Anna breathed slowly into her oxygen mask. Visions and memories swam through her head. Her mother had said they could go home, that she would be okay. The shock hit Anna like a wave, she had cancer and there was nothing anyone could do about it. She had cancer and it was not going to be okay. What if her mom was wrong, what if she died, what if she didn't live, what if - a knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. Her mother slipped into the room, her hair in a messy, but beautiful bun. Her mom was always perfect. Everything about her was perfect and Anna sometimes found herself wondering now such a perfect woman could end up with a daughter like her. "Hey Anna, how are you feeling?"
Anna carefully unlopped the rubber bands around her ears. She released the oxygen mask from her face and sucked in a large breath of air. "Like I have cancer." Anna mumbled. "What?" Her mother looked concerned. "Fine!" Anna spoke louder this time. "Oh that's good." Anna sighed. A wave of silence filled the room. "Well," Anna's mother said breaking the silence, she walked over and unsnapped the top of Sisyphus's cage. The hamster spun in circles as Anna's mother gently dropped food into his bowl. "The doctor said that you need to stay inside for a while, although you are in great remission. I can't say that I can stay inside with you all day, so you may have to distract yourself for some time while I am at the market." Anna's expression darkened. "O-okay. I'll be fine." Anna tried to look happy as her mother looked over.
As Anna's mother left the room Anna let it all out. She began to cry, tears crowding her vision. Her mother had left her, off to buy more stupid tulips. The tulips she said made the house look beautifully. But really they would last a day or two and they would shrivel up and brown. The beautiful tulips that mimicked her sickness as they grew and bloomed in the wonderful rays of light pouring into the windows of their house. In her head Anna began to recite the poem that filled her head every day, the one tang proved she a symptom of cancer, that she was no more than a person who was made up of cancer;
There's a certain Slant of Light.
Winter Afternoons -
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes -
Heavenly Hurt, it gives us -
We can find no scar,
But internal difference -
Where the Meanings, are -
None may teach it - Any -
'Tis the seal Despair -
An Imperial affliction
Sent us of the air
When it comes, the Landscape listens -
Shadows - hold their breath -
When it goes, 'tis like the Distance
On the look of Death
YOU ARE READING
An Imperial Affliction
NouvellesIf you have read The Fault In Our Stars by the one and only amazing John Green, then you will know what an Imperial Affliction is. This is our own version of what we would think the book would be like if it were real. The story includes The Dutch Tu...
