Warnings: None
Word Count: 1711
August 10th, 2007
You chewed nervously on the edge of your thumb, your eyes fixated intensely on the white wall in front of you. Your parents had left for the doctor nearly an hour ago, and your mom had said that they shouldn't be gone for more than half an hour. You had tried to distract yourself by going on a walk, but your mind had quickly gone off on a tangent and you had ended up back in your room, nervously pacing from one end to the other.
Your dad had been sick for some time now. It started off with a cough, but he had waved it off as nothing and insisted that he was fine. It wasn't until he started coughing up blood that your mom had insisted that he make an appointment with the doctor. Today had been the day of that appointment, and you were growing antsy to find out if he was ok or not.
You heard the front door open downstairs and practically jumped off of your bed. Your socks slid as you rounded the corner that led to the stairs and ran down them two at a time. With a jump, you landed at the bottom of the stairs and ran into the entryway.
You could tell that something was wrong the moment that you saw your mom's face. Her mouth was downturned, something that was atypical with her bubbly personality. She was holding your dad's hand so hard that her knuckles were white. Your dad's face was downcast, and his eyes didn't meet yours when you looked at him. A knot formed in your stomach.
"Did you figure out what's going on?" you asked quietly.
Your mom cleared her throat very politely before opening her mouth slightly. She closed it for a second, her lips pressed tightly together, before letting out a small breath of air.
"Why don't we sit in the dining room?" your dad suggested.
"That's a good idea," your mom said, barely a whisper.
You nodded and walked towards the dining room. Your parents followed after you, taking the seats across from you at the table. You looked between the two of them, deciding it was best to let one of them speak first.
Your mom finally took a deep breath and started to speak, "So they ran some tests while we were at the doctor."
Her voice was shaking as she spoke. Your dad reached over and squeezed her hand.
"I can tell her if you want, dear."
Your mom nodded and buried her face in her free hand. Her shoulders began to shake and you cast your eyes down towards the table. There was nothing you hated more than seeing your mom cry.
"Y/N," your dad said.
You looked up and met his eyes, already chewing on the edge of your thumb again.
"I have stage four lung cancer."
A chill ran down your spine.
"What?" you asked. "No, that can't be right."
Your dad's eyes were brimmed with tears, and that hurt more than seeing your mom cry.
"We're going to start treatment, but there isn't too much that can be done at this point. The best case scenario is that I have another eight months to live."
"How did this happen? I've never even seen you touch a cigarette."
"Darling, I've been a carpenter for thirty years. There's a lot of junk in the air that I shouldn't have been breathing, but it was part of the job. These things happen."
"This isn't fair!" you stood up suddenly, sending your chair toppling over behind you.
"Life isn't fair."
Tears were clouding your vision. A myriad of emotions was swelling up inside of you and you weren't sure what to do with yourself. You couldn't believe that your dad was so calm about this; it was almost like he hadn't just told you that he had less than a year to live.
In your distressed state, you went running back upstairs and flung yourself down on your bed. You buried your face in your pillow and sobbed, not caring if your parents could hear you downstairs. It was the only thing that was making the knot in your stomach feel just a little bit better.
It took you awhile to calm down. Your parents had knocked on your door countless times, but you had shooed them away, telling them that you would be more willing to discuss the situation later. By the time you finished crying, your throat was so raw that you could barely talk and your face was even more red and blotchy than the day that you had discovered you were allergic to blueberries.
Your eyes landed on the packed duffle bag in the corner of the room. You and Tyler had been planning to leave for California the following morning to pursue your dreams and finally leave the boring town that you two had grown up in. Another knot formed in your stomach as you realized that leaving was no longer an option for you, not as long as your dad was sick.
Realizing what you had to do, you rolled off your bed and walked downstairs. Your parents were in the living room, but they hardly seemed to notice as you walked by and into the kitchen. With shaking hands, you picked up the phone and dialed Tyler's home number. It was rare that he answered his cell phone, anyway.
