I DO NOT OWN LWD!!!
Chapter Seven:
Harsh Reality
------------------------------------------Casey---------------------------------------------------------------------------
" What's going on?" I practically yelled at Dean, his head still in his hands.
" Dean!! Look at me!! Tell me what's happening to her!!" I screamed, and Derek had to hold me back from pouncing on his friend.
" She's dying!! Okay!...She's dying..." He had jumped up, tears were streaming down his face. He sunk down against the wall again after repeating his words.
I just stood there, and my tears suddenly stopped. Derek's grip on me had loosened from his own shock. Kneeling in front of Dean, I hugged him tight. It's back... her cancer is back..
" Dean, I am so sorry. I should have known that it came back. I'm so sorry..." We rocked back and forth for a few minutes until the doctor came down the hallway.
" What's happening to her?" Derek asked, his voice full of emotion.
" Well, it seems her organs are starting to fail. The cancer has spread a lot faster then we anticipated, but because she refused to do treatments I guess we shouldn't be surprised. " The Doctor said bluntly.
" Can we go see her?" Dean asked.
" Of course, she is stable."
" Thank you, Doctor." I said, grabbing Derek's hand and walking to where her room was.
We all sat there in the hospital room, waiting for her to wake up. Dean told us of why she didn't want to tell me, or Derek. I was hurt and confused and angry at the fact that she never told me it came back. Although I was more surprised in that Derek kept asking questions about how far along it was, when did she get it and all of that. With me it was common knowledge because I had met Kaylie just after she went into remission. I never even thought to tell him...
Eventually Derek took Dean out of the room, after much persuading. Leaving me alone in the room with her. I was sitting on the chair next to her bed, looking blankly at the wall.
" I should have told you.." I turned and she was looking at me sadly.
" I understand why you didn't." I said holding her hand now.
" That's no excuse Case, and you know it. I'm sorry. I know you're angry." She said softly.
" It doesn't matter what I think Kay, all that matters is you." Tears filled my eyes.
" I'm not going to make it out of this one Case. I know that, and Dean knows that, my parent's know it and now you and Derek know it to...Please, take care of Dean. He tries to act strong but I know this is killing him to." Kaylie's eyes filled with tears to.
" I promise, he loves you. We all love you, none of us want to let you go." I said.
" I know, but this is part of God's plan hon." She squeezed my hand.
The guys came back in at that moment, and Dean rushed to her side. He kissed her softly, and I moved out of the way so he could sit next by her. I took this time to slip out of the room while the guys talked to her. After a few minutes her parent's arrived and so did George and Nora. Everybody was visiting her, and I made my way down to the hospital chapel. Now, I am usually not a very spiritual person, but I did go to church with Kay a couple of times. I knew she believed that God had something bigger for her to do, that he had this great plan for her but I still didn't want her to die.
I started to pray, I prayed for her that she would still be happy, and I prayed for Dean that he would be strong through this and I prayed for me. I was still sitting there, not even crying anymore when Derek came and sat next to me in the pew.
" Are you okay?" He asked me softly. I could tell he had been crying.
" I'm fine, are you okay? I know I should have told you but it was just common knowledge to me. It never even crossed my mind that her cancer would come back." I turned to him.
" Yes, I know...I just can't believe she has Leukemia. She's so young, still has everything to live for." He looked sad. I knew was thinking of Edwin to.
" She says God has a bigger plan for her than she has for herself. I don't know it I want to believe that though." Derek's arms wrapped around her.
" Maybe she's right, I know that thinking that Edwin is in a better place now gives me comfort, whether or not there is a God, and there is a Heaven...I don't know. It makes things easier to handle." He just sighed.
Me and him just sat like that for a long time before we went back up to her room. Kaylie's parents insisted we come back the next morning, so all of us left. Except for Dean who stayed behind, but before we all left he made the announcement that he wanted to be baptized in to Kaylie's church. I know it made her extremely happy, and she promised she would be there when it happened.
His baptism was scheduled for that weekend..
-----------------------------------------------Derek----------------------------------------------------------------------
Forgive me if I don't seem to be in the best mood. It's not everyday that you find out one of your best friends in dying. I love Kaylie like a sister, and it pains me to see her there in the hospital bed when she would usually be all cheerful and doing random little dances around us. Ha, that's Kay for ya.
