AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Kayla,’ Aiden grumbles. ‘Say something. Please?’
I close my eyes and shake Mowgli out of my brain. ‘I have cancer,’ I blurt, running all the words together to get them out in case they burst in my mouth and taste gross.
‘What?’ Aiden says and I swear I can hear his eyes widen.
‘You said you wouldn’t freak out,’ I warn.
‘No, I actually meanwhat. What did you say? You said it so fast I couldn’t hear you.’
‘Oh.’ I smile. ‘I said…’ I take another breath, not as deep this time. ‘I said, I have cancer.’
‘No, seriously,’ Aiden says, seeming to lose patience. ‘What did you really say?’
‘I have cancer,’ I repeat, no deep breath, no rushed sentence, just three simple words said with certainty.
‘Kayla that’s not funny.’ Aiden is the one taking a deep breath now.
‘It’s not meant to be.’
‘You have cancer,’ he says slowly.
‘Yes.’
There’s silence and I’m going to remind him that he promised not to freak out, but I stop myself, and just let the silence hang in the air for a moment while the reality of what I said seems to sink in for us both.
Finally, I feel ready to explain. ‘That’s why my dad was at your house last night. My mam wasn’t at work yesterday. She was at the kids’ hospital, meeting my doctors. Dad drove down to Cork with her after so they could tell me together.’
‘Fuck,’ Aiden finally says.
‘I know.’
‘You’re fifteen, like. Are fifteen-year-olds even supposed to get cancer?’ Aiden says. And now it’s his voice that goes squeaky.
I sigh. He’s doing a terrible job at this not-freaking-out thing.
‘You know they can,’ I say.
‘Yeah. Yeah.’ He puffs. ‘But not fifteen-year-olds like us. Or people we actually know.’
‘Ha.’ I smile, his argument is very sweet. Stupid. But sweet. ‘I don’t think cancer really works that way.’
There’s more silence between us. I listen to footsteps on the corridor. And there’s a rattle of teacups in the distance and there’s the smell of toast – slightly burnt, wafting from somewhere. I wonder if these are sounds and smells I’ll have to get used to.I don’t want to have to get used to them, I think, cursing bloody Mowgli as he stares back at me with big blue eyes and a cheery smile.
‘What the hell are you smiling at?’ I snap.
‘What?’ Aiden says. ‘I’m not smiling.’
‘Not you.’ I blush, glad he can’t see me. ‘Mowgli.’
‘Who?’
‘Mowgli,’ I repeat. ‘You know, fromThe Jungle Book.’
‘Okay, have they put you on drugs already or something?’ Aiden says.
I laugh. ‘He’s painted on the wall here in the hospital. There’s a whole kids’ cartoon-character theme thing going on.’
‘I’m sure you love that,’ Aiden says.
