Sleep

The sound of sunlight was strong that day. Maria could feel it pounding on the closed windows of her bedroom. It was a painful reminder her of a time when the sun was on her skin and in her eyes, instead of the memory like the one that haunted her now. She hadn’t seen real sunlight in a long time. A sigh escaped her parched lips. Sometimes it was hard not to think of the past. At least Cara was coming today. That eased the pain a little.
Her mood lightened as she contemplated her friend’s arrival. Cara was her only friend who remained after the illness had taken away her hair and her strength and her life.
Soon enough, the door creaked open and Maria’s best friend walked in the door.
“Maria!” she exclaimed.
A smile split across Cara’s bright face and Maria realized that she didn’t need the sun of the world. She had her own personal sun right there.
Cara came and sat down in the chair stationed next to her.
“How are you?” she asked casually.
“I’m okay,” Maria said. And it was true. Whenever Cara was around her spirits rose and the constant fatigue that plagued her faded into the background.
“That’s good. I brought a new book for today.”
It had become their tradition to read from out loud from a book in the time the spent together. They often didn’t get very far before they began to talk about life, people they both knew, Cara’s mother, anything that needed to be said. Today the book was “The Body of Christopher Creed”. They both enjoyed it enough to actually get through a lot of it before Cara had to go home, a time that was hours too soon as always.
Just before she left, Cara pulled Maria into a huge bear hug. She knew the days when they weren’t together hard for her friend. “Be strong,” she whispered. Maria felt tears come to her eyes. How could life be like this? Her friend shouldn’t have to worry about her so much. They were only fourteen and already they were counting the days they had left together.
The truth was Maria was dieing of cancer. The doctors tried to stay positive, but the tumor had come back and things were not looking good. The chemo made her exhausted all the time and nauseous. Her mother was always on the verge of tears and her father was visibly suffering from all the stress. Maria’s little sister was barely five and even she knew that her older sister might not be around forever.
Cara was the only thing Maria had to hold on to. She laughed with her and read to her and called her every day they didn’t get to see each other, which was a lot of the time, considering Maria didn’t go to school anymore. Cara was what kept her from drowning in a place where despair was like a freezing sea and she just kept getting more tired of fighting it.
That night before she went to bed, she thanked God for giving her such a good friend as Cara. And as she was saying her prayer, she felt as if maybe she could make it.  
***
“Mom!” Maria shouted.
“What is it honey?” her mom asked concernedly. Maria and her father had just gotten back from the doctors when they had looked over the most recent MRI scan.
“It’s gone! The tumor is gone!” she said. She watched as a smile of relief and joy spread across her mom’s face.
“That’s amazing. Oh my god. You’re going to be okay!” she swept her daughter into a huge hug.
The feeling of celebration spread throughout the entire house like a warm, nice wildfire. They had a special dinner and for the first time in months they seemed like a family again. Just before they all sat down to dinner, Maria called Cara but no one picked up so she just left a message.
Maria went to bed with a heart lighter than air and she was practically laughing with joy at her unexpected recovery. She was still tired, but it barely fazed her. She would be going back to school soon. She would be able to complain about how much homework she had and gossip about boys again. She couldn’t wait until Cara heard.
The next morning when she went downstairs her parents were already up. The mood was drastically different from the night before. The air seemed thick with an explained sadness. Maria was at a loss. What was wrong?
She tried to just act normal, going to pour herself some cereal. “Did Cara call?” she asked casually. At this her father looked up at her, an unexplained sorrow deep in his eyes.
“Cara, honey,” he said with the air of someone trying to break some horrible news lightly, “There was an accident.”
“What do you mean?” she could hear the edge of panic in her voice but there was nothing she could do stave it off.
“Cara’s mom called. She was walking home from school. There was a careless driver. It was all a horrible accident,” he said, his words rushed as if hearing it sooner would make it easier.
“I don’t understand!” she shouted.
“She’s gone, honey. She’s dead.”
She felt the bitter tears well up in her eyes and brim over. She had been through all of this just to hear that Cara was gone before she could hear the good new of Maria’s recovery. It was just too much for her then. She walked up the stairs and into her little room with the two windows and sat down in the seat that Cara used to sit in and just let the tears roll.
The funeral was a tragic affair. She wasn’t the only one there who cried almost the entire time. When they lowered the coffin into the ground she could feel her heart ripping in two. Cara had been her best friend and one of the most important people in her life for so long.
“Good bye, friend,” she whispered through her tears. “I will miss you.”
As they walked away at the end of the service she felt her mothers arm around her shoulders, guiding her to the car. You were right, Cara, she thought. I can be strong.