The Chronicles of Life. (Complete)

2013.

Vickie felt the rain drops on her bare skin as she ran her way up the steep slopped road. She momentarily stopped when her vision got blurry again that morning but continued soon after it went away. She'd been getting the episodes since earlier that year but she didn't have time to worry about that. The Two Oceans Marathon was only a month away and she needed to bring her A-game.

She ran 30 km without stopping before retiring and headed home. She'd been so proud of the progress she'd made and couldn't wait to tell her dad about it when he came back home the following day. The older man was a running champ himself and they'd shared their love for the sport.

The twins had both inherited their athletic nature from their dad and while Nathan decided to leave sport in middle school, Vickie had taken an interest in running. Every time their dad ran a marathon she'd join him, and that quickly made her his favorite twin. They'd been going to smaller, less popular marathons together and that would soon change. She couldn't wait to go to her first Two Oceans Marathon.

The marathon happened annually and it was one of the biggest marathons in the country. It was also known as the most beautiful marathon in the world. The girl had only seen it on TV and it was a dream of hers to be a part of it one day.

Nathan didn't mind his sister's bond with their dad, he had other things going on. He'd grown taller and muscular and was dealing with all the attention he had started getting from girls.

Vicki couldn't stand how her brother had become such a man whore but she loved him regardless. He was her second favorite person on the planet.

"30 km", she'd told her mom as soon as she made it home. The older lady was in their beautiful kitchen making breakfast but was quick to leave everything and ran to give her daughter a hug. She knew how much that meant to her. "Oh honey, I knew you'd do it. You're going to kill it next month", she said excitedly.

"What are we squealing about?", Nathan asked in a bored tone not bothering to take his eyes off his phone. "She made 30 k's", his mom answered excitement still in her tone. "Oh yay", Nathan said feigning enthusiasm then casually looked back at his phone.

It wasn't that the boy was jealous, he just didn't care. To him running wasn't a sport, it was a hobby. He didn't understand why his family made such a huge deal about it. He'd asked before but that had ended up in his sister giving him an hour long monologue about how big of a misconception it was that people insisted it wasn't a sport. That was a mistake he was never going to make again. He went along with his life ignoring the two women.

Two weeks of intense training later, Dineo had finally succeeded in forcing Vickie to take a break. Of course Vickie had insisted they meet up at the gym for some "light cardio". That was the girl's way of relaxing and Dineo was not in the mood to argue anymore. She was going to take what she was given. It was something.

Dineo loved her best friend but her tendency to overwork herself really worried her. She was a perfectionist who didn't take well to flaws and inadequacy. That's why when Vickie somehow stepped weird on the treadmill and fell flat on her butt the girl had near died laughing. That was not something that would ever happen to Vickie.

The two girls had shared a laugh as people at the gym looked at them funny. They didn't care.

After the past couple of weeks of training hard, Vickie couldn't help but smile at how great it was to just laugh and be foolish with her friend. She'd been in so much pressure with the marathon underway and it felt great to just let go for a bit.

That had been one of the things she loved about her best friend. She was the opposite of her, her balance.

She'd been the first person she opened up to about the fact that she was bisexual. That had been something she'd internally struggled with for years. She'd felt better when she spoke to her best friend about it.

The following day Vickie and her mom had been called by the family's General Practitioner. It was to discuss the results of a pet scan she'd done the day before after her fall. They'd insisted on her getting it because the fall was pretty bad, even she had to admit. It had also left her with a strained muscle.

They'd been in the car when the girl's mind trailed off to a kiss she'd shared with Bongi a few months before. She'd always found the girl attractive but what she was feeling for her was something she could not explain. Her emotions confused her so she did what any sane person would do... she ignored it.

It wasn't that she had a problem with being homosexual. It was that she knew she wasn't. She still found men very much attractive.

She'd been familiar with the term bisexuality but she'd never really met or knew someone who was bisexual. The whole thing was completely new to her but she had too many things going on in her life to worry herself about it. So for the 900th time, she put it in the back of her head. There was no time.

Her mental rant was disturbed by her mom telling her they'd arrived at the practice.

The girl had to remind herself that she was only going to be in a wheel chair for two weeks at most as her mom helped her out of the car and on to the chair.

She'd hated being dependent on other people. She also hated that they had to drive to see the damn doctor, surely he could've called. It was just a leg strain for god's sake, all the doctor had to do was just let them know the severity. Maybe even write up a script for pain relief. All that was happening was very unnecessary.

Was she compartmentalizing? She ignored the thought.

Running was her whole life. She didn't even want to imagine not being able to do it.

What would she do with herself if she couldn't do the one thing that gave her life?

No, no, no, no!

Her legs were going to be fine.

Suddenly all those worries seemed so minuscule. Nothing in the world could've prepared the girl for what happened next.

All she heard was,

"a brain tumor the size of a rock. It's aggressive and it's spreading really fast." Before her world came crushing to the ground.