Dreamer☀️ {Completed}

26. 🌥

"And maybe it'll be enough if you know that in the few hours we had together, we loved a lifetime's worth."- Terminator

Blood dripped from my lip as I leaned over the toilet in my bathroom. The sickness coursing through my veins was only getting worse, and it now had me coughing up blood.

It was 3:00am and I had been standing here for a full fifteen minutes. My mother was still resting peacefully in her bedroom. Before, I'd always wake her when things like this happened. That was when I was scared.

I refuse to let myself be scared anymore.

My breath trembled when I looked at myself in the mirror again. I was deteriorating quickly, and there was nothing anyone could say that would convince me otherwise.

I was no longer the beautiful and happy girl in all those pictures Derek took. Now I was just simply a dying girl, and that's all I'd ever be.

The dreams I had were pointless because I'd never be able to chase them. I may not even live long enough to dream another night.

However, I wasn't scared any more. At least I was no longer scared for myself.

My hands gripped onto the edge of my sink and my body trembled. Riley sauntered in, the dog staring at me like she knew everything. She rubbed her head on my leg, trying to distract me from the physical pain that was getting worse.

At this point, I didn't know what was worse. The emotions running through my mind, or the pain that was getting worse and worse as the days ticked on by.

I was ready for this pain to end. Maybe that's why I wasn't scared any more.

A cramping so painful in my abdomen made me fall onto the tile, my sickly and frail body rolling over so I didn't choke on my own vomit full of blood. My own thin fingers ran through my thinning hair, pulling even more strands out.

My dog approached me hesitantly, as if I was a small doe and she was afraid of startling me. Then my dog slumped down besides me, as if my poor Riley was dying too.

I wondered then if she knew this was the end for me. I wondered if she knew this was the end for us, and that there would be no more cuddling through storms. It was funny because she hates the sound of thunder, but I loved it.

She licked my hand as I rubbed her, and she was already immediately making me feel better. It was the effect my dog had since before I had even gotten sick. She had this super power when my parents would fight, or when Autumn and I would fan girl about Haden and Derek.

My Riley was the only perfection I had left in my life.

With the sudden strength my darling dog lended to me, I pulled myself up, wiping my face off and brushing my teeth before leaning to look at myself in the mirror.

For once I actually smiled when I looked at myself. My dog didn't see the sickly girl everyone else saw. My dog saw me as the same girl that's been by her side since she was a puppy; since she was the one who needed the extra attention and cuddles.

With that, I climbed into bed. Riley took her familiar spot right next to me, her head cuddling into my chest. I dreaded the day she'd come to my bed and only my scent would remain.
**

I woke up still exhausted. I didn't know if it was because of my illness or if it was because of the ungodly hour I was up. Still, I trudged on.

Flipping my covers off of my body and getting ready quickly. Riley walked by my side as I walked to my car. She had always been a rather clingy dog but these days, she was being even more clingy than normal.