The Angel.

This is the story of a girl who's best friend has cancer. The story starts about a month after the diagnosis. By the way, neither girls had fathers. It is the same girl as in my last story, also.

I sat on the end of my bed one night, sobbing, looking through all my photos on the internet. Most of them are with Victoria. She was my best friend. Yeah, I said 'was', sadly. I was she still was.

'Jackie? Are you okay, honey?' my mother says, coming up.

'Yeah,' I say, wiping my eyes.

She sighed. 'I know you're bound to be upset about Vicky. But you've still got two more months with her, honey,' she says.

'But she hasn't been messaging me. Maybe she's already gone,'

'She hasn't, I was talking to her mother this morning. You think I'm not upset? I've known her since she was four! And now she's about to...' she says, not able to say it, her eyes filling with tears.

'Anyway,' she continued. 'They're going to Paris next month, and they want you to go with them,'

Usually I'd feel really excited, but I couldn't now. However, I felt quite happy that Victoria wanted to be with me for the last two or three weeks of her life.

You see, a month ago, Victoria was diagnosed with brain cancer. She was told she only had three months left to live. I was there with her mother when she found out, and we all cried until we couldn't cry any more. It was one of the worst days of my life. The worst was when my little sister got shot by mistake and killed in a terrorist attack. Now that Victoria was dying, that was enough to tell me that I was going straight to Heaven when I died. 

One month after the night I was told they were going to Paris, I was packing my bags and kissing my mother goodbye, saying I loved her. I said goodbye to my twin brother too, also saying I loved him.

I saw Victoria for the first time in a month. I hugged her tight. 

'I missed you, Vicky,' I said into her soft hooded top.

'I missed you more,' she said back.

'I'll miss you most of all when you're gone,' I said, starting to cry again.

She wiped the tear off my face.

'Don't cry, Jackie. Come on, let's have fun!' she said, smiling.

On the plane, she fell asleep on my shoulder. I looked at her. Her make up was as present as ever, smoked eye shadow, black mascara, glossy lips. 

She was the prettiest girl in tenth grade, glossy dyed-brown hair, shiny blue eyes, tanned skin and pink lips. Everyone called her Vicky. I was just a normal, short girl with black hair, dull grey eyes and pale skin. I always longed to look like her. She wasn't popular. In fact, she was bullied a lot before I came to her kindergarton when we were both four. Later in life, she lost her brother to cancer when she was eight. She got severely depressed after that and was taken to hospital one day after freaking out in class. They didn't stick her in the Luny Bin, luckily, they just put her on medication. She's had a tough life. She'd be meeting her brother soon. And I wouldn't be with her any more...

I feel asleep, unaware that she'd grabbed my hand.

'Girls? The plane's landed,' said Vicky's mother.

We drove for hours. Me and Victoria talked all the time. We talked like we didn't even know she had cancer. We compared all the boys in our class, from the sweet, kind ones down to the stupid, mindless guys who hated swots and were probably going to get a job in McDonalds. We were both bright children. Victoria gets at least one A in every test, but mostly B's and C's. I get usually A's and B's. I'm especially good at English and French. Then we talked about the girls, and how some were sweet, adorable good looking girls with a beautiful personality, and how some were just pure brats who had everything but wanted more. 

When we finally got to the hotel, we fell asleep in our beds straight away. We slept until the next morning. The hotel girl brought the breakfast up to us, an amazingly prepared fry up, with egg, bacon, sausages, baked beans and toast. I'd always nag for those at home by my mother always said they were fattening. I was never fat. I was once chubby, but that all went when my sister died. Now I'm very skinny, so skinny you can almost see my ribs. My and Vicky chatted while we ate the breakfast. Then her mother said 'You want to go to a theme park today?'

'Yeah!' we both shouted.

The drive was like ten minutes. 

