I looked out at the rain and smiled. I loved the rain as it reflected my own emotions perfectly. The rain drops represented each tear I cried at night when I had a nightmare. The lightning for every time I was forced back into the reality of my circumstances. Thunder for the times I wanted to scream out to his turned back. Lastly, the wild wind for my mixed and confused feelings towards my brothers. I had two older brothers that I lived with alongside my many pets. My parents are also here but we rarely see them and when we do we just get told what chores to do or what we did wrong. No! I wasn't going to think about that right now. My oldest brother was Gilbert and my other brother was Ludwig. We lived at our family's mansion (Beilschmidt Mansion) and kept to ourselves…mostly. Gilbert had finished his military training and was going to move away from us and into the German military. I sighed and moved away from my window and onto my bed. I pulled my laptop onto my lap and checked my email to see what the doctor had to say. I saw his email and hesitated before I opened it.
Miss. Beilschmidt,
I regret to inform you that you do, indeed, have cancer. The test results proved positive earlier today. I wish to inform you that you have until mid-July to live. I am terribly sorry for this news and wish I could say what exactly you had. Our tests, however, showed that you have an undiscovered cancer just as you predicted. I hope you are able to live a happy end and may you rest in peace.
Sincerely,
Dr. James Anderson
I gritted my teeth and fought the tears that threatened to fall. I bit my lip and sent my thank you to the doc even though he was a douche and put my laptop away. I went to the kitchen and saw Ludwig cleaning the counters. I wanted to tell him and stared at his back as I tried to find words to tell him. He seemed to sense my presence and turned around before shooting me a glare.
"Vhat do you vant?" He asked coldly and I flinched as I struggled to fight back tears. He saw them and instantly regretted being harsh, "Crystal? Vhat's vrong?"
"I-I…" I felt the hot tears fall and burn my skin slightly and hurried to wipe them away. "I'm…d-dying…" I said as I choked back sobs and he pulled me into a hug.
"Vhat do you mean you're dying?" He said with pained anger.
I spent the next twenty minutes in his arms as he tried to soothe me while listening to what had happened. I had been feeling so tired and drained recently that I nearly fell asleep in class. I couldn't remember things that happened in the mornings and at night. My vision was blurry and clouded causing my dyslexia to worsen. I kept giving him the symptoms and then told him what the doctor told me. He agreed with me about him being a douche and offered to help me feel better for as long as I had. I thanked him and he asked me to help him with his new laptop. I agreed and started to help him make accounts and then remembered Spotify. I tried to remember how to get it set up, but Gilbert had been the one to get it for me. I gave up and decided to call him but got voicemail and I felt my anger reach the breaking point.
"Hey, Gilbert," I spat into the phone shocking Ludwig. "You know you have to answer the house phone. What if it was an emergency? What if I called you to tell you I had cancer and was going to die on my birthday? What if called you to ask you to spend my last few months away from the stupid camp and be with me until I died? What about then, huh? Would you answer the phone then? Huh?! Call me back, asshole."
I hung up and stared at the phone before I closed my eyes and tried to calm down. I then told Ludwig about how much he had changed and how I had always looked up to him. I told Ludwig about Gilbert became and how alone I felt. I cried and my acidic tears burned my cheeks as the fell. When I was done we sat there holding each other for three hours before Gilbert walked in. He never called. I snapped and through the phone at him.
"I FUCKING HATE YOU!" I screamed before I ran upstairs and into my room.
I slammed the door and jumped onto my bed before I cried into my pillow. I cried and cried only getting out and heading past my brothers downstairs for some tissues before I headed up again without looking at them. Gilbert had always said he was awesome. How can a brother be awesome if they don't call their dying sister back? I cried myself to sleep that night.
I woke up to see Gilbert smiling, forcefully, at me and I just rolled over and buried myself under the covers again. I heard him sigh, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. It took a while but I finally regained my hearing enough to understand what he was saying. A little longer and I was able to fully understand his words and just groaned.
"Just go away," I said with a hoarse voice.
