The Bucket List

Prologue

Young Ella sat next to her sick mother. She sorrowfully held onto her mother's hand in hopes of some kind of movement. Her mom had been sickly in the CTCA (Cancer Treatment Center of America) in Georgia for about 7 months now. The woman now laid here, with little to no hair. Over the past months,  she has shown no signs of recovery, but no signs of weakening as well. Recently, her condition has dropped to severe. Doctors have been watching over her carefully. Tonight, they were giving Ella some privacy with her only parent. Soon though, nurses would be in to check on the feeble woman.

Only 11 months earlier, Elijah Chandler, the young children's father, had passed away from liver cancer. 4 months later, Casey Chandler, the mother, fell ill to the same disease. At the small age of 5 years old, Ella tries to cope with the tragedy as best as she can. With her older brother Nick by her side, Ella manages fairly well. That brings us to where we are on that horrible day, 14 years earlier from present time.

It's 1:00 in the morning, and poor Ella can barely keep her eyes awake and alert. Despite this, she refuses to sleep until nurses or her brother take over watching. Her eyelids begin fluttering, and right when she is about to lean her head on her mom's arm to rest...

The heart machine is no longer beeping. It is one continuous tone, and as Ella looks up in surprise, the machine shows one bright, straight line. The child grows panicked and runs over to where her brother is sleeping. 

"Nick! NICK! MOMMY IS DYING!" Ella shrieks at her older sibling. Nick groggily awakens, only to hear the dreadful tone. He jumps out of his seat and runs into the hall, screaming for help. Nurses and doctors come running. They insert needles and shock the heart with electricity in hopes of helping it to start beating once again. But no matter their efforts, Casey Chandler is gone.

Nick and Ella watch in despair as the professionals roll the stretcher out of the room, with only a single tarp to prevent the sensitive children from seeing their now dead parent. Nick wraps his arms around the small figure of his little sister, and sinks to the floor. They silently mourn another loss from the dreadful liver cancer.

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It's many years later, and the images still haunt the Chandler children today. They live in constant fear of that happening once again, and take many precautions on life. What was once the dream family is now a child's worst nightmare.