Meet You in the Tree-house!

I held the note and sighed. She was late. When was she going to show up? I looked around, and the nostalgic feelings came back to me. The creaky wooden floors with the uneven nails, and the wall with the puzzle pattern we painted together. Most importantly, the carved heart on the left corner of our beloved tree-house. 9 years ago, we used to play in here all day long until night arrived. Whenever we parted to return home, Nikki would smile always say to me, "See you tomorrow! Meet you in the tree-house!" as she skipped her way home. I hugged my knees and smiled. Nikki was the one who gave me wonderful memories as a 6 year old. And now I'm 15, and going to meet her again.

Nikki Goldberg was my childhood best friend. We lived two blocks away from each other and every day, whether it be a school day or a day of our summer vacation, we would always come to the tree-house in my backyard. The tree-house was something my late father had built for me and my brother to explore our neighborhood. My brother was only interested in playing soccer with his buddies, so he left the tree-house to me and Nikki. I didn't mind though; at that time, playing with Nikki was the highlight of my life. We played many things such as sports (our own version of them), dolls, hide and seek, tag, leap frog, house, and occasionally stepping stones. One day though, she suddenly moved to France, and left just like that.

Then a few days ago, I got a phone call from her. She said she was extremely sorry for not contacting all these years, and she would be moving back to her old house for high school and college. I was shocked. After all these years, she's coming back? I was more than excited; I was super hyped. I replied, "Please come to meet me tomorrow! I want to see you so badly!"

She said her famous words: "See you tomorrow! Meet you in the tree-house!" and then hung up. I was overjoyed. My childhood best friend would soon be returning! 

And now here I was, waiting for her to come. I heard something from outside, sounded like someone calling my name. I peeked out the tiny doorway.

"Chris! Chris, down here!" waved an incredibly gorgeous girl. My jaw dropped. Was that Nikki? Wow, she had changed so much! Instead of her choppy bangs and short blonde pigtails, there stood a girl with long, brown, wavy hair with bangs parted to the side. Her beautiful green eyes remained on her pale face.

"Hey Nikki!" I grinned as I climbed down the ladder. She grabbed me into a hug. I put my arms around her back, tears streaming down my face.

"Hey! This is our reunion, and you're crying?" she bit her lip and wiped my tears with the sleeve of her hoodie.

"S-Sorry. It just reminded me of so many things of the past! So how are you?" I ruffled her hair.

I'm doing pretty good. How about you?" she asked.

"Life's okay. So where do you wanna go? I asked her.

Anywhere's fine, as long as we can spend time together." she grinned. We continued talking as we walked to the local bowling center. We bowled two rounds, and walked to a nearby bakery for lunch. I had spent the whole day with her and before I knew it, it was already late at night. 

"You wanna meet again tomorrow?" I asked her as I opened the front gate of my house.

"Sure! Meet you in the tree-house!" she waved as she hopped on her bike.

--Next Day--

The first thing I heard when I woke up was the sound of the phone ringing. Yawning, I got up to check the caller ID. It said "Goldberg Residence" and I assumed it was Nikki's home phone calling. 

"Hello? Nikki?" I said as I pressed the speaker button.

"Is this Chris?" the person on the other line asked. It sounded like an older woman, maybe Nikki's mom or something.

"Yes, is this Mrs. Goldberg?" I replied.

"Yes. Nikki was supposed to meet with you today, right? She was just about to leave, but she suddenly collapsed! I called the hospital and they took her in an ambulance. I'm still not too familiar with this area, so can you show me the way there? I'm terribly sorry!" she said in a panicked voice, and I think she was sobbing too.

"Oh my! Hold on, I'll be there in a second!" I hung up, put on some clothes, and grabbed my shoes. I took my skateboard and rode all the way to Nikki's house. I saw Nikki's mother standing on the sidewalk in front of the house. 

"Morning, Mrs. Goldberg. Umm, this is kind of rude of me to ask, but can we drive there? It's a bit too far to walk from here." I scratched my head.

"Sure! Here, sit in the front so you can help me with directions." she smiled, opening the passenger door for me. 

I showed Mrs. Goldberg the way to the hospital, and she parked in the front. I dashed out of the car and into the lobby.

"Hello. Is there a Nikki Goldberg here? I need to see her right away!" I demanded.

"Excuse me sir, calm down!" the receptionist tipped her glasses. "I cannot permit a child younger than 18 years of age to come here alone, do you have a parent or guardian?" she asked.

Mrs. Goldberg popped up behind me. "I'm Nikki's mother, and this is a close friend. May we go visit her?"

"Sure, let me just inform the doctor." she said while making a call.

A nurse tapped me on the shoulder. "Are you Nikki's guests?" she asked both Mrs. Goldberg and I.

"Yes, where is her room? I want to make sure she's okay." I asked.

"Follow me please." the nurse said calmly. She walked further down and opened a door for us. "She's in here. One visitor at a time please."

"Chris honey, if you want, you can go visit her first. Seems like you're more anxious to see her than I am." Mrs. Goldberg chuckled.

"Really? Thank you so much!" I entered the room.

I expected Nikki to be smiling, saying she was all right, and it was nothing at all. Instead, the doctor looked pained, and Nikki was lying down on the bed with all these tubes and machines surrounding her.

"Doctor? What's wrong with her?" I asked innocently.

"Let the nurse explain to you. I have to go tend to the other patients now." he said as he got up and left the room.

"Umm...is she okay?" I asked once more.

"Well the doctor didn't tell me much, but unfortunately, we can't save her. I'm not really sure what's wrong though." the nurse replied sadly.

 "But...but why? She looked perfectly healthy yesterday." I sniffled.

 "Well, I'm just a nurse so I'm not exactly sure of all the details. Oh! And she said to give this to a guy named Chris is he came by. Would that be you?" the nurse askedd, holding out an envelope. I nodded, opened it, and started reading.

Dear Chris,

If you're reading this, then it must have happened to me. I haven't told you everything just yet. 9 years ago, the reason why I moved to France was because my mother found out that I had an illness called tuberculosis, and my uncle is an excellent doctor living in France. It started in my lungs, then it calmed down for a while, and about a week ago, my uncle said I was going to lose my life. I was really shocked that it happened so quickly, but I told my mother that I wanted to be buried in my hometown, and have a peaceful death. I'm really happy that I got to spend my last day with you. Also, one more thing. No matter where we are, in my heart, I will always meet you in the tree-house."

Love, Nikki.

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MAN. What a sappy story .__. well I was listening to really sad songs, so I wrote something like this. loll.

It's kind of stupid, but makes up for me not uploading on "Scary Stories". I'm taking a break from horror stuff for a while T^T Please don't ask why.

4 votes + 4 comments, and I will consider writing another short story. Probably something completely unrelated to this.

Please vote, comment, and fan! I would appreciate your critique!

--aznsparkly