Chapter One

Sitting in the white hospital room was somewhere Athena had never liked to be. The white walls surround the room like a fly in a spiders web. Her mother lays next to her in the white hospital bed. A hospital gown on her with a brunette wig placed on her head because she doesn't like the feeling of not having hair on her head. Cables coming off her which are connected to the heart monitor that stands at the side of her bed. The oxygen tube attached to her nose and to the oxygen tank that is attached to the heart monitor. Doctor Hansen stands at the end of the bed with my mum's file in her hand. "Well, the chemo seems to be working as the tumour seems to be disappearing." Doctor Hansen informs us and she smiles at her.

"That's great. So… when will mum get to go home?" Athena asks Doctor Hansen nervously.

"Athena…" mum begins but Athena shakes my head at her.

"No, mum. It's been lonely in the house without you there every day. And ever since dad… died… you've been sick and I've always been there for you but… I… I haven't had anyone there for me… a-and I-I-it's killing me. I-I-I don't know what I'm g-gonna do I-I-if I lose you like we lost dad." Athena cries as her mum puts her hand on Athena's face to wipe the tears away that are flowing down her face. "Hey. It's okay. I'm not going anywhere." Athena's mum whispers but Athena shakes her head in response. She gets up from the chair before putting her jacket on and putting her bag on her back. "Yeah, well… that's what dad said before he…" she trails off as more tears flow down her face. "I-I'll see you in a while. I need some time to think." she stutters before walking out of the hospital room, out of the room and towards the lifts. However, she stops for a second when she sees someone sat under a tree with a book in his hands. The same boy who has been sat there every time she has been to the Hospital with or for her mum and to say the least, she's now intrigued as to who he is. She stares at him for a moment before running towards the lift to see if she can catch the boy because every time she sees him and then leaves the hospital, he's always gone.

Stepping out of the Hospital makes Athena sigh in relief because the Hospital makes her overwhelmed about everything, and she isn't anyone. She quickly looks over at the tree that the boy was sat under again to see that he's gone. She looks around for a second to see if she can see where he went but she sighs sadly because she was going to confront him about why he's always been there but she can't because he's not there anymore. She begins to walk away from the Hospital and into the park before sitting down on the bench. Athena takes off her bag and takes out a notebook and pen from it before opening it to a clean page and clicking her pen before beginning to write.

You sit there

Reading the book I always liked.

About a girl and a boy

They didn't go down with a fight

But I stand here

Wondering if you'll ever notice me

But that won't happen

Cause love doesn't come easily.

I understand

Why love doesn't come easily

I'll push you away

That's what I do naturally

But I don't think you will mind

Cause you never really notice me

Love doesn't come easily.

Come easily.

After a few minutes of trying to think of another verse, Athena sighs before writing Love doesn't come easily on the top of the page before shutting the notebook, clicking the pen so you can't write with it and putting them both back into her bag. She gets up, puts her bag onto her back and walks around the park for a while to finish clearing her head before heading back to the Hospital to her mum's room to find her asleep with an oxygen tube coming from her mouth. Beginning to panic, Athena rushes out of the room and approaches the front desk in the ward to talk to Doctor Hansen. "Do… Doctor Hansen… wh-what… what happened t-to my m-m-mum?" Athena asks stuttering as Doctor Hansen looks up at her.

"Athena… we had to put your mum into an induced coma." Doctor Hansen informs her and she looks at her sadly. "W-W-What happened though?" she asks desperately because she wants to know what happened whilst she was gone. "Well, about fifteen minutes after you had left, your mum started to cough up blood and her heart started to give out so we had to put her into an induced coma to keep her alive. And, Athena, when you're ready, we'll wake her up, put her on bypass so that you can say your goodbyes and she can write her will. However, there is only a certain amount of time that we can keep her in that coma before we have to wake her up," Doctor Hansen tells me. Tears pour out of Athena's eyes as she is told this and she begins to shake her head. "No… No… this can't be happening. She promised that she would beat this. She's meant to be here for me. She's supposed to be there on the last day of my last year of college when I graduated. This isn't meant to happen. She's the only family I've got left…" Athena trails off whilst more and more tears spill from her eyes but before anyone could comfort her, she runs from the ward, down the stairs and out of the Hospital.

