Chapter One

The hospital bed was cold, comfortable, and deadly as I stared at the ceiling of the boring hospital room. They told me I had a few weeks to live, and so did my mother who has slept on the hospital chair in the same room for the past couple of months. I heard her snoring loudly and turned to look at her uncomfortable position on the chair.

I wanted to drink water so bad, because my mouth was dry, and I haven't eaten anything since last night, so my stomach was churning.

I wanted to wake her up, but I felt bad for her not being able to sleep at all. That was probably the only night she surrendered to her exhaustion and fell to sleep.

I looked at my dry, and pale hands, and purple nails up close, and tried to lift myself off the bed.

I only had one thing to do, and it was to carry my own legs on the cold floor. I moved one leg after the other and tried to drag them with the rest of my body as I moved away from the bed. But my body was weak, instead I ended up falling off the bed, and slam my body on the floor with a weak scream that came out of my mouth.

The pain was cold, and it spread over my whole body, leaving me in agony. My mother heard my scream, and abruptly woke up, cutting her snoring, and scrambled on the floor to carry me on her arms.

"Jessica, Jessica, sweety, what have you done?" She asked.

"I need water and food, but I couldn't wake you up," I said, "Mom, I'm sorry!"

She shook her head slightly. "Don't be, and please tell me whenever you want to get up from your bed, okay sweety?" Mom said.

I nodded. "Okay."

"Let's get you off the floor," She said, carefully, and with uttermost attention. She lifted me up on my feet, and slowly put me back in bed.

I closed my eyes for a second and rested my head on the pillow again. The boring position I had for months.

My mother, Selena covered me with the cold blanket, and made sure I was tucked in tightly, so I won't feel cold in that horrific hospital room that I spent most of my life in. Cancer has made my bones week, and painful. I licked my dry lips and turned to look at mother as she carefully tidied my blanket with a sorrowful smile on her lips.

"There, now you'd feel much warmer this way," She said.

I had to smile back.

"Mom?" I asked, quietly.

"Yes, sweety?" She replied.

"What if I fell in love before I died," I said, with a croaked voice.

Mother stiffened and looked at me sideways. "You're not dying. You're just ill," She managed to say.

"You know that I have a very small chance of survival," I explained, "I want to get out and socialize before I die, it's boring in here."

I always wanted to have a love story, just like how my mother and father had before I was ever born. She told me they met in the library as she scanned some scientific books on the shelves, and accidentally touched my father's hand while skimming. I fantasied how I'd meet my soul mate one day, and how I'd kiss him. I wanted to experience all the teenagers experience at my age, but I had that illness going on, which made me almost paralyzed all day on the hospital bed.

She sighed and managed to keep eyes contact. "You'll get better, I promise. Then you'll have all the social life you want," She said, "For now, stay put, and I'll bring you some food, okay?"

She kissed me on my forehead and left the room.