Chapter 3

"We are sorry Haley but we can't be seen around you Haley."

Haley gasped. "And why not?"

Danielle scoffed and rolled her eyes and took her hand away from her mouth as she said. "Please Haley. Isn't it obvious? It's because you're just going to die anyway if your parents and brother have it. There's a slight chance that you might get it from your parents and brother and there was a chance that your uncle might have gotten it before he died and he passed it onto your parents and it was slowly killing them over the years."

"We thought that we might as well tell you before you get weaker and die." Renée said. "This will be the last time that you'll see us. We won't come back and be by your side. I'm sorry that it has to be this way but none of us want to get that illness and die all because of you. My sisters and I don't want to get sick and we don't want to die."

Haley flinched. 'That hurt. I thought that they were my friends. It looks like I was wrong about that. I have to at least try and ask them not to leave me.'

"Please don't do this." Haley begged them. "I need you by my side through all this. I don't think that I can get through this by myself. I need someone to help me along the way. Please don't leave me. You are the only friends I have and you are all like family to me. I'll go to my knees and start begging. Just please don't leave me all alone. You're the only people who I can turn to. I don't want to be alone! Please!"

Rebecca slowly shook her head as she turned to the door. "I'm sorry."

Renée looked like she was having second thoughts but followed Rebecca.

"We are sorry Haley but we can't be there for you." Rebecca said. "Not this time. This time you're on your own. This is the last time that you'll see us. Good bye Haley Masen."

Danielle gave her one last look in disgust before they walked out of the building.

"Please!" Haley yelled after them. "Please don't leave me alone!"

They walked out of the hospital and Haley ran after them.

"Wait! Come back." She looked around to see that no one was around and fell to her knees. "They're gone. They're gone forever. Danielle…. Rebecca…. Renee…. How did they get away so fast?"

After a few minutes Haley walked back inside the hospital and into the waiting room.

A nurse walked from the nurses' station towards her.

Like everyone that worked in the hospital she wore a mask over her mouth and nose so that she wouldn't catch the disease from the patients.

They had wanted her to have the mask but Haley had rejected it.

"Miss Haley I'm sorry to disturb you but your parents will see you now."

Haley nodded as she walked to their room.

Haley walked in and sat in between her mother and fathers bed.

She grabbed her mother's hands and stared into her emerald-green eyes.

She and her brother had both gotten their eyes from her.

Elizabeth saw that she didn't have a mask on her face like everyone else had in the hospital.

She frowned slightly.

Haley could see that it hurt her face to do so.

'She doesn't deserve this. Mother and Father are kind people and so is my brother. They don't deserve to die of this disease. They always helped the people in need. They're the nicest people on earth.'

"Sweetie why don't you have your mask on?" she asked. "Didn't the nurses give you one?"

Haley shook her head. "No they gave me one but I didn't want it. I'm not scared of this disease. Please don't leave me mother. I'll have no one to turn to when you leave."

She had gotten her middle name from her mother Elizabeth and her brother had gotten named after her father.

"Your wrong baby." Her father said. "You've got your brother with you. He'll always be by your side…. Not matter what." He started coughing.

Haley sighed as he turned to face him. "Yes Father but his dying like you are now. His got that stupid disease that you're dying of. It seems to be spreading all over Chicago." She watched as his eyes widened. "A lot of people have lost families because of this illness and no one knows where it started or even came from. Please don't leave me. I'm scared what will happen to me when I'm all alone."

They were both dying of Spanish Influenza.

"What happened to your friends? Rebecca, Danielle and Renée were their names wasn't it?" she asked. "Why aren't they helping you through this? They should be here beside you to support you."

Haley sighed. "Rebecca, Renée and Danielle abandoned me as soon as they found out what happened to you, father and brother." Haley replied. "They thought that they'll get sick if they hanged around with me. They thought I was some sort of sick disease that they didn't want to catch. Like a plague of some sort. They don't want to have anything to do with me anymore. I'm going to be alone after you and father and brother dies. I have no one else to turn to." Her eyes began to tear up.

She tried to hold it together for her mother and fathers sake.

She had to try to be strong in front of them.

'I need to hold on until they go.' She thought. 'I need them to see me strong. I need to show them that I can take care of myself after they leave.'

Her mother took a deep shaky breathe. "Listen to me baby girl." She said as Haley turned back to face her again. "After we leave this place go and spend your last few hours you have with your brother." Her mother said. "He needs you more than we do. You know what your brother is like with you. He loves you. He wants to protect you even when he is weakened. He needs your strength to keep him strong until the end takes him away. Promise us."

Haley nodded. "I will. I promise you mother. I'll try to take good care of him. Until…." She gulped.

She couldn't say the words that were stuck in her throat.

Her mother smiled. "Thank you. I love you my angel. My beautiful princess. Please remember that. Your father and I are very proud of you and we always will be. Remember that my darling beautiful girl. We will always be in your heart. Goodbye my beautiful baby girl." She said before she closed her eyes and never opened them again.

"Mother?" She turned to her father. "Father?"

He had his eyes closed and wasn't breathing.

Haley started crying as she realized that they were both dead.

"No. Mother, Father don't leave me." She cried into her mother's chest. "You can't go. You can't leave me here alone!"

A nurse came in a second later.

She looked to Haley's mother and fathers bodies before turning to her.

She had pain in her eyes as she looked at the sad, lonely girl sitting next to her dead parents.

"Miss Haley I'm sorry about your parents but your brother has been asking for you for some time now." The nurse said. "His been very worried about you. Please go to him so we can take your parents away to the morgue."

Haley stood and the nurse tilted her head as she looked her over.

"Do you need a hug my dear?" the nurse asked. "I'm sorry about your parents passing."

Haley shook her head. "No. Thank you anyway. I should go. I need to go and see my brother."

"In that case I don't wish for him to worry about you any further. Come on. I'll take you to him."

Haley wiped away her tears and nodded as she walked out the door and walked down to her brother's room.