Hey all,

Thanks for reading! I had to write this for a school assignment, but it actually turned out pretty good (seeing as though it started out at 30 pages and my teacher made me shorten it to 8, I think I did an okay job).

It really has nothing to do with "Of Mice and Men" if you just read it and are done. If you look closely though, this story does have some of the main themes and ideas of the book. At least, I think so. :) I'll stop blabbing and let you read already.

*The voice from the ceiling tells me to add that I do not own Of Mice and Men or anything related. I think I should listen to it.*

Of Love and Ladies

The steps leading up to her blue front door looked more threatening than they ever had in the past. I swallowed past the hard lump in my throat and looked over at David. He noticed, brushed his golden-brown hair out of his eyes and knocked on the door, sending eerie thumps into the silence. He gave me a quick hug, sending warmth up my arms. "I'll be in the car," He whispered quietly and then walked back down the steps. My eyes continued to watch as he opened the car door and got in. I swallowed again. There was a sound of a lock sliding out of place and I turned around as the front door opened. Her mother waved me inside, then led me into the deep depths of the once familiar house; every room I previously spent my childhood in was filled with a heavy blackness that I had never seen before. Our footsteps echoed as we walked into the living room where she was waiting. I took a deep breath and tried not to think about what I was about to see.

She was propped against some pillows on the couch, aimed so that her body could be focused to the TV or the chair next to her. Extra pillows and blankets surrounded the room, like an enormously padded baby crib. The coffee table was taken over by comfort food, junk food, and somewhat healthy food all pilled up together in one place, with many medicine bottles set on the other side. They stuck out in my mind's eye more than they should have. 'Don't think about it,' I told my self solemnly. 'Don't think about it.'

She didn't look good, not in the slightest. She had deep, dark circles under her eyes, like large purple bruises. Her skin was stark white and almost translucent in some places, except for the little speckles of black and blue on her skinny arms. Her body seemed to be caving in on itself, which wasn't far from the truth. She smiled slightly when she saw it was me coming into the room, but it never reached her eyes.

"I'm so glad you're here," She murmured. I nodded and just listened to her quiet breathing.

"I'm glad you're glad," I replied after a little bit, ignoring the stinging in my eyes.

She nodded, too. She was moving more than she was in the hospital, which was good. Before, I noticed that she could barely lift her head to see who was talking to her. Now she was leaning over to grab the remote and some of the food lying on the table. We didn't say anything for awhile, just watched the TV blankly. The room flashed with changing scenes and bright commercials. Then she spoke.

"We only have a couple days until Prom."

"Prom doesn't matter right now."

"Yes it does. What do you mean it doesn't matter?" She took a breath. "It's been our dream for so long…Senior Prom." She gave me a sad look.

"It is absolutely fine," I said in a tight voice. "We don't have to go. I think I can scrounge up some good movies for us to watch. And popcorn. And chocolate ice cream," I added as an afterthought. She shook her head but paused before continuing.

"Ever since kindergarten. You know that right?" Her deep breath followed by a hacking cough interrupted again. "It's been since kindergarten we've wanted this. Remember the Princesses and the balls they would go to? Remember the games we played, pretending we were just like them? Remember the dress up parties we would have, sometimes just us and sometimes others?"

I ignored the tear about to fall on my cheek. "Yeah? What's your point, Lizzie? Why does what we want matter if it isn't going to come true?" I tried to ignore the fact that this was the first time I had said her name out loud in three weeks.

Lizzie sighed. "He asked you to Prom, didn't he?" We both knew who she was talking about. I didn't say anything. She took silence as a yes and sat there looking at the TV again, gathering her strength. Finally, Lizzie sighed. "Go with him. Have some fun. It's your Senior Prom night. It should be about having a good time, not spending time watching movies."

"It's your Senior Prom night, too," I said with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Yeah, well, this is my own fault," she wheezed. "You got sick last year, so we couldn't go as juniors. Now I'm sick. I should have learned from you." I heard something like a quiet chuckle come from her mouth, but all it sounded too wheezy and breathless to be Lizzie's laugh. "That's how it is." She paused. "Just go ahead, Charlotte." I flinched as my name came from her mouth. "Really; it's fine with me. I want you to go. This is your chance to make your wish come true." I wanted to protest and tell her no, but my voice couldn't be trusted. I was starting to cry.

We didn't talk much after that. Some Friday soap-opera was on the TV. We stared at the screen for a while, not really paying any attention. I waited a bit before I figured I needed to let David go home.

"My mom's probably worried about me." I said without any tone in my voice.

"Yeah." She murmured, eyes drooping. She was getting tired again.
"See you soon?"

"See ya," I said quietly and turned to walk out of the room. There was a sad sigh as she fell asleep quickly. This wasn't the Lizzie I knew. This wasn't the Liz I played in the dirt, put on fake make-up, talked about boys, and shared everything with. I blinked fiercely as my eyes started to pool up for the second time tonight. I waited another minute, looking around at the gloomy house again. I didn't want to say goodbye just yet, in case something happened. The door was heavy as I pulled it open. I wasn't used to it.

David's car was warm when I got in. "How'd it go?" He asked. I shook my head.

