Blossoming Fates

I parked my silver jeep in the parking lot outside Huntington Hospital; Luckily I got a parking spot near by the entrance. My electric red heels clicked against the paved parking lot and I pulled the black cardigan tightly around my body and crossed my arms. The light breeze seeped through my sweater and I groaned in frustration. I had woken up a little under the weather today. My hair cascaded passed my shoulders and down my back. It danced in the wind when it blew against my face. The news said something about a storm coming in today later this evening. I’d have to let my mom know I wouldn’t be coming by tonight because of the storm.

I normally go to my mom’s for dinner ever since my dad had the stroke six months ago. My dad didn’t recover and because of that I took it upon myself to help my mother out. We buried my father on November seventeenth. It absolutely crushed my family and then not even three months later my younger sister Kylie was diagnosed with cancer.

Kylie was the president of any club she joined. She would pass any test or exam easily. She was a people person and she was loved by everyone who ever met her. She had to drop out of nursing school when the doctors had told her of the news. She was fighting it with all of her strength, but she was growing weaker with every day that passed. My boyfriend Anthony didn’t seem to understand why I went to visit Kylie every chance I got. He believed I was making it harder for myself when I had to let her go soon.

Pushing my phone back into my black tote bag I smiled after reading a text from Zach. We had run into each other again and this time we hadn’t been interrupted by Gavin. It had been a week since I had first seen him and it made my week knowing he still was thinking about me. He wanted to go out to lunch sometime and actually talk.

“Hey Ky,” I said to my sister as she smiled at my presence “How are ya feeling today?” I asked concerned when I saw the dark circles that outlined her once bright baby blue eyes.

“Well for dying I’m doing pretty well.” She joked lightly and I only faux glared at her jokes.

“Honestly Kylie, how are you?” I asked again

“I’m doing fine Lee,” She sighed pushing her frail body up in the hospital bed to talk to me more. “How are you doing?” She asked

“Good actually, I met a guy the other day-“

“Who? Where? When? What does he look like?” She questioned me excitedly cutting me off

“His name is Zach and at Starbucks last week on my break. He has beautiful eyes and black hair plus a bunch of tattoos.” I gushed as I sat in the chair next to her bedside leaning in my chair

I handed her the bread before allowing her to say she approved already. Kylie defiantly didn’t show how weak she was feeling and I knew because of it it’d be hard to know when she was fully gone. She stayed in tune with the life around her as much as possible. She would walk around the hospital on her good days and would flip through the magazines reading gossip. She even would update her Facebook still. It made me smile to see her uplifted statuses about the chemo or cancer, even the random hospital life around her she would post about. I loved my sister and if I could, I would do anything to help her. I felt as if it were unfair for Kylie to be here sick. I’m glad I could at least make her smile at little things in life.

“Does Zach have a last name?” She questioned me more so

“I’m sure,” I stated before pulling my eyebrows together realizing I didn’t know it

Kylie only laughed at this harder before she started coughing and wincing at the pain in her side. She had needles covering much of her body to keep track of different things. She nibbled on the bread making sure not to eat too much. I knew the chemo made it difficult to keep the food down. She had talked about quitting the radiation and chemo though and just living life normally until she died. She said all the time how she missed her long Rapunzel like golden blonde hair. She used to wear her hair in a braid tied with a pink bow. She wanted to be Rapunzel badly.

I looked away as she struggled to regain her posture and get back to talking to me. It ripped my heart out to see Kylie in this much pain. I used to be able to protect her from harm and now I couldn’t do anything to help make rid of this disease. No one could pay enough money to beat cancer.

“How has radiation been?” I asked

“Fine it doesn’t hurt me anymore. And I’m learning how to stay less sick from it too. But I’m still considering on just letting the therapy go.” She admitted “Besides, I hate having to have surgery and medicine when the chances of beating this are slim to none.”

I understood where my sister stood with her disease and God. She wasn’t angry or upset that she had gotten cancer. She was just nineteen. She simply dealt with it and still looked to God for her answers. I, on the other hand, was beyond furious. Kylie stood strong on her faith and her belief that God knew what He was doing with her life. She told me all the time God knew what He was doing and that we shouldn’t question much of the path set out for us. I would simply smile and nod my head every time. If having faith in God relieved her of any questions or anger then by all means I’d play along for her. My sister was one of my closest friends and I looked out for her.

After a few more hours of chatting and enjoying the delicious bread I had brought in I had to leave. My house needed some cleaning and I also had to do some shopping. Hugging Kylie gently making sure not to hurt her caused her to laugh and make another joke about her condition. I sighed before telling her I loved her and kissed her on her forehead before turning to leave the room.

“Emilee, good things are about to come your way, I know they are.” She said clearly and then smiled at me before looking out the window.

I nodded my head as my lips came up in a simple smile. I had nothing to say as a response for her quizzical confirmation on my life. She believed in optimism where I believed being a pessimist was best. I felt queasy before leaving, but pushed the feeling aside and began walking from her room and back down to my car. I knew the sickness would pass by soon. I hope Kylie’s would too.