Deadly Cure

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Hannah

                  Cyler was right. He was always right, which was annoyingly adorable. When he dropped me off I slammed the door in his face and stalked over to my room, locking it and crying myself into slumber. Cyler could have gotten in through my bathroom window or the big bay window in my room, but he didn't. I was conflicted on how I felt about that, and school, and life. I was just a jumble of conflict and it wasn't working itself out.

                  I heard them talking. My mom and Cyler, she had let him in and offered him lemonade. He accepted, of course, he was Cyler and didn't know how to say no. The house may be big, but the walls are thin and even though dreamland I heard my name. They cared about me, it was easy to see but hard to describe. They talked about it, the cancer, and how I was doing. I felt like they were at a parent-teacher conference, rather than a mother boyfriend.

                  He had left after an hour of talking to my mother. I didn't hear his footsteps, I felt them, and moving closer and closer towards me like my own heartbeat. When he got to my door he didn't make any indication, but I could tell. I slid off my bed and stood parallel to him. I lifted my hand up to the wood panel and like some sort of magic I felt him again. I rest my forehead against the aged wood like I knew he was doing.

                  "I love you." He whispered through the door, and like a kiss, it landed on my lips.

                  "I love you too." My response was softer and lower, yet I knew he heard me.

                  My mom waited twenty whole minutes before she knocked on my door. I thought it was to give me a lecture, but she just told me that dinner was ready. Maybe she was going to bring it up with dad in the room. I washed my face and hands, then unlocked my door and walked into the kitchen.

                  Dad was wearing one of his best flannels, (he had been doing that a lot lately) and his jeans had only a few holes in them. His shoes were off, just how mom liked it since it made the floors cleaner. I noticed mom wasn't wearing any makeup and only a t-shirt and jeans. Mom usually dressed to impress, but lately...

                  Oh. The cancer was doing this.

                  "How was work dear?" Mom hated hearing about the construction sites dad worked or the thirty acres of our land he farmed. Mom was a city girl at heart, and I didn't blame her, but force-feeding conversation wasn't helping anyone.

                  "Same as every day. How 'bout yours, Hannah?" Dad was distant towards mom. It didn't make sense. Mom didn't give me cancer. Sure she probably stressed me out and raised my blood pressure, but I did the same to her. I was the last kid, last bird in the nest, without me mom and dad would have an empty nest. My parents knew this, and they saw it coming, but the thought was that Cyler and I would go off to college together and someday get married and have a bunch of Folk-Laine children.    

                  "Same 'ole it was just school." Except that it wasn't. "Actually, today was a really good day. I saw the Coventry's today and they really—helped. It was like they knew, but—

                  "But what?" My mom asked while I spiraled deeper and deeper into my mind.

                  "They're really nice." Mom dismissed it and started to talk to dad about the economy or something. I excused myself to my room, having hardly touched my meal. Mom took note.