Obvious

A Side of Tradgedy

The date had gone wonderfully. Jack had taken me to our favorite pizzeria, and we ended up talking for two hours. I learned a lot about Jack, though. Like how he'd had a crush on me since that night I drew him, and how he wasn't always as confident as everyone thought...

I remembered what happened afterwards the most. We'd taken a walk, a big chilly, but we'd walked hand in hand. Jack was talking about state football when I'd stopped listening and just watched him.

He lit up with passion when he talked about football. He had one of those goofy smiles, and he'd taken care to explain things I might not know. All I could do was smile at him, falling deeper in love.

"...so are you coming with us to state?" Jack asked, squeezing my hand. I thought about it, then nodded.

"I don't think I'm doing anything, and I wanna see you play."

"I thought you didn't like football."

I shrugged. "I don't. But I do enjoy watching you play."

When he'd taken me back home, he'd leaned in and softly kissed me.

"I had a really good time tonight, Nate. I'm really glad we're not fake dating anymore."

I laughed. "Me too. You're way too hot to be fake anything."

That had him laughing as well. "I'll see you tomorrow for studying," I said, slipping out of his car. His quiet goodnight followed me into the house.

-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-

My father's voice broke through my reverie. "Nate! Come down here please!"

Something in his voice made me wonder if I was in trouble. I made my way downstairs and found them both waiting patiently on the couch.

"Nate, can we talk to you for a moment," my father said, my mother eerily silent beside him.

"Nate, we just got back from the doctors in Chicago. We've... Uh, got some bad news. Your mother, she has cancer. Breast cancer."

I stared in shock. My heart dropped to my stomach and I felt sick.

"W-what?" Was all I had to say.

My mother was crying softly now, leaning against my father.

"H-how bad is it?" I asked quietly.

"Stage IV. We're going to try chemo and radiation, but...there's still hope."

I got up and sat next to my mom, pulling her into a hug.

"We'll be okay, mom, right?" She nodded, but I was crying too.

I was scared, like never before in my life. What were we going to do?

_/°|°\_/°|°\_

The five stages of grief:
°DENIAL
°ANGER
°BARGAINING
°DEPRESSION
°ACCEPTANCE

-~°~-

For a while, I wish I could go downstairs, go back in to that moment and ask, "This is all a joke, right?"

I didn't believe it. My mother was not dying. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I went upstairs after our talk and just cried.

I called Jack at some point and told him what happened. He'd showed up at our house less than ten minutes later, armed with chocolate and ice cream.

He hugged me tightly when he came into my room, and I broke down again. I sobbed into his chest.

"Jack, it can't be true, can it? She can't really be dying!"