"The only thing she sees"

[November 23rd, 2021]

Aurora stared into the mirror. She looked ill. There was no point trying to hide it when her body was paler than ever, her eyes were red, and her muscles were twitching. It almost felt like she was going to have a stoke today at anytime. She had just arrived home from school after attempting the mathematics' exam that went terrible.

How come she looked so ill in just a few hours? She was just fine and kicking in the morning! She stepped out of her room in search of her father to visit the hospital, trying to avoid the sight of her mother. What if she thinks she's having a cold again and takes her to the hospital only to find out about her glioblastoma?

"Aurora!" Her mother called her from the kitchen counter. "Why do you look so pale? Come here!" She added in concern.

Aurora stood still, trying not to look behind towards her mother.

"D-Dad!" She called her father loudly and nervously.

Her mother sighed before walking towards her to check up on her by herself. She grabbed her shoulder and pulled her towards herself. She started to breathe heavily when her mother looked at her, fearing she might find out.

"Aurora, what's wrong? Sit down." Her mother slowly started to guide her towards the couch behind them.

Suddenly, her vision blackened and there was nothing she could see. Her mother quickly helped her sit down on the couch and left to get water. She slowly poured the water down her throat when her vision became a bit better. The only thing she could see right now, was her mother's worried expression. She didn't like it. She never wanted to see it.

"Aurora, are you feeling better now? Have you not been eating properly? Is it exams' stress?" Her mother asked in concern.

"Mom... I'm fine." Aurora murmured, trying to avoid eye-contact, now that she could see.

"No, Aurora! You're not fine! Visit the doctor with me. I think it's stress but we still need to see a doctor." She slowly pulled her arm so she could get up.

"Mom... I'm fine. Please." Aurora said as she swiftly stood up and went back to her room.

She stood against the door before leaning to sit slowly wondering how else could she had reacted towards her mother's concerns. She held her head in her hands, trying to cry. It never worked, ever. Not when she knew she was going to die. Why was it so hard to cry? Why couldn't tears just show up for once and make her feel better about herself and everything?

She shook her head, got off the floor and reached for her phone. She quickly called her father. The least she could do was going to the hospital. Turned out that her father wasn't at home. So, she decided to go alone, even though he suggested he would be at home in a while. She quickly left her house without letting her mother know. How could she, when she looked so ill? Knowing she was going to die in a few weeks, she couldn't just tell her mother right now. Maybe later, when her time would be closing, when she felt like it, she would bring it up to her mother herself.

She got her normal radio-therapy session and palliative care at the hospital. They could provide her with 24/7 care, even at home, considering her condition. However, her decision of secrecy kept them from doing so. Other patients with terminal illnesses were receiving all sorts of treatment, but for what? Their time was being used in the hospitals, the time they could've spent with their loved ones. Aurora thought she couldn't spend her prime time trying to get treatment when she could spend the same time with her friends giving them the little ounce of happiness left in her struggling, frustrating and troubled mind.

On her way back from the hospital, despite being cornered in the shower of her thoughts, she thought a bit time with her friends wouldn't hurt. It didn't matter if there was an exam next day and everyone would be busy studying for it. She just wanted to see someone instantly. Her mind was going through so many things, all at once. It became so much more overwhelming that she had thought. Was she really the Monarch Butterfly, who grows the strongest right before death? Or was it all her imagination, and she was not cut-out of any of what she had been anticipating? Making people happy? How about making your own self happier first? She could only find that out by living.

She grabbed her phone while seated at the bus-stop and went through her contact list. She had no idea who to call. She overthought about it before typing into the group chat,

"Anyone there?"

She waited for a reply for the next 5 minutes before she received one from Sean.

"I am there." Sean replied.

He gave off a different feeling, must've switched!

"Can I ask who this is?" Aurora typed.

"I'm your Uncle sweetie, no?" Hefty Uncle replied.

