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-I am very sorry Mr Williams, it is unfortunately leukaemia.
I was devastated I couldn't believe it. I had been feeling worse for a while but I thought it was a cold and not leukaemia.
How am I going to tell Jake about this? His parents and I have planned a birthday party for him, I can't spoil his birthday with information about my illness. We're going to go on holiday together, so maybe this is the perfect time to tell him, we'll change the place, I'll take him to the sea, the cinema or the beach and I'll tell him.
I don't know how he will react to this. I've prepared a special present for him and I hope he'll like it, I'm staying with him overnight so we'll have plenty of time to ourselves.
Jake was very happy, I think it was my planning of the attractions for him that paid off, we went for ice cream, we went on the rollercoaster but it wasn't for me. He even won a teddy bear for me, it was really sweet. While I was spending time with him, at his house our friends were preparing the second part of the surprise. A surprise party.
When we got home he was shocked to see all his friends, he was sure it would be just the two of us spending the day and here was a surprise. We had a great time,
Even I managed to forget my illness for a while. When everyone had gone it was time for my present. When he opened it he was really touched and started to cry, I immediately hugged him and kissed him. I gave him my ticket to the cinema where we met, somehow I couldn't throw it away and it was good because now I could give it to him. I gave him his old sweatshirt that he had soiled when we were together for pizza. It was our first date since everyone knew we were together. I bought him another black panther sweatshirt.
He's a huge fan of hoodies and black panther so I put that together. Finally, in the box that all the presents came in were Jake's old shoes, he was very attached to them but unfortunately he destroyed them so I offered to throw them away and I put them away because I felt they would still be useful. I managed to get them repaired but to make them new too I did a bit of scratching on them and they came out really great.
We were due to fly from Brazil in a week's time and all I could think about was how to tell Jake about my illness. I was still at the doctor's, my mum was worried and still wanted to make sure if I was sure I could fly to Brazil but luckily Doctor Wood saw no obstacles. I tried to pretend everything was fine but I felt worse and worse.
We waited for Jake and his parents for about twenty minutes. I told my mum I had plenty of time and we didn't need to rush but she's always afraid we'll be late and rushes everywhere. As soon as I saw him at the airport I couldn't believe that for our departure he had worn the shoes he got from me. After a long wait we were finally on the plane. At that point I wanted to tell Jakewoki about my illness but he told me his worries about his dad, I could see that I was very concerned about it and decided not to say anything to him for now but to wait for the right time. In fact his dad was acting strangely not like from Jake's story, I didn't want to worry him even more about my illness.
The holiday was really fun we did a lot of sightseeing we went to the cinema but it wasn't a good idea because we didn't understand anything. We were in Rio, we saw a beautiful waterfall and things were better with Jake's dad. Once I tried to talk to him about his condition but I didn't find out anything. He just told me:
-Peter, time is passing and you don't waste it drop the burden you carry in your heart, don't make my mistake.
I didn't know what he meant, did he know about my illness? Just from an angle?
My parents promised me that they wouldn't say anything to anyone without my permission. It was strange.
I even recorded a video for Jake at the beginning it was the one where I wanted to tell him I had leukaemia but in the end the video was of us together, the videos and at the end I tell him how I love him. I don't know what it was for, I'm afraid I won't live to see my next holiday, the doctors say I'll be fine but you never know.
Finally we returned to school, I went with my parents to a meeting with the headmaster to tell him about my illness. My parents wanted the teachers to know so that they could help me if something happened. I got an exemption from gym class for a whole year, I was afraid it might make Jake suspicious and I didn't want that. Even my friends didn't know about it, at first I wanted to tell Jake but there was still no opportunity. He was now spending a lot of time with his dad which he was really enjoying and I didn't want to spoil it for him.
He enjoyed telling me about his day with his dad during which they played basketball and made pizza.
When we were at school Jake started asking me why I wasn't doing PE, I could see he was starting to notice something and I thought about how to tell him. I had been thinking all summer and still didn't know how to do it. Suddenly he got a strange message from his mum and after the bell rang he ran out of the classroom, I didn't know what was going on, I wrote to him and called him but he didn't answer so I was afraid something had happened to him so I finally decided to go to his house and see what was going on. I will never forget it, once I was at his house I found out that his dad had died. After that I decided not to tell him about the illness and to try and hide it from him for as long as possible, he completely fell apart after his dad died. He stopped seeing anyone and talking to me too. It sounds strange, but I didn't mind, and I was really sorry, because I was going to the doctor's for a consultation every now and then, to make an appointment for an operation, which in my case is essential for further treatment. It was really hard for me, I was afraid I was going to die. Eventually my relationship with Jakei improved but he was angry with his mum for not telling him about his dad's illness. I felt terrible about it because I was doing the same thing hiding my illness. His mum asked me to help him reconcile with Jake. At first I thought it wouldn't work because Jake shouted at his mum and left but then it turned out they had reconciled.
Only it didn't help him and it got worse and worse with him. He became addicted to sleeping pills and tranquilizers he moved away from everyone even more than before, when I found out he was taking them he promised me he would stop. The next day he came to my house and we had a nice time, when he went I felt sick and wanted to go to bed but the phone rang it was Mum Jake
-Good morning
-Good morning peter is Jake with you?
-No he's out and what's going on I thought he was at home?
-He's gone he left a letter and I'm afraid he wants to hurt himself it's really bad with him
-Mrs Emily, come to my house and we'll look for him together
-Good to go
I was absolutely terrified I didn't think it could be that bad with Jake I quickly grabbed my jacket and ran out of the house and together with Jake's mum we drove all over the city looking for him. It was getting dangerous because it was getting darker and colder.
-He's nowhere to be found, I won't forgive myself if I lose him yet - His mum was terrified, like me. I tried to reassure her
-We will find it
-Only he's nowhere to be found-we went through all the places he likes- Then I remembered another place where we've been many times with Jake.
-Drive to the bridge
-Where?
-Jake liked the place, fast!
As soon as we got there, I noticed Jake I didn't know what to say so I just shouted out
-JAKE
He heard this and came down, we were relieved, his mum and I hugged him tightly and I gave him my jacket, although it was too small, I wanted him to warm up a bit.
Jake said what he really felt and we told him how much we loved him and how important he was to us I think he understood because I could see him start to smile. His mum gave him a letter that his dad had written to Jake before he died and I think that was the thing that helped him the most to pick himself up and come back to life. When we got back to his house he threw out all the pills with me and asked me to help him clean his room I could see that was how he wanted to close this dark chapter in his life. Afterwards we made pizza and watched movies together, I was happy that my Jake was finally back. Before bed he asked me to go with him and his mum to his dad's cemetery, it was really hard for him because she hadn't been there since the funeral. I was scared of how he would cope with it but he managed to talk to his dad and I already knew at that moment that the awful time in which he lived was over. But mine was just beginning.
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