Deadly Cure

Chapter Eight

Hannah's POV

That Same Day

After Cyler left, I picked up my phone and sat down at my window seat. I stared outside, yearning for something, I just didn't know what. It was the same every day, wanting something I could never have. I didn't want to die, but that was something every Human had to face. It was the fear of our ending that made us what we were. It was a normal thing to fear -- death, but why was I facing it so young? I was only seventeen, I had so much to learn and do. 

There was so many things I wanted to do. I loved life and living, why couldn't this happen to someone who hated life? I brushed my blonde hair out of my face. My eyes searched the empty cornfields for a glimmer or a sign. I needed a sign that everything was going to be okay. I was still wearing my pajamas, a set of shorts and a t-shirt had become like a second skin. I was always wearing things that were comfortable because not even my own skin felt like that.

My body was killing me from the inside out. 

Bile rose in my throat and before I knew it, I was bent over the toilet. It wasn't the first time today and it wouldn't be the last. That was the only thing I knew for certain. I cleaned myself up and collapsed onto my bed. My limbs ached in ways I never knew. I felt like crying, but that took too much effort. My mood turned sour when my phone started to ring and I had no motivation to get it. 

By the time I got to my phone, it went to Voicemail. Then, it started up again. 

"Hello?" I hated how out of breath I sounded.

"Hey," I sighed in relief. It was Briella. "Ash, Cate, and I were going to hang out, just wondering if you wanted to tag along," her offer partially surprised me. Granted, I had asked her to hang around more. Was this pity? I knew she and her cousins suspected something, but there's no way they could know. Only my family and Cyler knew and he wouldn't tell the Coventry's. He didn't like them.

"Okay, yeah I'd like that. Do you think you could give me a ride?" I asked so I could cough. I coughed hard into my elbow, trying to muffle the noise. Nothing could muffle the sound of coughing up blood and phlegm. 

"Sure, we'll be there in twenty," her tone was confident and sure. I used to sound like that before the cancer ate away at my confidence. You couldn't be confident when you were dying. I hung up and stared in the mirror. I only had twenty minutes and I still had to get ready. I could take a shower or put makeup on, there was no in-between.

I chose to take a shower. I was out in thirteen minutes, chalked that up to an omen. I wore a white blouse with a grey sweater over the top and jeans that were too big around the waist. My clothes were starting to all look baggy on me. I couldn't keep anything down, making my size four waist oddly boney. I didn't like it. As I passed a mirror, my cheeks looked sunken in as my face turned gaunt. 

Sighing, I grabbed my phone and keys, tossed them both in my purse.

Briella knocked at my door exactly twenty minutes after we hung up. I was slightly stunned by her punctuality. She was, of course, dressed to near perfection, it almost hurt to look at her. She had mid-length black hair with beach waves. Her complexion was tan and healthy. Her piercing green eyes were the first thing anyone ever noticed. She had a white tank top that was tucked into a fringe black mini-skirt with knee-high black boots. 

Standing one step behind her were her cousins: Ashley and Catelyn. Ashley wore an England flag colored shirt with black leather leggings, her long hair trailing down her back in almost a fiery brown. She stood taller than the others, thanks to the yellow pumps she wore. 

On the other side, was Catelynn wore a cream-colored sweatshirt with ripped jean-shorts and block knee-high boots. She seemed more relaxed than the others. Her hair was cut short in a blonde bob with blunt bangs, her hazel eyes hidden behind.

"Ready, Hannah?" Briella sounded formal. It caused me to pause in the threshold of my house. Maybe it wasn't just her voice, but the feeling that this was my moment. If I went with them, things were about to change -- in a really big way, I just didn't know which way yet. 

I mused this over, turning it over in my head. Did I want this? I thought I wanted things to be different, but was I sure? Like Cyler says, I can be so decisively indecisive, it was a curse. I lived in perpetual contemplating my choices. I was always indecisive, it was the only thing I could be decisive about.

Not anymore, that had to change. 

"Yeah, I am ready," I shut the door swiftly behind me. Briella looked relived and motioned for me to follow her. The four of us climbed into a 2014 Chevy Camaro, it was bright green. Ashley had a red one and Catelyn had a blue one. It was the talk of the town in our Sophomore year when their parents all bought them matching sports cars. The Coventry's were known for their mystery and their wealth. 

Beltane was a small town, just a few miles away from Franklin, Virginia. It was the closest "big" town to Beltane, but even Franklin only had a little over eight thousand people. No, Beltane was tinier than a small town, it was almost unbelievable how small our town was. We really only had one of everything: one courthouse, one swimming center, one Starbucks (opened last year) and one girl dying of cancer.

That was why I couldn't and wouldn't tell anyone else about my condition. If people still talked about the Coventry's cars, two years later, then I couldn't even think of how long they would talk about me. Hannah Folk, youngest of five, dies tragically of cancer spread throughout her body. Yeah, they would talk forever. No way was I going to give them the opportunity to gossip.

I was so deep in my own thoughts, I hadn't thought to ask where we were going. I had assumed the mall, there were one a few towns away. It was quite a trek, but I knew the Coventry's went every weekend. I had been so eager to get out of the house, I hadn't bothered to find out where that was. After a while, I started to worry. I hadn't really hung out with the girls outside of school for a while. It had been at least a year -- maybe more. 

Before, I had just assumed the reason was that Cyler took up a lot of my time. Now, as my nerves warmed over, I wondered if there was a bigger reason.

"You're probably wondering where we're taking you," there was a glint in Briella's eyes. I almost shivered. Instead, I nodded. "It won't help to tell you we're taking you to the woods, but just trust us, okay?" Her green eyes invaded my own eyes. There was something about her that I couldn't shake. I was curious, but I knew I wasn't going to like what I found out.

That was what my mom always said. If you go looking for trouble, you'll only end up hurt: that's what she always told me. That, and that I was going to be the death of her because I was the most curious of my siblings. Before, I never knew why that worried her. Except, now I understood how very dangerous it could be to be so curious. What had I gotten myself into? My throat was dry, so I could barely speak.

"Okay, I trust you," and I hope I don't regret it. I almost added the last part but decided against it. The last thing I wanted to do was upset the three of them. Even if I had been at full strength, there's no way I could overpower three of them. I tried not to panic, telling myself to trust them.

Oh boy, I hope Cyler isn't right about them. 

I watched politely out the window as the city faded behind us. The paved road turned into gravel and then that turned into the dirt as we entered a crop of woods I didn't recognize. There were no signs and my phone had zero services. Briella took out a CD from a binder of other CD's and flipped it into the CD slot with one hand. She never took her eyes off the road, which would have eased my nerves if I knew what their plan was.

The music started to play and I stared at her. She was playing Sorcerer by Stevie Nicks. I knew because "Trouble in Shangri-La" was my mother's favorite album by Stevie. There were so many memories of me and my mom while the other kids were at school, singing around the house singing Stevie Nicks. I'm almost embarrassed to admit there were tears in my eyes. If I was really dying, then at least Stevie Nicks was there to comfort me, one last time.