~*~
Beth was bored.She had been sitting in the hospital room for the last two days watching her sister, and she wasn’t entertaining her.Of course, she was dying, but that didn’t mean that she had to sleep all the time.
“You know you can leave if you want.I didn’t ask you to be here in the first place.”She said she was her sister and wanted to be there for her.“No, you don’t.I hear you mumbling about how much you hate being here.I can die with you here or not, Beth.It’s not like you’re going to be able to save me from anything.”
“Well, aren’t you just cheery.I want to be here, but it’s taking so long.”She knew that as soon as the words left her mouth, she shouldn’t have said it.“I’m sorry that you’re dying, but they told methat you’d only have six weeks to live.I had no idea they were going to keep giving you medication to keep you sleeping all the time.Why are they doing that in the first place?”
“I’m in a great deal of pain all the time.They’re making me comfortable.Why don’t you go out and get yourself something to eat?It’s better than you taking pop shots at me because I’m taking too long to die.”She said that she didn’t say that.“You did.But that’s all right.If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather be alive than dead any day of the week.Just leave me to it and go out and have fun.”
She thought about it for about five minutes and decided to do just that.After making sure that Helen didn’t really care if she stayed, she left the room before she could change her mind.She didn’t stop at the desk and tell them that she was leaving, as they had gotten testy with her when she’d asked them for something they were giving her sister for her backache.The chairs weren’t all that comfortable, and she knew she was going to have to see someone about it before too much longer.
Putting her face up to the air to try and get the smell of death off of her, she reached into her bag to get her phone.Of course, it was Serenity again.And she’d not ask about her but their sister.She’d been the one who had stayed with their sister when things had been trouble for her work.
“I’m leaving now to get there.”She said that she’d left Helen in her room so she could get something to eat.“You left her all alone?What sort of person does that to their sister, Beth?She’s dying.There will be no second chances when she’s gone.You should be asking her for her forgiveness instead of running off every chance you get.”
“She told me to leave her alone.”That wasn’t quite right, but that’s the story that she was sticking with.“Besides, you can sit with her for a few days.I’m sick of being cooped up in the room with her.It smells like dead people.”
“That’s because she’s dying.”She heard a car door slam, and there was someone else that Serenity was talking to.Something about the airport.“I’ll be there in about two hours.If you’re not there, I’m going to be pissed off at you.”
“Be pissed.Helen said that I could go, and I did.She doesn’t need me to hold her hand all the time.Half the time, she doesn’t even know that I’m there.They keep her so doped up all the time, and she’s sleeping it off.”Now that her outing was ruined, she decided to treat herself to getting her nails done.It was something that she needed anyway, and no one was there to stop her.“I have things to do, so I’m not going to be there when you get there.Just know that I have a back pain from sitting around all day while you were out doing your thing.”
“I was working.”Rolling her eyes at her sister, she decided that she’d had enough.But Serenity apparently had more to say to her.“She’s going to die, Beth, doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“She’s been on the verge of death for the past six months.Either they find a cure for her, or they just leave her alone.It’s boring sitting around the hospital room anyway.”She knew that she was pissing her off, but didn’t care.She’d been sitting with her for the past two days, and nothing had changed.“I might not even show up tomorrow either.You sit with our dying sister.I’ve had enough.”
After closing the connection on the phone, she put her phone away, but not before muting it.It’s not like she gave Helen cancer.It was just one of those things that had happened.Hell, she didn’t even smoke.Hailing down a cab, she got in and asked the driver to take her to the mall.Surely, somewhere in there, she would be able to find a shop to do her nails for her.Maybe she’d get her hair done as well while she was at it.
Helen had been diagnosed with cancer about a year ago.After having chemotherapy, they said that she was cured.Well, not cured, but they’d done all they could for her.Then, about a month ago, she’d fallen, and they found that it was in her bloodstream and that it was too far gone for them to do much for her.
She had missed some of the conversation with the doctor when he’d been telling them about the cancer, but they only gave her five months to live.Beth had had no idea that it was going to be the full five months when she said she’d take her turn and sit with her.She’d also had no idea that it was just sitting with her while she had drugs pumped into her body, either.