"No, I'm not going. I'm too awesome to leave y-"
I started to call him some very colorful words in German as I hit him upside his albino head with my pillow. He was able to get the pillow away from me and restrained my hands. He had me pinned to my bed with my hands over my head and my legs trapped under him. I was breathing heavily and I glared at him with pained eyes as I tried to look angry. It's a little hard to look angry when all you feel is heartbreak.
"Calm down, Crystal. I know I was a bad big brother but you need to at least give me a chance to fix it." He said with pleading red eyes.
"Why should I give you another chance? To add to your collection of lost chances? Get the fuck off me Mr. Albino Puppet Ass. You had your chance. No. You had thirty chances and you lost all of them. Why should I give you one more?" He flinched at the name I called him and I knew I struck a nerve, but I wasn't done. "I'm dying and you're too busy being "awesome" to answer the phone or even call me back. So I will say this one more time. Get. The fuck. Off. Of. ME!" I kneed him right between the legs and he gasped as he let go of me and rolled onto the ground.
"Ffff…." I watched him as he held himself as if it would stop the pain.
I rolled my eyes and checked the time to find that I was way too late for school to try and get there now. I growled and got some clothes before I went to my bathroom and showered. When I got out I stared at my reflection and saw the cuts on my legs and arms. I had stopped a long time ago, but the scars still remained. A constant reminder of the pain my oldest brother caused. I got dressed in my black jeans, dark grey tank top, candy red V-neck shirt with short sleeves, and my black military boots. The only thing Gilbert gave me that I actually appreciated. I looked at my reflection as I brushed through my silver hair and saw my silver eyes were a little red and puffy. I put make-up on to hide the scars from my tears and to make me look better than I did. I looked around the bathroom and saw the cabinet I kept my knives in. I went and grabbed one.
I heard Gilbert knock on my door and ignored him. I realized the knife I had was my second treasure from Gilbert. I chuckled darkly at the irony as I started to renew my old but not forgotten scars. I watched as the red blood pooled on my arm and I moved it to drip into my sink. I smiled and I thought of reasons as to why I would deserve it. No one cared about me. I was dying anyways. I continued with the cuts and found fifty different reasons. Both of my arms were bleeding now and I dropped the knife into the sink. I stepped backwards and slid against the wall into a sitting position. I smiled and watched the red drip onto the white tiles. I heard the knocking again and hummed softly. I heard the door open and a loud gasp before someone yelled and I slipped into the darkness.
I opened my eyes and found myself in a very bright room. If it wasn't for the heart monitor I would have believed I had died and gone to heaven. I looked around and felt the happiness from when I welcomed death fade and my silver eyes soon fell onto the red ones of my crying brother. WAIT! CRYING?! I stared in disbelief as my brother moved to hug me, shocking me even more and causing my heart to accelerate. He pulled away and looked at me worriedly.
"C-Crys? Y-you ok-kay?" He asked me as more tears fell and I just simply nodded and gaped at him.
"W-where's Lu-Luddy?" I asked quietly and I saw the hurt in his eyes before he nodded and said he would get him. "Wait…" he stopped before he opened the door. "I just wanted to know where he was…I want you to stay…" I coughed towards the end and covered my mouth as Gilbert hurried back to my side.
"He's in the cafeteria. You okay?" He asked when I was done coughing.
"Really…?" I said as I gave him my 'what-the-fuck-do-you-think-Einstein?' face.
"Right…sorry…It's just…today's your birthday…" my eyes widened and I felt guilty when he said that so I just nodded as I started to play with his hair.
We sat there like that for a while. I had moved onto his lap and I played with his left hand as it held my waist and he played with my hair using his free hand. I felt calm and at peace before I realized something. I felt…warm. I felt cold for a long time. In fact, being below zero degrees Fahrenheit was one of the symptoms of my cancer. I tensed and straightened slightly as I looked outside. It was sunny. Typical for a summer day, but I hadn't seen the sun in forever. I smiled and looked up at Gilbert. He raised a brow at me and relaxed into his arms and he held me in his lap as I sat sideways.
"I don't think I'm going anywhere anytime soon," I said as I curled in on myself and leaned into his chest and breathed in a happy sigh. "For the first time in a long time…I feel warm. Danke, for saving my life…Big brother."
