Emilia Louise Mayne's Story

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As Emilia awoke, she shivered. The bed was drenched in her sweat, but she was used to it now. Having leukemia meant occasionally sweating throughout the night, and it was just something she had grown to accept.
Getting out of bed was always a struggle, despite Emilia's eagerness to begin the day. Her day's began with a '3,2,1 .. Go!'
Once she said go out loud, she would sit up in her bed and swing out her legs, wriggling her toes happily.

It was the beginning of Summer vacation. Emilia knew that her time left to live was cut short, but she wasn't going to let that get to her. She was going to have a blast before she ventured off too the place you attend after death, Emilia was sure of that.

Whilst sitting up in bed, Emilia recalled yesterday. She had been looking out her bedroom window when she saw Ashley Dover hop out of her car with other girls. Emilia knew Ashley since they were little, but not that well. Ashley and her older brother Austen always visited next door because it was their holiday home.
Unfortunately, Emilia never really had any friends. Because of her Leukemia she has spent most of her time at home or the hospital and rarely at school. When there was no school, there were also no friends. Emilia didn't mind all too much though, because she had her aunt, uncle and her cousin, which she saw as her older brother.
She had been kneeling next to her window still and watched the girls exit the car into the house.

Emilia slowly hopped out of bed and twirled her way to the mirror where she messed around with her hair. It was quite short because she was still attempting to grow it back after having chemotherapy, but knew it wasn't going to change. She decided it was styled enough before leaving her bedroom and standing out side of Christians room.
Knowing Chris, he probably wasn't awake just yet. Emilia let out a little giggle before opening the door quietly and shouting out Christians name.

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It had been a late night for Chris. He had been about town until the early hours of the morning, boarding, surfing and enjoying being outside. Around 1 AM he had fallen asleep on the beach, like many times before. He had been awoken by red and blue lights and two annoying men shouting at him. He had known the two officers as officers of the law, Jensen and Harding. He had met them before on one of his other nightly stake outs. He did not like them very much, but to be honest, he didn't hate them either. Chris' parents always said they were just doing their job, but he disagrees. There were better things to do than to wake someone from his sleep. Weren't there drug dealers to apprehend, weapons to confiscate and burglars to bust?

When they woke him up it had only been 3 AM and he decided to go home to finish his sleep. He picked up his longboard, stepped on it and went home. On the way he saw a few of his works of art. He didn't care what others said, they really brightened up the boring streets. When he arrived back home he saw a car in front of the neighbours house. It had been a while since he had seen them, and even then they never really spoke. He knew there were two parents, one son and one daughter. The girl was his age and the guy must be a bit older than him. He could see flashing lights from their window which probably meant they were watching TV.

Chris walked to the ugly little frog statue that his mother had always loved. Out of the mouth of the artificial amphibian he took the key to the front door. Maybe it wasn't the safest place to keep it, but better that than losing it while surfing. He opened the door to step into the dark house. Definitely no one awake here.... He went up the stairs to his room and fell down on his bed. He was supposed to at least shake some of the sand out of his dreadlocks, but he was too tired. Not ten minutes later his eyes were shut and he was in dreamland.

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A white sandy beach could be seen in the distance as Chris crossed the waves. He seemed to move with ease, almost like the board was surfing by itself. On the shore he could see people waiving at him. Somehow he could smell bacon and eggs, although he could not tell where it was coming from. Out of no where he could here a scream: "CHRISTIAN!!!" With a shock he woke up and still in the middle of his dream he shouted back: "BACON!" Opening his eyes he was confused for a few seconds. In the door opening he could see Em standing and with the big smile on her face it was very clear that she had been the one shouting his name. With a smile on his face he grabbed his pillow and threw it in her direction. "I'll get you Em, how dare you disturb my beauty sleep."

He stood up from his bed and looked at his sheets. They were filled with sand, and Chris whispered to himself. "Great, no wonder I dream about the beach." He grabbed his sheets by all four corners and shook the sand out of the window. Then he put on some shorts and went downstairs to see if he could get some breakfast, and maybe some revenge...

