• Memories That Last

    I was nervous. We had moved again, so of course I had transferred to a new school. Though we had done this many times, I never got used to that firs-day thing. That was the day, when everyone stared. And made up who-knows-what rumors of where I came from and what my parents did for living.

    I was staring at the schoolyard safely from the other side of the gate. I heard the bell rang and saw the students flowing out. I took a deep breath and put on a brave face. “You can do this”, I told myself. I gritted my teeth and joined the others. That’s when I saw her the first time.

    She was holding a set of books in her hands. There was nothing special about her, and that wasn’t the reason I noticed her. It was the way she came out of the building, as if she was reluctant to join her friends. And what amazed me more was that she didn’t join any group that had formed on the yard. Instead she went to sit all alone in the shadows. She clearly didn’t want to attract attention, although I couldn’t guess why, since she seemed very nice.

    I decided to try and talk to her. I had nothing to lose even if she’d be mean to me. So I closed the distance between us and put a warm smile on my face. “Hello”, I said, still a little warily, for her eyes were closed.
    “Hi”, she answered and opened her eyes. They were deep blue and matched her light brown hair wel. She seemed to be taller than me, although I couldn’t quite tell while she was sitting.
    “My name is Carol”, I started,” I just transferred here”, as if she couldn’t tell, ”And was wondering if you’d like to be my friend?” Hope she didn’t notice that it sounded like a question…
    “I’m Destiny”, she answered. “But I’m not sure whether you should be my friend or not. I’m not exactly the most popular person here.” So that was why she was alone. I couldn’t understand her, though, because I found her very friendly.
    “Does it really matter?” I asked. She seemed surprised.
    “People don’t really like me, so they probably won’t like my friends either”, she said her face turning sad. I couldn’t believe her. Here she was worrying for someone she didn’t even know, and saying that people didn’t like her. Exactly what kind of a place had I moved into?
    “You won’t know that if you don’t even try. I’d love to be your friend”, I told her. Her face grew even more surprised, but at the same time sort of happy. She was lost in thought for a moment and then said:
    “I suppose we could try. But I have to say that nobody has ever been this persistent to be my friend.” I felt the smile spread on my face and she smiled shily in return. My problem for the day was solved.
    “Thank you! I was so afraid that no one would like me here. C’mon!”

    I took her hand and ran to the warmth of the sun with her coming, bewildered, behind me. We talked a lot and she showed me around the school, which was a really big formation of three buildings. People stared at us a little, but it didn’t bother me, and it didn’t seem to bother Destiny. In fact she seemed totally comfortable. That continued throughout the day, and when school ended I asked her if she wanted to come over to my house and help me unpack and decorate my room. She smiled again and told me she’d be glad to. After that we spent lots of days and nights at my place, and at hers too. As the time passed we became best friends. In a few weeks we were inseparable and did almost everything together.

    Then came the timewhen I had to go to see a doctor. I did that frequently, because I had had a bad cancer when I was a child. It had been cured, but there was always the danger of it relapsing. It never had, though, not before then. I had had flu not long ago, so the doctor was checking me incase I had anything worse. It turned out to be a lot worse. My cancer had relapsed itself. The doctor gave me some medicine, but told me that we should be near a good hospital just in case. My parents went into shock when they heard the news, and prepared to move. I had a hard task ahead of me: I had to call Destiny and tell her the news. My mum told me that we had a month before we could go. That was a short time, and I couldn’t help crying when I heard Destiny’s voice answer the phone. I told her everything, except the thing about the cancer. I didn’t want to cause her any more misery than necessary.

    The time came when we had to move. My condition was getting worse, I could tell, but I hadn’t told anybody, because mum would have taken away my time with Destiny, which was limited anyway. I was crying silently when we hugged for the last time, and broke into sobs when I couldn’t see her anymore.

    I had some sort of an attack in the car. Suddenly I just couldn’t breathe properly, and started coughing so much that blood got mixed in my spit. Mum and Dad were shocked, and drove straight to the hospital. I collapsed somewhere on the way and woke up in an uncomfortable bed in the hospital. Apparently I had been out for twenty minutes.

    After that I was hospitalized for months. I got a laptop so I could e-mail Destiny. That was really hard, though. I didn’t want to tell her about my current situation, so I made up stories of my days. I had a few attacks, but they weren’t as bad as the first. I was beginning to improve, partially thanks to Destiny’s e-mails. She told me the others had begun to like her, and that she wasn’t an outcast anymore. Though that lessened the amount of her e-mails, I was really glad for her.

    Weeks after the last attack I was really improving. Though fighting the cancer had made me tired, I asked to have the laptop. The nurse brought it to me and politely left the room. I switched it on and checked my mail. No new messages. "Well, at least she has a good life now", I thought as I drifted to unconsciousness, and never woke up again.

    © theBalticMermaid ~ Laura ~ 2009