The Chronicles of Life. (Complete)

Until we meet again.

Darkness. 

Her whole life she'd never been at a loss for words. She always had a comment, a comeback... a response. But in that moment, all she could see was darkness.

Victoria Martha King was a prodigy. At a tender age of 13 she'd planned out her life. From her career path to the school her kid was going to attend. She was the kid other moms would point at to set a good example.

She was going to become a physical therapist and she was going to have one kid at the age of 40. She didn't want to get married but she wanted to have a life partner. It didn't matter whether they were male or female.

She was going to live in a comfortable two story home and she was going to travel the world with her significant other. Never in her life had she ever imagined all those dreams being taken away from her.

Vickie was given a life expectancy. A few days after her diagnoses they'd gone to see an oncologist. Glioblastoma Multiforme they'd called it. It was the most aggressive type of brain cancer and it was known for its poor prognosis. The average survival rate was 16 months only if she started chemo and radiation immediately.

She might have been able to live longer had she reported her symptoms earlier on, but now the tumor was at its mature stage. It had spread to most of her brain and spine and there was no point holding on to hope. She wasn't going to make it.

She was not going to live long enough to graduate, or to travel the world. She was not going to fulfill her dream of competing in the marathon. Her future had become nonexistent, that was her reality.

The morning of April the 6th saw Vickie sitting on a couch with Dineo on her one side holding her hand, and Bongi on her other.  "I don't want to do treatment", the girl had told her family and closest friends while everyone struggled to keep it together. "There's no point delaying the inevitable", she continued. Vickie hadn't shed a tear once since her diagnosis. Everyone else however had barely kept it together.

Her mom would not stop crying. Her dad was trying to be strong for the family and Nathan? Well he was nowhere to be found. Literally. Since they'd broke the news to the boy, he'd been MIA.

Everyone knew it was his way of dealing with it. Nathan always teased his sister and if you didn't know them you'd think they couldn't stand each other, but Nathan loved his sister more than anything in the world.

He had been staying with Connor and his family. They'd been happy to have him stay over for a bit. Yes, his sister was dying and he needed to spend time with her but he wanted to be strong first, he needed to grasp what was happening, deal with his emotions. For her. He would just break down crying every time he saw her and he knew that would've broken the girl further, if that was even possible.

They'd all been disappointed to hear that she didn't want to do treatment because they would've loved to have a little more time with her. But the most important thing was what she wanted, it wasn't about them.

So the next few moments of her life they'd been by her side. The friends went to her house every day after school to spend her last moments with her. They didn't have to, they wanted to. They'd all become even closer because of it.

Vickie's family had all the money in the world and they'd insisted she spend the rest of her days traveling as that had been one of her dreams. She didn't want to. She wanted to spend her remaining days with the people she loved.

So the next few months they watched her deteriorate. Her sight, memory and comprehension got worse with time, she experienced a lot of nausea. And then her limbs started getting weak. Before they knew it, the once cheerful and perky girl they all knew couldn't walk or do anything on her own anymore. They watched her vegetate.

On her death bed, she shed a tear. The first one since her diagnosis, and the last one she'd ever shed. All her friends and family were by her side when she took her last breath.

To say life was different after the girl's passing was an exaggerated understatement. Mr King traveled more and more and that meant he was home less and less. Mrs. King eventually got tired and filed for divorce. Their marriage was never the same after Vickie's passing. Their arguments got worse with time and things just weren't great anymore with the couple.

Nathan got the worst of the receiving end. Both of his parents were not around at the time he needed them the most. He'd lost his sister and they just weren't there. But lucky for him his friends were.

His mother wanted him to move with her. She was seeing someone else and they were going to get married. Of course Nathan said no. Things weren't great but he wasn't going to abandon his family. If his mom wanted to give up that was fine, but she needn't drag him with her.

So he stayed with his dad who was rarely home. The older man hired a care taker for when he wasn't around. That went on like that until he was old enough to take care of himself.

Through all that, he had the group. They were all there for each other during that difficult time. Vickie's death was hard on all of them but they'd stuck together.

Bongi had the hardest time grasping it all. Mostly because no one knew how she felt for Vickie. She didn't want to say anything about it because she'd be outing the girl without her consent and that just didn't sit right with her. Sure the girl had passed on and wouldn't find out but it still didn't feel right.

The kiss they'd shared had been very sudden, Bongi couldn't stop thinking about it. She wondered if it meant anything to Vickie as they'd never brought it up.

She was completely in love with her. She'd felt that way since they'd met back in primary school. She was never going to know whether or not she felt the same way, and the hardest part was that she couldn't speak to anyone about it.

So the girl never said anything. She let it kill her inside, she was never able to love again.Or at least that was what she told herself.