Gwendalynn: The Girl With Cancer

Gwendalynn | 43

When everything was okay...

SEVENTEEN YEARS LATER

JULY - 2030

I slowly approached her grave. It was older now, small vines covering the sides. I bent down and ripped them apart, giving easier access to read her name.

In Loving Memory of...

Gwendalynn Summer Conrad

February 7, 1996 - April 22, 2013

A crooked smile displayed on my lips as I remembered my first girlfriend. Nearly seventeen years ago. I still missed her. I still thought about her, but I wasn't sad about it anymore.

"Hey Gwen," I took a seat just in front of her grave and placed the small bouquet of Black-eyed Susans against the stone. Her favorite flower. "Things are going great. I wish you could see all the success down at work I've done. I bet you can." I took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. "Is it nice up there?"

Silence.

"I hope I'll see you when it's my time."

A small breeze came over me, making the flowers shift a little against the grass. I quickly readjusted their position.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it for your birthday. My daughter, Kate, was a bit ill at the time."

I glanced behind me, admiring the beautiful view of the green hills and flowers that covered them. The graves surrounding them showed that death was indeed peaceful.

"I hope you can meet her sometime. She'd love you. I know she would." I nodded. "She's adorable. My first girl, Gwen. It's great being a father. Having a family, being proud. Jane and I love our lives together." I grinned at the mention of my wife. "You'd like her too, Gwen. She's actually pregnant again. It's another girl. I wanted you to be the first to know."

I put my hands in my lap and pursed my lips in a playful way.

"She wants to name her Cheyenne. I thought it was a weird combination, you know? Katie, Cheyenne, Kyle, Jane, but she says it's unique. No doubt it isn't. If we go with her choice though, I know she'll be really happy with it." I looked away, biting the inside of my cheek. "I really can't wait for her to be here, Gwen. I'm really excited to have another girl!"

Quiet.

"That's not why I'm here though. I came here just to tell you something. Something that's saved so many people. That could've saved you." My eyebrows knit together as I tried to force the tears to stay in my eyes. "You know, when you told me to start believing in myself, telling me I could go to college, I started to believe it. And after you died-"

I sniffed.

"After you died, I applied to medical schools but I was denied. Then, I applied to an art school and got accepted, but I didn't have enough money for it so I enrolled into a military program where you could go out as a soldier for a certain amount of time and it'll grant you a scholarship for art school in college. I did it. I met a lot of people while I served. Many of them are gone now."

A frown etched my face as I remembered my good friends from the battlefield.

"Maybe you know them. They might've met you up there." I looked up at the sky again. "They're great guys. Probably my best friends if you don't include Ryan. Ryan's been good. Him and his wife were having a few problems here and there, but they're happy. They're son's a natural at soccer, lemme tell ya. He's great. I went to go see him a few years ago. He's gotten big, Gwen. I'm proud of him."

I picked a few more blades of grass.

"Kory's good too. Unfortunately, Leigh-Ann and him ended it back in 2020. I haven't seen Leigh-Ann since, really. Kory's been dating this new girl for a few years. Her name's Haley. She's not bad." I sighed.

"But back to what I was saying, I was reading the newspaper lately. From the past years, they've found multiple cures for numerous cancers." I smiled at her grave stone. "There's actually one in particular that I wanted to talk to you about."

I let the two tears fall then, finally happy to say these next few words. I genuinely smiled.

"Gwen, th-... they found the cure for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. Your cancer."