Camp Echo Falls (Completed)

Chapter 78

Leo's flashback

The white corridors are cold as I wonder around the empty hospital.

The faint beeping from machines float from room to room. Nurses and doctors shoes clink on the floor as they pace from door to door.

My feet take me mindlessly from hallway to hallway. My hand traces along the plain wall as I turn each corner again and again.

I've spent every day after school in these halls for the past year. Every day of my teenage life waiting for something to happen.

I sit at my desk, watching the clock hand move around just until it hit three fifteen. The bell would ring and I was out of my chair walking out of the door, ignoring the teacher yelling something about the bell doesn't dismiss us they do.

I would take a twenty minute bus ride to the hospital and sign in with the lady who worked at reception.

Her name is Layla, her dark brown hair reminded me of chocolate, her small smile friendly.

I would do all of that to walk around these halls hopelessly waiting for something to happen.

For everything to be better. For everything to be okay. For everything to be happy.

But it isn't.

The door to the room clicks softly before I push it open. My eyes finding the bed in the middle of the room automatically. Each time I enter this room it hurts as much.

It will never get any easier.

She's sitting on her bed, tubes coming out from her mouth and nose. Glumly staring at the sop opera on the small screen tv. I don't think she hears me come in as she doesn't look in my direction.

I move the the side of the room and put down a cup of coffee I grabbed from the vending machine. I must make a noise as her head moves slowly in my direction.

Even in the state she's in, her dark brown eyes light up. "Leo baby." Her soft voice makes my chest tighten and heart break at the same time.

"Hey." I reply, coming to sit on the chair at her bed side. I reach for her frail hand and she smiles warmly down at me when I lightly trace her knuckles.

Her hand is so pale that I can see the veins running underneath the skin. She coughs lightly before speaking, "Leo you should be at home, studying for a test or doing homework."

I smile up at her, even with a brain tumour she still bugs me about school.

We were told she had been living with it for over three years. No symptoms where shown, so there was no need to check for anything wrong.

By that time it was too late.

"You know you're more important that school." I feel myself smirking in the same way she use to.

She shakes her head lightly before coughing, her small body leaning forward from the bed.

I feel the panic seep into my blood as she doesn't stop coughing. "Are you okay? Is there anything I can do? Should I get a nurse? I can run there and back in like thirty seconds." I ramble but she stops me by holding up her hand.

I've always been a rambler.

She tells me it's something she loves about me, but I think it makes me annoying. It makes me look like I'm full of my self or too much of a talker.

I go to protest but she shakes her head, the coughing subsiding as she takes in a few weak breath.

"Leo, sit down." She stubbornly says and I'm hesitant before taking the seat once again.