Keeping Hope

Chapter 1

I'm playing with colourful blocks, matching them up and building castles when my mom comes into my room.

"Hey baby! Playing with blocks are you?"

"Yeah mommy, yeah!" She comes over to me and plops a kiss atop my head, picking me up in a warm embrace. Mommy then goes quiet, speculating my upper right arm.

"How did you get this boo boo Hope?"

I shrug my shoulders, unsure of what she is talking about when she calls my dad in to my room. I'm very confused as to what's going on right now.

"Derek! Come here a moment please!"

"Yeah Sara? What is it?"

"Do you know how she got this bruise?" Daddy comes over now observing my arm.

"No I couldn't tell you, but don't worry about it hun. It's just a bruise."

"Oh alright."

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That wasn't the last bruise though. My mommy is giving me a bath, warm water splashing around me, when she posesses the same quizzical look on her face that she had last week.

"How and why are these appearing? Do you remember bumping into anything baby?"

"No, mama, no."

"Derek!"

"What's wrong?" daddy questions running into the bathroom.

"There's another one, and she doesn't remember bumping into anything to produce the bruise."

"That's definitley unusual."

"Yes, I'm going to take her to our doctor tomorrow morning."

That's what we did the next morning. I like the doctors office, there's always colouring books and toys in the waiting room.

"Sara and Hope Chamberlaine?" At our names my mommy drags me into the room by my little hand.

"What seems to be the issue Ms. Chamberlaine?"

"Well, Hope keeps getting these unexplained bruises, and something seems wrong." The doctor gives me what my mommy calls a physical.

"Everything seems to be pretty normal, besides her reflexes. They are slower than normal but she's a little girl. Has she been tired alot lately?"

"Actually now that you mention it, yes. She's been taking longer naps then usual in the afternoon."

"Alright, well I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to give her a blood test and the results should be in tomorrow. It's just to make sure everything is in tip-top shape. The reason why she's tired may just be lack of a  vitamen or because she's a growing girl, so don't look too much into it."

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The next day mommy recieves a phone call from the nice doctor, so we return to the room but with my dad too this time.

"Mr and Mrs Chamberlaine, please take a seat." My mommy takes one but my dad just keeps standing, I don't know what's going on.

"We annalyzed Hope's blood, and there is an unusual number of white blood cells, so we investigated farther into it."

"What did you find?" my daddy asks. He looks scared and angry. Why are you scared daddy? Why are you angry.

"Your daughter...your daughter has stage 2 Leukimia."

I wake up panting, breathing heavy, stunned at the nightmare slash memory that just overcame me. I swear I have this dream everysingle week, and I hate it. I hate remembering how it happened. I hate remembering how I'm not normal and that I will never live a normal life. I hate remembering that this disease will follow me wherever I go in life.

I JUST HATE REMEMBERING. All the treatments I've endured, all the pain and tierdness. It never seems to stop! Ever! I didn't realize it but a tear falls from my eye. It's just a dream Hope. It's just a dream. I lay my head back down and pull the covers over my head.

It may be just a dream, but it's also my relaity.