Page 182 of Play of Love
"Of course." She nodded but then her smile faltered.
“You okay Lucy?” There was something a little off with the sudden change in her mood.
"Evie, remember the other day when I said I wished that I could tell you certain things, but sometimes it's painful?"
"Yeah. I remember. You don't have to worry about that. I do really understand." I offered, I didn't want Lucy feeling bad about anything.
"There's um... something else."
It was the worried look in Lucy's eyes that held my attention. Lucy sat on the edge of my bed and gazed at me with this faraway look.
I rested against the wall. "What's the matter Lucy?"
"I don't want to ruin your fun at the beach, so maybe I'll tell you some other time."
Now I was worried. "Lucy. You have to tell me. Tell me now." If she didn't, it would play on my mind.
Lucy pulled in a breath, and a tentative expression filled my face. "I'm sick Evie."
"Sick?" My voice trembled, barely able to say the word. "Like you have a cold?" My voice quivered even more.
"No. Not like a cold," She gave me a brief smile but then quickly resumed her seriousness. "I've been sick for a while. A year or so."
I moved closer to her and sat next to her on the bed. "What are you sick with?"
Lucy brought my hands together and templed her fingers at her nose. "A brain tumor."
I pulled in a sharp gasp and brought my hand up to my mouth. "No, please no." I shook my head.
"Evie." Lucy tried to put her arm around me, but I moved away. I got off the bed and pulled out my suitcase.
"We have to go back home now, and you have to have surgery to get rid of it." Tears spilled down my cheeks as I spoke.
"Evie. No. I'm not having surgery." Lucy stated.
I glared at her as my breath hitched in my lungs, and I froze. "What do you mean? You have to. You have to. You'll die."
"Evie. My tumor is in a difficult place, and we will have to remove a part of my brain with it to remove it completely and be sure it won't grow back. If I have surgery, it will cause complications that will kill the best part of me. There will be nothing left of me, and I won't even remember how to play the violin or compose. I can't live without my music. I won't."
"Is that a definite?"
"There's a ninety percent chance, and I'm old. With the technical nature of the surgery, there's a chance I may not even get through such an intense procedure."
"No. You have to." I cried. "There's a ten percent chance you'd be fine. Please. Please, Lucy."
"I can't," Lucy replied with tears now streaming down her cheeks. "I can't."
Her answer was like a stab to my heart, and I began to shake as fearful images surfaced within my mind.
Lucy had a brain tumor, my Lucy who meant the world to me.
And, she was saying she wasn't going to do anything about it. That would only result in death. There was no other ending. Just the thought of her not being alive anymore shattered me. It tore at my insides and shattered me.
It was too much. I couldn't breathe. As I broke down, I ran out of the room. The world was falling away from me and I was falling away with it, slipping into a dark abyss of sorrow.
This couldn't be happening. Lucy was everything to me, and now she was dying.
It pained me to even think of the word. I ran down the stairs and was getting ready to go through the door when I saw Gage in the lounge. It was actually him who saw me first and came rushing to my aid.
