Waverly Hills

I was laying on the floor outside still weeping my eyes out.
I put my face in my hands, feeling my palms become wet from the tears.
My mom then came rushing out, panicking that something had happened. And, something did.
"What is going on?!" she exclaimed, sitting down beside me.
I pointed to the roses, still crying with one hand pointing and the other hand still holding my face.
At first my mom didn't understand, but then she looked at the roses and saw the blood.
My mom looked at me in fear.
"What did you do?!" she asked looking all around to see if I had cut myself or something.
I stopped her and lifted my head so I could look at her.
I shook my head. "It's not anything like that. I..." But I suddenly stopped when I started coughing again.
It wasn't as big as the last one but it still did some damage, for when I coughed in my hand, and when I showed my hand to her, it was covered in blood too.
My mother looked at it with wide eyes, but didn't say anything.
She then led me into the house and up to my room.
When we passed in the kitchen, which Bobby was still in looking for some cookies, he saw us pass by.
He saw my red face and so asked with curiousity, "What's going on?" But me and my mom ignored him and quickly went up the stairs.
When we reached my room, I went to my bed and sat there sobbing.
My mom sat by me and took my head and laid it on her chest.
I continued to cry, while Anne patted my back.
"There now." she said in such a calmed voice, it stunned me.
I got a little angry because I wanted her to cry with me instead of just sitting there saying, "It's okay" when it wasn't.
"You will be fine." my mom said again.
I quickly stood up and looked at her with hatred.
"No! It's not okay! I am sick! I have tuberculosis! How is that okay?" I said with such anger that it startled me because I had never talked back to my mom.
I could tell that she was surprised too, but she stayed stoical.
"Now," she said finally after a momen't silence. "whatever happened to the girl who I used to know who said "that if she was infected, it would be okay?"
I looked at her, knowing who exactly the girl she was talking about.
I lowered my head. "Things have changed." I said quickly.
"Why?" my mom asked. "Because you finally have the disease."
"Because I don't want to die!" I snapped at her. I looked at her, startled at what I had just done.
That time, my mom looked taken aback.
"Well," she said with a little bit of anger now. "none of us want to die, but we have to take what is life."
She got up from my bed, and walked over to my door, about to leave, apparently not wanting to talk to me anymore.
"Mom, wait!" I said, when she was almost out the door.
She turned around and looked at me.
I felt tears come into my eyes.
"What do I do?" I asked.
She walked up to me and just looked me in the eye.
"The only thing we can do." she said. "Go to Waverly Hills Sanatorium."
I nodded, knowing that that was my only choice.

The next day, I was ready to head out to Waverly Hills. It wasn't far from where I lived so it wouldn't take me that long.
I was outside in front of the front door while Anne and Bobby was saying goodbye to me.
I had my suitcase in my hand and was dressed in the proper clothing since it was November.
I looked down at Bobby. Mother had told him already why I was leaving.
At first, I thought that Bobby would act like I was a parasite or something and wouldn't want to get close to me.
But, in fact, before I left he had given me a big, tight, goodbye hug.
I was glad that I had a brother who would care about me like that.
"Will you be coming back?" he asked.
I smiled and nodded. "Of course. I may even try to come for Christmas."
Bobby's eyes lightened up. "You promise?"
"I can't promise anything yet, Bobby. But I will try." I replied.
He smiled and nodded understandably.
Then, I looked at my mom.
She had a glum face since I was leaving.
I quickly hugged her to make her feel better.
It did, and she smiled when I was done.
"Do you think that you might visit?" I asked.
Anne nodded. "I'd die if I couldn't." she replied.
I smiled, and tears came to my eyes, becaues I knew that I had a family who loves and cares for me dearly. And, they knew that I loved them back.
So, knowing I had to sometime, I turned around and headed out into the neighborhood, in the direction of Waverly Hills.
I turned around, hoping to see Anne and Bobby one more time, but they had already gone inside.
Was this the last time I would ever see them again? I thought as I walked on the streets.
Am I walking away from my family to go some where completely different?
I didn't want to think of that, so I quickly put it out of my mind, and just kept on walking.

