My Life: Congrats, You Lost Me

Chapter 20 - Stomach Aches and Heart Breaks

**** August 13th, 11:17 p.m. ****

"Allan," I yell. "She's awake, get Eliza." My eyes fill with happy tears as I look over at my little sister, opening her eyes for the first time since surgery. "Oh my God, Becca," I mumble grabbing her hand and pressing it to my cheek. "I'm so glad you woke up, I missed you so much." I see her look at me a bit confused and she starts to look around the room.

"Jessie," she whispers. "Where am I? Why am I in the hospital?" Allan appears at my side with Eliza close behind. I can't seem to bring the words to describe what happened to form.

"Becca," Allan says. "You were really sick, remember? We had to take you here and they had to put you through some surgery to make you better."

"Allan," she mumbles. "Don't act like I'm 5, what happened." It's like she knew there was something awful we weren't saying. She's too smart for her own good sometimes.

"Becca, how long have you been feeling bad?"

"I've felt bad for a few months. I didn't want to bug you guys, I just thought I had a stomach ache. What's going on?"

"They had to take you up and do some surgery stuff. You had a tumor in your stomach and some other places. It's almost all out, but it's still there in some places. It'll be okay though."

"Is it cancer? We learned about cancer in science class. It's real bad, isn't it. Mr. Lich said cancer can kill you. Am I going to die, sissy?" She looked at me as she said the last few words. I felt my throat close up.

"It is-," a sob wracks through my body and I almost can't keep talking. Once I recover I look back up at her with my eyes filled with tears. "It is cancer, Becks. B-But it'll be alright, I promise. N-nothing is going to take you away. You have a good chance to fight it, Becca." I feel the floodgates open as tears overflow from my eyes, drenching my face and my neck as they run. I look at Becca and see her eyes start to water. She looked terrified, even more so than when we had to leave Lindsey.

"I'm sorry, sissy, it's my fault."

"No, no it's not, Becks. It's not your fault at all. You're okay now, and that's all that matters." Eliza was the only one who was able to keep herself from crying when this happened. By the end of it all even she was in tears though. She helped us explain to Rebecca what was going on, and what was going to happen.

This was one of my worst days. No, scratch that, this is my worst day. Nothing could be worse than this.

**** August 15th ****

"We will have to keep her under heavy medication to slow the growth of this tumor. It is growing much more rapidly than any tumor I have ever witnessed," Doctor Westie says glumly. "I'm very sorry, but with how it is progressing, I cannot say much about the likelihood of a full recovery for Rebecca. She will need another surgery scheduled to remove more of the tumor within the next few days."

"So what you're saying is that now all odds are against her, aren't they?"

"I'm afraid so, Miss Taylors."

"Thank you, Doctor." I walk back into Becca's room while she, Allan, and Eliza all slept. I cried silently in a chair in the corner of the room. If this is my punishment for things I've done wrong, please change it. Don't hurt her any more, please. She's never wronged anyone, please keep her well. I can't lose her, she's the only true family I have left. I can't lose her.

I hear a rustle across the room and see Allan sit up and look around the dark room. He sees me and stands up from the couch he was sleeping on. He walks towards the corner I'm sitting in and sits next to me. I glance up at the clock, 3:19, Dr. Westie had been on the 3rd shift, working a bit of overtime when he came to talk to me.