Crash

This Is Living (Preview): Chapter 1 ©

A/N: I got inspiration for this while listening to 'This Is Living'... Feel free to listen to it !
The book will commence in 2016, but for now here's a snippet. Vote/Comment if you would continue reading it.

Without further ado, here is This Is Living. 

~~~

Do you know what it's like to wake up to your own worst nightmare? To put on makeup and let down your hair in a vain attempt to appear as if you're alright, when really you're not. It sucks, right?

You see, in the summer of 2011, while I was merely sixteen years old we received the most tragic news a teenage girl could receive. My mother was dying. And not one of those quick, painless deaths, nope, this was one of those slow painful deaths that thrived on seeing the victim and his or her family, suffering. Cancer. It essentially prolonged the process of death, causing the victim to slowly deteriorate in front of helpless eyes.

For me, cancer had always been one of those things that you saw and empathized for, but never really thought it would hit home. It was like child hunger or poverty. You looked down on it from your high horse, pitying the victims, but still getting on with your life, because obviously it wasn't your problem.

At some point though, life caught up with me.
It started with a hoarse voice. Dad and I joked that Mom was losing her voice due to all the excessive talking she did. The hoarseness however, didn't go away so she was taken to the GP. Immediately she was sent to an ENT doctor and at that moment everything became so surreal. It had been 3 months of joking around, but right then she got the diagnosis and our lives were changed forever.

Throat cancer was something that happened to heavy smokers and drinkers which is why I had chosen not to accept that diagnosis. My mom abstained from drinking and smoking her entire life. She had done nothing to deserve that fate, yet God had decided to play a cruel trick on her.

Every time I saw a smoker or someone drunk, I silently hoped they would take my mother's place. They deserved it, she didn't. Simple as that.

Yet here I was, getting ready to go and see the poor hollow shell of a woman that my mom had become. Cancer does that. Takes everything away from you and leaves you to rot.

"Harper, hurry up. I told your mom you were coming to see her." Dad impatiently yelled from the bottom of the stairs. Cancer had a lot of side effects, but it seemed the psychological ones occurred to the family members and loved ones of the victims. My dad had once been a friendly salesman, you know, slow to speak and slow to anger. That type. However, due to the cancer, he became increasingly irritable and this had basically killed the man he once was. Gone was the loveable and patient man, in his place was an angry and lonely person. He did still have his moment where he was sweet, but his mood swings were pretty unpredictable.

"Coming." I yelled back, attempting to sound as sweet as possible.

I ran down the stairs and out the door into the car. I'll spare you the details of the awkward car ride which consisted of low indie rock bands from the eighties playing in the background.

All hospitals look the same, but after a few months coming in and out of one, you start to notice its little quirks. Sandy Bay Hospital had a lot of quirks. With a name like that, what would you expect? For example, a drug addict, lets name him Rick, was there every second day faking a sickness in an attempt to get a few pills. The entrance to the children's ward was slowly falling apart. And my favourite, an elderly man read The Notebook to his wife every day. The irony. He had probably convinced her that she was Allie and he was Noah.

The hospital was practically a second home to me. I mean, I was on a first name basis with the staff. I even occasionally helped visitors find peoples rooms

"Dad, I've gotta pee." I said, the second we reached Mom's floor.

"Be quick."

"I'll try my hardest."

The perk of knowing the hospital so well was that I avoided awkward 'excuse me, where's the bathroom' situations. I easily navigated my way around to the bathroom.

While washing my hands, I looked in the mirror. Looks really could deceive. I looked normal, like a person who had slept well (which I hadn't) and not like someone who could lose their mom at any moment. Makeup was truly a miracle.

My friends and I, we did this really strange thing. If any of us see an attractive stranger out and about, we take a picture of him and send it to the others. As discreetly as possible, of course. The moment I walked out the bathroom I noticed a guy I hadn't seen around the hospital before. He was tall, muscular and very attractive, with dark hair which was slightly raised. Cue my phone.

I pulled it out of my back pocket and opened up the camera. Aubrey and Taylor would die at the sight of him.

There are moments in life where you see someone so attractive you lose focus on your surroundings and you feel as though you two are the only people in the world. Well, when I held up my phone in the handsome stranger's direction that was exactly how I felt. It had to be done. Of course the most awkward thing had to happen. As soon as the flash went off, he looked up and smirked. It was good for the picture, but bad for me.

While I had been busy focused on taking the picture, the rest of my body was still walking and when I least expected it, I walked into a wall. It really hurt.

"Are you okay?" A deep and husky voice said above me. The force at which I had walked into the wall had caused me to fall backwards onto the ground. I saw a pair of black Chuck Taylors and black skinny jeans. The same boy I had taken a picture of was standing there, with a worried look on his face.

"Yeah." I said, as I slowly got up off the ground.

"You slammed into that wall pretty hard." He half smiled, stifling a laugh. He towered over me, he was maybe around 6'2 and he had the most gorgeous smile ever.

"That-I...uh huh." Was all I managed to say?

"I'm Jacob Nichols by the way, and I have to say, your fall was pretty amusing." He put his hand out for me.

"Harper Lawrence, and I'm glad my pain amused you." I shook his hand and he laughed.

"What really amused me was what you were doing before."

"Peeing?"

"No. Where you taking a picture of me?" He confidently asked, watching my face as I processed his question. There was only two ways I could reply. A lie or the truth.

"Yup. You're attractive so why not." I walked away from him, in the direction of my mom's room. He followed me.

"You get straight to the point." He jogged a little, as he caught up.

"Basically." Now don't get me wrong, my response was not in any way me trying to be rude. In fact, it was my ill experienced way of flirting.

"So what're you in for?" He asked.

"Cancer. My mom." I softly replied.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Jacob sympathetically said.

"No biggie. She's a fighter."

You can read the rest by simply opening 'This Is Living' on my profile :)