The Past Between Us

~26~

Edited 6/22/2018  

Note: This chapter has been edited. If you've already read this part please reread the part where you see "*Edited*" .
The story might get a little confusing if you have not read the edited version since a few changes have been made in the plot.

"When your heart breaks, you gotta fight like hell to make sure you're still alive. Because you are. And that pain you feel? That's life. The confusion and fear, that's there to remind you that somewhere out there is something better. And that something is worth fighting for."  -Nathan Scott, One Tree Hill

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I stretched as I got out of bed. I checked the time it was already eleven, which was unusual for me. I never slept in, not even on the weekends.

I made my way to my dresser leisurely. My eye went to the broken frame which Nichole had shattered a few days ago. Sara and I had stayed up late trying to glue the pieces back together but it didn't really make much of a difference, it was ruined. My heart clenched painfully. The photo-frame had been the last gift my mother had given.

I sighed as I removed the picture from the ruined frame. 

It was a picture from the day I was born, my mother told me that one of the nurses had taken it. I was only a few hours old, wrapped up in a bundle of blankets. I gazed longingly at my mother's smiling face, she was looking down at me lovingly.

I cursed as the picture slipped from my trembling hands.

I gasped when a flash of my mother's familiar handwriting met my eyes.

My heart thudded wildly as I picked the picture up and turned it around.

I nearly collapsed.

Neat words were scribbled on the backside of the picture in my mother's handwriting.

I sunk down to the floor as my eyes started skimming over the letters,

"To my dearest daughter,

If you're reading this letter then I have already left.

I'm so sorry my love. I am sorry for all the pain I put you through.

There are things you need to know Scarlett, things you deserve to know. Things I couldn't tell you when I was alive.

I need to tell you the real reason why we left. Why I left your father.

This won't be easy for you darling and I apologize once more for hurting you, but you need to know. This letter is the hardest thing I ever had to write.

Even before your father and I went for the check-up I knew I wasn't well. I'd been having terrible headaches and blackouts for over a week.

The doctor ran tests and the results came out a few days later.

I was sick. Very sick. It was worse than I expected.

I only had a few years left to live.

 I was calm. But you should have seen your father Scarlett, I'd never seen him so broken.

Your father talked to the doctor and asked him if there was anything they could do. We were told that there was a surgery they could perform on me before the disease progressed further, if the surgery was successful I would have a normal and healthy life but if the surgery was to fail I'd die.