My Last Moments

Chapter One

Vivianna's family had just gotten back on their feet from having very little money for years. They had just gotten off welfare, and it was finally starting to look like they could become a normal family after all. Then they went to the doctor's office just to make sure everything was ok, since they could finally afford healthcare. The doctor noticed some irregular marks and lesions on Vivianna's skin and got them checked out, just to discover that she has stage 2 melanoma skin cancer. The doctors did some tests and found that that she has had melenoma brewing for about a year. The only thing they could do to try and save her was a $25,000 surgery that has only a 12% chance of working. Her family would have no food and no place to live if they went through with the surgery, and they would most likely not even have her afterwards.
"I'm so sorry, but the surgery is all we can do," said Dr. Palmer, as Vivianna's parents went pale. They knew what having the surgery would mean for their family.
"No." Said Vivianna, strongly.
"I'm sorry, what?" Dr. Palmer sounded confused.
"No." Vivianna repeated herself.
"There is no way we could do that."
"Well, I'm afraid he is saying we have no other options, Vivi." Her mother told her.
"Yes, we do. Our other option is simply not to do the surgery. That is exactly what we are going to do." Vivianna said with confidence.
"Well, Vivi, do you understand what is going to happen if we don't do this surgery?" Her dad asked.
"Yes, of course i do. It is the same thing that has an 88% chance of happening with the surgery. Except that we won't lose everything. We aren't doing the surgery. End of discussion." She replied, right before storming off into the hallway.
"I will go talk to her." Her dad said with shock. He went into the hall after her. She was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall and an upset look on her face. Her dad sat next to her.
"I know why you don't want to do this, but we will be ok. Honestly, we will. We'll find a way. We will do anything we have to. Don't worry about it. None of this is your fault, our family just has to deal with it. I'm sorry about everything, but it will work out and you will have the surgery," after that, they both just sat there for a couple of minutes in silence. Then, Vivianna just shook her head.
"You really don't understand, do you?"
She asked with a shaky voice. "This isn't about me. This has nothing to do with me. How do you think my 8-year-old sister is going to feel when her sister has surgery and dies, then she runs out of food and has to live in a box under a bridge?" She remarked, getting louder and angrier by the second.
"WELL WHAT DO YOU EXPECT US TO DO?" He asked, his eyes becoming red and watery. "YOU ARE MY DAUGHTER! I CAN'T JUST LOSE YOU JUST LIKE THAT WITHOUT PUTTING UP A FIGHT!"
"Well, that is what our family has turned into. You are going to lose me whether you like it or not. That's just the world we live in. And don't you dare say without putting up a fight. You once went without eating for 4 days so that there would be enough for the rest of us. For my 12th birthday, you sold your blood so you could afford to buy me a cake. You have fought for me and your whole family more than any other parent I have ever heard of. Now it's time to let me go. It isn't up to you. I am saying no." After listening to her speech, her father just fell apart.
"But there is no way i can live without you, knowing that I haven't given it my all. You don't know what it is to be a parent. You don't know what it is to love someone as much as I love you. You are my first daughter. If 25,000 dollars is what stands between your life and your death, I would tear out all of my organs to get it for you. You are the one who doesn't understand, not me." He said, his voice cracking and tears streaming down his face.
"You say that I don't know what it is to love someone as much as you love me, and you're wrong." She said as she pulled out her phone. She showed him the screensaver: a picture of her little sister, Sierra, sitting on a big rock in a creek. Sierra had only been 4 years old in the picture. She was watching the water of the creek trickle down as she giggled at a frog leaping nearby.
"Tell me what you see when you look at this picture." Vivianna ordered her father.
"I see my youngest daughter watching the creek 4 years ago." He told her.
"Ok. Well what I see is this. The person who means more than this entire world to me being bright and happy and enjoying life even though all of us were miserable and just barely managing to live. I see the person who looks up to me making our family what it is and giving us all the will to go on back when we had none. That is what I see. That little girl deserves the world and I wish I could give it to her. But the best I can do is to make sure she is never put in that position of barely managing to be happy ever again. She will go back to having no life if you spend all of our money on something most likely pointless. I know how much you love your daughters. BOTH of us. And this is the best thing for both of your daughters. Life isn't fair. Not by a long shot. So it is our responsibility to make up for that by making our decisions as fair as we can. Without that, the world would fall apart. I need you to trust me." She said without stopping for a breath. He nodded at her.
"I promised you when you were little that I would do whatever you needed me to for the rest of your life. If this is what you need me to do, I have to do this for you. I trust you." He answered.
She hugged him tightly as tears rolled down his cheeks. She got up and went back into the doctor's office.
"Are you ok?" Her mom asked sympathetically.
"Yup. Fine. Dad will be back in a minute or two." She said emotionlessly.
"Um, ok. The doctor has just been telling me more about the surgery, we could fill you in on the details-" she began.
"That won't be necessary, Mom." Vivianna cut her off, "let's just wait for Dad to explain." At that moment, her dad walked in. He was no longer crying, but his eyes still looked kind of red and glassy.
"Honey, what's going on?" Her mom asked her dad. He sighed and exchanged a look with Vivianna.
"Well, um... We won't be doing the surgery." He said, obviously pained by the sentence. Vivianna's mom chuckled a bit.
"What are you saying, Richard? Of course we are!" She said, trying to laugh it off.
"I spoke to Vivi about this with the same intentions, but she is worried about the consequences on our family, especially on her sister. Lily, Vivianna loves Sierra more than anything. She cannot and will not let her lose her life again. There is absolutely nothing we can do to change that. This is what needs to happen. Vivi says that it is her decision, and I don't know how to explain to you why I feel this way, but i feel that we should let her decide this. The surgery isn't happening. It is time we made our peace with that." Vivi had never loved her dad more. He really trusted her enough to let go of her.
"This is our daughter. Am I the only one that cares about her? Do you even remember how much we put ourselves through to keep her alive when we had no money? There is no question! We are keeping our daughter!" Vivi's mom shouted at Vivi's dad. He sighed and took Lily out into the hall. They spoke very quietly, but Vivi could hear both of them crying. They came back into the room after 17 minutes in the hall.
"I love you Vivi. If this is what you need to do, I will respect that." Her mom said, welling up with tears. Vivi was happy. For a millisecond. Then it hit her.
"I am going to die."

Author's Note:
Hey guys! This is the first real story I have ever written, so it probably needs some work. I will continue to edit it as I see fit to make it the best that I can. I really do appreciate constructive criticism and would love to read any and all comments from the readers! So please comment on my story and help me out! Hope this story isn't too bad.
And I would like to make a special shoutout to my best friend Lainey Bolanos, who has encouraged me and helped me with my story. Love you Lainey! Her wattpad account is dorkchop_weirdo. She has some amazing stories so please check them out! Thanks! Bye!