The Smile

3.Company

The morning went by as usual; dull, boring and uneventful. I never had a reason to look forward to the next morning. Except for Nurse Livvy, I didn't quite interact often with anybody else. 

Partly because nobody understood my dark humor and fetish for death while all of them were trying to survive. And partly because nothing they ever said particularly interested me.

They had hope. 

They craved for few more minutes, a few more days. Months. Years.  

They weren't bad people. They were kindly and compassionate despite my rather sulky behavior. They were nice enough to be called friends but I felt no real connection to them.

All we talked about were things at the hospital. Because that's all we had in common.

As usual, Nurse Livvy came to take me down to the cafeteria for lunch with my "hospital friends".

"Ready for lunch?"

"With the twelve Knights of the Round Table? Nope"

She gave me a dry look but I could see the amusement in her eyes as I snickered to myself.

As I enter the cafeteria, I could see the rest of them already seated at our usual table. I pick out my lunch and Nurse Livvy wheels me towards the table.

"Hey guys" 

All of them look up and smile in greeting.

Let me introduce you to the brave twelve knights, or rather five knights. Meet: Stella Greene, Jacob Williams, Abigail Turner, Elijah Wells and Adrian Sawyer. 

Its the Cancer Club! Too much? Yeah i'll stop.

Well, not all of us have cancer but we have something severe enough to keep us at the hospital.

Stella flips her hair and leans over with a glint in her eye that indicated she had gossip to spill. I roll my eyes and concentrate on the food.

"Have you guys heard about the new girl?"

Everyone nods.

"She's in the room next to mine", Jacob adds.

"I saw her. She's really hot." Did I say they were ALL nice? Well, I take it back.

"Shut up Elijah. She's sick. Like the rest of us." said Abigail as she frowned at him in disapproval.

Elijah used to be a high school football player, and if you can't tell, he used to be a popular one. Which would explain the attitude.

Stella was the same. Except for the football part.

Jacob is the oldest out of us. He got into college before he had to drop out an year later.He's more like the parent figure of the group. Listening and advising.

Abigail and Adrian are the quiet ones. Smart , and at times a little sassy. I find it easier to talk to both of them in comparison to the others. 

I completely zone out as Abigail and Elijah start to bicker.

I let my mind wander as I imagined who this new girl might be. What does she look like? Why is she sick? Nurse Livvy said she was like me....maybe she would talk to me?

 Oh get a grip Kenneth! Who are you kidding? 

"Earth to Kenneth?" I hear someone's voice above me.

I look up startled and a little annoyed, only to find it was Nurse Livvy.

"Are you done? I could take you back to your room if you like?" she says with a smile.

"Oh yeah sure"

When I look up I could see that the bickering had stopped and they were back to talking about random things.

I give them a quick goodbye as Nurse Livvy escorts me back to my room.

Nurse Livvy's pager goes off as she helps me back onto bed.

"Oh no"

"What is i-" I start but she's already out the door. She leaves, but the door remains open.

I could see the pitiful glances and hear the hushed talking as the other nurses and doctors felt sorry for me. I can't walk towards the door without proper support. So I pretend that I can't hear or see and try to block out the voices.

Sometimes I wish I could be invisible. Maybe that would stop all the staring and the whispering and the pitying. 

Suddenly a head of thinning, chocolate brown hair blocks their view, and a girl in a wheelchair enters my room and closes the door. 

She turns around to face me and I swear I heard angels calling me. 

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