Helen was talking to the woman who was doing her nails about her sister when she nearly tookher finger off.She asked what she was doing when she saw the blood on her finger.There wasn’t much of it, but enough that she thought they should give her the nail job for free now.
“How can you just sit here and act like it’s an inconvenience to you that your sister is dying?Have you no heart at all?”She told her that it was none of her business what she did with her sister.“It wasn’t until you told me about it.I mean, good Christ woman, she might only have hours to live, and here you are getting your nails done instead of being with her when she takes her last breath.”
“You sound like my other sister.Serenity is forever going on about how we have a duty to Helen while she’s still with us.I’ve not had anyone talk to me in a good long time, and I thought that you’d be sympathetic about my sister.”She said the only one she was sympathetic with was her dying sister.“Figures.I’m always the bad guy when things like this come up.I didn’t give her cancer.She just got it somehow.I wasn’t going to stay with her at all if she could give it to me.I’ve seen what it would do to my body, and I won’t have myself taken away by some disease that makes you wish for death.”
“Did she say that to you?”She said that she’d thought that if Helen had any lick of sense, she’d say the same thing.“You mean you’d rather she just die and get it over with instead of having you sit with her in her final hours?”
“Yes, that’s it exactly.I’m not going to feel sorry for her either.Whatever she’d done to get herself in this way is entirely her fault.”The woman told her to leave.“Leave?You’re not even finished with cleaning my nails.I want a new set put on.And don’t think I’m leaving you a tip either.I’m going to make sure that everyone knows how you nearly took my finger off, too.”
“Get out of my sight.I want nothing to do with you anymore.”She said she wasn’t going to.“Yes, you are, or I’m going to call the police.I know my rights, and it says that if I don’t want to deal with you, I don’t have to give you service.So get out of here right now before I have you arrested.Surely there is something in the laws about being a cold, heartless bitch.”
When the woman pulled out her cell phone and called the police, she left.No one else in the salon would finish her nails either.It wasn’t her fault that Helen was dying, was it?She didn’t give her cancer.People were just unfair about how they treated her, and she was going to have to figure out how to deal with them.
Pulling out her phone, she wasn’t surprised to find that she had five missed calls from her sister.She didn’t bother calling her back.She was free of the hospital, and she wasn’t going to go back because Serenity was going to bully her.And she would too, she just knew it.
Finding someplace that would do her nails took her until nearly six.Promising herself she wasn’t going to mention Helen, she found herself talking about herself.It was a better topic anyway, and she enjoyed talking about herself more than she did her sisters.They were both fuddy-duddies, and she hated to be around the two of them.As she was getting the final coat on her new nails, she thought again about having her hair done.But the thought of having to find someone this late in the evening didn’t appeal to her.That was going to be something that she’d do tomorrow.
Finding her hotel after forgetting the name of the place she’d been staying since being in town, she went to her bathroom and took a much-needed shower.After washing her hair twice, just to get the smell out of it, she wrapped herself in the hotel robe and sat on the bed.Even if she didn’t have anyone to talk to, this was so much better than sitting around the hospital room for hours on end.
It wasn’t as if she stayed in her room for the two days she was watching over Helen.She’d made her way to the cafeteria looking for a good-looking doctor that she thought she could hook up with.Then, when that hadn’t worked, she’d take walks around the building looking for something to do.Not only was Helen’s room boring, but the entire hospital was as well.She didn’t like to say this to her sister, but she might have to.If Serenity decided to die, she was going to tell her to do it on a cruise ship or something.At least she’d have something to entertain herself while watching over her.
When her hotel room phone rang, she decided to answer it with a cheery voice.It always made her feel better when someone commented on her voice when she answered that way.Waiting for the person on the other end to talk, she was ready to hang up when she realized that the person was crying.
“It’s Serenity.Helen died an hour ago.”Then the line went dead.Wanting to call her back, shepulled out her phone to give her a piece of her mind.Why had it taken her an hour to tell her?She was her sister, too, by god.Plus, she needed to make arrangements with someone to get her hair done now.There was no way that she was going to be looking like her dead sister when she could do something about it.“What do you want, Beth?I have to make arrangements for Helen.”
“Why didn’t you call me sooner so that I could be there with her?”she said that she’d left her messages.“I didn’t get them.I had my phone on mute so that I’d not have to hear from you again.”
