The Art Of Betrayal

Chapter 2

Kira's POV
"Mom... are you awake?" I whispered as I walked into my mom's cozy bedroom. I saw her cocooned inside of her brown quilt, snoring, sound asleep.
I quietly shut her door and tip-toed into my own room. It had lavender walls and a small ceiling fan THAG lit up the room. The floor was carpeted with lavender carpet (just a couple shades darker than the walls). My bedspread was black, matching the ceiling fan.
I dropped my bag on the black beanbag chair sitting by the door in front of my tv and went inside of my walk-in closet. I rummaged through my dresser drawers until I found my "Namasté in bed" pajama shirt and grey spandex shorts. I changed into them and pulled my brunette hair into a high pony tail.
Right before exiting my room, I slipped on my gray slippers.
I ran down the stairs and turned the corner into the kitchen, then knocked on the door of my dad's office (aka the back porch).
"Dad, are you in there?" I asked.
"Yeah, come on in hun!" My dad said cheerfully.
I opened the door and my dad was sitting at his desk on the computer.
"Hello sweetheart!" He said and engulfed me in a hug.
I hugged him back.
"Hey dad! How was work?" I asked, letting go from the hug.
"Mrs. Barns came in again, claiming she was dying. The lady's gone mad, I tell you. That was the only action today. Unless, of course, you count that little girl, Alice, from down the street coming in to get a blood test. They had to reschedule because she would bite anyone that touched her." Dad explained, and I laughed.
My dad was a doctor and worked at a hospital. They just opened a new hospital twenty minutes away, so business at dads work hasn't been going too well. The only consistent patient is Mrs. Barns, my eighty year old, retired primary school teacher. She was forced into retirement when she had a nervous breakdown in the middle of class saying that she was dying. Now she goes to the hospital at least once a day if you're lucky.
I peered at dads computer curiously to see what he was working on. Not only is dad a doctor, but he's also a chemist. He experiments with chemicals to make medicines. He started that when I was about ten years old when mum was diagnosed with cancer. He's been trying to find a cure ever since.
"So, what're you working on?" I questioned him, observing the research on his screen.
"Well, you remember that mixture I made a couple months back?" He said.
"The one that caught fire and almost blew up the house?" I asked, laughing.
Let's just say dad wasn't the best chemist you'd meet in a lifetime.
"Yes! Well, I'm taking that and replacing some of the ingredients with substitutes to see if it has a different outcome!" He explained excitedly.
"Dad..." I sighed.
His face fell.
"What's wrong princess?" He said, sounding a bit concerned.
"You know it won't work. No matter what you try, you can't cure mum. Doctors and scientists have been working on a cure for cancer for years and nothing's worked. You've got to accept the fact that it's impossible. You just can't cure it." I said at nearly a whisper.
He looked at me, somewhat shocked.
"Kira, don't you say that. I'll get it. It'll take some time, sure, but I can do it. I'm so close. I'm doing something wrong." He sighed, glancing once more at his computer in concentration. He looked back at me, and I could tell he was holding back tears.
"The only problem is that I don't know exactly what I'm doing wrong. And I don't know how much time we have left." He said sadly.
The tears that he was holding back had finally escaped his eye.
I was also crying. I hugged him tight, not able to hold back the tears any longer.
"It'll be okay." He whispered in my ear, rubbing my back.
We quickly let go when we heard a voice come from the doorway of my dads office.
"What's going on here?" My mum asked, walking into the room. I could tell that she was there the whole time. She heard all of that.
"Mum..." I said, looking over at her with my tear stained cheeks. She walked over to us and hugged me, my dad joining in as well.
We stood there for a couple minutes, just hugging, until I finally let go.
I waited a second, then spoke.
"I guess I'll let you get back to your research." I told my dad, and exited his room.
I wiped my eyes with my hands and ran back up to my room. When I walked in, I just laid on my bed and stared at the ceiling blankly.
I was interrupted by the sound of my phone ringing. I didn't wanna answer, but I knew it was Bailey. You know how people say that mothers know everything, meaning they know when something's wrong even if they're miles and miles away? Well I swear that's how Bailey is with me. He always knows when somethings wrong, even if he's touring across the country.
I groaned under my breath and I walked across my room to my phone. I coughed and cleared my throat before answering the phone.
"Hello?" I said, trying to sound normal.
"Hey." He said into the phone.
Just like he knew something was up, I knew that he knew. I could jus my hear it in his voice.
I couldn't keep it together. I sighed into the phone, letting the tears fall once again.
"Kay... what's wrong?" He asked.
"My mum, she's getting worse. Dad's working on a new experiment, but it won't work. I know if. We don't have all the time in the world, and that's just about what he'll need to make it work." I cried into the phone.
The line went silent. I would've thought Bailey hung up if it wasn't for the sound of his deep breathing.
He finally spoke.
"I'm on my way." He said quietly, and hung up.

