Broken Ballerina

Chapter Two

Attached is a photo of Adam.

I wake up the next morning to Ben making sound affects to his toy cars and planes. Why he felt the need to be so loud I have no idea. I mean, I'm all up for children having their fun but please, have it either silent, or in a separate room to the cancer patient and the cripple who just spent the night sleeping in a couch with springs up her back.

"Jesus Ben will you be quiet?" I hiss, slowly picking myself up, rubbing my head, and untangling a large knot in my hair.

"Rose leave him alone." Mum snaps. Jesus who let the crabby train run this morning?

I grunt and lie back down on the couch, throwing the pillow over my head. Soon, Jane arrives in the room with tea and my phone charger.

"Thought you might need this." She says, handing me the plug and wire.

I plug the charger into the wall almost instantly. I always feel lost without my phone, so having it out of battery all night really killed me.

Soon, the white apple and black background appeared on the screen of my phone. Once it's turned on, it starts vibrating for a good ten seconds. Eleven messages and eight missed calls. Well one text is from the phone company so it doesn't really count. Nonetheless, I was pretty impressed with the amount of people who wanted to talk to me.

All of my messages are from Kat, Aaron, and Nessa, all asking me where I was. Two missed calls from Nessa, Three from Kat, two from Aaron, and one from Adam. I decide I'll call them all back. I'll just say my dad has appendicitis or something. I am in no state to tell anyone the real story over the phone. Except Adam, only because he dropped me to the hospital.

"I'll be back in a bit." I say to my family, slowly getting off the lump of a couch. I make my way to the waiting area and sit on one of the benches. I start off by calling Nessa. She I instantly picks up.

"Rosie! Where the hell are you? I've been so worried!" Nessa exclaims down the line. "It's not like you to not answer your phone! Is everything okay?"

"Yeah yeah everything's fine. My dad was just rushed into hospital with um.. appendicitis.." I stutter, trying to sound convincing. Something tells me I'll never be a radio actress, because my voice is abnormally shaky. "They had to um.. keep him in over night so I stayed."

"You're lying. I know you are. I can't believe you would pretend your dad is sick too! That's probably the worst lie I've ever - "

"Cancer." I interrupt before the whole she digs is so big my father's coffin could fit into it.

There's a moment of silence before Nessa speaks up again. Although, she doesn't say anything filled with imagination. "What?"

"My dad has.. cancer. Lung cancer to be exact." I can feel my eyes welling up and my throat becoming dry. I seem to have done a lot of crying in the past three days, you probably could drown in my tears.

"Oh my god. Rosie I - I'm so sorry. How long? If you don't mind me asking."

"Nine months tops." I barely make those words out before breaking down on the waiting bench. My head is cupped in my hand and the phone tightly gripped to my ear. I clear my throat and sit back upright. "Okay well I better to a few people were trying to call me last night also but please don't tell anyone okay?"

"Oh of course no problem it's not my business to tell." Nessa says, reassuringly. "If you need anything call me okay?"

"Okay thanks Nes." I breathe. Having Nessa knowing about Dad was somewhat comforting.

I decided not to call back Aaron and Kat. Telling Nessa was enough for today. Instead, I said I stayed in my auntie's last night and I forgot my charger. However I do want to tell Adam. I didn't want him asking me what happened with my Dad's "heart attack". I dial the number and as soon as he picks up, I'm bombarded with questions.