One last Wish:[chapter 5]
A gentle hand touched her fingertips as the two hands slowly and softly came together. Hope could feel a bright light shine on her as she slowly opened her eyes to see Justin's face looking down at her.
His ocean blue eyes looked on at her in concern which worried her. She tilted her head a little bit and noticed her parents looking down at her with tears in their eyes. Hope could feel tension and fright build up inside her as she gathered the strength to speak.
"What's wrong?" Hope asked fearful.
"It's alright Hope, don't worry. It will all be over soon." Her father said patting her shoulder.
"What? What will all be over soon? Mom? What's going on?" Hope asked panicing.
"It's alright sweetheart, just close your eyes and rest." Hope's mother said as she scooped her up into her arms and hugged her close to her as she wept freely.
Once Leigh pulled away from her daughter, Hope turned to see Justin sitting next to her and gently stroking her hand.
"Justin please tell me what's going on!" Hope asked as tears fell onto her cheeks.
When Justin didn't answer her, she began to look at her surroundings and try to make light of what was going on. She noticed IV's hooked up to her, oxygen pumps near her, and a heart monitor to her right. She became frantic as the beat on the monitor start to quicken and she could feel the world slowly fade. She turned to look at Justin and her parents once more and barely whispered, "I don't want to die, not now." The heart beat on the monitor flat-lined and everything Hope ever knew was gone...
"NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Hope screamed as she quickly sat up in bed.
"Sweetheart? What's wrong? Are you alright?" Leigh asked as she ran into her daughters room. Her husband wasn't much far behind as he came into the bedroom in a hurry.
"MOM!" Hope sighed in relief as she hugged her mother close to her as if she would never let her go.
Leigh held onto Hope and calmed her down as Hope continued to cry hysterically. "Hope sweetie, what happened?"
"I don't want to die mom, I don't want to die..." Hope repeated as she kept on crying.
Leigh clung onto her daughter even more and felt tears start to fall from her eyes. "It's okay Hope. Don't cry, please baby, don't cry."
Hope's father sat on the bed and hugged the two women close to him. In an instant, the whole realization of what was coming hit the three of them. Hope slowly pulled away from her parents and looked at them through tear filled red eyes, "I don't want to die. I don't want to leave you. I don't want to leave this world. Not now..."
(The next Morning)
It had taken Hope awhile to calm down and go back to sleep after her early morning nightmare. What not only scared her but confused her the most about her dream was that Justin was part of it. She had just met him and they were only starting to become friends, but his impact on her in the dream was overwhelming, and not to mention odd.
Hope sleepily walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where her mom was cooking French Toast. Her dad had left for work-it was afterall, a Monday-and school was out of the question.
"Good morning mom," Hope greeted her mother as she yawned.
Leigh turned to look at a skinny and very tired Hope sitting at the breakfast nook. Hope had only been diagnosed a couple weeks earlier and chemo wasn't very harsh, but Hope was losing wait and becoming more drained at a rapid rate.
Leigh sighed and put on a fake smile as she went over and put the French toast on her plate, "good morning sweetheart. Did you sleep a little bit last night?"
Hope rememered how hysterical she had become and how restless and distraught she was after she calmed down somewhat. "Well, it wasn't the best night's sleep I've had recently, but I was able to sleep a little."
"Good. At least you weren't wide awake or else you'd be extremely tired from your day out yesterday. By the way, how was it with what's his name again? Oh dear, was it Jason?" Leigh struggled to remember his name.
"Justin, mom. Justin was his name. And for your information, it was one of the greatest days of life." Hope said as she remembered them sitting on the hill overlooking Orlando:
"Thanks for believing in me. I just hope I can be as strong as you say I am. I wanna be able to love life. I want to help people."
Justin put his arm around her and hugged her close to him, "Hope, you're an intriguing person, and I know that you'll make the best of whatever you have.That's why I believe in you so much."
"Hope? HOPE!" Leigh said trying to snap her daughter out of her obvious trance.
Hope shook herself back to reality as she heard her mom calling her name, "huh? Oh sorry, I drifted off a little there for a minute.
"Drifted off a little? Hope sweetheart, that bashful grin on your face made it look like you were lost in a romance novel or something." Leigh said she chuckled at Hope's wide smile.
