In the blink of an eye.

New Friend.

"Do you need anything else?" Aubrey asked while kneeling in front of Chloe, who was sitting in a chair hooked up to her first dose of chemotherapy. "No, I'm good. Thanks, Bree." Chloe answered, a weak smile on her face. She wasn't necessarily happy about being here and she knew that Aubrey knew, which was the reason the blonde had brought her friend in.

"I have a few calls now, so I'll be in my car for a while. If you need anything, just text me." The blonde quickly kissed Chloe's cheek and left.

Now that Chloe was alone, she sighed heavily and earned a few pitiful looks from the other patients. An old lady, she must've been about seventy, looked at her particularly long, "Your first time?"

"No. Not my first time." Chloe answered with a heavy voice.

"What's your name, Honey?" The lady sat in the brown leather chair across the ginger. Her IV bag was half empty and Chloe couldn't help but think about how long this woman had been coming here already. Her look lingered on the woman a little longer. She had a wrinkled face and what was left of her hair was as white as snow. Her small figure made Chloe wonder if it was from the cancer treatment or if she just had been a small woman all along. When Chloe's eyes met the warm, brown eyes of the older woman, she noticed she had been staring, "I'm sorry. My name is Chloe."

"Don't worry about it. I'm used to the looks by now. It's nice to meet you, Chloe. I'm Sofia."

Chloe now heard Sofia's accent and together with the name, she assumed she was from Spain or Italy. "How long have you been coming here?"

"Oh," Sofia chuckled and her whole body moved, "I've been coming here for a long time. 20 years on and off. Chemo, radiation- then I would be in remission for a while before the cancer would come back."

Chloe let the older woman's words sink in for a minute before she answered, "That's awful. I hope this time you'll get rid of it for good." The ginger retracted into her mind. Could this be her in a few years? Talking to younger men and women about her cancer journey like Sofia was now? While her thoughts wandered, so did her eyes. When the redhead heard a little girl's voice next to her, she shifted her attention to it. The girl was just climbing into the chair next to Chloe and once she was sitting comfortably, she smiled at Chloe. The ginger smiled back at her and it looked like the little girl was about to say something to her, but before she could, the nurse interrupted by hooking the little one up to her IV drip, "I'm going to hook you up now." The girl closed her eyes and gripped the upholstery of the chair with her hand while the nurse put the needle in her other arm.

"You are such a brave girl!" The nurse told her after she was done. "See you later, G! The nurse left and silence filled the room again. Chloe was confused. Why was there a little girl without her parents right next to her? Shouldn't they be here with her?

After a few minutes of silence- Sofia was dozing in her chair and the others didn't seem to be very talkative- the girl next to Chloe said something, "What's your name?" She looked at Chloe expectantly.

"My name is Chloe."

"Your hair looks effin' pretty, Chloe!" A little surprised by the girl's choice of words, Chloe chuckled.

"Effin' pretty?" she asked.

"My big sister says I'm not allowed to use the f word."

"Your sister is right." Chloe commented and took a closer look at the beanie the girl was wearing. There were headphones and vinyl records on it. "That's a very cool beanie you got there."

"Thanks!" the girl squeaked, "My sister made it for me! She wants to be a music producer."

"And what do you want to be when you grow up?" Chloe asked, partially because she was curious, but also to keep her mind off her nausea.