"Oh, Are you free Uncle? Did Sean study? Are you guys supposed to be free?" Aurora texted back.

As soon as she tapped 'send', Hefty Uncle called her. She didn't expect him to call her, but, she picked it up anyway.

"Hello?" Aurora asked through the phone.

"Seems like you have a lot of things on your mind. You can talk to me." Hefty Uncle quickly said.

"I..." Aurora sighed. "I'm really not sure if I can." She added.

"Sean is not in our consciousness right now... Only me and Adam will remember what you will tell us." Hefty Uncle explained.

"Really?" Aurora asked.

"You should clear your mind before we switch."

Aurora sighed sharply, then took a deep breath. She knew she could trust Hefty Uncle. Unless he might think it would be important for Sean to know, he wouldn't say anything about their conversation. More than enough reason to clear her mind, no?

"I have a terminal illness... And I'm trying to hide it until I die. I don't want to hurt anyone, or make them think I'm suffering. I just can't see that. I want to spend my last days with everyone, being me. I don't want any special treatment. I don't want them to worry about me. I just want everyone to be happy. Seeing me suffer won't make anyone happy." Her voice shook as she swiftly explained. "But it's hard. I look sick, paler... I-I don't know how to hide it anymore. It hurts all the time. I don't know... I don't know what to do." She added hesitantly.

"..." Hefty Uncle sighed slowly. "If it doesn't make you happy, why do you need to try so hard? We're the ones who need to try hard, for you! We love you. You're our cute little Aurora! Of course, at first we would be upset at the thought of losing you, you're right. But later we will try to live with you. Live the best out of you. So you are not headed to your afterlife in disappointment." Hefty Uncle encouraged her to share her thoughts with everyone else.

"How? Do I just tell them I'm dying? I bet they won't even want to sit with me if I tell them that. If I'm just gonna be a bad memory then I wanna die today!" Aurora cried, her voice shook but tears didn't show up.

"Aurora, no one will leave you. No one." Hefty Uncle tried to convince her further, "I'm switching, I will get back to you later." He ended the call with a straight face.

Sean had arrived back in the consciousness.

"No, I didn't hear anything. What were you guys talking about?" Sean asked himself after receiving a question from his consciousness. "What does that mean? Tell me in words I can understand Uncle!" He added after a long pause, when Hefty Uncle retreated from co-consciousness. "What did he mean by Aurora is going?... Where is she going?" He asked himself in thoughts, confused to what his alter meant.

[November 23rd, 2020]

Aurora chewed on her double-patty cheese burger as she ran her eyes across Sean. He stared back at her while sipping cola.

"What is this about? Are others not coming." Sean asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Huh?" Aurora scoffed. "Can we not hangout alone?" She asked as she pouted.

"That is... That is not what I meant." Sean explained himself swiftly because letting out a sharp sigh.

"Uh huh?" Aurora chuckled. "I called them, they should be here in a while." She added.

"You know I didn't mean that." Sean explained himself further to avoid misunderstandings as he was a bit flustered. He wouldn't have expected such a statement from someone like Aurora.

"I know! I was just joking." Aurora said as she lightly slapped his arm. "By the way, How free are you?" She asked.

"Maybe 5 more hours... I have a business dinner again today. They're annoying though. I might ditch it if you can accompany me to somewhere." Sean said.

"Where? I'm free..." Aurora said twitching her eyes in curiosity.

"A party. My dad gave me two options. Either go to the dinner, or visit our sponsor's son's promotion party. I can go to the boring dinner alone. But if I can go to the party with someone, it won't be bad. I could go there alone too but I'm not on good terms with that guy's friends. Better to take someone with me." Sean explained briefly.

"Did you ask Ethan? He loves rich people parties." Aurora said.

"Actually I did. And strangely, he turned me down with the reason of not wanting to babysit me because that's what I'm asking you to do right now. It's a party, I might switch more often. Also, he has over-time work today."

