Lilian is an 11-year-old girl has cancer, and June (her older sister) is devasted and abject. Lilian is her only family, other than her aunt and uncle whom she shares an apartment with. June just doesn't know what she would do without her baby sister. Will Lilian live and rejoin her sister? What will happen afterward? ~~~ A tall girl sat next to a hospital bed, holding her younger sister's hand. The room seemed dark, empty, and doleful, even with the window on the other side of the room letting in the bright sunlight. It was just the two of them in the room, sitting quietly and listening to the chirping birds. The younger girl's eyelids were starting to drop, and the older one could tell. Her face grew sad, disappointed. "Hang in there. You'll get through this, I know it. I love you, Lils." The older sister told the sickly girl, Lilian. "I love you too, June." Lilian smiled faintly as her eyelids closed, and she peacefully fell asleep. In that moment, the grief hit June hard. A few tears slipped out, and she let them fall freely down her cheeks. "Lord, please don't take my baby sister. She's too young... she's only 11." June begs, tears falling heavier than before. "I need her. I need to see her again. Please..." A few tear-filled moments later a nurse opened the door and walked into the hospital room. The nurse looked at the sleeping girl in the bed and quietly walked over to June, still sitting next to the bed. The nurse bent down next to the grieving sister. "She needs some rest, and your family probably wants to hear from you. Why don't you start home?" The woman asked softly. June nodded softly and got to her feet. She trudged toward the door and having made it to the door frame she looked back at her little sister one last time before continuing out the door.

I was getting sweaty. My thick-framed dark blue glasses slipped down the bridge of my nose. I pushed them up and continued to check my watch apprehensively every minute or so. My best friend Lucy King, sitting next to me, threw me a few skeptical and slightly worried glances, most likely thinking about my episode just a few minutes ago. We were both silent; pensive. I stared out the school bus window at the lush green trees and the cars passing by in the lane next to us, trying to distract myself from my previous thoughts. I listened to the sounds they made and noted how they drifted out of my sight idly as if they had no place important to be.

The stars started to appear, gleaming and twinkling overhead in the nearly pitch-blackness of the night sky surrounding us. You could hear the cicadas and crickets chirping away in the woods that encircled us. The smell of melted chocolate and burnt marshmallows lingered in the air long after we finished. A tent sat behind the campfire we sat at, ready for us to come bunker down into. It was inviting, yet none of us were ready for the fun to end quite yet. Another lovely night in Riverdale Woods; we could all tell.