I can tell this is hurting Dean and Casey.. Man Casey has been by her side, just like Dean.
We've been here since seven this morning, and whenever she's awake we all talk but she's mostly asleep. She's going to go home tomorrow, and then the next she's going to Dean's baptism...We all are. Her doctor tried to insist she stay here but she doesn't want to die in the hospital.
Every time I look at her it reminds me of Edwin. When he was lying in a hospital bed, except the only difference was I was in a bed next to him. It was late one Friday night and Edwin had snuck out a party. When I forced him to get in the car after dragging his drunk butt out I yelled at him. The things he told as to why he started doing the things I did were things I didn't want to hear. I don't really remember but I know he grabbed the steering wheel and tried to force me to turn around. He pulled so hard to the car ended up turning completely around, but now we were on the wrong side of traffic. I couldn't stop the car in time when we ran head on in to a huge truck. Ed, ended up in a coma and dying three weeks later, and I...well I survived. Now seeing Kaylie in a hospital bed, it was almost too much to handle.
It was late into the night when Casey got up put her hand on my shoulder. I looked up at her and she looked worried about me. I just shrugged it off, but that wasn't good enough for her. She hugged me tight.
" I love you." She whispered in my ear.
" I love you, too." I held unto her tightly, afraid to let go.
The next day Kaylie was released. We all spent time with her, watching her favorite movies and playing board games. It never lasted very long because she was always tired. I don't think Dean even slept since she was checked into the hospital.
" Dude, you should get some rest." I looked at him.
" No, I'm okay." His eyes were sad.
" Dean, you look horrible and tomorrow you have a big day. I'll sit with her, you at least go take a nap. You can't help her if you're half asleep." I had a hold of both his shoulders.
" Alright, okay. I'll sleep." Dean walked away, into the next room.
I sat there with her all night, she woke up a couple times to ask where Dean was and I told her he was asleep. Eventually I fell asleep to and it wasn't until Dean came in and said that we all needed to go that I even realized I fell asleep.
It was interesting how things went with the whole baptizing thing. Kay had tears in her eyes the entire time, I knew this meant a lot to her. Afterwards we all went out to eat, and celebrated. Like always these days we turned in early, but that night when I couldn't sleep I found Casey in the kitchen eating ice cream.
" What are you doing awake Babe?" I asked.
" I couldn't sleep, I have too much on my mind." I sat down next to her and ran my fingers through her hair.
" Same here." She offered me a bite and I took it.
" You know this whole thing has made me realize how short life is, and how unpredictable things can be." Casey said to me.
" That's why you have to live it to the fullest, and not take anything for granted." I said to her in return.
" Yes, I know..." She paused and I got up to grab myself a spoon out of the drawer. " Marry me?"
" What?" I turned around to see her looking at me with those sparkling blue eyes.
" I said...Marry me." She stood up.
" But Case..." She put her finger against my lips.
" I love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. We can get married after we graduate from college. We don't have to do it right now, just as long as sometime in the future it happens." She had her hands resting on my chest.
" I love you, too. Just listen to me Case..." She interrupted me again.
" I know you're thinking No, but you're eyes are telling me yes and I-" I kissed her.
" Casey, I was going to say. You took my line." I kissed her again gently.
" You mean yes??" Her eyes went big.
" I mean yes." She hugged me tight.
The days went by and not even three days later Kaylie slipped into a coma. Then not even twenty-four hours later she passed away. We all wept for her, and we all had to go back to university. Things were tough, but after her funeral Dean seemed to have some sort of comfort. We all still spent so much time together, of course the pain was sill there. Without her there with us, there was a whole, sometimes things were just too quite.
Hockey was a good distracting for all of us. Eventually the months went by, and before we knew it the year was over. Of course next semester wasn't that far away but Dean was transferring to the college closer to Kaylie's parents so he could still be with them, after all they were his family. Casey ended up moving into a smaller apartment, it was cheaper to. I moved into a dorm with people who had the same major as I.
Things were starting to get better, a lot better than what they had been. Dare I say, we were even happy??
Keep reading!!
Loves, Ava.
