Her feet thudded on the ground, pants leaving her lips, droplets of sweat dribbled down her forehead. The once silent streets were now filled with loud and heavy footsteps. She ran as fast she could, they were going to be really mad tomorrow if she ends up home late. 

She stopped in front of her house, the darkness of the night making it almost invisible, the lights were turned off.  Taking a deep breath she fished out the keys from her pocket and opened the door. The same silence was wrapped around the house as it had been a few hours ago. Climbing up the stairs, she reached her room and pushed the door open, Audrey flopped on her bed letting out a loud sigh. 

They weren't home, she thought. She was glad, at least she wasn't going to be in trouble tomorrow morning. But at what cost? At the cost of never seeing her parents because they were too busy working rather than spending time with their already dying daughter. They really were the parents of the year. 

The alarm ringing woke Audrey up, groggily she got up from her bed and got ready for school. Checking her reflection in the mirror one last time, she went down the stairs for breakfast.

Stepping into the kitchen, there was the usual radio playing in the background; today's weather was going to be cloudy. Audrey wishes to just have a normal breakfast, it was about time she stopped arguing with her parents every morning. 

"At least you didn't leave early," She said loudly, loud enough for both her parents to hear. They both looked over at her, both were dressed in suits ready to leave for work. The radio turned off as well as the stove, the smell of fried eggs fading away.

She looked at her father first. Micheal his name was; a tall, lean man. He had a neatly trimmed beard and a cropped head. With his rigid posture, he might've looked a military general, but he wasn't, he was one of the kindest and nicest men Audrey had ever met. Audrey inherited her father's kind brown eyes, the warmest shade of brown, warmer than hot chocolate on a cold winter day. His eyes were filled with pity, but she couldn't tell whether the pity was for her or him or maybe both. Audrey already knew he wasn't going to say anything, letting out an annoyed sigh she turned to her mother- Ramona.

Her mother and Audrey had a strange relationship, they would argue more than any mother and daughter, but they also loved each other. There would be days where they both would be too stubborn to talk to each other. Audrey really didn't want to fight. Her mother looked at Audrey with a frown plastered on her face. Her mother was a tall skinny woman, she had beautiful brown skin and silky brown hair that she had tied in a neat bun, but her mother's best feature were her piercing blue eyes, blue like cornflowers. They were sharp and fast. 

"What do you mean?" Her mother asked, walking towards Audrey.

"Would you like for me to spell it out for you mother?" Audrey bit back, folding her arms over her chest. Her mother's nose flared as she glared down at Audrey.

"I'm your mother Audrey, it would be nice if you talked with a little more respect," Ramona gritted out, her blue eyes now icy but hot at the same time.

"Well then, I am your daughter and I am dying. So it would be nice if you came home early and actually gave a shit about me," Audrey screamed, her face flushed, and her eyes wide. Her mother let out a loud gasp, taking a few steps back.

"That's enough," Micheal yelled standing up from his chair. Audrey's father rarely got angry, but when he did it wasn't a pretty sight.

"Audrey, talk to your mother with respect," He yelled looking at her, his voice so loud that it made her flinch back,  tears welling up in her eyes.

"But Papa-," She whimpered, trying her best to keep her tears in.

"No buts, go to school," he said pointing at the door.

"But I-I.."

"I said go!"

A tear slipped down Audrey's eyes, creating a trail behind it. She swiftly turned around with her bag slung on her shoulder, stepped into her shoes and ran out of the house. Ran as fast as she could, fuck this shit. 

For the first time since finding out about her condition, Audrey wished that her lungs would take her away faster. 

She reached her bus-stop, rubbing her cheeks to remove whatever was left of her tears. She gingerly touched her eyes, realizing her were a little swelled and probably red too. As her bus arrived, she stepped onto it. Lowering her gaze to the floor, so that no one could see those puffy red eyes. Reaching the back of the bus, she took a seat on her usual seat. 

She plugged in her earphones to make it seem like she was fine, even if no one cared to look at her. Small sniffs left her though out the whole ride to school, she made sure to keep them quiet so one would hear her.

The school bus screeched to a stop, in the parking lot as students piled out of it. Audrey was the last one to get off, like usual. She walked through the hallways of the school, footsteps and chattering of students rang in the lengthy corridors, she kept her head down, her hair creating a curtain in front of her face.

Audrey's hands clutched tightly on the straps of her bags she kept walking, her speed increasing by the second.

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa," A voice said, holding Audrey's shoulders and halting her to a stop. She looked up to see, Erik. He scanned her face when his eyes landed on her puffy red ones.

"Why are you crying?" He asked, his voice lower than usual.

"It doesn't matter, Erik," She replied trying to get away from him. He tightened his grip, not letting her go.

