i wish, [One-Shot - CC2K15]

i wish,

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;"

* * *

It had been one of her favourite poems. The way it spoke to her, the way it related to her, the way it stood out to her; everything about it was memorable.

Including her.

* * *

Megan was used to things not turning out right. It was all she knew about. Who could blame her? Being diagnosed with cancer at seventeen really kills all the freedom you have. As it got worse, she found herself having to drop out of school from all the trips she had to take to the hospital during school hours. Eventually, she found herself just living in the hospital. Now at the age of nineteen Megan is still holding on to as much of hope as she can. Even if it's slipping away. Fast.

Two years had passed living in the white coloured building. Two years surrounded by countless deaths. Two years of her life, gone.

"Why have you chosen to share this particular poem, Ms. Emerson?"

Blinking Megan snapped out of her daydream and was plunged back to reality. She was sitting on a crisp, clean light blue chair with Christmas trees painted on the back. With children of all sorts of ages and genders in chairs as well, they were set up in a circle. Looking around everyone's eyes were on her, expecting an answer.

Pulling her eyes away from them and towards Mindy, a fellow nurse at the hospital, Megan cleared her throat before speaking, "Excuse me?"

Smiling kindly Mindy repeated the question. "Why have you chosen to share this particular poem?"

Nodding Megan began to form an answer in her head. With a cough she spoke, "I've chosen to share the poem 'The Road Not Taken' by Robert Frost because to me it reflects the uncertainties of life. You have probably had to make difficult decisions in your time, and that's okay. It's our choices that make us who we are, not our abilities. Sometimes it's better to not take the road that is bare of grass from the trampling of many others feet that have traveled before us. Sometimes it's better to take the overgrown one. The road less traveled."

Silence suffocated the room as the words of her little speech sunk into each and every mind. Mindy's mouth was slightly open as she stared at Megan with wide eyes, unknowingly what to say next. This was a regular for Megan. Always saying too much or taking things too seriously. Being too intense. It fascinated her how people still aren't used to her particular personality.

Clearing her throat, Megan decided to make it easier for the young nurse and respond in a different way. "I also decided to choose this poem because it was someone I knew's favourite poem," Megan nervously re-responded, pulling the black floppy hat on her head. She'd been often teased many times for wearing the thing as it wasn't summer anymore.

Snapping out of it, Mindy gave her a comforting smile and nodded. Proceeding to ask the little girl next to Megan on her selected poem.

Staring down at her hands Megan pulled on the sleeve of her worn out grey sweater. Mindy thought it would be a good idea to have weekly sessions with the children that have cancer in Ocean Park Hospital. In Mindy's eyes anyone under twenty-one was considered a child still. So here Megan was every Friday in the youth wing of the hospital.