The phone rang a couple times before someone picked up. You recognized Mrs. Joseph's voice immediately.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Mrs. Joseph. It's Y/N, I was wondering if Tyler was there?"
"Of course. One second."
There was some muffled yelling followed by the unmistakable sounds of the phone being passed off. You couldn't help but smile as you heard Tyler clear his throat before answering.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Ty. It's me."
"Y/N, hey. What's up?"
"I have some bad news."
"Hit me with it."
"I'd rather tell you in person."
"Ok, you want to meet at the tree in five?"
"Perfect."
"Ok, see you then."
"Bye."
You hung the phone up and grabbed your beat up Converse from beside the back door.
"Are you going out?" your mom called from the living room.
"I was just going to go to the tree and talk to Tyler for a bit, is that ok?"
"Just make sure to be back for dinner in twenty minutes."
"Sounds good."
You headed out the back door and grabbed your bike from the side of the house. After a few adjustments, you were making your way down the street towards the tree.
Tyler was already there when you arrived, picking idly at blades of grass. You hopped off your bike and leaned it up against the thick trunk of the tree. It was a common meeting place for the two of you, being almost exactly halfway between your houses and all. You had been meeting up at the tree since you were kids.
"So what did you have to tell me?" he asked.
You opened your mouth to say something, but froze up. Something about the way Tyler was looking at you was making you nervous, and you knew that he was going to be disappointed with the news.
"I can't go to California with you," you blurted.
Tyler's eyes immediately went wide, "What?"
"I'm sorry..."
"Y/N, we've been planning this for two years. Why are you bailing on me the night before?"
Tears were brimming in your eyes again, "It's my dad. He has stage four lung cancer and most likely less than a year to live. I can't just leave him..."
Tyler's features immediately softened and he held out his arms. You hugged him tightly as you tried, and failed, to fight tears.
"I'm so sorry for getting upset. I didn't realize..."
"It's fine, I kind of phrased that in a bad order," you laughed.
He finally let go of you and you wiped away your fallen tears with the back of your hand.
"I'm really sorry that I've ruined all this," you sighed. "I know it's been our plan for practically forever."
"You haven't ruined anything," Tyler smiled. "There are just some things you can't control."
"Tell me about it."
"Well I've got to get going. My mom barely let me out of the house to come see you."
"Yeah, my mom has dinner cooking at home."
"See you around."
"Later, Ty."
You each grabbed your bikes and headed off in your respective directions. Telling Tyler had gone a lot better than expected, and you were glad that he was willing to put California on hold. At least one thing was going your way.
Your mom woke you up the next morning, something that was unusual for her.
"Wake up! It's California day," she smiled.
You sighed, realizing that you had forgotten to tell your parents about the change of plans.
"I'm not going."
"What?"
"Mom, I can't leave while Dad is sick. I want to be here for whatever amount of time he has left."
Your mom sighed and placed a hand on your shoulder, "Always putting others before yourself. Your father is going to be very happy to hear that you're staying."
She kissed the top of your head before walking out of the room. You hopped out of bed and decided to give Tyler a call to see if he wanted to do something today to make up for canceling the trip.
You hummed to yourself as the phone rang. It only took a couple rings before someone picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Mrs. Joseph. I was wondering if Tyler is there?"
"Tyler left this morning."
"Left?"
"Yes, for California. I thought you were going with him, Y/N?"
You felt your heart sink. The conversation from last night played over in your head, and you suddenly felt very dumb as you realized that Tyler had never actually said he was staying.
"No, I-uh-had to cancel for personal reasons. I totally forgot that was today, sorry to bother you."
"You're never a bother, dear."
"Bye, Mrs. Joseph."
"Goodbye."
You hung up the phone and grabbed the edge of the counter to steady your shaking body. For the first time that you could remember, you were without Tyler.