Six Months to Live

Chapter Ten

'Cheryl, did you pack the rest of the gingerbread cookies?' Toni asked as she threw her clothes into the suitcase without even folding them.

'Yeah, I could never forget those,' she shouted from the bathroom.

Their flight was at 2pm and it was currently 11am and they were still packing. The airport was an hour away.

'The taxi said it's here,' Toni cried as Cheryl walked into the main room. They were not even close to being ready. 'Give me a hand closing this.'

Toni put the suitcase on the floor and her and Cheryl were both pulling the zip trying to close it.

'Stand on the suitcase,' Cheryl said. Toni did as she was told.

As if by magic, the weight of Toni on top of it enabled Cheryl to close it.

Cheryl gave her hand out to Toni, helping her off the suitcase.

They grabbed their coats and Toni got the suitcase and they ran out of the door. The only thing they could do now was to hope that they had everything.

Making their way to the reception area, they saw the taxi immediately.

'Taxi for Topaz?' Toni asked the driver, opening the back door. He nodded and unlocked the trunk for them to put the luggage into.

Toni sat down in the backseat after putting it in there and closing the lid.

'Sorry for the delay, we overslept,' Cheryl lied to the taxi driver as he pulled off.

'No worries, let's just hope that you remembered everything from your room,' he joked, accelerating down the road.

Cheryl was very out of breath from the short run, she hated feeling herself deteriorate every day.

I just realised that I called this a taxi rather than an 'Uber' as Americans would call it but am I going to bother going back and changing it? Nope, you'll just have to deal with it :)

———————————————————

'Welcome back to New York, thank you for flying with IcelandAir, hope to see you again soon,' the pilot announced once they had landed.

Cheryl stood up and got ready to exit the plane, with Toni just behind her. Since they hadn't brought any carry on luggage, they were the first ones off the plane.

'So how'd you find flying this time babe?' Cheryl asked Toni as they walked along the corridor coming off the plane.

'It wasn't too bad, you made it more bearable,' she said.

They went to the conveyor belt and Toni picked up the red and black suitcase.

Cheryl hated the fact that she couldn't do much manual work in case she got dizzy or out of breath, but that was just the way it would have to be for the next couple of months.

———————————————————

'Cheryl, Toni, Penelope, please sit down,' Dr Charles said to the three girls.

Cheryl had just had another MRI scan to track the progression of the tumour.

'I am so so sorry, the tumour is really close to the nerves that control your speech and your legs, if it continues growing at this rate, it is possible that within the next week you will deteriorate massively,' he said to Cheryl, tears welling up in his eyes, he'd never been upset in front of them before.

The whole world began to spin, it was like the words just weren't hitting the young redhead, like she was in a different world.

'So if there's anything you want to do, you should do it within the next few days,' he told them, 'we never could have predicted that it would grow this fast, I'm very sorry.'

Cheryl just felt numb. It felt real yet not real at all. She heard sobs coming from next to her and turned to see Toni balling her eyes out.

Cheryl took Toni's hand into her own, brushing the smooth, caramel skin with the pad of her thumb.

'Doctor, can I talk to you outside?' Penelope said, barely showing a hint of emotion.

Once they left the room, Cheryl stood up and crouched by Toni's side, who was still sobbing.

'It's okay,' she mumbled, taking the other girl's hands from her eyes and wrapping them around herself.

'I'm sorry Cheryl, I'm supposed to be the strong one,' Toni cried into her girlfriend's shoulder.

'We have to be strong for each other, okay?' She said, her voice somehow coming out strong.

Toni nodded, holding Cheryl as tight as she could, as if she'd disappear in a puff of smoke if she were to let go.

———————————————————

Author's Notes:

Poor Cheryl :(
This is the first chapter that I've cried at while writing, it is pretty sad.
Hope you enjoyed, please vote and comment!! ❤️❤️