"MOM!" Hope whined as she felt her cheeks warm with embarassment.
"What dear? I'm just stating a fact."
Hope chuckled and shook her head in amusement of her mom's crack. It felt good to laugh for once. And it felt good to smile too. On her way upstairs, a knock sounded from the front door, so naturally Hope went to go open it. She opened the door just a crack to see a delivery man with a huge assortment of different colored roses.
Hope's eyes widened as she opened the door and realized how big the arrangement was. "Can I help you?"
"Yes ma'am, I'm looking for a Miss Hope Evans?" The guy answered as he looked down at his clipboard.
"That would be me." Hope answered all choked up and curious as to who the roses were from.
"These are for you miss. Please sign here." The man said handing her a slip to sign and the roses itself.
Once she shut the door, Leigh came into the living room and was blown away at the large arrangement of roses sitting on the sofa table.
"OMYGOD! Would you look at that. Who are these from?" Leigh asked as she smelled the roses.
Hope tore open the envelope and opened the card and read the unfamiliar handwriting:
Dear Hope,
I hope you had a great time yesterday. I was hoping that you could meet the rest of the guys tonight for dinner? So give me a call.
Peace and Hair Grease,
Justin
After Hope realized who had sent her the roses she began to scream in excitement. Her mother slipped her hand to take the card and read it as Hope buried herself in a pillow as she screamed.
"AAAAHHH!!!! I'm going to me Nsync!!!! AAAHHH!!!!" Hope's muffled yells echoed through the pillow.
Leigh frowned as she finished reading the card and took the pillow off her daughter's face, "I'm sorry sweetheart, I don't think you'll be able to go. You have a chemo treatment and liver scan tonight at the hospital"
Hope's smile immediatley turned into an expression of anger and disappointment. "WHAT? I don't care, I'm going tonight and you can't stop me!"
"I know how big this is to you Hope, but you can't miss this appointment. We need to see if the chemotherapy is helping or not." Her mother said as she raised her voice in disapproval.
"It's not helping alright mom! I'm going to die! Face it. You and me both know it. So I rather die a happy person than a sad one." Hope said as she stomped off.
Leigh sighed as she plopped onto the couch beneath her. Hope was right, as much as anyone wanted to hide from the truth, she didn't have much of a chance. But it wasn't going to keep her from praying for a miracle. Leigh stood up and looked at the roses that stood on the sofa table and decided what she had to do.
(Later that Night)
After a lifetimes worth of arguing and bickering, Hope gave in and decided to cancel on Justin and go to the hospital. Leigh had told her that she had already called Justin to tell him so Hope didn't have to call him. Which kind of made the situation a little bit easier, not a lot, but somewhat.
By the time the three of them had reached the hospital, it was already 7pm. All hope of meeting the guys for dinner was out of the question. The chemotherapy would take at least an hour, not to mention waiting, and the liver scan would take even longer.
"Hope Evans?" The nurse asked as she opened the door to the treatment center.
Hope raised her hand and walked inside with the nurse as she escorted her to her temporary room. The treatment was draining and it was very painful for someone at Hope's cancer stage. She was practically drifting off to sleep when she heard a commotion outside in the waiting room as the nurse walked in.
"Miss Evans? You have some visitors, do you mind if they come see you?" The nurse asked as she checked her vitals.
Hope thought to herself who could possibly be at the hospital at 8:30pm wanting to see her during a chemo session, but it would be better than sitting on the hospital bed bored for the next half hour. "Who is it?"
"They prefer to be annonymous for now. So do you want them to come in or not?"
"Sure. What the heck." Hope answered. She waited for the nurse to leave then she looked in the mirror to see what she looked like. Her coarse shoulder length hair was barely brushed and her skin was as pale as a ghost. "Oh who cares, it's probably just some friends."
"Just some friends? Well gee, thanks." A familiar voice answered from the door behind her.
Hope's eyes widened as she stopped fixing her hair and focused on the five bodies standing at her door. She turned away from the mirror and sure enough, there they were, Justin, JC, Joey, Lance, and Chris. Nsync.
"So are you gnna stand there speechless or welcome us in?" Justin chuckled as the expression on her face amused him.
"Oh...my...GOD!"
Chapter 6 Coming soon
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