Into The Woods

Chapter 10: Being Alone..

It was November 14, 2021 now..it has been a couple months since everything happened. Emily didn't leave her room at all, ever since she got back to the house. She was living on her own now, since her aunt passed away last year. "Maybe I should call my brother...or my mother." She picked up her phone and dialed her mother's number on the phone. She heard her mother pick it up.

"Honey?" She sounded concerned.

"Hi mom..."

"What's wrong Honey?"

"I miss all of my friends and aunt Luna, also I have a question to ask you." Emily said looking around her room.

"Go ahead."

"Since dad had cancer...does that mean I have it too?" Emily asked her mother, it took her mother a couple minutes to answer her question.

"Yes..." She sounded like she was far away from the phone. "Your father has a history with cancer on his side of the family..you have the same cancer..." Her mother said to her, she was staring out the window now. Emily couldn't understand how she would have the same cancer.

"So, I'll see dad sometime soon?"

"Well, you might see him sooner than you think.."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Emily asked, she was worried now.

"Have a great night Honey." Her mother said, she hung up the phone. Emily didn't know what her mother was talking about, she then got up and walked downstairs. She saw her cousin was still here.

"Hey Sean?" She said walking into the living room.

"Yes Emily?" He said, he then turned around.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure thing." He said, he patted the space next to him. Emily walked over to him and sat down next to him.

"What does my mom mean when she says that I will see my father sooner than I think?"

"What do you mean? Wait, did you ask your mom a question about something?" He asked looking at Emily.

"Yes..."

"Emily, you know your mother doesn't know anything about you." Sean then looked at the TV, "She thinks she can protect you or tell you anything. Your father knew everything about you."

"So, when I asked her if I have the same cancer as my father..she could have been lying to me?" Emily said that and her cousin froze, he shouldn't believe what she just said.

"Emily..." He started, he then looked at her and grabbed one of her hands. "I wish I could lie about this, but...you have the same cancer as your father."

"What?" She jumped up off the couch, she couldn't believe it.

"You have the same cancer as your father, he died from his. We have been keeping it a secret from you because we knew how far you were and also we thought it would scare you.."

"What stage am I?"

"You're at stage 4 of the same cancer, we thought we got rid of it when you were 10-years-old. None of it went away, it wasn't as bad when you were that age." He looked out the window, "I hated seeing your father go through this, but they told me that you had it...I didn't want to see you go through it at all." She looked in his eyes and saw some tears.

"It's okay, I promise you that I will be here and I will get through this."

"You can't..you already have no hair." He said and touched her hair.

"What do you mean?"

"This is a wig, we put a wig on you when you were 9-years-old. You didn't notice it at all, you will be with your father soon if it doesn't get better." Sean said, Emily got off the couch again. She walked to the bathroom and took the wig off, she looked at herself in the mirror in the bathroom.

"This can't be true, I can't have cancer right now..." She said, she was looking closely at herself. She didn't want to accept that she has the same cancer as her father. She wanted to be a normal girl and try to be like everything was back to normal. She walked upstairs, she walked past all the empty rooms in the house. They all looked sad, only because everyone was gone. She then walked past Colin's room, she stopped and looked in his room. "I miss them so much..why did they all have to be struck by that tree..." She said as she looked in his room, "Maybe there's something in here I can take." She said, she walked into his room. She was walking around Colin's room and she found some things to take. She then saw a note with hearts on it, was it something she should read? Was it just a note for someone else? "What is this?" She walked over to it. She saw it and picked it up, it was Colin's handwriting..maybe this is something important. "It must be something he wrote before everything happened..how did any of us not know he wrote this?" She then read the note, she was totally shocked by everything he wrote. It was something she would always imagine, she even read it for a second time. She had to make sure she understood everything in it. "How did he never show anyone this?" She was confused, "He would have got an answer to all of these questions.." She started to cry, she really wanted all her friends back..since she just got to reading Colin's note. She wanted him back the most, she knew he would get answers to every single question. None of this should have happened to any of them.

Her cousin then walked upstairs and peeped into the room, "Emily?" She heard her name.

"Hey Sean, I was just looking around.." She said and put Colin's note in her pocket.

"Do you miss them?" He knew she was sad.

"Yeah, they should all still be here...I should be the one that isn't here. They didn't do anything at all." She looked out the window.

"You tried to save them, they knew you cared about them."

"Yeah, they knew. I didn't get to save any of them.." She has a tear rolling down her cheek.

"As long as they knew." Sean said, he got closer to her and patted her back.

-5 Months Later - April 4, 2022-

Emily was in her room now, she was just looking outside her window. It was finally a normal day, she felt like a normal person; well, somewhat normal. Even with the months changing, the weather changed; she was mourning her friends every day. After a long time, she was finally going back to school; since her mother found out she wasn't going to school. "Maybe I can become a normal girl and actually not worry about anything happening, I need to forget about everything." Emily said, she was feeling confident. When she thought about anything, it would help her through the day. Since she didn't have any friends to help her through the day. "Well, at least I won't be behind on anything anymore." She said with a smile, "I just wish I had my friends with me." She said, she will never forget about her friends. She thought they needed to be with her and that they shouldn't be dead. She also never forgot that she has cancer, she never forgot she was slowly dying every day. She especially felt it one morning when she was getting ready for school, "Why does my stomach hurt?" She asked herself, she then started to hold her stomach. "It must be the cancer I have...why is it hurting so much today?" She didn't know what was happening at all inside of her, she just had this sharp pain in her stomach. She then heard her door open.

"Emily, are you okay?" Sean asked, he peeped his head into the room.

"Not really..." She said groaning in pain, "My stomach hurts..I think it's the cancer I have.." She said, she then fell over on her bed. She was groaning in pain again. She felt arms around her and she knew it was Sean, he helped her sit up. It was something that Sean has seen before.

"Your father went through the same thing.."

"Are you saying that I'm at the same point as my father?"

"Yes...he was in this state before it was horrible to watch. We need to get you the hospital..." Sean said, he sounded calm; but she knew he was freaking out on the inside. Sean was rushing everything, he wanted to bring Emily to the hospital quickly. He was nervous that she was going to die soon. Sean got her to the hospital and he wanted to make sure nothing was happening to her. "We really need to see a nurse, I want to know what is happening to you." Sean said, he was holding Emily.

"I just want to..." She was groaning in pain for the third time, "Know why I have so much pain in my stom.." She groaned in pain again, "Stomach."

"It must be getting worse, we really need to know if it's getting worse." Sean said he wanted answers to everything. He wanted to know about everything.