Never Let Go ✔️

Chapter 10

Date: Saturday, March 12th (2/5)

Michael was lost in his thoughts after he finally figured out what was wrong with Sophia. He thought, "How am I going to tell my best friend since the age of 16 that his little sister is seriously sick, Forget that how I am going to tell the little girl that I have known since she was 4 that she is seriously sick."

Luke and Michael met back in high school. Luke was so smart that he actually skipped two grades. He skipped 8th grade and freshman year so that meant he was a 14-year-old in 10th grade. Michael was 2 years older than Luke and felt like Luke needed someone to protect him so he immediately took him under his wing. They became best friends. It was always Luke and Michael against the world or as everyone called them but they always had a cute little girl right behind them. That little girl was Sophia. Michael remembers the day he met her like it was yesterday.

Flashback to 11 years ago

Luke was bringing Michael over to his house so they could work on their science project. When Luke opened the door Sophia was standing there.

"Lu,'' She said in the cutest voice possible. She could not say his full name yet.

"Hey soph. Did you miss me?" Luke said, kneeling down so she could hug him.

Michael was in aww. This little girl was absolutely adorable. He didn't know Luke had a little sister but he wishes he could have one.

Michal looked down and said, "Who is this little cutie?"

Sophia looked up at him and said, "I'm soapy. I'm 4," She said holding up four fingers with a cheesy smile that just melted Michael's heart.

Luke laughed and said, "Her name is pronounced Sophia but she doesn't know how to say it yet."

Michael laughed and then said, "Hi Sophia! My name is Michael."

Sophia looked at him for a minute and then said, "Hi Mikey."

Luke laughed and said,"Soph, his name is Michael."

Sophia had a concentrated look on her face and said,"Mikey."

Michael laughed and said, "You know what that's fine. You can call me Mikey but only you can call me that no one else."

Sophia looked at him and smiled.

End Flashback

"Hello, earth to Michael," Calum said, snapping his fingers in front of Michael's face. Calum was concerned. He had been trying to get Michaels attention for the past 5 minutes.

"Oh yeah. sorry. What?" Michael said, looking at him.

"Mate, are you ok?" Calum asked.

"No not really. How am I supposed to tell Luke and Sophia this? Calum it's going to break them."

"I know but we have to do it," Calum said sadly.

"Can you get Luke? I still need to process this and be in the right headspace when we tell him and Sophia," Michael asked him. Calum nodded.

Calum left Michael in the room and walked to Sophia's room. He knocked on the door and Sophia and Luke both looked up.

"Luke can Michael and I talk to you in private?"

Luke had so many negative thoughts running through his head. What's wrong with Sophia? Is she going to die? Oh gosh please don't be that she is dying. Please don't take my sunshine away. I need her.

Luke looked at Sophia and said, "I will be back in a few minutes, sunshine."

He walked out of the room with Calum and into the room where Michael is.

"Ok what is it? Please do not sugar coat it. I want the truth," Luke said flatly.

Calum looked at Luke with sad eyes and said, "Luke she has cancer. We aren't exactly sure what type or what stage she is but we are 90% sure that it's Ewing Sarcoma but we are going to need more tests to be sure."

Luke's heart shattered.

"I fucking knew it. I fucking knew something was wrong with her but no my dumbass self had to push any thought of that away because I didn't want it to be true. What if I didn't believe her this time? What if Calum wasn't there today?  She would have been in pain for so many more weeks and who fucking knows she could have died. I mean she could still die now," then it sunk in and he yelled with tears falling down his face, "Oh my fucking god. My baby, My sunshine, My little sister has fucking cancer."

Calum and Michael didn't know what to expect but that outburst was definitely not it. They were in absolute shock.

"Luke you need to calm down," Calum tried to say but Luke wasn't having it.

"How the fuck am I supposed to calm down. My baby sister has cancer and you want me to calm down?" Luke said chuckling a little but it was not an amusing chuckle more of are you serious kind of chuckle.

Michael knew he was going to have to be the one to talk to him. After all, he has known him much longer than Calum and Ashton.

"Luke look at me," Michael said looking at Luke. Luke looked over at Michael.

"It fucking sucks. I know it does. After all she is like... actually no she is a little sister to me just like she is to you. It hurts to think this could kill her but you need to stay strong for her. None of this is your fault. Cancer is a sneaky little thing. I know because I see it every single day. But trust me when I say she is going to get the best care possible because I am going to be her oncologist and I am going to do literally everything that I can to make sure she beats it and lives a long healthy life," Michael said looking at Luke's eyes the entire time. He could tell that his words were starting to calm Luke down, "What she needs right now is her big brother to be there for her, to support her and be a shoulder to cry on because Luke I am not going to sugarcoat it. This path she is about to go on is going to be so painful and tough. She is going to need you more than anyone else," Michael finished.

Luke thought over Michael's words. He was right. His little sister was going to need him. This isn't the same cancer that their mom had but it's actually way worse in his opinion.

Luke looked at Michael and said, "Thank you michael. Ok so what is the first thing we have to do?"

Michael and Calum looked at each other and then back at Luke. "We have to tell Sophia," Calum said sadly.

None of them wanted to tell her. They didn't want to see their happy little girl's happiness be taken from her. The minute they told her they knew her whole world was going to shatter.

"How the heck do I tell my little sister she has cancer?" Luke said, wiping his tears away from his eyes.

"Luke, I think you need to bring Sierra in and she tells her since she is trained for this," Michael said looking at Luke.

Luke sighed but nodded. He pulled out his phone and called his girlfriend who he knew was going to be devastated by this news.