The next day, I go into the living room to find Kelsie laying on the carpet, happily doodling. It looks like she's drawing some fairies dancing on a rainbow.
I crouch down next to her, but she squeals and jumps onto the paper, covering it. "Hunter!" she cries, "You can't see it!!!" She rolls over on the floor laughing, clutching the paper to her chest. "It's a surprise!" she giggles.
"Okay, okay, fine," I laugh with her. I leave her to finish her drawing, and walk into the kitchen to make a sandwich.
Kelsie calls out from the living room. "Mommy said Linny called but you were sleeping!"
"Okay!" I shout back. Wiping bread crumbs from my nonexistent sandwich off my fingers, I run upstairs to call Linny.
On the second ring, she picks up. "Hello? Hunter?"
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Oh, my gosh AAAHHHHH, I just HAVE to nerd out with you right now. So you read The Hunger Games series, right? Right. Yeah, anyway, I just finished Catching Fire and, oh my gosh, it's just amazing! Like at the end when Gale told Katniss 'There is no District 12.' I almost started screaming! Except, you know, that would make everyone flood into my room so yeah, no screaming, but Peeta! Oh gosh, no, just, NO! Poor Peeta I have to save him! It's just. Just......."
I smile. "I know exactly what you're talking about." I'm shaking my head, but she can't see. And she's in fangirl mode too-she probably doesn't even remember my name right now. Linny gets like this sometimes, obsessed with a book or tv show. I just smile and listen. "But, Linny, wait, are you not even going to mention-"
"FINNICK!!!!! Oh, he's absolutely perfect. Like, oh, goodness, he is dreeeaaamyyyyy. If I had my own Finnick," she sighs. "That would be wonderful." I can almost see her daydream; her emotions are so strong right now, I can't help laughing silently. "Finnick...." she breathes, "ugh, he drives me crazy, he's just too perfect. I literally want to bang my head against the wall, that's literally how he makes me feel. .....My own Finnick would make me feel like that, too..."
She fades out in silence, obviously lost in her own girly thoughts. Still, I wish she did have her own Finnick. I wish she didn't have to live solely in the hospital and her house, unable to play sports and go out with her friends, much less boyfriends. I wish she didn't have to live with this crippling disease.
That thought, of course, brings me right back to the depressing topic of my so-far-unsuccessful research. I hang up on Linny, not that she would notice, and bury my head in my arms, trying to think.
YOU ARE READING
All the Slivers of Red
Teen FictionHunter, who has sickle cell disease, has been sheltered all his life. As he and his friend Linny know, there is no cure for their rare and serious illness. That is, until Hunter makes a discovery and a new friend, and his life is changed forever.
