The Last Five Standing (Summer Battle of 2014)

The Last Breath

I wish it wasn’t what it seemed to me.

Cold beads of sweat trickling on my forehead, hands running cold and heartbeats that nearly broke my eardrums, panic filled my system. I closed my eyes and wished that everything was fine. But it seemed like I was wishing for something that would never happen. I stared at the doctor as his brows creased when he piled the papers on his table.

“It’s breast cancer. It’s very rare because you’re only nineteen but the tests we conducted revealed that…that you have it. I’m sorr—"

“You’re not sorry. You aren’t,” I snapped regardless of what would the Doctor thought about my trashy attitude. Frantic, I clenched my hands and smiled bitterly.

For all fuck’s sake, I just had my life back.  And now, this fucking doctor fucking told me that I had a fucking cancer! How wonderful was that?

Brushing away the tears on my cheeks, I stood up and gave him a curt nod.

“But Miss Amber, yo—"

“I’m going to settle the bills. Bye.”

With haste, I walked away, but as soon as I got out, fresh surge of tears blurred my vision. I couldn’t even walk straight, my feet were like walking Jell-O and all I could muster was to sat on the chair allotted for the patients who were waiting for the consultation. An old man looked at me with a curious expression on his face. I didn’t care. All I could do was to cry like an idiot and reminisce how I got my normal life back.

For a moment, I wondered if I hadn’t met my Dad. Maybe, I wouldn’t be diagnosed with cancer. Maybe, I would still be an immortal, someone who never cared about her health because death was not an option for creatures like her.

Maybe, I would still remain a demon, a monster pretending to be a human. I’m a beast hiding in my house, trying to distance myself to humans, afraid that I might lost my temper and let loose of the demon inside of me. Afraid that I might ruin the greatest mask I wore. I’m a coward for not showing my ugly form. With my two short horns, bald head, canine teeth, darkish rough skin and bloodshot eyes, I could scare someone to death.

But no, I never wanted any of those. All I wanted was to live the simple life that my father had robbed me. And instead of a normal life, my father had given me a lifetime of hiding on my room, trying not to get any contact with people and worst, living in solitude. I also took that time cursing, hating and dreading him because of his wretched spell.

As far as I could remember, he was once the best father a child could ever have. But he was replaced by a grumpy old man who never cared about me when Mom died. He became hot-tempered and he never even bothered to ask me if I was fine. He was all too caught up with exploring his ability in sorcery that he forgot that there’s a daughter who needed him more than anything else in the world. Back when Mom was still alive, Dad and I were inseparable. But after Mom’s death, he built a wall between us and no matter how hard I forced myself inside his world, I always ended up crying because he never let me in. And what was worst, because of his hatred, he casted a spell before he died. A spell that made me suffered for one hundred and sixty two years.

But those frustrations, hatred and anger disappeared when I found out that my Dad gave up his life in heaven for me to become a normal human again. I could still remember how we last talked.

 

“A-amber,” he tried to reach for me and embrace me but I flinched as anger occupied my brain.

“Stop acting like you cared when in our old life all you wanted was to get rid of me! When Mom died, my Dad died too. You’re a different person now so stop acting like I’m important in your life!”