051.
"What do you mean there's nothing you can do? Can't you perform surgery or something?" Alex asked, worry clear in his voice. He and the nurse had gone to the cafeteria to grab a cup of coffee and talk more about Angela.
"She has Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, or CJD as we prefer to say. It's very rare for a teenager like herself to get this disease, only a few in the United States have been diagnosed with CJD."
"What exactly is CJD, like what does it do to her?"
The nurse took a sip of her coffee. "Her brain will be slowly eaten away until she eventually dies. Until then she suffers with memory loss, seizures, balance and coordination dysfunction, and hallucinations. Because of her balance and coordination, she has to stay in her hospital bed all day and needs help going to the bathroom. Sometimes she won't remember who her parents are, where she is, or even what her name is."
"But you can't just leave her like that! It's too much for a girl her age."
"We're not just going to kill her, that'd be inhumane. For the mean time, we try to make life for her here at the hospital as happy as we can. It's not easy since she keeps to herself and acts like she hates the world."
A smile crept onto Alex's face. "Well then we just have to change that," he replied and then left for Angela's room.
- - - - - - - - - -
He slowly opened the door and walked into her room. Angela was awake and looking out the window at the sunset.
"Hey," said Alex as he sat next to Angela on her hospital bed. She turned and stared at him, studying his features. His brown hair, his green eyes, and his tanned skin did make him pretty cute.
Angela managed a chuckle. "Like I'd ever admit that."
"Admit what?"
"Oh, it's nothing. And what are you doing here again? I thought I asked you to leave."
"I was worried. After all, you did have a seizure while I was talking to you."
She sighed. "I guess you're not going to leave me alone now, are you?"
A huge grin spread across Alex's face, making Angela's heart jump into her throat. She diverted her gaze away from him and tried to calm herself.
"So does that make us friends now?" questioned Alex.
Angela closed her eyes for a bit, then sat up and looked directly into his eyes, as if she was looking beyond his eyes into his soul. "You know of my disease, and that I'm going to die. I could die any day, you know. It could be in six months, heck maybe even tomorrow. You still want to try being my friend?"
Alex chuckled and showed her a smile that she hadn't seen from anyone in awhile. "Just because you're dying, doesn't mean I can't be your friend. I'd like to be your friend, and learn a lot about you. I want to make you laugh, and show you things you've never seen or done before."
"But there's no point in being friends with a dead person."
"No one said you were dead yet," Alex's voice raised a bit.
"But I will be soon. Plus, because of my disease, I'll forget about you. You don't want a friend that doesn't even know your name."
"So? I'll remind you everday who I am, and tell you all the great times we've shared. I'll write down what we've done in a journal, I'll even take pictures if that's what it'll take to make you remember."
Angela cleared her throat. "But there won't be any point, I won't ever be able to remember anything. No matter how many hours in a day you use to tell me everything, I'll just end up forgetting it by the following morning. It's useless!"
"Why are you so hell-bent on getting rid of me? I'm trying to get through to you, so that you can spend the rest of your days having fun and not sitting in this bed. I want to show you life from a different perspective, yet you refuse to let anyone in. Are you using the excuse of dying to close yourself off from the world? I don't know what your past was like, but I'd give anything to be part of your world for just a day if not even more than that." Alex's eyes were filled with curiosity with a mix of mystery, and somehow a spark of hope lured behind his pure green eyes.
Angela felt her chest tighten and her throat went dry. Her eyes were starting to sting, as well. She didn't understand what she was feeling, nor why she was feeling that way. All Angela really knew for sure is that she liked this warm feeling forming inside her, and she never wanted it to leave.
She snapped out of her thoughts when she felt a tissue on her face, gently being rubbed around her eyes. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry," said Alex. The look in his eyes was gone.
"I-It wasn't your fault. To be honest, I'm not really sure why I'm crying either."
Alex let out a laugh. "You're one weird girl, but I like that about you." Angela looked at him, a little surprised by what he said, but then she let out a giggle.
"Hey, I got you to laugh!"
"Because you're so weird." Angela looked out the window again. The sun was just about gone, which meant Alex had to leave. "You should probably get going before it gets really dark out."
Alex stood up. "Yeah, I probably should. Well, see ya." He made way for the door. Just before he was completely out of sight she yelled, "Alex! You'll come back tomorrow, right?"
He turned a bit, but not enough so she could see his face. Then Alex fully turned around, that same grin from before dancing across his face. "Of course."