Page 492

I'm Just Soggy From The Chemo

             Santos's POV
     Her phone falls to the floor before she does. I drop down next to her pick her up. Her body is almost limp. I sit her on her lap as she stares blankly at her hands.
    "Please talk. Your scaring me. What did your mom tell you," I say. She looks me in the eyes. Hers show no sign of emotion. It's like she's turned herself off.
    "My blood tests results came back and I have Cancer," she blurts out in a rush. I can hardly understand her, but I do. My heart stops as the word Cancer leaves her lips.
   "Wh-what kind?" I stutter out. She tells me Leukemia. The one thing that goes through my mind is my mom and seeing her to through her chemo. That was before my dad was abusive and he was a loving, caring husband that wanted to take care of his wife.
    My mom might have made it though, but I had seen the troll it had on her body and her in general. It had broken my heart to see her in such agony.
    What if Illi doesn't make it? I've just got her, I don't want to lose her. But she's independent and stubborn, meaning I know she will think she'll be able to do this all on her own.
     My heart breaks for her. My eyes tear up at the thought of losing her all too soon. I love her. "Y-your going to fight through this," I tell her. She blinks, sending tears to fall down her face. I wipe them away with the pad of my calloused thumb. She leans into my touch, sighing.
    "What if I'm not strong enough to win?" She asks. I can almost hear myself shatter. Her eyes turn glassy as she tries to hold back more tears. "What if I just want to give up?"
    I cup her face in both if my hands and look her dead in the eyes. "You are going to win this, and I'm gonna be by your side every step of the way. And if you need to take a break on some days, then you can lean on me and I can take the pain for you."
    She takes a deep breath as I kiss her forehead. I squeeze my eyes shut as I do so, taking in her sent; her hair smells like a rose garden with a hint of lavender. She draws her lips to mine and kisses me softly. With her kisses I feel that she lives me, but I can never tell if its true. She doesn't say it and I understand why and I won't pressure her to.
     ××××××××
        Three weeks later
     Illi and I act as if were jus close friends now. She doesn't want her dad being mad at her anymore and I had the idea of saying we broke up. Marcus hasn't been to the hospital to visit her at all. Venus has barely left her side jus as her parents.
    I only leave to go home and do necessary things like brush my teeth and shower and go to work, then come back here. Chemo has taken its troll of her. She's gotten somehow even more skinnier and she's lost a little bit of her natural caramel skin tone. Her eyes seen to be more rule and she's always saying she's sore.
    She says shes dreading her hair falling out, but I think she'll still be beautiful without it. Sure I'll miss running my fingers through it when we kiss or when we're going to sleep, but I don't care.
     She currently as her arks around me with her head on my chest. I run my hand up and down her arm with a feather like touch. The door to the hospital room opens and her parents walk in, this time with someone I've never seen.
    She looks like Illi; same hair color, lip shape, eyes, height. She shifts nervously on her feet as she looks at Illi's sleeping body.
    "How long as she been out?" Mar, her mom, says.
   "About five minutes now. She's been throwing up whatever food she eats," I say. Her parents look at each other. Illi flinches in her sleep. I hold her tighter as if that will fight off whatever bad dream she is having.
    "Is she okay?" The women in the back asks. Her parents shrug in answer then turn to me
    "Please. Please don't touch me there. I beg of you. Don't," Illi says in her sleep, loud enough to hear. I close my eyes, trying not to break down in tears. I've kept all the pain I've been feeling by seeing her like this in the I inside. The last thing I want is for her to feel bad.
   "Illi, wake up," I whisper softly in her ear, kissing her temple. She slowly opens her eyes tears escaping them as she does so. "Are you okay?" I ask. She shakes her head.
   "Just a very vivid memory of one of those times," she tells me, "Its like I can feel their hands on me still." Her parents clear their throats. I wish they would leave so she could let it out.
    Illi shakes her head violently and takes a deep breaths. I rest my hand on her back as she sits up her eyes fixed in the lady. "No. No. No," she says in repeat, tears now streaming down her face. The woman steps up.
    "Cata, its okay. I'm not going to hurt you," she tells Illi. The only other person I've heard call her Cata was her dad, so it must be a family nickname from her middle name.
    "Really, your not going to hurt me?" Illi nearly yells. "Leave." The lady shakes her head.
     "I don't know what's-"
     "You don't know what's happening? You know damn well why I don't want to see you, mom!" She says, spitting out the word mom like its venom. My fists clench into fists. This the cock sucking whore that forced Illi into selling herself.

AN: Kind of a cliffhanger, I don't know. Anyways, this was just a little bit of his broken side, requested by @firecrackergirl. I didn't want to bring it out fully cause I have a plan for that later in the book. Please comment a side of him or her you want to see next!! Share! Stay alive |-/               -Veah