𝑯𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔.
What would you do if you found out you were going to die?
For seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Reid, this isn't hypothetical. Diagnosed with terminal cancer, her world comes crashing down around...
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The darkness was suffocating. I couldn't see, couldn't breathe. I tried to call out, but no sound came from my mouth.
Suddenly, a dim light flickered on. I was in a hospital room, but it was all wrong. The walls were too close, the ceiling too low, and the steady beep of the heart monitor was deafening in the small space.
"Hello?" I called out, my voice weak and shaky. "Is anyone there?"
Shadows moved at the edge of my vision. I turned my head, trying to see who it was, but the figures stayed just out of sight.
"Mum? Dad?" I tried again. "Meri? Nathan?"
Finally, a figure stepped into the light. It was Mum, but her face was twisted into an expression I'd never seen before. Cold. Uncaring.
"Mum," I breathed, relief flooding through me. "I'm so scared. What's happening?"
But when she spoke, her voice was harsh and unfamiliar. "Why are you still here, Elizabeth? Why won't you just die already?"
I flinched as if I'd been slapped. "W-what? Mum, what are you saying?"
"You're selfish," she spat. "Holding on like this. Don't you see how much you're hurting us? How much easier it would be if you were gone?"
Tears streamed down my face. This couldn't be real. This couldn't be my mum.
More figures emerged from the shadows: Dad, his usually kind face now hard and angry. Meri, my sweet little sister, glared at me with hatred.
"You don't care about us," Dad said, his voice dripping with disgust. "If you did, you'd let go. You'd stop fighting."
"But I do care!" I cried out. "I love you all so much. That's why I'm fighting!"
Meri stepped closer, her childish features twisted into a sneer. "We don't love you anymore. You're not my sister. You're just a sick thing taking up space."
I tried to reach her, but my arms wouldn't move. I was paralysed, trapped in the hospital bed as my family surrounded me, their faces masks of hatred and disgust.
"Please," I begged. "Please don't say these things. I'm trying so hard."
"Not hard enough," a new voice said. My heart dropped as Nathan stepped into view. His hazel eyes, usually warm and kind, were now cold as ice. "You're pathetic, Elizabeth. I can't believe I wasted so much time on you."
"Nathan, no," I whispered, my heart breaking. "You're my best friend. You said you'd always stay with me."
He laughed, a cruel sound that didn't belong in Nathan's mouth. "Stay with you? Why would I want to stay with someone who's already dead?"
