Cancer

Beginning - Chapter Twelve

-Cameron-

(//cough trigger warning cough//)

"I vote pink, with some purple." I say, making Theen raise her eyebrow. I shrug and toss the hair dye behind me. "Fine. That leaves us with silver, blue, and red." She nods slowly, grabbing the red and throwing that as well. She looks at me with a wicked smile that makes me laugh. I cough slightly, patting my chest. She doesn't seem to notice, just picks up the other to boxes.

"I want the silver on top and blue on bottom." She says, smiling brightly. I make a thoughtful sound and reach behind me and grab the purple, setting it down.

"Streak this in. Make it feel all galaxy." She makes a face and I laugh.

"Galaxy hair for graduation? Seriously?" I shoot her a fake mean look.

"At least you have hair for graduation." Instantly, her face falls, and she starts apologizing at a hundred mile an hour. I start laughing, waving my hand. "Seriously, Theen, its fine. It's not like it's senior graduation or anything." I cough again, this time harder, and she gives me a look of concern. I wave it away, clearing my slightly soar throat.

She stands up and throws the boxes on her bed, taking her unruly hair down from its bun. "Yeah, but it is junior. What if you're still...what if you aren't better by the big graduation?

Before I can reply, my phone starts to ring. I groan angrily and pick it up off of her desk, seeing my dads name. I curse under my breath and answer the phone. At first, it's deadly silent, then my fathers voice calmly filters through the other end. "Cameron, I will ask you once and only once. Where are you?"

Athena sees my face and she worriedly runs a hand through her hair. I send a sympathetic look her way before answering, "I'm at Athena's, like always." It's his turn to curse angrily, before yelling at me to get home this minute. He hangs up before I can say anything else.

I stare at the phone, multiple emotions raging through me at once. My body feels weak, not wanting to keep up with the emotions. Just being upset makes me tired, so I sit on the edge of her bed. Theen reaches out and grabs my hand, squeezing slightly. I send her a small smile before standing up and taking a deep breath. "I should go." I whisper, before she pulls me into a tight hug. Tears sting the backs of my eyes as I squeeze her just as tightly before letting go. She sniffles, making my heart jump, and I pat her hair. "I still vote galaxy." I say quietly, before turning away and grabbing my jacket, jogging out of her room before I start crying.

When I get home, my mom is sitting on the couch, crying softly. She doesn't know I see her, but it still hurts me in a way I haven't felt in a long time. I haven't seen my mom cry in years, even when I was sick, but I know that she's praying so hard that she doesn't loose her other daughter.

My dad strolls out of the kitchen, his eyes settling on me. "You decided to finally join us?" He sneers, crossing his arms over his chest. My eyes go to my mother, whose wiping violently at her tears and turning to me. I see her eyes filled with fear - fear for me, for her, of him, and it sparks anger in me so vicious that I have to put I hand on the wall to steady myself.

"What do you need, Dad?" I ask, struggling to keep my voice neutral. He comes over closer, stopping a few feet in front of me.

"I'm sick of having to pay for your damned hospital bills, Cameron. Do you know how expensive it is? I could be using that money for more important things." I hear my mother gasp sharply, and I literally get tunnel vision.

"What, your beers? I didn't know that drinking away the money was better." I spit out, moving to walk past him. I hear him growl softly before grabbing the back of my shirt.

"How dare you, you stupid, selfish, little bitch!" He yanks me back, causing me to slip on the tile and fall to the ground. A pain shoots yo my arm, causing me to gasp. He laughs, nudging my shoulder with his foot. "You're so useless, Cameron. Honestly, did you expect to forgive you after the death of Angel? And then with getting cancer? It's almost as if you want to prove that you're just a waste of space." He rears his foot back and kicks me hard in the chest. I suck in a breath, before a coughing fit racks my entire body. My chest feels like a weight is pressing down on it, causing me to cough harder. He raises his eyebrow and shakes his head.

"You are so weak, Cameron. I don't know how you're even my daughter." I cough even harder, choking and fighting to get air. My vision starts to blur and I hear my mom shout my name. Vaguely, I see that there's blood on the tiles. Did that come from me? I also hear my father comment on how hard blood is to get out of the cracks, but then everything kind of becomes muted. My coughing stops, but it's still so hard for me to get any air. I feel myself choking, on what I don't know, but the blackness is closing in on all sides. I see my mothers blurry ace hovering over me, but I can't hear anything she's saying. Am I dying? I think as the darkness finally collapses in on me, shutting me away from my mothers face. My last though before I finally let myself slip away is,

I didn't get to say goodbye to Theen.

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Hello my Killjoys! Are you proud of me? I mean, I'm doing pretty good right now on my updating, if I do say so myself. I don't know if I'll be able to pop out another chapter but we will definitely see!

What's happening to Cameron? Why did she collapse? What about Athena? So many questions!

I love you guys and I will update asap!

~Bear