~An Imperial Affliction~

Sisyphus The Hamster

May 13th, 2011~

It was a rainy Monday morning. My mother had to go to the store to purchase some food, so I was home alone-which I was quite happy with. I went up to my bedroom, and in the corner of the room, lay a gray cage. However, it wasn't just an empty cage. It was a cage that held my pet hamster who was named, Sisyphus. I sat on the floor with my legs crossed, and fed my pet hamster. I had gotten Sisyphus as a gift from my father on my thirteenth birthday right before I had gotten sick.

Sisyphus had light brown fur, and had the softest coat. He was old for a hamster, but he was still breathing so he was quite a lucky hamster. I knew he was going to die soon, just like me. I'd watch him run in his hamster wheel for hours at a time whenever I needed comfort. Oddly, he provided security, even though he was only a small hamster. Ironically, Sisyphus was chubby, even though he would constantly run in his hamster wheel. His little mind would think that he was going somewhere, when in reality, he was going nowhere. You'd think that he would stop running, but he doesn't. He continues to run, trying to go somewhere. Come to think of it, this is actually the reason why I named him Sisyphus! In Greek mythology, there was a untruthful king, named Sisyphus. Since he was so cruel, he was punished to roll a bolder up a hill, only to watch it fall. He was forced to do this forever again, and again.

I zoned out for a while until I heard my cell phone ring. It was from Kerri. I picked up the phone and spoke. "Hey, what's up?" She laughed and said "Hello, do you think I could come to your house? If that's okay with you. I'm just bored, you know." She has been to my house before and we have met up at the hospital again the week before so I was comfortable with her coming, I just felt the need to ask my mother for permission because if I didn't, my mom would flip out if she saw a friend of mine in her house. "Well, let me tell my mother your coming here, all right?" Then Kerri groaned, but she said all right back. I hung up and then dialed my mother's phone number. She always kept her cell phone in her purse, just incase I or her boss would call. "Hello, sweetie. Is anything wrong?! I'm on my way home." My mother panicked. I stopped her. "No! I'm fine, I just wanted to inform you that my cancer friend is coming over. I told you about Kerri, didn't I?" I said. "Yes, I do remember you telling me about her. Well, you two have fun, but if anything goes wrong," I interrupted her "I know, I know. I'll call you, okay?" My mother said okay back and then hung up.

I called Kerri back and she answered on the second ring. "Hey, so what'd she say?" I answered her. "She's okay with it, so I'll see you in a few." Then we said goodbye and hung up. Lucky, Kerri lived only eleven minutes away from me, so I wouldn't have to wait long. She also had her drivers license for a year-since she was a year older than me-so she was eligible to drive to my house. I continued to watch Sisyphus until my doorbell rang. It startled me when it rang, but I was able to quickly leave my room, and walk down the stairs. I could see Kerri's silhouette from our door, and a smile came upon my face. I opened the door, and saw my friend, standing right I front of me. Her once curly, red hair was now gone. There was only a little peach fuzz on her head. She looked skinnier than what he did before too. And even her posture was slumped. But, her blue eyes were still the same, and her smile was still as bright from when I had first met her, and her crazy personality was certainly still the same, if not more sassy. "He-e-e-llo, girl! You remember moi? That's French for me!" My new friend announced. "Yes I remember! How could I forget? We literally just talked over the phone." I replied, trying not to laugh. "So, are you gunna let me in or should I just stand here? I'm getting pretty tired! Cancer does that to ya." She joked. "Oh sorry, please come in." I welcomed her into my house and led her upstairs to my room. "Wow! What a nice place you have!" Kerri said-which to me sounded like an actual compliment for my revolting house. My home was probably the most boring house in the world. There were gray painted walls in every room, filled with dim light. Every once and a while, there is a painting hanging on the wall of an ocean or some cheesy saying such as, "Don't give up on your dreams!" Or, "Be Yourself!" And my mothers favorite, "It's not wether you fall down but whether you get back up."

When we arrived in my room, I walked over to Sisyphus, and opened the cage. As My hand went deeper into the cage the more Sisyphus backed away from me. I was just about to grab him, but before I could do so, Sisyphus dashed out of the cage until I dove onto the floor. I soon spotted the fur ball, and then ran after him. "Close the door!" I shouted to Kerri, and so, she listened. I was finally able to catch him! Then, I stood up-trying not to loose my grasp of Sisyphus due to his nails digging into the flesh of my hands as he tried to escape. Then showed him off like a prize to my friend. "Aw, he's so, so, so, SO adorable!" Kerri gasped.

I warned Kerri that he was not so keen on people, but she completely ignored me and took the hamster right from my hands. Kerri held Sisyphus in her arms and petted him while saying over and over "you're so cute!" I gigged and for once, I was actually smiling. It was so amazing to have a friend who understood what I was going through, and was a complete goofball. She is the only person that I know that has that ability to be welcomed by me. I am not a social butterfly-if you haven't figured that out by now. In fact I'd rather be on my own and not have any friends. When you have friends, they will get you into some sort of trouble along the line. People didn't interest me and I don't like to talk that much, but I felt like a completely different person around Kristine. We could talk for hours and now that I look back-I did most of the talking. I could not shut up!

As we were yapping our mouths off, I heard my mother come home with bags full of food. We helped her carry the bags into the house, and we put them on the kitchen table. Kerri then introduced herself to my mom, and then she went to her light yellow car, and drove away. "See you soon." I whispered to myself as a I waved goodbye to my first and only friend.