It had been a few hours since I had left, and I was hungry.
So, I sat down on some stone steps in front of a house, and set down my suitcase.
Then, I opened my bag that had food in it, and took out a loaf of bread and an apple.
I put my bag away, and ate it, glad that I had brought some food.
While I was eating, I noticed someone else walking on the road.
It was a young girl, about my age, walking the same way I was to the sanatorium.
I noticed that the girl looked starving, and it looked like she didn't have any food.
I then looked at my bag of food, and felt guilty, seeing as how I had enough food.
So, without hesitation, I quickly called to the girl.
"Hey!"
The girl looked around, not knowing that I was there.
When she saw me, she looked at me in a weird way.
"Uh...hi!" she said, not really knowing if she should answer me or not.
I raised my food, showing her that I had plenty.
"You hungry?" I asked.
She looked at the bag of food like she was about to attack it.
"Uhh...sure!" she said, walking towards me and sat next to me.
I gave her the bag, and she looked through it hungrily.
After looking through it, she had chosen to eat an orange, and ate it savagely.
I smiled at her.
She looked at me, then swallowed the piece that was in her mouth.
"Thanks." she said, food a little bit in her mouth still.
"No problem." I replied. "Are you heading to Waverly Hills too?" I then asked.
She nodded.
"When did you find out?" I asked sadly.
She shrugged. "Not long ago. It was tough for me."
I thought about when I had yelled at my mom. "Yeah, me too." I replied.
Then, the girl put her sticky hand, from the orange, in front of me to shake hands with me.
I didn't mind her stickly hand, and so shook her hand.
"My name is Annie." the girl said.
"I am Mary." I replied.
"Nice to meet you." Annie said.
I smiled, glad I had made a friend already.
When we were done eating, we picked up our stuff and kept on walking.
I looked all around me and noticed how all the houses looked old and run down.
But, this was a poor neighborhood also, so she wasn't surprised.
And, also with everyone getting tuberculosis, everyone lost their job because they couldn't work if they had the disease, or they would spread it.
While they were walking on now gravel road, out of the neighborhood, Annie broke the silence that was between them.
"Are you scared?" she asked.
"A little." I said. Now that she had brought it up, I started to get nervous.
"You shouldn't." Annie replied. "I am not."
I looked at her suspiciously.
"Why not?" I asked.
"What's there to be afraid of?" she then asked to me.
I was about to answer her question, but when I thought of an answer, I couldn't think of one.
She was right. Now, that I thought about it, there wasn't anything to be afraid of.
"I mean," Annie continued. "What could happen? If they find a cure, then that would be a good thing. I mean, they could stop the disease. But then, if they didn't find the cure, everyone would die."
"Aren't you afraid of dying?" I asked.
"No." she answered.
I was shocked. Why wouldn't she be afraid of death?
And, like she had read my mind, she answered, "Because, death is a part of life. No one should be scared of it. Everyone will die someday in their life, so why be afraid of it when it happens? Besides, when we die, will go to heaven."
I thought about what she had said. She was right in a sense. Everyone will die someday, and we should just accept it.
"Well, we are here!" Annie said, startling me.
I looked at Annie, who was looking in front of her.
I looked at what she was looking at, and saw it.
Waverly Hills Sanatorium.
I was huge!
I had heard of people talking about it, and how it had 5 floors, but I didn't know that it was that big.
On the top of the building was a huge steeple, that you could walk on to and see everything from below, to beyond and far away.
Annie looked at me, with a grin on her face.
"Well, are you ready?" she asked.
I gulped loudly, knowing that I wasn't. I knew that I had nothing to be scared of, but just looking at that building gave a creepy feelng.
But, I lied and told Annie, "Yes."
And, so we walked together to Waverly Hills Sanatorium, the place that would change our lives forever.