A New Reality

Ria didn't know how long she stood there, staring at Kael, his words still settling into the spaces of her mind. The air between them felt heavy, thick with something unspoken, as if both of them were waiting for the other to make sense of the mess that had just been laid out. But nothing about this made sense. Not the tumor, not the fact that Kael had been carrying this secret for months, and certainly not the way he was standing there, looking like he was waiting for her to say something to make it all okay.

But there was nothing she could say. Not really.

Kael broke the silence first, his voice softer than before. "I'm not dying, you know. Not yet, anyway."

"Don't joke about that," Ria shot back, sharper than she intended. But she couldn't help it. The way he was talking, the way he said it so casually, like this was just another scene they were rehearsing, made her stomach churn.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair, which was damp with sweat. "I'm sorry. I guess... I don't know how to talk about this without making it a joke."

Ria wanted to say something comforting, something reassuring that would make this moment less suffocating. But what could she say? She had always been good at writing, at creating worlds where the problems were solvable, where words carried weight and meaning. But here, now, she felt completely unprepared.

"So... what does this mean?" she asked quietly, the question hanging between them like a fragile thread.

Kael leaned back against the edge of the stage, crossing his arms over his chest. "It means I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing. The treatments have been... rough, but manageable. Some days are better than others." He paused, his eyes flickering to the floor. "I'm just not sure how much longer I can keep it from everyone. The memory stuff's been getting worse."

Ria's heart clenched. Memory stuff. He had hinted at it before—the occasional forgotten line, the way he would lose his place in a scene. At the time, she had brushed it off as exhaustion. But now, with everything laid out in front of her, it was clear that it wasn't something so simple.

"How bad is it?" she asked, her voice low.

Kael shrugged, though the casualness of the gesture didn't reach his face. "Some days I'm fine. Others... not so much. Sometimes I forget small things—lines, names, where I put my keys. It's frustrating as hell, but it's not the worst part."

"What is?"

Kael looked at her, and for the first time since they had started this conversation, there was a flicker of vulnerability in his eyes. "The worst part is pretending I'm fine when I'm not."

Ria's throat tightened, and for a moment, all she could do was nod. She understood that—maybe not the full weight of it, but the idea of putting on a brave face, of holding everything together because you didn't want anyone else to feel the burden. She'd been doing the same thing, in her own quiet way, ever since she'd noticed something was wrong with him.

"Kael, you don't have to do that anymore," she said, her voice steady now. "Not with me. And not with the rest of the club."

He shook his head, a bitter laugh escaping his lips. "What, you think if I tell them, everything's going to be fine? That they won't treat me differently? Ria, the second I tell them, they're going to look at me like I'm fragile. Like I can't handle this anymore."

"They won't," Ria insisted. "They care about you, Kael. They'd want to help."

"I don't want help," Kael said, his voice rising slightly. "I want to be normal. I want to lead this club, win the state championships, and have everyone look at me like they always have—as the guy who makes things happen. Not the guy who has a tumor."

The weight of his words hit Ria like a punch. She could see it now, the fear beneath his bravado. It wasn't just about the illness—it was about the way it was changing the narrative he had written for himself. Kael, the confident leader, the one who always had control. And now, he was losing that control piece by piece.

"You are that guy," Ria said quietly, her voice firm. "Nothing's going to change that. But you don't have to do it all alone."

Kael didn't respond right away. Instead, he stared at the stage in front of them, the dim lighting casting shadows over his face. When he finally spoke again, his voice was softer, more resigned. "Maybe. But I'm not ready to tell them yet."

Ria wanted to argue, wanted to tell him that it wasn't something he could keep hiding. But she could see the exhaustion in his face, the way his shoulders slumped under the weight of it all. Pushing him right now wouldn't help.

"Okay," she said after a long pause. "You don't have to tell them yet. But promise me you won't shut us out. If it gets worse... if you need help, you'll tell someone. Even if it's just me."

Kael looked at her, his expression softening. "Yeah. I can promise that."

They stood there for a while in silence, the sounds of the drama room fading into the background. Olivia and Alex were still talking quietly near the lighting booth, unaware of the conversation unfolding just a few feet away. The world kept spinning, even though everything felt like it had just shifted.

Finally, Kael pushed himself off the stage and took a deep breath, as if trying to shake off the weight of the moment. "I should get going. I've got another appointment tomorrow."

Ria nodded, though her mind was still spinning with everything he had told her. "I'll cover for you at rehearsal. Just... take care of yourself, okay?"

Kael smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Thanks, Ria. For everything."

She watched as he grabbed his bag and headed toward the door, his footsteps soft against the worn floor of the drama room. He didn't look back, and Ria didn't call after him. She stood there for a long time after he left, the quiet of the room pressing down on her like a weight she didn't know how to carry.

The door creaked open again, and Ria turned to see Ms. Reyes standing there, her brow furrowed in concern.

"Ria?" Ms. Reyes stepped further into the room, her eyes flickering between her and the door Kael had just left through. "Everything alright?"

Ria blinked, trying to force herself back into the present. She nodded quickly, her voice shaky. "Yeah, everything's fine."

Ms. Reyes didn't look convinced, but she didn't push. Instead, she glanced around the now-empty room, letting out a small sigh. "Good work today, by the way. We've got a lot of potential with these new students, but we'll need to step things up if we're going to make it to regionals."

Ria forced a small smile, nodding along. "Yeah, we will."

But even as she said the words, her mind was still on Kael, on the secret he was carrying, and on the question she didn't know how to answer:

How were they going to get through this?

That night, Ria sat at her desk, her laptop open in front of her, but the blank document on the screen stared back at her like an accusation. She had been meaning to make more edits to the script, to tweak some of the dialogue for the upcoming rehearsal, but her mind wouldn't stop replaying the conversation with Kael.

I've got a tumor, Ria.

The words echoed in her head, refusing to quiet. She leaned back in her chair, rubbing her temples, trying to focus. But the story she had been crafting, the play that was supposed to carry them to the state championships, suddenly felt like the least important thing in the world.

Her phone buzzed beside her, and she glanced down to see a new message from Kael.

Kael: Thanks again for earlier. I'll be at rehearsal on Friday. Promise.

Ria stared at the message for a long time before replying.

Ria: I've got your back. Don't worry.

But as she set her phone back down and returned her gaze to the blank page in front of her, she couldn't shake the feeling that no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't rewrite what was coming next.