Bailey's POV
I carefully climbed up the fire escape leading to Kira's bedroom window.
Both of our rooms had a fire escape connected to our windows, which were facing each other since our rooms were directly across from each other. This made it easy to sneak out and head to Kira's at anytime of the day, or night.
Once I got to the top, I looked in her window to see her standing in the middle of her floor, staring at the wall with her phone in her hand.
I knocked on the window and she turned around, her tear stained cheeks shining from the light. I frowned as she came to let me in. As soon as I got in, I hugged her tightly. She hugged me back, but let go way too soon.
"I'm so sorry Kay. I wish I could do something.." I said, looking up into her red, puffy eyes.
She looked down at the floor, and said,
"There's nothing you can do Bailey, you know that. There nothing anyone can do." She said.
I saw a tear fall from her cheek and land on the floor. I put my hand under her chin and carefully moved her delicate face to look at me. She looked up at me with tears pouring out of her eyes. I grabbed her face in my hands and wiped away her tears with my thumbs, and put a piece of her hair that was left out of her ponytail behind her ear.
"Bailey.. she's dying." Kira said at a low whisper, he voice cracking at the end.
I tried blinking ack tears, but failed miserably. I felt a single tear roll down my cheek.
"I know..." I also whispered.
I had known for a while, and Kira had too. She never admitted it though. The doctors at the local cancer research centre had said so. But Kira wouldn't believe them.
Kira's mum had stopped taking her medicine, so I'm sure she knows too. The only one as of now that still has hope is Mr. Mitchell. He's still trying to find a cure, but there isn't enough time.
Kira flung herself at me and hugged me again, both of us crying.
"It'll be okay." I whispered into her ear, not knowing what else to say.
"Everyone keeps saying that, but is it true? Will it actually be okay? My mums gonna die. Will it still be okay then?" She said quite loudly and let go of me.
"Kay.. I-" I tried saying, but Kira interrupted me.
"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped." She said.
"It's fine Kay. Don't worry about it." I said, giving her a weak smile.
I looked at my phone to check the time, and alarm struck me as I saw that it was 8:30, meaning my mum would be home any minute now.
After Kira and I had finished her homework, we fell asleep and woke up at about 6:00. Then she left. My mum doesn't come home from work until late, and I'm supposed to stay at home.
My eyes went wide, an Kira gave me a quizzical look.
"What's wrong?" She questioned.
"It's almost 8:30." I said.
She stared at me for a second, then her facial expression changed to alarm, just like mine.
"Oh no! Go, get home! You'll get into trouble if you don't leave now." She said.
I put my phone in my pocket, and looked back up at her.
"Will you be okay?" I asked her.
She nodded.
"I'll be fine." She said reassuringly.
"Okay, well you go get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her bed. I hugged her one last time.
"Now go!" She said, giggling.
"Okay, okay! I'm going!" I said, also laughing.
I left through the window, making sure to shut it. I ran down the stairs and back up mine. I opened my widow and went back inside my room.