Deadly Cure

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Cyler

One Week Later

                  You would think after a week the shock would be over, like waves in the ocean, pushing further and further out. But it didn't. The shock remained the same, maybe even intensified due to the time spent thinking about it. It.  The Cancer that was inside Hannah had somehow personified over the course of seven days. In seven days Hannah went from total shock to hysterical to panic and fear and terror and now back to denial. Denial was a reoccurring theme with Hannah. She liked to downplay her own sickness.

                  It was a Sunday, and it was hard not to think about last Sunday, (when we got the results from Hannah's test). A shiver found its way up and down my spine as I climbed up the wood steps towards the Folk's front door. They lived towards the countryside in a big old house that Hannah's Grandparents build. The stairs creaked in all the same places, it was a reminder at how the house had gone through so much. With five kids, (six countings me) running around it caused wear and tear.

                  "Cyler, is that you?" I hadn't even gotten two feet inside the house without someone spotting me. It was a full house with all of Hannah's siblings: Abigail, Brett, Claire, and Ethan. In addition, Abigail's husband and Brett's fiance. I think both Claire and Ethan were dating someone, but only Ethan's girlfriend was there. It was hard to keep track after a while. 

                  It was Brett asking from the kitchen sink. Brett was tall and well built, very intimidating. Of course, he played football throughout High School and even managed to get a decent scholarship for it. Or at least that's what got him into college, where he found out his calling was teaching. Go figure. Brett was the only Folk that wasn't blonde: he had short brown hair.

                  "Yeah?" I cleared my throat, eyeing the hallway where Hannah would be perched on her bed. "How is she?" I asked lowering my voice. Brett's blue eyes darted down the hallway and then back to mine, sending a signal of their own.

                  "Today is not a good day." He muttered before taking a sip of his water. "Abbey's in there now, trying to get her to eat." He gestured for me to go on, but I was hesitant. Hannah didn't like me to see her in a bad state. I, on the other hand, didn't mind. To me, she would always be the beautiful Hannah I loved.

                  "Okay. Thanks."I appreciated the heads up. It gave me time to get my thoughts in order. He nodded and I made my way down the hallway, bracing myself for her one of her fits. 

The beige walls seemed to loom over me, cackling down at me, laughing at me. Hannah's room was at the end of the hallway, we used to like that when we were making out or wanted some privacy. That was rare in a house where Hannah was one of five kids. Right now, it was like I was wasting time walking the extra ten feet.

                  Peering through the crack in her door I saw Hannah: arms crossed sitting upright on her bed, still in her Pj's even though the time says half-past eleven. Abbey was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, the usual for her, with her strawberry blonde hair twirled in a bun. She wore a look of patience but I could see it was wearing thin. Abbey and Hannah looked almost nothing alike. Abbey had a severe and intense way about her. She was blunt and almost cold. 

I lightly knocked and watched as Hannah's demeanor changed.

                  "Knock knock." I joked, hoping I sounded myself.

                  "Oh look who it is." Yup, Abbey was definitely losing her patience. She pushed herself off the bed and as she passed me she said, "you're a saint, Cyler." I smiled at the thought, but I knew it wasn't true: Hannah was the saint.