To Be Happy Now

Alaska followed the nurse down the hall of the white hospital and into a room with people hooked up to different tubes. There was an old man, old woman, and then a girl who looked near her age, but a little bit younger.

The room loked too cheerful. There were paintings of rainbows and bunnies and happy things everywhere, which just gave Alaska the impression that it was worse than advertised, and her fear increased by millions.

She sat down next to the girl and gave her a smile.

"Alright," The nurse said, sweetly, preparing to hook her up to the same types of tubes as the other three people in the room.

"Is this gonna hurt?" She asked, her voice rising several octaves.

"First time?" The old woman asked, with a smile on her face.

Alaska nodded. "I'm nervous."

"Don't worry, dear," She said. "You'll be fine."

Once the tubes were attached to her, Alaska felt strange. Maybe she was supposed to feel something, maybe she wasn't, either way, Alaska felt as if something foreign was in her body and she was getting scared.

"What kind, sweetheart?" The old woman asked. "I have breast."

"I have lung." The old man said.

The girl next to her glanced at her and said, "I have breast cancer, as well."

Alaska stared at them, having the realization that they were all sick with that disease. It made her feel uneasy and she gave them a shaky smile and said, "Ovarian."

"Well, welcome." The old man said. "We've all been in chemo for three months together, and you're the first newbie. I'm Max."

"I'm Irena," The old woman said.

"I'm Jessika," The girl said.

"Alaska," She said, feeling slightly better that such kind people were going through it with her.

"How old are you?"

"Nineteen." Alaska answered.

"I'm sixty five, and I've been battling this damn cancer for thirty years." Irena exclaimed. "I haven't died yet!"

Alaska let out a chuckle. "That's one way to look at it."

"I'm fifteen and I've had cancer for three years." Jessika shrugged. "I'm alive, too."

"I'd rather not tell you my age." Max said. "You can guess though. Someone people have said I look thirty five!"

"Oh, Max," Jessika said, dramatically. "You are thirty five, though!"

Alaska laughed, shocked at everyone attitude. She almost expected them all to be sad and depressed, but they were almost the complete opposite.

"You guys are so...happy," said Alaska, replaying her thoughts.

Jessika patted her hand and she said, "All you have left is to look positively on things. It'll do you no good if you're pessimistic. That's not how you beat cancer."

Alaska nodded, taking a mental note of that piece of advice.

They all really did look happy. Max would tell them all jokes and stories of his early life. Irena would talk about her grandson, who she suddenly decided she wanted Alaska to meet, and Jessika would talk about school and homework, in which Alaska also contributed to since she was also in school.

By the end of the day, Alaska had made three new friends. The nurse took the tubes out of her, making her feel a little dizzy, but she reached the door and waved goodbye.

"I'll see you all next time!" She said with a smile, waving.

Alaska drove home, feeling significantly happier. She arrived at the hospital, scared out of her mind, but all three of them were such nice people, that she wasn't all that afraid of the chemo anymore.

When she pulled into her driveway, she almost expected to see Ricky's Toyota Corola, but instead, she saw the white beat up truck that she very well remembered belonged to Austin Gibbs.

He was sitting outside their apartment.

"Austin?"

He looked up, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and he smiled up at her, "Hey, Alaska."

She stared. "What are you doing here?"

Austin pointed to their front door and said, "Nobody was home so I thought I'd wait for someone."

Alaska jingled her keys and unlocked the door, letting him inside. Austin took in their new apartment and whistled, impressed; it wasn't too bad, it was good for a living environment.

She went into the kitchen, already feeling a headache from the chemotherapy, and got out a glass of water and some Aspirin.

"Hard day?" Austin watched.

Alaska shrugged. "You could say so."

She practically downed the water and put it in the sink. She walked past Austin and into her room, so that she could set her bag down and do her homework for later, but he followed her in.

"Ricky'll be home soon." Alaska said. "He works until six every day."

Austin nodded. "You know, I honestly don't know what he'll do if he sees me."

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and leaned against the doorframe. Alaska gave him a sympathetic smile and replied,

"I don't know either. Sorry."

Austin let out a laugh and ran his fingers through his hair. Alaska felt an awkward silence ensuing because she didn't know what to talk about with him. This was like a deja vu of back when Austin would come over every day whenever Ricky wasn't home yet and they would both be alone together. Neither of them knew what to say.

Thankfully, for Alaska, she heard the front door open and she said to Austin, "Ricky's home."

"Fuck," Austin cursed, following her, suddenly feeling nervous of his seeing his old best friend.

"Hey Ricky," Alaska said, coming out her bedroom to greet her brother.

"Al - how was the - " Ricky started to ask about the chemo, but she cut him off, immediately, and said, "Look who came for a visit."

Alaska watched the curious expression on his Ricky's face change, once he saw Austin emerge, into familiarity, and then into a mixture between anger and recognition.

"Hey, Erik." Austin said, awkwardly. Ricky hated it whenever people called him by his actual name, but Austin always used to do it to piss him off and joke around. Alaska did that, too, sometimes.

"Austin," Ricky said. He dropped his keys onto the little table by the door.

"Ricky," Alaska warned, already sensing that what would be next would be very ugly.

But, before Alaska could even do anything, her brother pushed past her and punched Austin square in the face.