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Amber woke up in one of the rooms of the beach house. She had no idea how she came there. The last thing she remembered was Rachel McAdams kissing James Marsden and after that it was all kind of a blur. She did not hear any noise downstairs, but she did hear someone showering in the room next to hers. She thought of showering herself, but didn't really feel like it. Why should she, she had already showered when they arrived yesterday evening after a full day in the car.

The shower stopped and she waited for a few minutes before getting up. She grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a simple top and jumped into the bathroom before anyone else would beat her to it. After brushing her teeth she put her hair in a ponytail and splashed some water on her face. Hearing her stomach grumble she was thinking of her normal daily breakfast of French toast or scrambled eggs and sausages. It's not all bad to live in a house where your mom is always home, it has its perks. Here she would probably have to do with cereal. She didn't mind at all though. This seemed to be the first time that her controlling parents were not really there to keep an eye on her. Already it felt like heaven.

Fully awake she exited the bathroom and walked down the stairs. From the corner of her eye she saw Zach sitting on the counter when she was on her way to the back porch, where she figured her friends would be. Seeing him there sitting alone she doubted about going outside. Smelling the coffee did it, and she walked over to the kitchen to get a cup. "Good morning" she said softly. She wasn't sure if she should say anything else. She didn't really know the guy and there was something about him that made her doubt if she really wanted to know him. He sat there pretty quietly while Amber poured her cup. She blew on the hot coffee before taking a sip. "I'm just gonna go outside", she walked over to the door, "well, are you coming?"

Not checking if he followed she opened the door to step out on to the back porch. She saw two of her friends and Ashley's brother standing there. In fact Austin was one of her very few exes, although she doubted that he remembered. She had been about 5 or 6 years old when she was playing outside with Ashley, Sam and Ria. Austin had also been outside playing with friends of his own. Out of nowhere Amber had gotten up, walked over to him and asked him to be her boyfriend. He had said yes and she had walked back to her friends not saying anything about what just happened. Only 3 hours later she had gotten up again, walked over once more and told him it was over. So for about 3 hours they were boyfriend and girlfriend. She was pretty sure he had no idea, and she knew for sure that her friends didn't.

She hadn't seen him in a long time, at least not in real life. "Good morning everyone. Hey Austin, how are you doing?" She took another sip of her coffee and felt the warmth going through her body.[color=0091FF] "Is Ria still sleeping?"[/color] She looked around since the Musketeers were not complete until Ria was here.

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Emilia burst out laughing as Christian yelled out "BACON!", she didn't even want to know what he was dreaming about. A pillow was thrown at her and it hit her straight in the face, also affecting the way her hair was sitting. "Thank you loser, I just fixed my bed hair and now you've gone and ruined it again."Although she was attempting to sound serious, a little smirk developed from her lips. Emilia noticed all the sand that was on the floor and looked up at Christian,"Were you out again last night? Why don't you ever invite me. You know I love being outside and during the night is when it's more exciting. Next time you don't ask, I'll cut off your dreads while you are sleeping."

Turning around whilst whistling, Emilia walked through the hallway and skipped down the stairs towards the kitchen, where her auntie was sitting at the counter, sipping coffee and reading a shopping catalog.
"Aunt Angela," she said, "I think Christian is going to want bacon. Did you hear him screaming it from the top of his lungs?" Emilia giggled.

"Oh, how typical of him. If he is wanting bacon, then he can make it himself." Aunt Angela said.

Christian was coming down the stairs and Emilia stuck her tongue out at him. "I told Angela about your want...or perhaps need for bacon this morning. You're going to have to make it yourself except you also have to make some for me because you know how much I adore bacon...and because Aunt Angela said you had to" She hopped up onto one of the bar stools beside her aunt, "Oh and did you see that the neighbors are here? Ashley had friends with her, like a few other girls. I didn't really see their faces though, I wonder if they are attractive. Chris, I dare you to go over there later, maybe there is a girl there waiting for you." Emilia laughed and hopped over to her cousin, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing as tight as she could. "Ya know I'm messing with you. Plus, if you were to find a girlfriend, I would need to accept!"

