Chapter 15...

"Bed of Lies"

Matchbox 20

Don't think that I can take another empty moment

Don't think that I can fake another hollow smile

It's not enough just to be sorry

Don't think that I could take another talk about it

Growing up was hard, opposed to popular believe, I had more problems than I could count on my hands and my feet. The way everyone looked at me throughout my whole life was a look of excellence. To them my life could not be any better. Girls wanted to be me, dressed in the most stylish clothes from across the globe and hair that was an amazing color that no bottle could produce. Guys longed to be with me; my tall yet curvy figure and my tanned body was the picture of perfection. To guys I was that perfect piece of arm candy for which they longed. Parents praised me for my academic excellence, hoping that someday may be their children could reach the level of brilliance that I had attained at such a young age.

On the other hand, there were my parents. My father was a stock broker who commuted back and forth between Tree Hill to New York at least three times a week. My mother, once a New York socialite, started her own Boutique in downtown Tree Hill. After the success of the first store, she opened one in Atlanta, Charlotte, Hilton Head Island, and Ferdinanda Beach.

All they hoped for my life was for me to get better. As a child, I was very sick. My immune system was practically non-existent. When I was about ten I started getting very ill and no one knew what was wrong with me. My permanent nanny was clueless as to what to do with me so she finally took me to the emergency room. I could not stop sweating and yet hardly had a fever. I was so weak that Janie, my nanny, had to carry me into the hospital.

I stayed there for several days while test after test were ran on me. Finally, on the sixth day, they had found something. My spleen had enlarged to twice its normal size and my white blood cell count was through the roof. The doctors kept me for another week until they finally let me go home.

Enough reminiscing back to the present, I flipped through the channels. Commercials for a new season of Newlyweds, infomercials, and the occasional music video covered the television. I turned it off and went into the kitchen. Before I could open the refrigerator, I heard the phone ring. "Hello?"

"Madison!" I heard a familiar voice sing.

"Yea." I answered back, not having a clue who the person on the other end of the phone was.

"It's me." Wow that's really going to help, I thought to myself. The voice continued. "It's Brooke." Brooke had been sort of MIA since I saw her at the hospital when she came to check on me. She only called me when she needed something and this time was no different. "Wanna go out tonight? There is this really kick ass club on the other..."

"Sorry to interrupt but where have you been?" I asked her, confused at the whole situation.

"Does it matter? I am here now. Where have you been?"

"Quit the reverse psychology shit Brooke. Tell me the truth, where have you been?"

"Listen, Madison. I didn't call to mess with you and Lucas, trust me I didn't. I am happy that you're finally happy, you deserve it more than anything in the world. But I called Peyton and she is with... I don't really remember who she is with, and Haley is with Nathan as if I would go out with her alone anyways, but you are the only friend I have left."

"So I am like a last resort, is that it?"

"Come on, Madison, you know what I mean."

"Fine, whatever. If you want to go out then fine, I will go, but don't plan on me enjoying myself."

"Eight-thirty at my house."

"Be there." I answered back, aggravated at myself for agreeing to go. I heard a dial tone and hung up the phone. Pouring a glass of iced tea from the refrigerator, I heard a noise from the front door. I turned around expecting it to be Lucas. "Hey." I said excitedly walking toward the door.

Nathan and Hailey stood silently in front of me. His arm wrapped around her waist, while her arms hung loosely at her sides. I watched Hailey's shoulders droop and then Nathan looked over at her. Hailey spoke first, as usual. "I know you didn't want Nathan to tell but..."

I walked closer to them but not too close. I sipped my iced tea and chewed on a piece of ice. "Obviously he did." I interrupted as I ran my fingers through my hair which was freely thrown atop my head.

"Madison, I was worried... I don't get worried, but I was. I don't want anything to happen to you and I know Lucas wouldn't..."

I cringed at his name knowing that eventually I would have to tell him the truth. "Please." I put my hands up as if I were pushing away his name. "Don't tell him." I said forcefully.

"He deserves, we deserve to know what is going on with you." Hailey spoke with such concern. Her face looked worried and upset.

"I deserve to have the right to tell him or not...myself." I began walking up to my room.

Hailey's voice interrupted my step. "What about us?" She walked after me and stood on the step below me. She put her arms on my shoulders and spoke again. "Madison, you are my best friend in the world and I love you more than anything," She paused. Tears filled her brown eyes. She quickly wiped them away.

"Hales, you don't want to know." I started to walk up the stairs. She chased after me and caught me before I walked into my bed room.

"Its not that I want to, it's that I need to."

We stood in the doorway to my room, silent. Looking around my room, I noticed my chair had been moved right next to my door. I was relieved that it was right there because when Hailey found out, she was going to need to sit do. One last deep breath entered in through my nose and then out through my mouth. The last breath before it was true. I always felt like if no one knew then it wouldn't be true. "I have leukemia." After seven years of living a lie, now I was living the truth.