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Chapter Fourteen:

We all walked into the house and looked around. Everything was still like it was before, clean and untouched. We headed down the hall to Marissa’s room. Which was also, clean and untouched. She looked around the room, like she had never been here before. "I miss this place so much, and it’s never going to be the same without dad." She looked down and tear fell from her eye. Ben came in front of her and hugged her. "It’s OK, Mar." "I know. I know," then she let go of him. "I’m going to look for something. You guys can go see what’s up everywhere else." I nodded my head and we went down the hall to the kitchen. "We better feed the dogs or they are going to die." I nodded my head again and we headed outside. "Hey there guys," Ben said as he knelt down and petted them. I knelt down beside him and petted one of the dogs. "So, where is the food?" "I don’t know. I was thinking we could look for something in the fridge since they aren’t here to eat it anyway." "OK." and we walked back inside to the fridge. "Let’s see. We have ham, bologna, cheese, all kind of sandwich stuff. Let’s just give them all of it and I’ll buy them more food when they both come back." "OK," and we got the food and took it outside.

When we got outside, the dogs were scratching my legs, wanting the food. "Hold on guys," and I tore the food up for them to eat. After I gave them the food, I went over to Ben, who was sitting on the swing. "It’s a pretty day today," he said as he rocked back and forth on the swing. "Yeah." We sat in silence for a few minutes, until Marissa opened the back door. "OK guys, I’m ready to go." and we headed for the car. We got in and buckled up and headed out. "So, Mar. You want to go see your mom?" She shook her head and we headed to the hospital. It was a ways down the road, so we sat there in silence. "You guys are so boring," Marissa said. I laughed, "Well, you’re not coming up with anything either. So that makes all three of us boring." We all cracked up. "You’ve got a point," Ben said as he pulled into the drive way of the hospital. He parked and we got out and headed in.

The first thing Marissa did was head to the nurse’s station. "Tammy Smith, please?" The nurse nodded her head and looked down at some papers. "Room 512, ma’am." "Thank you very much," and we headed down the hall towards her room. It was really close, so we only had to walk a little ways down the hall. Marissa was the first to walk in. We walked in and her mom was asleep, with the TV on, but was very soft to the ear. "Mom," Marissa whispered as she touched her mom’s hand. Her mom woke up from what looked like a very good sleep. "Oh, honey. Hey, how are you holding up?" "Fine. Just fine. What about you?" She closed her eyes and opened them, real slowly. "I have something to tell you. Sit down, please." Marissa looked at us then turned and scooted a chair to the side of her bed. "You guys may come in if you want to," "OK," and Ben and I took a seat on the floor near the wall. "Marissa, sweety. I’ve been meaning to tell you something." Marissa looked at her mom with pleading eyes. ‘I wonder what she wants to tell her’ I thought to myself.

"I...I don’t know how to put this, but..." and her voice trailed off and tears ran down her cheek. "Mom, it’s OK. Just tell me. What’s wrong." Her mom closed her eyes and more tears fell. "I have cancer," and the room fell silent as Marissa, Ben, and I stared at her mom in disbelieve. "But Mom...it..it can’t be. There’s a cure isn’t there. You’ve known about this. Haven’t you?" Marissa was rambling her words together. "I didn’t know about it. It’s in my lungs. They said I’ve had it for about a year now and I’m just now having side effects." Marissa had a tear in her eye, but she wouldn’t actually cry. "When did you know about this?" Marissa said as she looked down, not daring to look at her mother’s face. "Just yesterday. I was going to call you, but I couldn’t just tell you over the phone. It had to be in person." Marissa shook her head and looked at us. She was silently crying.

I had some tears myself. Marissa’s whole family was passing, in the palm of her hands and she had no way of stopping it. "Oh, Aunt Tammy." Ben said and he got up and went over to her bed. He gave her a hug and then looked at me. He also was crying, but soundlessly. I got up and went over to hug him. "So, are you going to be able to go to the funeral tomorrow, mom?" Marissa asked as she wiped away a tear. "Yes, as long as somebody comes and picks me up." Marissa shook her head. "We are going to go, OK? I’ll call you tonight." and Marissa got up and ran out of the room. "I love you, aunt Tammy." and Ben kissed her cheek. "I love you too, Ben. Bye Katherine." "Bye, Mrs. Smith," and we turned out of the room to leave.

We got out there and Marissa was sitting against the wall, with her head in her hands. Her brown hair was all over the place and her legs were tucked under her. "Did I deserve any other this? What did I do wrong? Was I bad? Cause I swear to freakin’ God I can change. I swear I can." and Marissa burst out in a crying fit. Ben knelt down and got her to her feet. "Come on, let’s go," and Ben and I helped Marissa out of the hospital. Marissa’s life was heading downwards, and fast.