Chapter Two: Meow Mix and Chocolate Chips
Disclaimer: Okay, let's make this clear. I don't own The Labyrinth, Cheetos, Meow Mix, or John Cusack. Sadly, I wish I did own Adrien Brody!
Author's Note: After reading this, you might think I'm crazy. Go ahead, because I am. For what it's worth, I really entertained myself writing this.
Grimacing with excruciating pain, Sarah Williams clutched onto the side of her bed as she painstakingly sat up. She reached for a tissue with her feeble hand and frowned at the bare hospital room she was in. It's not fair... This isn't how I planned on spending the rest of my life, she grumbled to the mirror on the wall. Making a face, she crumbled up the tissue and threw it at her reflection. I'm wasting away to nothing.
Judging from her sallow skin, the shadowy bags under her eyes, and her balding head, she looked about sixty. But in reality, she wasn't very old at all. Her life was being snatched away from her, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Sure, the doctors had suggested chemotherapy. The treatments had seemed to help shrink some of the tumors, but Sarah would have rather died. Spending every moment of her day either throwing up or howling with pain just wasn't her idea of life. Maybe now, God would grant pity on her and let her quietly breathe her last, haggard breath.
"Where are those people when you need them?" the woman grumbled as she struggled helplessly to push the call button. After what seemed an eternity, one of the nurses on duty appeared in her doorway.
"Is something the matter, Sarah?" The rather hefty nurse smoothed down her uniform and waddled over to the patient's bedside.
Sarah snatched her arm away from the woman as she tried to take her blood pressure. "Of course, something's the matter! I called you didn't I?" Exhaustedly, she closed her eyes and leaned against back against the headboard.
Undauntedly, the nurse put her hands on her hips. Evidently, they were used to patients giving them a difficult time. "Sarah, what do you need?"
The woman started to pant heavily. "Something to dull the pain," she rasped while wildly gesturing with her hand. "Oh God, why me?" she screamed while gritting her teeth together. Throwing herself over the side of the bed, she began to regurgitate. Her white knuckles gripped the nightstand as her body continuously heaved with a sickening rhythm.
Shaken awake by the sudden events, the nurse swiftly turned on her heels and ran down the hall, probably the fastest she had ever moved in her life. "I need morphine, and fast!" she bellowed into the lobby. It wasn't long before Sarah was surrounded by medical experts who were inserting more needles and IVs into her.
Clawing wildly at their arms, her eyes rolled back into her head as she writhed with pure agony. Gradually, the woman's rigid body relaxed as the medication kicked in, numbing every part of her. "Jareth," she whispered inaudibly while tears constantly ran down her face. "I need you."
* * * * * * * * * *
"Damn it, Harlem!" Picking her way through cold spaghetti and bits of scorched toast, Riley cast an irritated look at the sleek tabby sunning itself on her apartment windowsill. "How am I supposed to keep this place clean when you're constantly digging through the trash?" She peeled pieces of moldy bologna off her high top and hurled it at the lethargic feline. "Stupid cat!" Briefly, the attractive girl considered the idea of chucking him over her balcony, but decided she wasn't exactly in the mood for scraping kitty guts off the road.
Instead, she reluctantly grabbed a pint of Ben and Jerry's and sauntered out into the den, where her roommate was avidly staring at the television. Ignoring the drops of ice cream trickling from the container, Riley made a face and put a hand on her hip. "How could you just let him do that?" Off in her own world, the roommate simply wiped a trail of drool from her face. "Madison?!" Still no answer. Finally, in a rampant fit of wrath, she thrust her spoon into the ice cream and hurled it in the direction of the television.
Having seem to have come alive from the sudden shock of half melted slime dripping down the screen, Madison leaped from the couch and frantically tried to wipe off the mint chocolate chip which hadn't already settled into a shallow pool on the wood floor. "You bitch!" she shrieked. "And I was trying to watch High Fidelity!" Knocking the container out of Riley's hand, she took her sticky palm and thrust it into the nearest container of water. Trying not to smile, the girl only kept silent, refusing to mention that Madison was now swirling her hand in Harlem's water bowl. Bits and pieces of Meow Mix now clung to the bony appendage.
"Look, it's not my fault you have an unhealthy John Cusack fixation..." She trailed off as Madison staggered away and flopped back onto the couch. "Just look what it's doing to you!" In response, her roommate silently mouthed the dialogue to the movie, peering though the screen that was now smeared with crust. "Whatever..." Riley prodded the empty ice cream container with her foot and crossed her arms over her chest. "I seriously think that some kind of therapy-"
Unexpectedly, the girl was suddenly cut off by high pitched wails emitted by the telephone. "Well, this day just keeps getting shittier by the minute! Madison, would you be so kind as to get off your lazy ass and answer the phone?" Picking up a huge phonebook, Riley heaved it at her lifeless roommate. Ignoring Riley, Madison sighed and continued to worship the man obsessed with Top 10 lists. "No? Well, then, I guess I'll have to answer the damn thing myself!" She leisurely shoved aside the enormous mounds of bills and stale Cheetos that had been covering the phone all along. "Hmm, top ten reasons I should get a new roommate... Hello?" Riley mumbled into the mouthpiece queasily, just in case she needed to assure her boss that she really had been sick and hadn't been out shopping all day. After all, how often do you get the chance of buying that Adrien Brody calendar you've always wanted?
Abruptly, she dropped the phone like a hot iron and slowly sank down to the floor. "Oh my God," she whispered to herself. "It's Mom."