Escape

Chapter 13

As the years rolled by little Riley grew up and boy was she like her god mother. Crazy, they both are. Rile as we often called her did the strangest of things with the stupidest of reasons but we loved her unconditionally.Riley tried as often as possible to visit us but most of the time she was off doing God knows what. She never bothered to settle down and get married and start her own family which in a sense was understandable. She wasn't prepared to give up the life she had built for herself but sometimes I can't help but wonder if she won't be lonely living all by herself. I mean wouldn't it be extremely silent at home. How could she live like that? But then again, it wouldn't be surprising if every night she threw a party or went out and got drunk which led to frequent hangovers to drown out the single life. I really cherished the moments when she did come to visit. She would always have the craziest stories to tell us and we would laugh and talk forever. But little did we know what Riley was actually going through. 

A few months after her last visit we get a call. It was from a hospital in Toronto; Canada. It was about Riley. The doctor explained that Riley had been suffering from cancer for two years now and that she was going to die within a few days or even hours. He went on to say that Riley requested to see me, who the doctor said, was the only person she wanted to see. Tears rolled down my cheek as he spoke. All those visits that Riley made, I never once noticed a change. Maybe its because she did it so well. She knew that cancer was slowly taking over , that she was going to die but she didn't want anyone to feel sorry for her. She didn't want anyone treating her like she couldn't do anything for herself because she could. Maybe that's why she didn't want to get married. She knew that if she had fallen in love with someone it would've been hard to let go of that person and it would've killed her faster. It all made sense now.

The doctor gave me the address of the hospital and when he hung up, within hours I booked a flight to Toronto and found myself a hotel online and I began to pack, knowing that in a matter of time my best friend was going to die. My husband was very understanding and he promised to take good care of little Riley who was three by now. I would miss them both so much but I knew my heart was suppose to be with Riley. We had been through so much together.