Chp 23

Mel's POV

I found the address that I had been told Peter's friend lived. I saw another car parked out knocked in the front door and I was surprised when Laura answered. "Hi Melody! Lovely to see you again." She said, hugging me and letting me in.

"Sorry, Isabelle is just making some coffee. Would you like some?" She asked. I shook my head.

"No, thank you."

We went through to the kitchen where I found Peter, a girl around Peter's age, who was apparently Kerry, 'Isabelle', who must be Kyle's mother, and her supposed husband, Daren.

"So Peter has been very closed up since he found out. He broke up with his girlfriend, Kerry, not wanting her to date 'the weirdo', as he puts it. He doesn't like the family coming over, and usually sits alone." Daren explained.

"It's just been so hard on us. He's refused to talk to anyone if we've introduced help from a social worker, and he's starting to become very depressed and negative. I don't know if that's normal." Isabelle said, sighing.

I nodded. "Well, where is he?" I asked, giving a smile.

They showed me through to the lounge, and I saw him sitting, facing the glass doors and looking out at their garden. I felt a little nervous as they all sat a small distance away at a table.

I took a deep breath and sat down in front of him, after pulling out a chair. "Hi, I'm Melody." I introduced myself.

He looked at me, his face very serious. "If my parents want you to talk to me because they think I'm depressed, they can save their money. I don't need help. I'm fine." He said.

"Your parents aren't paying me. I'm doing this completely for you." I assured him.

He rolled his eye and said, "How cliché. I really don't want to talk to anyone." I see, a stubborn case. He will need tough love if he continues like this.

"I'm going to sound staged when I say this but talking about it is better than keeping it bottled up." I said.

"Please, you can't possibly know how painful it is to have your future destroyed by one small thing." He said, as if no one knew what he was going through.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "By the age of eight I was told I wasn't going to live till my my tenth birthday. At my eleventh birthday I was told I wasn't going to live till my fifteenth. I was told so many times by doctors that every time I had more chemo my survival rate lessened."

He didn't say anything. "I had a future. I was going to play baseball for the Yankees. I was supposed to have a future with my girlfriend. I was supposed to have things I had worked so hard for. It was ripped away from me so quickly."

"Well God does everything for a reason. Maybe, despite your love for baseball, you're actually meant to be doing something else, helping people or working with others."

He scoffed. "Why? Did he hate me so much he wanted to take a gift away from me? Losing my perception of depth means losing my life to me."

"Do you think he sits there and just decides who is worthy of not of having the beautiful cancer disease?" I asked, appalled he had made such a statement.

"This is our life. You don't know if you'll get it back or not. You don't know if you'll feel better or worse the next day. But there is a reason behind everything. I was meant to have leukemia so I can help people who are feeling down about cancer."

"Well I'm glad you have a purpose in life when I have none." He said.

"Just because you haven't found that new aspect of your life yet doesn't mean it's not there. You have that skill somehow and you just haven't noticed it yet. I promise that you have a plan."

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "Tell me about Peter." I said, and he looked at me. "Your friend, Peter. I want to know about your friendship." I said.

"Well, we've been friends since we could walk. We used to have balloon fights and swim and have the best summers at my family's lake house. He's been the brother I never had." He said, giving the first smile I had seen from him.

"And have you talked much since you found out?" I asked. He swallowed and shook his head. "Why not?"

He sighed. "Pete must think I'm such a loser. We were meant to be going to Yankees together. He said he doesn't want to go if it means I can't be there with him. I know how hard he wants it like me. I can't put his life on hold with mine. He won't listen to me if I insist so pushing him away will be better. He doesn't have to worry about me and I don't have to hold him back."

I nodded, understanding the situation more. "And Kerry?" I asked.

He looked out at the backyard. "I can't put her through this. I don't want her to see me if I can't be 'whole', because I feel she could do better. I never deserved her and I most certainly don't deserve her now. She needs to enjoy her life and I need to find one."

