Broken Strings

C H A P T E R T W E N T Y - S I X

" 'It's because you're letting the fairy tales you grew up hearing in storybooks and the baseless ideas of love cloud your mind. Love isn't easy. Especially the really good kind. It's difficult, and you'll want to rip your hair out just as many days you'll feel the wind at your back.' She paused, smiling to herself. 'But it's worth it. It's worth fighting for.' "

- n. m.

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pls tell me you guys can see this chapter. This is my fourth time trying to publish it. I posted it last week right after 25 but I don't know why it wouldn't show. Every time I hit publish my computer would freeze and then the chapter wouldn't show when I looked at it. But I hope it works now.

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Anisha grabbed her stomach. If she didn't have stomach pains, she knew there would have been hope that she could've gotten better.

But it had been too late. By the time the scans and tests had been done, she had already known that she was fighting a losing battle.

She was fighting even when she already knew she was going to lose.

Ryan leaned his, worried. He was still trying to piece together what was wrong with her. While sitting there, he hadn't picked up on anything.

The two questions he had asked his mother about her sickness, she had ignored those questions.

"Ryan, listen. Please just listen. I'm tired and I still feel weak. The fever is still there. I just need you to listen, that's all." Anisha's voice was scratchy. Her hands trembled slightly as a sharp pain would pinch her stomach every now and then.

Her voice was distant, fading away.

She grabbed a napkin from the table, covering her mouth as she coughed. A violent cough shook her as she jerked forward a little, her hands were still shaking and her eyes unfocused. She quickly crumbled up the napkin, hiding it under the table.

Blood. The napkin was filled with the blood she's coughed. And Ryan had seen it. She took note of the confusion on his face, his eyebrows knitted together.

Anisha swallowed. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.

With the nosebleed and now coughing, she felt lightheaded.

"Just listen." She cut off Ryan before he could even say a word or try and question her.

"Cassie was your dad's sister. He loved her, just like you love Mira. And when she killed herself, it destroyed it. It really destroyed him."

Anisha let out a deep sigh, everything around her was spinning, faster and faster. "It's hard to say why he did everything he did. There's nothing to justify what he did. But it destroyed him. It really did. Losing someone you love destroys people. Losing Cassie ruined him."

She looked at Ryan as he slightly pressed his lips together. It was moments like this that she realized Ryan was more like her than anyone would realize.

He was soft, he was far too soft. It was just something he was able to hide.

The smallest things meant everything to him.

She couldn't help but hope that whoever Ryan would fall in love with, would care and love him so much. That she would love and care for Ryan so much that he would learn what a beautiful thing love was. That he'd let down the walls he had built around his heart. (LMAO If only Anisha knew how badly things are gonna end for Ryan because I'm a heartless bitch who doesn't like happy endings.)