Gifted, Twisted Secrets
If you were told that you only had one day left to live, what would you do? That was the case for Venetia Long. She was lying peacefully in her hospital bed, thankful of the help she was getting to cure her disease. She lay there with a smile on her face, staring at the pale white ceiling above her. A sudden rush of pandemonium in the hall forced her out of her peaceful state.
She sat up and peered out the door. Her parents burst into the room, tears coating their beautiful tanned skin. Her brother and sister followed, walking like robots as if their minds had gone into overdrive and blew up. Her sister had a thin sheet of tears meandering their way down her delicate pale face. Her brother looked composed but you could see in his eyes he was trying against all his will to stop from breaking down.
Venetia must have looked confused because her parents calmed down enough to tell her the horrible news. The nurses had informed her parents that she had cancer and it was spreading rapidly through her body. They didn't have any drug to cure it. Hell, they didn't even know if it could be cured. Venetia's vision blurred as tears welled up in her eyes. She slowly turned her head to look out the small box window across form her bed.
With arms outstretched, she embraced her family in a warm hug. The tears were now flooding her vision, making their way down her face like a raging river. Just days before, she had been having the time of her life. The memories of her life forced their way to the front of her mind. Venetia grabbed the closest pen and paper and started writing them down.
Her parents left the hospital, but she kept writing. She wrote until she died the next day. At her funeral, her mum, Brimmer, read out most along with her father, Pappy. Her brother, Naveine and sister, Arriane read out the rest. Tears inundated their eyes and drifted to the paper, but they continued to read.
"I was a troubled child." Brimmer read. "I had to fight depression, anxiety and now I'm fighting cancer. And all because of some stupid explosion that happened 3 years ago." Brimmer paused to let those few words sink in. Once she was convinced they had, she continued.
"I was messing around with some mates and my now ex-boyfriend, and they decided it would be fun to make explosives. They tested them and they seemed satisfied they worked. My best friend's Tetra and Valissa thought it would be great to blow up something. So we headed out into the night, torches alight, to find something. Chace (ex-boyfriend) found an old bridge down by a lake. We investigated it. My gay friend Nave thought it was perfect. Chace and Tetra set up the explosives, taking an extra minute to stare into each other's eyes. Just before they were about to set the explosives off, I saw something twinkle down under the bridge. I inched forward to examine it. Valissa didn't see me there, so she gave the 'ok'. Nave set them off. I loud, piercing noise filled my ears and me vision blurred, going from a greyish white to a hazy red and then blackness consumed my body. The explosives had blown up before I had the chance to run."
Brimmer broke down crying. She couldn't help it. Pappy managed to calm her down and he continued reading.
"I was in hospital for 3 months and was treated for god knows what. I felt fine. The doctors kept saying that I had suffered blows to the head from falling over, a broken arm and serious skin infections. Apparently my hearing was stuffed but I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The doctors told me I was lucky to even be alive.
I lay in my bed wondering why my friends hadn't seen me. Valissa wasn't that far away but she hadn't seen me. Then I remembered the object that had twinkled down under the bridge. I didn't know what it was that night, but thinking back to it, I realised. It was a silver locket sitting on a rock. It had a lock on it but it was already open. I had picked it up and taken it with me before I was carted to the back of the ambulance. I looked at it and wondered who it belonged to. Examining it closely, I saw that it had intricate designs; swirls, patterns and birds. There was minimal damage, hardly any scratches.
A sheet of paper floated out of it and landed in my hand. I turned it over and saw it had a small inscription on it. Calligraphy writing so neat and well presented. "Unlock the secrets of your past to prepare for your future." Confused, I put it away for future reference. Little did I know, my journey had just begun.
'3 years later, I still don't understand what it meant. During that time, I had thought that the locket held powers far greater than the average human could understand, because I had healed quickly. Every time I held the locket, heat surged through me so hot, I felt as if I were on fire. Although I thought that was the case the doctors kept me in for observations.' Pappy stopped reading allowing Arriane to continue.
'The secrets I had to apparently 'unlock' were no easier to find then a brown snake hiding in the grass. I had no idea what to look for or how to find it. I began to think that the cryptic scrawling was a joke and that it meant nothing. Although I doubted the locket, I started to 'prepare for my future'. With no clues as to how it would turn out, I winged it and guessed. I took up self-defence classes, got my grades up and obeyed my parents to the full.'
Arriane stopped reading, allowing Naveine to finish with that last page of their sisters awe-inspiring story.
'Now 3 years later, I know what I had to prepare for. And I know that the locket held no powers, but the slip of paper was telling the truth. The secrets I had to unlock were my doctor's records from when I was a child. Apparently they had found that I had a very small trace of genetic cancer. The doctor's thought they got rid of it, but it had developed again when I was exposed to the explosion. Because I didn't know, I couldn't have prepared. Those self-defence classes and extra study didn't get me anything but a strong body and A+ grade's on my reports. They didn't stop the prevention of cancer. Nothing could have prevented it. And now I'm going to die in less than 24 hours. The cancer had enveloped my bloodstream, gnawing through my vital organs, making it hard for me to live. That was the heat I had felt in the hospital. Now that I am going to die, I have a message for all teenagers out there; don't play with things that you will regret playing with later. Goodbye and may you all live happy and peaceful lives.'
A small applause was given, prayers were prayed and everyone went home with heavy hearts, the only thing on their minds was the girl who held gifted, twisted secrets.
By Kaitlin Woolford 10Y