The Year

Chapter 12.

Being happy didn't last long.

The fairytale I was living in slowly started to fade away, and I went from having a glass slipper to having a pumpkin carriage.

It started a few days after my birthday barbeque. I woke up screaming in the middle of the night from the pain. My parents ran through my room and without even asking anything, my dad carried me to the car and they took me to the hospital.

What I haven't been honest about is that I haven't been taking my pills. And I have been skipping going to chemo. My parents couldn't always go with me, so i told them I was going when I actually wasn't. Because I always felt like shit whenever I went. It always reminded me of the painful truth,the tragic reality.

"Maisie, you gotta work with me kiddo. Take your pills, and don't skip your chemo sessions. Do you want your year?" My doctor asked. He was one of my dad's friends.

"Yeah, Jack I want my year." I nodded.

"Then promise me, you'll help me while I help you." He said and I nodded again agreeing with him.

I had to stay in the hospital for a couple of days to regain my strength and get better. I didn't want to tell anyone and by anyone I mean Grace, Ashton or Darren. But they found out anyways. Lucky me!

"Maisie!" Grace burst through the door, Ashton and Darren following behind, all three of them wearing worried expressions.

"I'm fine." I stated, but I guess my pale face and dead eyes gave another impression.

"What were you thinking? Maisie, why did you stop the pills?!" She continued blabbering on and on.

"Okay, Mom! I'm sorry, just please can we move on." I said with a tired smile.

When she wouldn't shut up and continued talking on and on, I moved my eyes to the other two. Darren was trying to calm down Grace, while Ashton. Ashton was standing a few feet away from the bed, arms crossed, facing the floor.

"Grace! As Miley once said to Lilly, build a bridge, and get over it."

She must've realized that it really annoyed me, so she finally stopped talking.

"I'm sorry, it's just-" she was starting to talk again but I cut her off.

"Grace, apology accepted. It's okay." I calmly said holding her hand.

Her eyes teared up and she said she wanted to get coffee and left the room. Darren wished me a quick recovery and followed Grace down to the cafeteria, leaving me alone with the silent boy.

"If you keep chewing on those nails, you're gonna end up in a bed next to me." I said sarcastically.

"Bad habit." He said with a low voice.

"Yeah it is... Stop it Ash, it's not good." I said getting annoyed by the image.

"How could you do something like that Maisie?! I thought I lost you. "He slowly said finally gathering up the courage to look at me.

He though he lost me.

For some reason that sentence kept replaying at the back of my head.

"Ashton-" I started to say, only to get cut off.

"You know what my first thought was when Grace called me in the middle of the night crying last night?!"

"She shouldn't have done that." I said getting mad at my best friend for doing that.

"No I'm glad she did. Do you know what my first thought was?"