"Options... I've ran out of Options..." (Book 3)

Chapter 100 - "New Friends..."

Chapter 100 - "New Friends..."

Clara's PoV

'Where's Poppy?' I asked as I came in on Monday morning worried that something might have happened over night and that she might have been moved to an emergency ward.

They try not to do that though because the emergency wards are bigger and scarier for young kids.

They try to treat pretty much everything on the children's cancer ward.

'She's gone with Conner to the playroom. She said she was bored so he helped to make her not bored' she explained taking the opportunity obviously to change the bedsheets and put some clean ones on.

'Oh' I mumbled taking myself toward where the playroom was.

It was a huge room big enough to fit a whole class of kids in and had lots of toys that were obviously clear and safe for them to play with.

When I got down to the playroom Poppy was sat at the table with two little boys.

It was not a secret that Poppy was a social little thing. So when I found her on with the two little boys I had to chuckle.

'Mummy look. Max had a stuffed dinosaur. He let me play with it' she said excitedly in a better mood than normal.

I had then was later informed that she hadn't had a chemo session today which was why she was in such good spirits.

'Wow. Dinosaurs? When were you into dinosaurs?' I chuckled crouching down next to them.

'Since now' she squealed.

'Hi. You must be Poppy's Mum?' A lady said to me as I sat down on one of the chairs to watch Poppy.

I wanted to spend this time I had with her but I want her to be happy at the same time. She's happy with this little dude so why shouldn't she be?

'Yeah. Are you the little boys Mum?'

'Foster Mum. I fostered Max when he was 6 months old. He's known no different growing up' she hummed.

'I take it he's here for the same reason that Poppy is here?'

'Leukaemia stage 2. You?'

'Stage 1' I hummed knowing that at some point I was bound to meet someone that was better than Poppy and someone that was worse than Poppy.

'How old is max?' I asked being extremely nosy but I had to ask.

'He's 6. He'll be 7 in May' she explained.

'Ah. Poppy will be 5 in June' I hummed.

- - -

'But I don't want to go to bed' Poppy whined as I lifted her up into my arms.

'But you have too duckling. And so does max. But you two can play again tomorrow. Anyway Avia is coming to see you. You want to see Avia right?' I said as encouragement.

'Okay. Bye Max' she said reluctantly as the little boy waved at her and ran off with his mum. It's crazy to think that these two kids are practically the same age and going through the same thing.

To them this is just normal.

'Mummy when I can I go back to school? I want to see my friends' she pouted. 'And Mr Davies'

'Well you can't go back to school yet. But I might be able to get Mr Davies to come here' I said raising an eyebrow at her and thought about that.

I could easily go into the school and see if Adrien would come to the hospital to see Poppy. And maybe he would bring her some work to do and it would make her feel better and like she's missing less school.

When we got back to her room she got really excited to see that Avia was already sitting there and that she had a bag of goodies for Poppy.

Poppy was quite excited and jumped into Avia's arms for a hug and the two played together well.

They get on together really well because Avia enjoys having a little sister to boss around but also to look after and teach new things too.

She was the one child that understood a lot more what was going on and what this could potentially means and having lived through Lissy I knew that it would hit her really hard if anything did happen.

'I bought my dolls for you pop. I know how much you love playing with and doing their hair' Avia said which meant that this was the perfect time for John and I to have a chat knowing that poppy was being occupied.

'How's home?'

'It's fine'

'You look exhausted'

'Well I am trying to juggle work and school runs and after school activities and hospital visits and seeing you' he complained. Just the way he said it all made me feel exhausted.

'I'm sorry. I should come home a bit more' I grumbled.

'No. Your better with Poppy. I don't want her to be alone' he said desperately. 'I so badly miss having you in the bed though' he said in a crumpling voice.

'Maybe I'll come home tonight? I want to go and see Adrien tomorrow at the school anyway and see if he'll come and visit Poppy' I explained.

'She'll be on her own though?'

'She'll have conner and the hospital will call us and plus she'll be asleep. She won't even know I'm not there' I said trying to make it sound better to myself by the problem is as soon as o get home I'll feel majorly guilty about not being with her .

But the sound of sleeping in a bed sounded so good and was definitely calling me.

'Only if she's okay with it' John said sternly as if he was my parent.

- - -

'Should I go back?' I mumbled to John as we sat in the driveway in the car.

'No mummy. She was fine. You saw her' Avia said jumping out of the car and grabbing my keys from me to get into the house.

I felt sorry for her because this is a really hard time for her at the moment. She's got sats and things to think about and we focus all our time on poppy.