There's still a few more days of holidays left. Ava's been hospitalised for 3 days, and I still haven't been into see her. The other girls have been keeping me updated on how she's doing. I feel like such a bad friend.
"You coming with us today?" Lucy texts me.
"Yeah, I think I will," I reply.
She texts me a shocked face emoji.
"Meet you at the bus stop," I say.
I hug each of the girls at the bus stop.
"Are you sure that you're going to be okay?" Alice asks.
"Hopefully," I say.
I feel my confidence level shrinking smaller and smaller, the closer we get to the hospital. And when I stand outside the door, my confidence plummets.
"Are you okay?" Taryn asks.
"Yes," I whisper.
I manage to get up to the floor that Ava's been moved up to (9) without completely freaking out. In fact, I manage to get into Ava's room. There's 4 other girls in there, and it feels like something out of a horror film. All of them are so similar looking. Their grey, pale faces. Their thin hair. Their sad eyes. And the bones sticking out everywhere. They look skeletal.
"Ava!" I cry out, and hug her.
I hug her lightly; she feels so fragile, and I don't want her to break.
"I'm sorry I haven't been able to come in," I apologise.
"It's okay, the other girls have already explained it to me," she says.
Even her voice sounds small, scared,broken.
"I'm sorry, I have to go," I say as the walls start to close in on me.
I run to the elevator, and sprint out of it as soon as it stops.I find my feet walking towards the Quiet Garden again. I love it. The only thing that would make it better, is if it wasn't directly next to the smoking garden. The smell of cigarettes is sickeningly overwhelming, and it makes me choke. I look over to the smoking gardens to glare at the culprit, but instead I get the surprise of my life. Because a girl, a 16 year old girl, with pink streaks in her hair, is taking a drag on her cigarette.
"Taryn?" I whisper to myself.
I stomp over to the fence, climb over to it, and whack the cigarette out of Taryn's hand.
"What the hell?" I screech at her.
"Smoking kills, Taryn! You're 16! One of our best friends is in hospital, fighting for her life, and you're out here, killing your lungs!" I yell.
"I know!" Taryn yell back.
"And you don't think I've tried to quit? Because I have. I've tried, and I've tried, and I've tried."
"Well try harder! I've had too many traumatic experiences in hospitals, and I don't want you being rushed to hospital because you have cancer to be added to the list!" I scream.
"Well then help me quit!" she screams back.
"I will!" I shout.
We stand staring at each other for a bit, then run in to hug each other.
"I'm so sorry!" I say, "I know you've tried, that was so harsh of me."
"No, I can see your point! It's a disgusting, selfish habit! I'll try to stop, for real this time," she promises.
We hop back over the fence to the Quiet Garden, and sit down on the grass, facing each other.
"So how'd you start, anyway?" she asks.
YOU ARE READING
Can I Tell You A Secret?
Teen Fiction5 girls. 5 secrets. 1 way to find them out. When Alouette moves to England with her family, she's expecting to spend the rest of her school life in misery. With all of her friends and childhood memories back home in New Zealand she doesn't know how...