He was shocked and happy when I said that and he kissed my forehead. I explained what my cancer had been like and developed the theory that when I lost my cancerous blood and it was replaced by virus free blood then my blood cells fought off the virus. Not the ideal cure mind you, but it worked for me. I wasn't cancer free and they said that I would live to be at least twenty before my symptoms would reappear and I would die. I was okay with that and was able to undergo more testing for a cure. When I left I was in Gilbert's arms with Ludwig holding my hand as we went home.
~~EXTENDED ENDING~~
It has been eight years since that day and I am expected to drop dead any moment. I didn't die when I was supposed to and no matter how many times I tried to tell my brothers I felt perfectly healthy they weren't believing it. I growled and facepalmed in frustration. You see with all the testing we were able to find a cure. In order to be sure it worked I had to wait two years before I was announced cancer free. One year has passed and I want to go meet my brothers' friends, but they won't let me. I pulled out my knife and they inhaled sharply. I sat on a stool and looked at the easy-to-be-scratched counters before I held the knife tip to the one I was next to. I slowly applied pressure…
"DON'T! YOU CAN COME VITH US!" I smirked and put my knife away before I got off the stool and let Luddy examine his counter.
"Danke, Luddy~" I sang as I passed Gilbert and started to head out the door.
The boys followed soon after and Gilbert drove us to his friends' party that had been planned for me. I kept complaining about how they wouldn't have even let me celebrate my birthday when I saw a cute boy with caramel hair and blue eyes. He had glasses and his hair had a crescent shaped cowlick. I went silent and stared at him as my brother parked the car. They looked at me worriedly and I just smiled as I looked out the window and his my face from the boy when he looked over. I hid my light blush and grabbed my laptop case that I had hidden under the car seat. My brothers looked at each other and I knew they became protective over me instantly. I jumped out of the car and ran as the sun shined down on my black, red, and silver dress. I saw the sparkles in grass and giggled as I ran up the steps and turned to watch my annoyed brothers walk towards me. I stuck my tongue out at them and then pulled it in before one of them pinch it.
"Soooo sloooowww…" I said as I huffed out a breath and glared at my brothers.
I then smirked when I remembered the side effect I learned to control from the cure. I narrowed my eyes and they went red which caused my brothers to freeze. I chuckled darkly before I set my laptop case down. I crouched slightly and was ready to attack them as my smirk became and evil grin. I lunged and tackled Gilbert to the ground causing him to scream like a girl. I stared at him slightly and then made my eyes go silver again as I rolled off him and laughed.
"Y-you s-sc-screamed l-like a g-girl!" I said as I clutched my sides laughing, and was glad for the black leggings I wore and my low skirt.
Everyone around me laughed to and I tried to calm down as my embarrassed brother stood up and tried to brush the grass off himself. Then I saw a spider on my arm and I shot up and went silent. I stared at it and realized it was a Daddy Long-Leg I smiled and got it onto my hand as my Gilbert watched me with the guests. I smiled at the spider and let it crawl from one hand to the other repeatedly.
"So cool…" I murmured before I walked over to one of the bushes in the yard and set it on a leaf.
I fixed my skirt and hair before I looked back at the spider and smiled. The boy I had been watching earlier grabbed my shoulder from behind. Without knowing who it was I spun and punched him in the stomach causing him to buckle forward and my eyes widened. I started to apologize and he just shrugged it off saying he shouldn't have snuck up on me.
"Um…I'm Crystal…" I said when he was able to stand on his own.
"Alfred," he said with a smile as he extended his hand.
I took it and returned his smile with a blush. He led me into the party and said that he and his brother were the ones to plan it for me. I thanked him and he showed me around as I carried my laptop case with me. We had a blast at the party and I got to meet all of my brothers' friends. Alfred pulled me aside and asked if I wanted to go out with him so I said yes. When we left I kissed Alfred's cheek and got in the car before we drove away. I smiled when I got to bed and thanked whoever was out there that I had survived cancer before I fell asleep.