"It wasn't bad, I guess," I told him, not wanting to go any deeper. He looked concernedly at me, but started the car without saying anything. We drove back to my house in the continued silence that followed me everywhere since we got the news.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

It was called Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. According to the doctors, it was fast acting and hard to catch early on in tests. That was why no one caught the cancer sooner; it came on so fast, it was like the flu. It explained Lizzie's cold-and-flu-like symptoms, tiredness, and even the small little bruises she started to notice when she was home from school sick. The cancer affected her blood before it grew into the different parts, like white blood cells, red blood cells, and the other little pieces that make up the pumping red substance. The cancer stopped them from forming into the oxygen carrying or disease fighting cells they needed to be, and this meant a weaker immune system and less oxygen supply. The doctors said that they were going to do everything they possibly could for Lizzie, but I knew they always said sappy sentences like those to every patient who wasn't in a good situation.

The chemotherapy had taken the longest time of the entire process, although it was the first step. Lizzie lost all of her beautiful red hair and sat around in her hospital room while she was fed chemicals to kill every cell in her body, maybe killing the bad ones along the way. She threw up everything in her stomach for 20 minutes afterwards, and then another doctor would come in and give her the next dose. I considered it a nightmare.

The day after Lizzie came home to 'recover', her family got a call from the hospital telling them they weren't sure Lizzie was strong enough for the bone-marrow transplant. This was outrageous news for everyone; why would they have put her through the torture of chemo when the transplant wasn't going to work anyway? The doctors told us straight up: There would be no cure for Liz, and this meant only a few more weeks of life as we knew it, before it got much, much worse.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

David pulled the black handle to put the car in park. I stared straight ahead.

"What's wrong?" he asked looking over at me. I didn't say anything for the longest time, getting my courage up. I took a breath.

"We need to talk."

He didn't say anything, but turning the keys and shutting the engine off made the silence almost unbearable.

"Listen," I paused a moment, just to gather my thoughts. "I can't go to Prom with you."

He didn't say anything. David's face was like stone; unreadable. I waited to see what his reaction was, but when there was none, I continued: "Lizzie can't go, and she only has a few days left. I can tell." I felt my eyes get close to tears but didn't pay attention to them. "I'm going to spend the day with her. Watch movies, hang out, talk about things we never talk about anymore – you know, so we can have some normal time, before…" I didn't want to say it. "Is that okay?"

David still said nothing. I was concerned.

"I mean, we can always go on a date afterward or something," I quickly covered. "It's just that, well, we've always dreamed of going to Senior Prom, and now she can't go. I don't think it'd be fair, to both her and to me."

He nodded a sad, slow nod. "Okay," he said, seeming to understand. I relaxed inwardly. Because David was my boyfriend of two years, I thought he was going to be clingy and insist upon me going with him. It seems I learned more and more about him every day. He was overly quiet, though.

"I'm sure you could find another date…" I said, hoping to make up for telling him no, but regretted it as soon as it was out of my mouth.

"Yeah," He nodded and looked around at my driveway. I cringed. He continued talking without noticing my look and said, "There's this girl with flaming red hair who I've known for a while. I love her best friend, but as she's busy that night, I'll take this other person instead. I'm sure her friend would be okay with it, and I think she'd really want to go. Senior Prom is a big deal." David looked over at me with a glint in his eye, and I could see he understood how much I was giving up. This was Prom. One just didn't skip out on it. But he had a plan to make all things better. I felt a grin creep up my cheeks as the scent of his leather coat filled my nose. I was hugging him tightly.

"Thanks," I whispered. "This means more than you know."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

The strategy was almost complete. I had her dress all picked out and ready to go in the backseat of my car. The corsages matched perfectly, too. David had his tux altered blue to match her dress color and everything was taken care of in advance. David was to come to the door at 5:30 to pick her up, and I had from 4:30 until then to get Lizzie ready. This was going to be a nightmare, but a dream come true along with it. I even had a couple dollars to spare, and that was surprising, considering the price tag Proms usually came with. Lizzie was going to her Senior Prom whether she knew it or not. I was ecstatic.

The royal blue dress was awkwardly draped around my shoulder as I knocked on the door. No one answered, but as the door was unlocked, I decided to walk in.

"Hello?" I called to announce my presence. I hung the dress up on the door handle. "Hello?" I asked again. "Is anyone here?" The house was quiet like it usually was, and as I walked through the house I heard the TV on in the living room. I didn't think anything of it. I walked in slowly, not wanting to scare Lizzie or her parents out of her wits. Her mom and dad must have both been at work, maybe grocery shopping.

"Hello?" I called again, hoping she wasn't asleep. I didn't want to have to wake her up. The room was stuffy, and there were Kleenexes all over the floor. I found Lizzie wrapped up in a blanket but still where I left her yesterday. She was asleep; her head was lolled to the side and she was completely unmoving. I sighed and walked over to her side.

"Lizzie!" I whispered in her ear. No response. "Lizzie!" She didn't move. "Come on, Lizzie, you have to get up. I only have an hour to get you ready. Do you want to go to Prom or what? Liz?"

I paused. There was something wrong. Liz hadn't moved one inch. I leaned in closer. "Lizzie?" I whispered, feeling my stomach fall to my feet.

She wasn't breathing.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Her funeral was held a week later, in the blazing sun and cloudless skies. David and I watched as her coffin was buried six feet deep into the ground with friends and family surrounding her. The dirt was piled high, blessings were given, and all but her parents and I were left standing beside her grave. I dug around in my purse, half blinded by tears, until I found it: a single corsage with a blue bow. It sat there in the soft dirt, looking untouched and leaning against her gravestone for as long as I can remember.

Soooo? What'd ya think? I know it doesn't really relate to Of Mice and Men, but I think it works.

Oh, and how about some comments for my first fic? Okay, maybe it's not my technical first, but whatever. I want to know if that sounded like my first fic, writing-wise. Review? Constructive critisizm is completely welcome.

Thanks! - AllieGator