I glanced up at his family and friends and saw them all with the same surprise on their faces. He obviously had never explained anything to them.

"Kyle, look at me." I said, tentively. He looked at me hesitantly. "You are enough. You are more than enough. You'll never be too little. But you'll always be more than enough. No one has asked you to prove why you deserve them. You don't just get picked for something because people think 'oh, he might deserve it more than them'. Kerry, I believe, chose you because she saw you. She loves you for you, not what you have and don't have. Not which baseball team you support or what grades you get. She chose you completely for you. Tell yourself that and you're halfway through one of the most important things I have to tell you."

He nodded. "It's fine if people decide to ignore you because they don't want to be involved with you. It just makes it easier to see who's going to stand by you and care for you for the rest of your life. Saves you a lot of grief."

He seemed to take it in, digesting the words I had said. "Look, I wish I could have had friends other than just my parents and my brother to share the heavy load of my cancer with - it would have taken a lot of stress away from them all."

"You didn't have friends?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

I shook my head. "Well I had five or six friends I met through support groups - but out of them all, only one of them survived and is healthy today." I said.

He nodded. "So you think I should rather find this as a way of becoming closer with my friends instead of pushing them away?" He asked. I smiled, happy to know I had changed his mind set.

"Most definitely. And talk to your parents. Go out and enjoy yourself. Even if you just walk to an ice cream store and back it's enough to know that you will have the strength and determination to do that every day of your life until you're old and senile and you have to be reminded to put on a pair of pants before taking your morning stroll." I said, and he laughed, giving me a joyful smile.

"You're never alone." I assured him. He smiled and nodded.

"I guess I've been too stubborn to really accept what anyone has said." He said, admitting it to himself. "Thank you."

I smiled. "It's an honour." I said.

"This might sound stupid but does it hurt? Going through treatments? Does it suck?" He asked.

I nodded. "It sucks, a lot. You are quite lucky though. Apparently, despite it being a biggish tumor, it isn't spreading. You may lose quite a bit of your eye, but it will hopefully be gone forever." I said.

He nodded. "Should I call Pete and Kerry now?" He asked, a new found happiness in him. I looked up and motioned for them to come over.

I gave him one more smile before standing and leaving him to chat with Kerry and Peter. I joined the adults, and found that his parents were nearly in tears. Isabelle pulled me into a hug. "Thank you." She said.

"I haven't seen him smile in the past three weeks." Daren said, wiping at his face. It must be a lot for the parents to go through.

We all moved to the kitchen and she got an envelope. "What's this?" I asked, surprised as she handed me an envelope.

"It's for coming over and talking to him. I don't know how else I could thank you." She said.

I politely handed it back. "I don't want your money, honestly. As I told Kyle, I did this purely for him and you both. My intention was never for money." I said. They insisted but when they found I was serious and wouldn't accept their money, they stopped trying.

As I decided to go, I went to say goodbye to Kyle and the other two. "Thanks." He said, again.

"It's a pleasure." I said.

"If I ever need help, can I get my mom to call you?" He asked.

"Of course." I said goodbye then went to say goodbye to his parents. Laura decided to walk me to my car.

"Melody, it feels so good to see my best friend happy again. You wouldn't believe the joy I feel for her family. But it feels better knowing that people like you are still around." She said.

I smiled, my modesty refusing to let me answer. "And I'm so happy my son could meet such a strong young women, such as yourself, as I always hoped he would find."

I smiled. "I'm happy I met your son as I've been able to live a little and catch up on my life." She smiled.

"I'm planning on calling Mark around tomorrow, so I can tell the boys." I realized what she meant.

"It's only bound to bring your family closer." I said, smiling.

"Do you want to be there?" She asked.

I hesitated. "It's a family matter. I wouldn't want to intrude." I said, but she waved it off.

"Just promise you'll think about it. Mark might want you there." She said.

I shrugged but said goodbye and found myself driving back to the city. What to do...