The Fight For Life

Chapter 2

When I was little I was the kind of kid that was very tough and when my feelings were hurt I didn't show it. After about a month of being best friends with Paige she figured out my emotions. She's the kind of person that can read your expression perfectly. It's not like I talked a lot when I was happy or got really red when I got embarrassed. She got every single one figured out in preschool though which was pretty surprising. I mean my dad still hasn't figured out all of my emotions. I remember one day in preschool a guy named Fredrick came over to me and made fun of me because I was not a very good drawer. Paige was sitting right next to me and she said to Fredrick that I was a very good at drawing. She said that I was very good at drawing the Sun because I added many different colors to it. I did, I mean if purple and blue count as part of the sun.

Paige was pretty good at hiding her emotions too, but normally she was really happy and cheerful so when she was sad you could tell. At least I could. Paige never blamed anyone for anything. Once in first grade I "accidentally" spilled water on a girl named Daniella Jenkins. Paige saw the whole thing and yes it was on purpose. She was making fun of my math skills which I lack of. So at lunch she sat next to me and I took my plastic cup of water and tipped it over on her. Paige saw everything. She saw my smirk afterwards, Daniella's angry face, and me lying about doing it on "accident". Paige didn't blame me though. She didn't tell me that I was mean, she just acted like nothing happened.

My dad pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. We both pulled open our car doors and walked up the hospital steps in complete silence. A nurse directed us to Paige's room which was just down the hall. Dad went in first and than I stepped into the room. Paige's parents were sitting on hospital chairs. Their faces were ghostly white and their foreheads were creased with worry. I dared myself to look at the bed where Paige lay and I nearly fainted. Paige was a sickly yellow color and tubes were connected to her all over her body. She is wearing a hospital gown and she looks so much smaller and sicker than usual. This couldn't be Paige we must be in the wrong room. Paige was a strong, healthy, brave girl and now she was in a hospital bed fighting cancer. This wasn't her it couldn't be Paige.

Paige was athletic. She threw herself into any sport she could just for fun and exercise. Anything she did she mastered. She's done gymnastics, soccer, track, cross country, basketball, lacrosse, softball, ballet, tennis, swimming. You name it she's probably done it. I can't keep track of what she's doing right now. Due to the group she's hanging out with at school she's probably doing gymnastics since she sits with Skye Jackson and some of her friends who have always done gymnastics, and cross country because she hangs out with a boy girl group that is big on cross country and track. Both groups are popular and have very high social lives. Me on the other hand, well I am not athletic. I choose to sit inside and sketch or read. I think the sport I'm best at is swimming. Not the lap kind just the doggy paddle kind. I've never won any first place ribbons for that or anything else. Honestly I really don't want to do sports. I wish I had that kind of athletic body that Paige does but I'm fine with just sitting in bed all day.

I stare at Paige and than get that uncomfortable feeling about staring at someone. I want to look away but honestly I can't. I mean it's not like Paige knows I'm staring at her so I don't know why it feels so weird. Paige's crystal blue eyes are shut tight. Not the peaceful sleeping kind of shut, but like she's in pain while she's sleeping. Her breathing is so short and quiet I can barely see her chest moving. Her lips are in a tight, straight, thin line and are chapped. Her cheeks aren't rosy red but pale white. This looks nothing like Paige. At all. It's actually really weird how different she looks from this morning. It's strange. Finally I looked away from Paige back to her parents who were still staring at her also. Her dads identical crystal blue eyes didn't have the usual sparkle that they normally did and her mom's medium length blond hair that was normally neatly straightened or curled was frizzy. Than I looked at my dad who wasn't staring at Paige, but at the ceiling. I tapped him on the shoulder and he didn't look away. He stayed staring at the ceiling until the fifth tap.

By the time he looked at me I had forgotten what I was going to tell him because all of the sudden Paige's eyes flung open.

"Paige honey are you feeling alright do you want water?" Paige's mom Christina asked as she quickly raced over to the bed from where she was sitting.

Paige let out a sort of weird "Eh" noise and than stared at her mother with blank blue eyes.

"Paige?" Her dad Dylan asked.

Paige looked at them both with blank scared eyes.

"Paige?" Her dad asked again.

Paige still didn't answer but stared at them like she had never seen them before.

"Paige?" Her mom said a little louder

They were abruptly interrupted by a skinny and very tall man who must've been the doctor.

"Hello Mrs and Mr Hayes I'm Doctor Smith and I'm here to check in on Paige." Doctor Smith said as he slid in through the doorway and into the room. He walked where Christina and Robert were standing staring at there daughter. When Paige's parents didn't answer Doctor Smith continued.

"I see she has woken up from her sleep." He said quietly.

Her parents nodded slowly backing away from the bed and back on to the hospital chairs.

"So let's see," He pulled out a few different hospital tools and took Paige's blood pressure and temperature. He also listened to her heart beat. His face turned somewhat concerned as he set down the stethoscope.

"Her heart is pumping a lot faster than normal, her blood pressures high, and she has a low grade fever of 99.9,"

"She isn't responding." Christina Hayes blurted out suddenly.

The doctor was silent for a few moments and then he sat on the end of the bed and sighed.

"Along with the brain cancer she starts to lose her memory, lose her hair, talks in a gibberish way, and she won't be able to walk. She'll eventually need a surgery but even that won't take everything away. Bits and pieces of her memory will be lost over the next month until she's starting fresh, confused about the world as she was when she was young,"

As the Doctor continued to talk Paige turned her head towards my direction her eyes caught me and stared. Her eyebrows went up like she was trying to think of when she saw me in her life. I was wondering why she was looking at me in this weird way and than it dawned on me, Paige had no idea who I was.