William lay in his bed staring idly at his ceiling, he was upset, possibly more so than he'd ever been. Why did bad things always have to happen? First his biological parents had given him up, and his mother hadn't even hinted that he was adopted until he'd turned thirteen, his step father had beaten him, his mother, and his sister and left the small family before anything could be done to attempt to fix the problem, they had been left in a run down house with barely any hope, then had had to move to DC to get away from his abusive step father who had come back and was wanting to take revenge on the entire family for squealing to social services, his mother had gotten cancer, his biological parents had left out on him again, and now. . .now Lucy was getting worse and worse and had been given the minimum of three weeks to live.
William wiped at his eyes, and bit the inside of his mouth to keep from crying, he wouldn't cry, he had to be strong, he had to be strong for Joy and most definitely for his mother. Lucy, Joy, and William had went for a check up earlier that day and had been told that Lucy's chances of survival were extremely low, and that they were doing all they could, but she was going to die. Now all they could do was wait, and waiting for his mother to die was worse than anything he had ever had to do, and he was sure it was even harder on Joy, who had always been extremely close with their mother.
William tried to ignore the soft knock on his door as Joy came in his room looking pale and shaken, she hadn't cried when she'd heard the news, but had vomited all over the doctor and hugged her mother as tightly as she could manage. Joy sat at the end of her brother's bed and screwed up her eyes, trying not to cry herself. William sat up and watched his sister worriedly, he lay a hand on her shoulder as she opened her mouth to speak.
"This is real, isn't it? I'm not dreaming."
William shook his head and hugged her tightly as she broke down and started to sob uncontrollably.
"I-I th-th-thought I-If I j-just p-pretended like i-i-it w-was a dream th-then i-it w-would be! B-but she's dying! My mother is dying! William, I don't want her to leave me! I don't want her to go!" Joy sobbed into her brother's chest as William frowned and let a few tears slide himself.
Both sibling held each other and did their best to comfort the other, but nothing could hide the pain of knowing that your mother was as good as dead. After a while they both stood and made a silent agreement to go and see their mother.
When they entered the small bedroom that their mother occupied most all of the time, Joy ran to her mother and hugged her again, looking as if she thought if she held her tight enough she couldn't leave them. Lucy had been crying, it was obvious by her tear stained and blotchy red face, she smiled at her children and hugged Joy back. William walked over slowly to the bed and sat on the edge, Joy was right, this had to be a dream. Nothing like this could ever happen. Could it?
"Don't cry for me, Joy. I'm not dead yet." Lucy told her daughter as she kissed the top of her head and scooted to one side of her bed so Joy could lay beside of her. "I knew this would happen, I just didn't know when. I'm more worried about you two than I am of dying. I know where I'll be when I leave this earth, but I don't know where my children will go. I want to apologize for leaving you, I never wanted to, or intended to, it's just how God's will played out."
William looked at the ceiling again and bit his lip hard, tears were thretaning to poor down his face, and he would not cry. Lucy placed a frail hand on her son's shoulder, and William took in a sharp breath letting a few tears slide. He lay beside his mother and, just like Joy, hugged to her side like a baby chick to a mother hen.
Lucy kissed both of her children on the head and closed her eyes. "I want you both to know, that I love you with all of my hear. Don't cry for me when I'm gone. . .don't forget to live your lives."
Joy sobbed into her mother's chest and listened to the soft thumping of her heart, and William closed his eyes tightly and prayed to God that he'd give them at least a little bit more time with their mother. A small tear streamed down Lucy's face and she smiled into her children's hair. "I love you." It was then, that Lucy Grace Ripley Reed died, with her children by her side. Her last words uttered softly to both of them. And hearing their reply in unison before her spirit left her body. "We love you to, Mom."
William looked up at the still face of his mother, she was gone.
"Joy, she's. . .she's gone now." William said, not caring about the tears that were pouring down his face now.
Joy nodded and didn't move her head from her mother's chest. "I know. . .h-her h-h-h-heart stopped beating. I. . .I h-heard it's last beat. . .before. . .before she. . .left. She's. . .gone."
William stood up and pulled Joy from their mother's body, Joy screamed and kicked at William. "I can't leave her! Not now! She isn't dead! She's still alive! She has to be! No! No, you're not dead!" Joy turned to her brother and hugged him tightly, crying once more into his chest.
William hugged his sister tightly, but let go quicker than he had before. He needed to do something, anything, the first thing that he could think to do was call nine one one and tell them that his mother had died, it was the only thing at all really that came to him. Lucy hadn't told him what to do when she died, who to call, or what to do with her body, he wasn't even sure she had a will.
William reached for the phone on the bedside table and dialed nine one one, and waited for the operator to answer the line. She did almost as soon as William had pressed the call button.
"Nine one one, state you emergancy."
William looked at his mother's body and tried to calm himself down before he answered. "M-my mother has just died. . .I-I don't know what to do."
Somehow the fact that his mother was dead seemed to sink in a lot farther when he actually stated the words, and he had to restrain himself from crying to the operator.
"Where are you?" The opperator asked and William told her his address.
"I'm sending an ambulance out to you now, sit tight and wait, you're probably undergoing shock at the moment and they'll need to check you out as well."
William nodded, forgetting that the operator couldn't see him for a second, and ended the call.
He and Joy went downstairs and outside to wait for the ambulance so they could show them where to go. It wasn't long before they heard the sirens coming down the street and saw the flashing lights.
William stood up from where they had been sitting on the brick steps that lead to the front of their house.
Joy was the only family he had now, and he was the only family she had. They would make this work, they had to, or they would die trying.