs. Lucero has just gotten here with Adrian; it has been about forty minutes since I got the news. I am still in shock and trying to accept the fact that I probably won’t live another six months. Adrian has been outside at the bathroom but is just now coming around the edge of the curtain. She hasn’t heard the news yet, I don’t think.

"Vito, I was so worried about you I thought you were dying, don't die on me, you can't leave me here alone!" Adrian says running to my bedside and practically jumping on me hugging me. It hurts but I try to hide it.

"Hey, I've been alone." I say hugging her back but she squeezes just a little too hard and I grimace. Automatically she pulls away she gets that look in her face that says 'oh-no-I-just-hurt-my-best-friend". I past on a smile to show her I'm not in too much pain.

"Vito! What is wrong with you? Do the doctors know yet? What happened the other day when you just collapsed?" Adrian says with worry ridden eyes.

"I don’t know that is why your mom is here, the doctors had to tell a guardian first." I lie. The doctor wasn’t supposed to tell me, he said it was our little secret. That is when the pain comes back. Tears that I have been preventing roll down my cheeks and my back arcs I am bending in all directions trying to find a way that makes the pain stop. Adrian's Mom grabs my wrists and yells for Adrian to get a doctor.

The doctors rush in and help to pin me down. When the pain subsides I fall into deep painless sleep. It is joyous and amazing.

I wake up to the sound of adults talking, Cindy and a doctor. Cindy's eyes are red and puffy and the doctor has a comforting hand on her shoulder. When they notice I am awake she nods to the man and he leaves shutting the curtain.

"Vito, the doctors they-" she pauses to sniff and continues on "they think that you have lymphoma."

I guess the first time he told me it didn’t really register, but this time it is different. My head spins and I start to think about all that it means.

I can't leave Adrian, she is all I have. I can't just abandon my best friend, my sister. I manage to stutter a few words out “I can’t die. I can’t have lymphoma. I’m going to die." A few fat drops slide down my cheeks.

"Honey, they are going to do a biopsy to check. I haven’t told Adrian I will leave that for you. Don’t worry about paying for anything. We are going to cover the biopsy, I don’t know what my little girl would do without you, quite frankly I don’t know what I would do Vito." Cindy says tears spilling down her face.

"Don’t let me die Cindy, please." I say choking on sobs.