An Abundance of White Blood Cells // [WATTYS 2017]

THREE

Above is Lena

We got home and Mom started on the pancakes. I knew it was Sunday, because Dad was watching reruns of Happy Days on T.V. It was on old seventies show that my parents used to watch when they were kids. I ran upstairs and changed into a Penguins t-shirt and a pair of sweats. I padded into the kitchen, which was conjoined to the living room through a little arch doorway, and helped my mom with the pancakes. I glanced through the little window that you could see the living room through. Dad was smiling as he watched his show, and Rose and Lena were playing on their phones.

Mom sprinkled a few chocolate chips into the pancake batter with a flourish. She used to be a top notch baker at our local bakery, but when I got diagnosed she quit so she could spend more time with me. She still keeps up her baking skills by always making some kind of treat for me each week. But to make up for the sugary stuff I eat all the time she makes sure my lunches and dinners are filled with healthy things.

We made about ten pancakes before setting the table and calling everyone over to eat. I ate about two times more than everyone. To make my mom happy I ate a bunch of strawberries and mangos, which aren't that bad. We finished up and started cleaning up. Most of the dishes just went in the dishwasher. When we finished cleaning up Rose and Lena got texts saying they needed to be home, so I drove them home.

"You better call me if anything happens with Nate." Lena commanded as she got out of the car.

"Yes ma'am." I saluted her as a joke.

Rose made me promise the same thing when I dropped her off. I drove back home and when I got inside Mom had Cards Against Humanity waiting for me in the living room. It was Family Day. When Mom and Dad found out I had cancer they made Sundays Family Days...didn't want to miss out on time. We did some of the same things every Sunday, but we rotated them so we wouldn't be sick of them. I loved Cards of Humanity. The sentences you could come up with were so horribly funny!

We played for awhile until around one, when I went to go take a nap. Like always, Mom and Dad tucked me in. They always did it, and I didn't mind, it was nice. I pulled my covers up to my chin and drifted off into a dreamless sleep. That's how most of my naps went. I would lay down and slowly fall asleep and then what felt like seconds was really hours of me resting, then I would just wake up all disoriented wondering what century it was. When I woke up this time it was about five-thirtyish.

I rolled out of bed and walked downstairs. "Mom? Dad?" I called. No answer. I walked into the kitchen and found I note on the fridge that read:

Hey honey,

Gramma needed us to come help her with her furnace, we'll probably be home after you go to bed. There's some dinner in the fridge for when you get hungry. If you get bored, the Williams are going to a movie around 8

Love,

Mom & Dad

I rolled my eyes at the last part of the note. I wasn't in the mood to be taken to a pity movie by the Williams. I'm not making shit up either, I kid you not, this family could win an award for the art of pity. They are only nice to me because I have cancer, if I didn't it'd be a whole different story, I'd probably be friends with the Williams kids maybe even go to school with them.

But I do, and there's nothing I can do to change that.

I opened the fridge with a smile. There was a plate with macaroni and cheese, broccoli, cut up pieces of steak, and a piece of corn bread. I mentally thanked Mom and grabbed the plate. I popped it in the microwave and warmed it up for a minute thirty. While I waited I read over the note again. Gramma's house was always like a sauna, but like Mom and I, she was chronically cold. Her house was about two hours away from ours.

The microwave beeped and my food was steamy hot. I grabbed the plate and a fork and plopped down in the couch in the living room. My tongue was filled with a wonderful savory taste as I took a bite of the steak. Protein, just like Phillis said. I turned the T.V. on and surfed the channels until I decided on Avatar the Last Airbender. I loved this show, it was practically my childhood. Plus, Aang being bald really helped me during my chemo. It made me believe that I could do great things too.

When I got diagnosed Mom pulled me out of school immediately. I didn't even have a choice, although, I was ten, and that seemed like a pretty good thing, being pulled out of school, not getting diagnosed with leukemia. Basically, how we found out I had this wonderful kind of sickness was my constant nose bleeds. Dad used to think it was the change in the seasons that were causing my nose bleeds, because the same thing used to happen with him. But noooo. Instead I got this.

About a month after I got pulled out of public school I was put into online school. Which is way better, just so you know. I actually understood what's going on in my classes, I'm a straight A student. I'm not isolated to just my teacher, I'm required to talk to at least one student in my grade over instant message once a day. Usually we just send emoji's back and forth until we've "talked" for the required time, which is twenty minutes.

I'm only a grade ahead, if I were in public school I'd be a junior, but mentally, I'm a senior in high school. Sometimes I wished that I actually went to public school, if I did, I'd be going to the same school as Lena and Rose. Which I wouldn't mind that much. Seven years of being home bound and talking to the same five people can make someone feel...isolated.

This isn't one of those things where you should be pitying me. I swear it's not. I've had enough pity to last a life time. I'm not asking you to donate your money to St. Judes or give your kidney to some cancer ridden child. Sometimes it's unfair that we got dealt the hand we did, but when has life ever been fair?

In the past Lena and Rose have tried to get me to go to their school dances. I always told them that, since I didn't go to school with them, it'd be weird if I came. Really, I just didn't want to go. A big crowd of adolescent teens dancing around in formal wear never really intrigued me. And Rose, who was aspiring to be a nurse, would always say "Quit being so depressed" and I would always reply with "I have a right you know." In which she would come back with "You also have a right to life." So I would give her my death glare and she would drop the matter.

Now I kinda regret not going.

As I watched Avatar the Last Airbender I glanced at my phone to see if anyone in particular had texted me. Yes, I was checking to see if Nate had said anything, but no luck. I was kinda mad at myself for even thinking about him. The last time I got...attached to a guy...Well, lets just say it didn't really end well for me.

When we first started dating, it was bliss. Probably because he didn't know I was sick. I was seeing this guy a few months after my doctors decided the cancer was staying dormant for a little while. About months into the whole ordeal, Mom and Dad made me tell him that I was sick. At first I didn't want to, I thought if he knew, he wouldn't want anything to do with me.

Eventually my parents sat me down and had a talk with me. They said. "If he truly loves you, then it won't matter that you're sick, he'll stay with you through all of it. No matter what." And with that inspirational conversation in mind I told my boyfriend that I had leukemia. As soon as I told him he just picked up and left. Didn't even give me an explanation. But it was obvious to me why he left, it was obvious to every one. He couldn't look past the sickness. All he saw was...

Anyways, ever since that monument of a break up I've kinda been the creator of my isolation. I don't let a lot of people in anymore. I should know better and not even let Nate into my life. But, (there's always a but, isn't there?) maybe I should do what Mom says, branch out, make new friends.

The rest of the night I binge watched Avatar the Last Airbender and must of fallen asleep on the couch because when I woke up in the middle of the night I was in my bed. My parents were home, probably in bed. I smiled to myself before nuzzling my pillow and falling asleep.