Athena sits under a bus shelter to protect herself from the downpour of rain. The rain had helped to hide the tears that had been flowing down her face whilst she was walking in it, but now she's protected from the rain, you can see the tears clearer. Her phone is pressed up against her ear whilst she runs her hand through her soaked hair and repeating, "Pick up." over and over. Voicemail is heard through the speaker and she hangs up the phone in frustration before putting it into her jacket pocket. "I'm not surprised that Emily didn't pick up. She's normally asleep by now." she thinks to herself. However, as she sighs, her phone begins to ring so she pulls it out of her pocket quickly. The phone lights up with Emily's name at the top of the screen and Athena answers it. "Athena? Why are you calling me at…" Emily pauses for a moment. "Nearly half ten at night?" Emily asks her.

"Um… can you come to pick me up and let me stay for the night?" Athena asks, her voice sounding very shaky.

"Yeah. Sure. I'll be there in… wait… where are you?" Emily asks Athena.

"Uh… Under the bus shelter down Chalksbury Avenue." she informs Emily.

"Alright. I'll be there in fifteen." Emily informs her.

Not even fifteen minutes later, Emily shows up with her car in front of the bus shelter. Emily gets out of the car wearing baggy clothes and a thick coat wrapped around her body along with crocs? "Atti, come on. It's cold…" Emily trails off when she looks at Athena. Even though it's dark, Emily could see the tear stains on her face and the slight redness in her eyes. "Atti? What's wrong?" Emily asks her but Athena shakes her head.

"Can we talk about this in the car?" Athena asks Emily and she nods her head.

"Yeah. Come on. Let's get you in the car so you can warm up for your shivering." Emily tells her and she nods her head before they both walk to the car and get inside. Emily takes off her soaked jacket and puts it on the floor. Emily starts the car again before they begin their way back to Emily's house. "What happened, Athena?" Emily asks her as they begin their way there. "Mum's been put into an induced coma because of her cancer." Athena whimpers.

"But I thought the chemo was working, wasn't it?" Emily questions.

"It was but Doctor Hansen took it last week so she must've been wrong because she's gonna be gone soon." she whispers, her voice cracking slightly whilst she tries not to start crying again.

"But, surely she can't die whilst in a coma, can she?" Emily asks worriedly.

"Yes, she can, but the risk is very low. Doctor Hansen is going to wake her up when I'm ready though, so I c-can s-say goodbye." Athena whispers as she begins to cry again. She covers her mouth with her hand to hold back the sobs. "Hey, Atti. We'll get through this together. I'll even have Luke come and help if I have to." Emily offers but Athena shakes her head.

"Thanks, Em, but this is something I have to do on my own but thanks for the offer though." Athena declines.

"Well, do you think that when your mum wakes up, I could come and say goodbye with you? She's been more of a mother to me than my actual parents have ever been to me with them being away on business trips all the time?" Emily asks and Athena nods her head.

"Of course, Em." Athena smiles at her slightly as they pull up to Emily's house. Emily turns off the car and unplugs her seat belt along with Athena's. "We're here. But, Atti. When we get inside, can we just go to bed because I'm knackered with all this work we've been doing at college recently?" Emily asks Athena as she picks up her stuff, they leave the car and head up to the house. "Yeah, sure. But, where am I staying?" Athena asks confused as to where she would be sleeping.

"Guest bedroom. Up the stairs, left, first door on the right. There are some pyjamas in the top draw if you want them." Emily informs her as they enter the house. She nods her head and heads up the stairs. "I'll see you in the morning, Em. Night." Athena calls down to her from the top of the stairs. "Night, Atti. See you tomorrow." Emily bids her goodnight as well.

Athena walks into the bedroom before dumping all of her stuff on the chair by the door, stripping into nothing but her knickers, opens the top drawer of the chest of drawers, takes out a set of purple silk pyjamas, puts them on before crawling into bed and going to sleep. However, she doesn't go to sleep. She stays awake tossing and turning and worrying about her mum until quarter to four in the morning where she passes out from exhaustion. Although she is woken up at seven fifty-three to a revving of a motorbike engine and then a knocking at the front door. "EMILY! SOMEONE'S AT THE DOOR!" Athena yells from the room but getting no reply, she gets out of bed, heads towards the door, opens it and walks downstairs. She heads over to the front door and opens it in frustration before looking up at the person in front of her with wide eyes.