VITALIS

Chapter 3 - Blackmail

I need to win the Salvage Championship for Sky. I need to be strong again.

I wake up expecting to see the red-headed girl again. I look around the room in the dull pre-dawn light. I don’t see any movement. I don’t feel like I’m in danger like I did in Luke’s office the last time I saw her. She’s not here then.

Sky is sleeping on me, her face buried in my neck. She is a heavy sleeper. I gently move her aside and get up to get ready for the day. I still have the homework I didn’t do last night. Might as well do it now.

Some time later, I wake Sky and get ready for school. She just puts on new clothes and brushes her teeth since she showered last night. After she finishes eating her breakfast, I drive her to Pine Elementary. Sky chatters during the drive, talking about anything and everything. I nod at appropriate times to keep her going. But in the back of my mind, a single thought keeps running in a loop.

Who will take care of Sky when I’m gone?

IfI’m gone. Not when, I correct myself. I’m not going to die. Why am I being so negative today? I can overcome this cancer. Odds are in my favor. I read somewhere that kids who get leukemia are more likely to survive than adults with this disease. That’s good. Because I’m still a kid...right? Right?

Who will take care of Sky when I’m gone?

No.

I’m not going to think like this.

Besides, if I ever get really sick, Luke and Carlita can watch over Sky. They love her like she’s their granddaughter. She’ll be in good hands. Maybe dad will stop drinking and start being responsible too.

Sky will be all alone. Defenseless. She needs me to protect her.

What? No! Where is this coming from? Sky will be fine. I’ll be fine. I’ll get better after chemo. I’ll be cured. I’ll be fine. I will be fine. I chant it like a mantra. I will be fine. I will be fine. I will be fine.

I’m going to die in six months. I have to win the Championship. It's stupid to throw away my second chance.

No! I’m notgoing to die in six months. Why am I thinking like this? Just to reassure myself, I go to the high school media center during lunch and look up survival statistics for leukemia again.

One of the websites says that more than 85% of the children who get diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, ALL for short, are still alive 5 years after the diagnosis. Another site says the 5-year survival rate for 15-19 year old patients with ALL is 40% to 60%. That’s good. That means I have at least a 50% chance that I’ll live for another 5 years. And scientists come up with new drugs all the time. Who knows? They might have a new miracle drug that cures ALL within the next few years.

Yes. I will survive. I’ll get better. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.

I’m going to die in six months. What happens to Sky then?

Shut up!

The girl sitting at the computer next to me stares at me. She looks offended. Did I say that out loud? I didn’t mean to.

“I’m just talking to myself. Not you. I didn’t say shut up to you. Sorry,” I mumble excuses as I get my backpack and log off the computer. I need to get away from here. Get some fresh air or something. Yes, fresh air will clear my head of these poisonous thoughts. I don't know where these thoughts are coming from.

I go out into the courtyard where students eat lunch when the weather is nice. It’s a bright, sunny day today. I take a deep breath and walk toward the huge maple tree in the center. I sit under the shade and start working on the homework from my morning classes that day. I start writing an essay that’s due in a week. I look down at my notebook to read the introduction and thesis.