We went on the Waltzers first, because that was always our favourite ride at little fun fairs. Then High Energy, which was another favourite. I loved the way Victoria screamed when we were going down. She used to be scared of that ride. The first time we went on it, we were like eleven, and she screamed so much I thought she was going to start crying. Luckily she didn't.

We saw the big drop ride. 

'Wow! I've always wanted to go on that!' Vicky said.

'Yeah...me too...' I mumbled.

She looked at me.

'Oh, come on! You're not scared are you!?'' she laughed.

'No!' I said, and I wasn't either. 'Come on, let's go on it!' 

When we got to the top, she grabbed my hand.

'I love you, Jackie!' she said.

'Love you too!' I said.

Then it dropped and we screamed.

'That was awesome!' Vicky said when we got back to the hotel for dinner. We ate a burger and a bag of fries in town. But they were just cheap chip shop stuff. The dinner at the hotel was amazing, chicken and mushroom vol-au-vants for starters, then roast beef with mashed potatoes and stuffing for main course, then apple pie and ice cream for dessert. 

Vicky loved the vol-au-vants, she always loved mushroom sauce. 

When we got back to our room, we watched 'Ghostbusters' on DVD. Then we talked for half an hour, then watched 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' on TV. Then we talked some more. We talked for hours before we fell asleep.

After two weeks of great fun, we were flying right back to the USA. 

One day, Victoria collapsed in town and was rushed into hospital. My brother happened to be with me that day. He held my hand while Vicky was checked up. 

After about an hour, the nurse came out. 

'I'm so sorry...there's nothing we can do,' she said.

Vicky's mother burst into tears. I just sat there, cold and shaking. My brother squeezed my hand. 

'Would you like to talk to her?' said the nurse.

'Yeah, I'll just...' sobbed her mother. She looked at me. 'I won't be long, Jackie. I'll be a few minutes only, then you can talk to her,' she said.

I nodded. 'Oh...I can't believe she's actually...' I said, my face screwed up. My brother put his arms around me and I sobbed into his hooded top. 

'It's okay, Jackie,' he whispered. But it wasn't.

After ten minutes Victoria's mother came out and I went in.

She was still awake. 

'Jackie I...I'm going to miss you,' she said.

'Well, Kevin needed an angel and he chose you,' I said.

'I can't wait to see him again. But what if I don't go to heaven?'

'Vicky! You had such a hard life, being bullied, losing your brother, not having a father,and you still managed to keep it all together and be a good person. You're going straight to heaven. I promise you, Vicky,'

'Jackie, this is going to sound kinda weird but...I love you. Like a sister. You were always there for me and I would never have gotten through my life if it wasn't for you. I love you so much,'

Tears pricked my eyes. I swallowed.

'I love you too, Victoria Johnson,'

She closed her eyes. Then I heard the long beep of the flat line. 

She was gone.

I came out. My brother was waiting for me.

'She's...she's gone...' I said.

Vicky's mother squeezed my hand. My brother put his arms around me. Mom picked us up at two in the morning. Vicky's mother had already gone. 

'I'm so sorry, honey,' Mom said.

'It's okay. She's in heaven now,' I said.

I fell asleep in the car. I dreamt about Victoria, wearing a white dress, with beautiful angel wings, with her brother, smiling at me.

I slept in my brothers room that night. 

I dreamt about her every night for seven months, but they weren't sad dreams, they were dreams of her smiling and having fun with her brother and her grandparents. 

One night, I was looking out the window at the stars. I felt something cold on my hand. I turned around, and there was Victoria, smiling at me. I smiled back.

'Just came to see how you were,' she said.

Author's Note

I hope you found this story good. I know it's sad, but it does portray life a little bit. I remember losing my grandfather to cancer, and it wasn't a happy experience, but we'll get over it.

Reviews

[Chanchal Sheik]

Hey, You write Good.. felt like i was part of the conversation between Vicky & U. Keep Writing - Best Wishes Always :)

[Clare Martin]

thank you :)

[Distant horizons]

That is such a beautiful story. great job.