"It does matter," He said, taking a hold of her hands and leading her somewhere.

"Rick, I have class," Audrey said, hoping the excuse of missing class would work. But it didn't, he didn't let her hand go. They weave through bodies of students rushing to class when they reached the staircase.

"It's one class," He mumbled back, as they climbed the stairs hand in hand.

"At least tell me where we're going?" She asked. He looked at her then looked back ahead. After taking a few turns and climbing many different staircases they stopped in front of a door. It was a dusty grey coloured door, bits of paint chipping off of it. It has scratches and pen marks all over it. Then her eyes landed on the three yellow-coloured messily drawn arrows that were crossed as the centre, the tips of the arrows facing downwards. 

She remembered Erik drawing those three arrows on this very door when they just 10-year-olds. She took a step forward and lifted her hand to trace the arrows, a small smile tugged at her lips. She remembered Erik explaining them.

"Remember how my mom is Circassian," He had said, a sparkle in his eyes. She nodded back at him. "Well the other day, she was telling me about the Circassian war. And the history behind our flag, she the three arrows in the middle symbolized peace, not war, she said to me the flag was about unity," He said pointing at the arrows he just drew, "and unity means friendship... I think. And so I thought since this is going to be our place forever, I thought we could put this here,"

Audrey smiled at his explanation and wrapped him in a hug. "I love it," She had said.

She remembered visiting this place with Erik until freshman year, but after that, she hadn't been here at all. "It's been so long," She whispered, pushing the door open. It was the rooftop of her school building. It was very simple actually, no fence, no border, no a thing. Just a plain white surface and an endless pine forest in front of it. Beautiful and green.

Audrey felt mesmerized by the view. Erik tightened his grip on her hand and started to lead her towards the edge of the roof. They both sat at the edge of the roof and stared at the infinite forest in front of them.

"You know Audrey," Erik spoke up still looking ahead. "Thinking about the fact that we've known each other since we were in diapers, it should've been expected that I would worry over you crying. I'm actually offended that you would think I didn't care," Erik said.

Audrey looked at Erik. Of course she knew he cared, he always did, he was like the brother she didn't have. "You know it's not like that," she whispered.

"Come on Drey, tell me what's up," he said, leaning back on his hands a bit.

"Okay fine," she sighed. "I got into an argument with my parents."

"And why did that make you cry?" He asked.

"Because I'm-I'm dying," she mumbled, frustrated. 

"You know I hate when you say that," Erik said, sitting up properly.

"Well, what else do you want me to say. It's not like I can sugar-coat it," Audrey raised her voice, getting mad at Erik because of her parents.

"I'm sorry Rick," She whispered. "It's just I am going to leave some time in the future, maybe it would happen in weeks, or months or maybe if I'm lucky then a year, but it could also happen tomorrow and instead of being with me they're off working late all the time," She said, a few stray tears rolling down her cheeks.

"And I got into an argument with mom this morning about it, and-and we started screaming," She said, gasping a little wiping the tears on her cheeks. "A-and then p-papa got up and yelled at me," She hiccuped as more tears poured out of her eyes, more than in the morning.

Erik wrapped one arm around Audrey's shoulder, pulling her into his chest. And she let him, she buried her face in his chest and sobbed.

Erik's other hand reached up to her head and ran his hands softly over her hair, hoping to comfort her.

"I just want them to be there," Audrey hiccuped, sobbing louder.

"Shhhh, it's okay," Erik whispered. Erik didn't know what else to say, all he wanted right now tho was just for Audrey to feel better. A few minutes later, Audrey stopped crying and lifted her head from Erik's chest. A large wet patch stained his t-shirt.

"Feeling better," He asked, as she sat. One of his arms still around her shoulders.

"A little, yeah" pause, "Sorry for ruining your shirt," she said pointing at the large wet stain on it.

"I don't care about this shirt, I can buy a hundred more if I want. But I only have one you and I care about you because you're my best friend. And you're leaving soon and I don't want to see you crying and being sad during the last few months of your life, I want you to be happy and be living your life with no regrets. Because I love you and I care," He said, moisture filling his blue eyes.

"Thanks, Erik," Audrey sniffed. "I love you too," she smiled and he smiled back. Erik leaned down and kissed Audrey's forehead, "It's going to be sunny today," he mumbled. 

"Now come on, let's get you cleaned up. I was planning on wearing my spare hoodie, but you need it more than I do, so we're going to get you my hoodie and you're going to spend the rest of your day with a beautiful smile on your face," He said as the two of them both stood up and walked through the door, his arm still around her shoulders.

"Okay Bow?" He asked, looking down at her.

"Okay Arrow," She replied, as they both walked through the door and back into the real world.