Motel 7 ➳ h.s.

T W O

"Lola? Is that you?"

"Yes mom, it's me. I've got Asher here with me too."

"Oh Ash, I missed you sweetheart..." my mother smiled sweetly in Asher's direction, as she spoke to him, her voice shaking as she did.

I looked in Asher's direction, his eyes meeting mine and I gave him a look, almost as if to say to him 'Don't stare! Answer her.'

"H-hi mom," he finally let out, a strangled sigh escaping his lips along with his words.

I could not blame him for staring, I mean, he was looking at the person who had given birth to him and raised him for six years, looking back at him with ghostly eyes, to match her ghostly-looking figure. Her hair had almost completely fallen out by this point, only leaving peach fuzz remaining atop her head, her eyes were sunken in and graying against the bones of her skull, her lips so chapped not even ice chips or lip balm would be able to sooth them, and a face as skeletal as a corpse.

My mother was in hospital, being treated for Leukemia. She had refrained from getting herself checked and from telling us about her illness for so long, that by the time she was eventually diagnosed, the doctors had told her she had progressed to stage four and death was almost inevitable. I was left to look after and provide for Asher on my own, as our family were rather unstable financially and all the money we had was going towards my mother's treatment.

My father, who by this point, I had forgotten the last time I had spoken even a word to, was currently in jail for fraud, an unfortunate side affect of gambling addiction. With mg father and mother's parents having passed a long time ago, that left only me to watch Asher.

A seventeen year old, high school student to mother her six year old brother.

"Today was our first day back at school, mom," I explained to her, to start up some conversation and attempt to ease the awkward atmosphere.

She was quite unaware of what was going on at times, because the strong dosage of chemotherapy she was being treated with led her to needing even stronger dosages of morphine to ease her pain as much as possible. Asher and I had to keep reminding her about our lives and life in general, outside of the hospital. Although, I tried to let Asher speak for the most part. Bothering my mother with woes of high school bullying was not something I felt necessary when she was in the current state she was in.

We had come to visit her daily, for the last three months. I wasn't sure how much longer we would be returning here for, however, as the doctor had informed me last week that she was expected to have no more than eight weeks left. Something I had refrained to tell Asher as of yet.

"Oh yes, I remember. You told me that yesterday sweety. How was school today, Ash?" She asked, coughing weakly afterwards, as that's all her lungs would allow her.

I turned my head in Asher's direction, to see a smile grow on his face almost immediately after hearing our mother's words.

"It was so great, mom!" He exclaimed. "We learnt all about 'A' words today, and I said the word 'apple' to Mrs. Penelope and she said it was right!" He jumped out his seat next to our mother's bed as his excitement grew. "We got to go all around the classroom finding all of the objects that started with the letter 'A'."

"Wow, Ash!" She whispered, clearly becoming tired quickly. "That sounds like a lot of fun. I'm happy you're learning good stuff," she told him, before turning her head slightly in my direction and asking, "And you, Lola?"

"It was good, nothing special. The same as always," I told her, quite bluntly.

"That's good sweetheart," she responded.

I did not intend for words to come across as harshly as they must have, seeing the sunken look on my mother's features. But, what was I to do? It was an uphill battle I was trudging alone, and I sure as hell was not about to drag my mother down with me. She had enough on her plate.

"What happened to your shirt, honey?" She asked me, her eyes settling on the pink stain on my chest. It was clear my words had caught her attention, as the worried look remained.

"Oh, I just spilt my juice, that's all," I lied. At this, she dropped the topic, although the one that followed almost made me wish I had told her the truth about the juice stain littering my shirt.

"Has your father tried to contact you, Lola?" She asked, her eyebrows dipping as a frown formed on her chapped lips.

"No mom, and he isn't going to, so drop it!" I snapped. I absolutely resented my father. He had cheated on my mother multiple times before and I just could not understand how my mother allowed herself to forgive him each time. She blamed the gambling addiction and tried to make me see it as something out of his control, but I couldn't care less. He hurt her, and I'd only ever see him as someone who damaged his family.

"I-I," she began, before coughing more loudly this time. "I am sorry, Lola. You know that I still love him though, and I'm disappointed that he doesn't care enough to," she stopped once again, to catch her breath, before continuing, "to-to contact you, his own children."

"He doesn't care, he never has and he never will, mom!" I responded, a single tear escaping my eye, as I spoke through my cracking voice.

"He does care, Lola, but he can't phone us from jail, silly," Asher spoke up. I immediately felt guilty, and turned to hug him.

"That's right Ash, you're right. That's all it is," I spoke, hoping my words would reassure my little brother, so innocent yet having been through so much horror and pain in his short six years of living.

"I'm sorry, mom, I didn't mean to yell." I apologized. "I love you."

Not only had I been keeping the secret of my mom's recent condition from Asher, but I had not told my mother yet either. I couldn't imagine the fear that would flash through her eyes when she found out she was leaving Asher and I alone in this world. She was fighting, I knew that. Asher knew that. But sometimes god has his own plans for people.

She nodded, a look of understanding vivid in her eyes, before turning her head to her right and speaking once again. "Tell me more about school Ash."

They spoke for thirty more minutes, and I left shortly to buy Ash and I and bottle of water to share. Minutes after my return to my mother's room, a nurse knocked on the door, before entering.

"Hi Lola, nice to see you again," she spoke, her voice stern. "I'm sorry to say, but visitors hour has come to an end. Time to say goodbye, your mother needs her rest."

I hated that word. Goodbye. Why could people not say, 'see you later.'

Ash and I hugged our mother tightly, still careful not to hurt her fragile figure. I took a good look at her before walking out of the room. She was skin and bones, and she showed no emotion aside from her pain. She smiled weakly at me, the happiness she tried to show not reaching her eyes, before softly and slowly closing her eyelids, sleep drawing her in.

"Hey Ash, wait up," I called to him, as I ran out the room to meet up with him, as he was already making his way down the staircase that led to the main doors of the hospital.

-

Thank you guys so so much for reading the first two chapters, I really hope that you're enjoying my story so far!

[I'm sure you all saw the picture of Kaya Scodelario in the beginning of the chapter- that's who I imagine Lola to be, but feel free to imagine her as anyone ]

I promise you it gets so much better soon, it's just the beginning filler chapters now! ;)

Please don't forget to vote and comment- your feedback is super helpful to me, it helps me to make the story better for you guys to enjoy

Thank you for taking your time to read this, since I've updated twice now your next update will come on the weekend or next week

Love you guys so much!

XXX