I check my old, beat-up watch and then nod. “Yep.”
Chapter 1
“Hey, Lillie,” I say as soon as I enter her hospital room.
Her head turns, and her face lights up when she sees me and Declan standing in the doorway.
“How you doing?” I ask softly as I sit on the edge of her bed.
Lillie pulls her dark purple hat a bit farther on her head and shrugs. “Fine.”
“Anything I can get you?” Declan questions, still standing in the doorway.
She looks thoughtful for a long moment before answering. “Pudding, please.”
Declan nods and disappears.
As soon as he’s gone, Lillie bursts out, “Oh! I drew a picture.” She smacks herself in the head, and then rubs it while scrunching her face up. “I can’t believe that I forgot! It’s of you. And Declan.” She winks at me. Yes, she winks at me.
“Here’s your pudding ma’am,” Declan bows as he enters the room and hands Lillie the chocolate pudding and a spoon.
Lillie shakes with laughter and a nurse rushes in, scowling at Declan and me.
“It’s time for sleep,” the nurse speaks gently.
Lillie frowns, and then huffs. “No. I don’t want to sleep.”
The nurse adjusts something and Lillie’s eyes already began to droop.
I rub Lillie’s hand softly in the silence until she is completely asleep.
“I would like to talk to you about Lillie,” the nurse says. “Your friend can hear, too.”
We step outside, despite the fact Lillie’s asleep, and the nurse, Mari is her name, takes a deep breath. “We’re going to have to amputate Lillie’s leg,” she says. “The cancer is spreading. But we need your parents to sing a form. They need to come soon.”
Without a word, I rush out of the hospital, Declan following close behind me.
On the bus ride home, I’m quiet, too.
And once Declan and I part ways, I run home and slam the door as I enter.
“Don’t slam the door,” Deja, my mother, scolds, after taking a drag from her cigarette.
“You need to go the hospital,” I say.
“No. It doesn’t matter if she sees me or she doesn’t. And why would she want to see me?” Deja coughs a few times, interrupting her.
“You’re her mom. And her leg needs to be amputated, but you need to sign a form for the doctors to do so.”
“No,” Deja shakes her head. “I won’t do it. I don’t care.”
I’m too mad to speak, so I run into my room.
“You got an ‘F’ on a math test,” Hilary, my father states, after shoving a forkful of rice and beans into his mouth.
“Yes,” I nod.
“That isn’t good, Luce. Stop visiting Lil’ and start studying,” Hillary orders.
My fork clatters on my plate. “You need to sign a form so Lillie’s leg can be amputated. You need to go the hospital.”
“Don’t have the time,” Hilary shakes his head.
“It’ll kill her if she doesn’t get this surgery.”
Hillary grunts.
“She’s dying!” I scream, standing, my chair banging to the ground in the process.
“Oh well,” he shrugs.
“You can’t not care!” I shout at him.
“Stop it,” Deja mumbles.
“No! You don’t care at all that your own daughter is dying, yet you care that I got a stupid ‘F’?”
Hillary nods.
“Well—”
Hilary stands and he backhands me across the face.
My cheek throbs, and I stumble backwards, but after I straighten myself I punch him.
“Stop!” Deja nods. “Lou, you’re grounded. You can’t see Lilia for a month.”
“That’s not her name!” I scream at her.
This time, Hilary’s punch causes me to fly into the wall a foot behind me, and my head spins.
“Get out!” Hilary orders between gritted teeth.
And so I do.
Chapter 2
I am back at the hospital within the hour.
“Hey, Lillie,” I smile at her as I walk in.
Lillie’s face lights up, once again, but then her expression turns into one of confusion. “What are you doing here, Lucie?’
“I’m going to stay the night,” I smile forcefully.
Lillie’s smile, unlike mine, is genuine, and very wide, too. “Thank you Lucie!”
I can’t help but give her a real smile this time. “You’re welcome, Lil’. I’m happy I can stay with you tonight.”
Lillie’s face gets brighter, as if that is possible.
I sit in the chair next to her bed, and a moment after she falls asleep, I do, too.
~~~
“Is she in here?” I hear a voice demand in my sleepy state.
“You really can’t just—” another voice begins to protest.
“Shut up!”
Is that…?
I sit up and tiredly rub the sleep from my eyes.
Deja stands there, in all her stupid, jerkish glory. “Let’s go!” she yells. “We’re going home.”
“No,” I shake my head slowly.
Deja looks at me, shocked.
“Not until you sign the forms,” I say.
“Is that all it’ll take?”
I nod.
“Doc, get me the dang forms so you can cut off Willis’s legs or arms or whatever,” Deja demands.
I sink back into the chair, grateful Lille’s still asleep. Wait. How is she still asleep? She usually is such a light sleeper. I turn my head and find Lille pale and completely still. Eerily still. When I press my fingers to her wrist, I find no pulse. And she isn’t breathing. How did that even happen? How did she…? Is this really…? Shouldn’t the doctors have…?
And then I’m unconscious.
