Deadly Cure

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Cyler

                  Wednesday. The middle of the week was usually my favorite time, yet this Wednesday had a certain added charm. Today was the first day back for Hannah, at school. It was stupid to try and hide my enthusiasm, but she wanted me to try. It was all because she was too scared to tell people. And how would she tell them? Hey, cute shirt oh I have terminal cancer and four months to live? Maybe six? Yeah, I could see that going over well.

                  Plus, Hannah wasn't one for pity. She didn't like things being easy for her, and this proved it. That, and she was the most stubborn person I had ever met. Once she was set in her ways she didn't change, except for her virginity. That was a messy concept. Right now, it was a grey area for her. Actually, her whole life right now is a grey area.

                  I pulled up to Hannah's house, like every school day. I checked the time to see if we were going to be late, but of course, we weren't. I always came to Hannah's at 7:45, exactly fifteen minutes before school started. The town was small and pretty much everything was five minutes away, with the added three minutes for traffic. If Hannah was ready we were only eight minutes away from our destination, but I always accounted for five minutes that Hannah would need, giving us two minutes to walk into school.

                  But Hannah had cancer now, and I hadn't accounted for that.

                  I was wearing a green t-shirt and dark wash jeans and my All-Star Converse, pretty much the same thing I wore every day. The only thing different about me was my hair; it was tousled softly to one side. I had tried to manage the messy curls.

                  The front door was unlocked, like always, and I pushed my way through. Marie was in the kitchen, washing dishes from breakfast. She looked hollow, lost, miserable... a shell of a person. It was like she was a pumpkin, but someone had carved out all the inside, and a makeshift face. She was pretending that everything was okay, and that was the hardest part of all of this. If Hannah needed it we would all sacrifice ourselves for her, but it was the hardest part that no one knew why we were all glum.

                  "Hello, Mrs. Folk," I added a small wave and she flashed me a smile that was a half-hearted attempt. I smiled, but I bet if you took a photo of our smiles they were identical. Most of Hannah's siblings were resigning in their old bedrooms, except Abbey. Abbey and her family lived just down the street.

                  "Hello Cyler, please it's Marie." I don't know how many times she had corrected me, and it still was a habit of calling her, Mrs. Folk. I nodded and proceeded towards Hannah's bedroom.

                  Her bedroom was empty, but the light was on in the bathroom.

                  "Hannah? Are you okay?" The door was snapped open and a smiling Hannah faced me. She was wearing eyeliner, mascara, blush, lip-gloss, and eye shadow. On most school days Hannah wore this much make up, but I thought she looked the best without it. She was wearing a mid-thigh length pleated skirt the color of roses with a black blouse. I didn't know why kind of shoes she was wearing, but they were strappy and made her two inches taller.

                  "Duh, Cyler. I was just putting my make-up on. Come on, we're going to be late." She leaned in and planted a kiss on my cheek, grabbed her purse and backpack, then left. I followed after her, wondering what was really going on. Hannah could be eccentric, but this was overly happy, which was odd for her lately.

                  "O-okay." Today would be interesting.

~~

Hannah kept up the happy-act throughout the school day. It was exhausting as she told the same lie a dozen or so times. People, mainly girls and teachers would crawl their way to her and ask the same question, "Where have you been? You missed a lot of school." Or "Oh my God you're back! I missed you." I would always roll my eyes and try to drown out the next part. The lie.  She always adjusted the hem of her skirt before she responded. "Oh, well Grams fell, and Ma thought it best if I go take care of her for the week. It was no biggie." Hannah never lied, but today she made an exception.