Kathy looked down at the blood on her hand. Damn, another nosebleed. She picked up a towel and held it against her nose. Things were getting worse and time was running short. She sat back in the chair, waiting for the blood flow to stop and the pounding in her head to settle to a dull thump.
She had always been an adventurous and wild girl, but at the age of sixteen she was diagnosed with a cancer that just refused to be beaten, now, at twenty-one, there was nothing more that could be done. Still, she was alive and intended to make the most of every moment she had left to her. There was a knock on the door and she called out that it was open. He mother entered with a tray of food and a look on her face that showed just how hard she was trying to hide her sadness.
"Hon, Terry called again. You really should call him back." Her mother's voice was soft, as always, and Kathy sighed heavily.
"I know Mum, I have been putting him off far to long. I'll call him after dinner." Her mother's smile was a welcome sight. It would be worth calling him just to see her do that again, none of them had much to smile about these days. Her mother left her to her dinner, and her thoughts.
As Kathy ate her steak and vegetables, she thought about Terry. For most of her life he'd been the boy next door until he turned nineteen and moved in to flat with a few of his mates. They'd been to kindergarten together, and walked to school every day of their growing years. He was her best friend, her bud, but she had been avoiding him since her illness had become such a hopeless cause. She knew her reasoning wasn't logical, or fair to him, but she couldn't stand to see the pain in his eyes when he looked at her.
She picked up her plate, her dinner unfinished, and headed out to the kitchen. The telephone hung on the wall, an inanimate plastic object, and yet she found she had to make a real effort to pick up the receiver and hit the button marked "Terry" Why was she so shaken by calling him?
"Hi there, it's your money, start talking."
She started to giggle. One day he would answer the phone like a normal person and she would be stunned.
"Then I guess I want a refund." She should not have waited so long; he already had her smiling. He always had the uncanny knack of being able to make smile no matter what the situation or trouble.
"Kat. Baby. Thank god. I was beginning to think you had been sucked into a parallel dimension and become the unwilling sex slave of mutant frog people. How are you gorgeous?" It was all she could do not to drop the phone laughing. What an imagination he had.
"You have been watching far to much television. It's warped your fragile little mind." She giggled at the long running joke they had between them, it had been the cause of many sessions of laughter that had left her with her sides aching and her face streaked with happy tears. "And I am fine thank you for asking. How are you?"
"Lonely, and bored, how about I collect your cute little self in about fifteen minuets and we go catch a movie?" He had never been one for giving her much notice, but what the hell; it wasn't like she had anything else to do tonight.
"Make it ten and you've got a deal." She could hear him laughing as she set down the receiver and hurried to her room to change. Her mother was delighted that she had decided to go out, and even more so that it was Terry she was going with. Since Kathy's Dad died three years earlier of a similar cancer, Kathy and her Mum had become very close, they were all each other had and Kathy felt a certain measure of guilt that she was going to be joining her father and leaving her mother completely alone. It was that thought that hurt her more than the thought of her own death. Her mother was a strong woman, but no one liked to be alone. Kathy had made arrangements without her mother knowing that when the end finally came, her Aunt Sara would come and see that her mum was coping, and if the need arose, take her in. She had done her best to prepare her over the last few years, but some things were beyond preparation.
She saw the car lights in the drive and she hugged her mother close, kissing her cheek and telling her not to wait up. Kathy darted for the door before she started to cry, something she tried never to do in front of her mum. Terry was already out of the car and headed toward the house to collect her when she met him half way. He welcomed her with a broad smile and warm hug.
"Baby you look just great."
She actually blushed a little but was thankful he couldn't see in the darkness of the driveway. He opened the car door for her, helping her in. He'd always been a gentleman as far as she was concerned; it was something she truly loved about him.