"I mean... I don't mind babysitting you... unless it's a shady place of course."

Sean nodded before taking out his phone from his jacket pocket. He typed the name of the place on the search bar to show her it wasn't a shady place.

"Martin Villa." He said, showing her the picture. "Michelle Martin, owner of the Martin company's only son's Villa. Not shady... Just extravagant and stupid. Why spend money on a Villa, when they could donate it to an orphanage or adult care centers?"

"Doesn't your family has a Villa too?" Aurora asked the most controversial question to Sean.

"Yes. Built by our ancestors and now converted into an orphanage. I am not bragging, just explaining the real usage of money."

Aurora smiled brightly as she nodded.

"I'll babysit you then." Aurora said. "But how is the party better than the dinner?" She asked.

"If you accompany me to the party, we can just do our own things and make it fun... If I go to the dinner, I would have to hear about stocks, marketing, shareholders, sponsors and all the business things that are straight-up boring." Sean said.

"If Ethan can't come... Should we ask Giselle and Lucy to accompany us too?"

"I can only take one person. I asked Ethan because he likes parties, but he declined right? I asked Lucy then, but she doesn't like parties... And Giselle doesn't wanna babysit me either. Unless I tell her you're going too, she wouldn't come... And yeah..." Sean said with pauses.

"Are you switching?" Aurora asked.

"I think." Sean said before he paused.

"He's switching, He's switching..." Giselle said as she arrived.

"You're here! Finally!" Aurora exclaimed in joy.

Giselle sat beside Aurora as she smiled.

"I wasn't going to be late, but Lucy... That brat! I asked her to come with me but she won't wake up! I waited half an hour at her house!." Giselle started off with a rant. "Also thanks for accompanying this baby to his party. I was worried if no one would..." She added.

"Well, I'm free... So why not?" Aurora chuckled.

Sean let out a deep sigh.

"I managed to stay." He said.

After hanging out with Sean and Giselle, just catching up, Aurora went back to her house to dress up for the party. Sean was willing to get a dress for that but she wanted to wear her own. She had this one dress that her dad bought for her just for this occasion.

He didn't necessarily, telepathically guess that she would have to go to an extravagant party, he just bought it for her because he thought his daughter's looks in that dress would kill everyone who looked at her. Aurora wore that beautiful, cool white dress and combed her hair. She took a hairpin out of her jewelry box and pinned her bangs into little braids, leading to the back of her head where she secured it with a silver ornament.

She also put on a bit of makeup, not too much, just a bit. The only thing she could see was... mascara. She closed her eyes too quickly after applying mascara. Should've let it dry. She washed her eyes, and applied it again. This time, she let it dry before blinking. She quickly ran out of her room to show her parents her appearance.

"Mom! Dad! How do I look?" She asked with twinkling eyes.

"Oh no!" Her father covered his eyes. "Why are you shining so bright?!" He exclaimed.

"Is my angel going somewhere?" Her mother asked as she smiled looking as her daughter.

"Yes. Sean and me are going to some party." Aurora said.

"Oh... Just the two of you?" Her father asked out of curiosity.

"Honey!" Her mother whispered loudly before punching his arm lightly. "Y-You should drop her." She added hesitantly.

"Sean said he'll pick me up himself." Aurora said.

"Himself? Alone?" Her father asked yet again, out of curiosity.

Her mother quickly pushed him away and nervously chuckled.

"Alright sweetie. Don't be late." Her mother said when the bell rang, "Oh, it must be Sean. Off you go now!" She said while leading Aurora outside and slamming the door shut. "How could you say things like that?! They're just friends!" She complained to her husband.

"I mean.. But they're always in a group right... You know..." He wanted to justify his questions.

Aurora waved to Sean before sitting in the car, driven by his driver. All she had to do, was to keep Sean away from trouble i.e. babysit him and his alters. That wasn't too hard right? She was going to enjoy the party, right?