Most of the time, Emilia acted as if her illness wasn't there. She would hop and skip around, trying to act as normal as possible. She glanced up at the clock on the wall, which is something she hated doing. Emilia didn't like looking at clocks and never wanted to know what the time was. While she looked at the clock, she was mesmerized by the movement of the little arrows. Tick tock, tick tock. The ticking was very faint but when Emilia blocked everything out, she could hear it. It was like the sound of a bomb, counting down before it would explode. When looking at clocks, it seemed as if her time was being slowly diminished. It was just ticking away the seconds, minutes and hours Emilia had left to live. She let out a quick sigh, before smiling again.
Time was her weakness, her enemy, but she wouldn't let it get to her, especially during the last few months of her life.

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As he walked down the stairs the first thing he noticed was Em sticking her tongue out to him while standing next to his mom. The more the word bacon came up, the more he started to long for it. He decided to go for the loving son routine and walked over to his mother and gave her a hug. "Good morning mom..., I love you..." He pulled this routine many times before and it had a success rate of about 50%. Apparently this morning luck was not on his side as his mom replied: "Like I said, if you want it, you will need to make it yourself." Disappointed he walked over to the fridge and took out the shoulder bacon that he loved so much. He made sure to take out enough for Em and himself. He turned on the stove and put the bacon in a frying pan.

While Em was ranting on about the neighbours and their friends he poured himself and his cousin 2 glasses of orange juice and he put hers on the counter where she was sitting. His mother answered before he could:"You will both be going over. I made them some food, I'm sure a few youngsters have better things to do then to slave away in a kitchen." Chris looked up from the now sizzling bacon and commented in a soft voice: "No youngsters to slave away in a kitchen, but here I am making bacon 'cause my mom doesn't want to." He continued a bit louder as to make sure his mom could hear him. "Why won't you bring the food over. First of all you made it and to be honest I already have plans for today." His mother told him something about being late for work already and that she now really had to run out, but Chris was distracted by Em whom he saw looking at the clock.

He knew she didn't like it. He knew that time was against her, but with her energy he thought she could still go on for years. He wasn't fixing up his van for nothing. He wanted to make it as comfortable as possible with a bed in the back and everything. He wanted to take her on a road trip, maybe to New York or Miami. It was a surprise though, not even his parents knew about this project of his.

Chris' mother kissed both Em and him on the cheek and left the house after that. He felt the need to distract Em and he rubbed his hand over her hair, like she was a small child. "And who is going surfing with me today?" He looked at her with a big smile on his face. This was the perfect thing about living next to the beach, it was less than a minute before he could be in the water. He walked back to the fridge and took out a few eggs. "Do you want scrambled eggs or do you want an omelet?" Expecting a familiar answer he already started to cut up some mushrooms and onions to throw in. He couldn't do much in the kitchen, but breakfast could be considered his specialty.

He put some bread in the toaster and looked at his cousin. "Listen Em..., shall we be bring the food over this afternoon? I don't feel like meeting new people so early in the morning. I was really hoping to get into the water quickly, we're supposed to have some pretty decent waives today." To be honest he was never really up for meeting new people. He enjoyed the time he was alone, or of course with just the two of them. It seemed he wouldn't really have a choice later that day, but maybe he could make it short, or maybe even drop it off when they were not at home. Em seems excited to meet them though... Maybe he would suck it up and join her, he didn't want her to not have any friends. Not everyone enjoyed it as much as he did.

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“So Mouse, have you told mom and dad you’re going to disappoint them, just like I did.” He smirked and Ashley matched his smirk with one almost identical to his as she rolled her eyes.

“No.” she said simply. “I haven’t told the girls yet either, so let’s keep that topic on the DL alright biggs.” She said just as the back door opened and she glanced up to see Sam and she gave her friend a smile.

"Morning, Ashley and Austen. Hope I am not interrupting a brother and sister moment, am I?" Austin gave her a simple two finger wave and a nod as a greeting. She was beautiful, but that was nothing new, Austen had grown up around the girls they’d always been pretty every single one of them.

“Course not doll.” Ashley said happy to have her friend join them. “Take a seat babe, I was just telling Austen here how much I missed him, right boo?” she said glancing to her older brother and Austen nodded, giving a small chuckle.

Before Austen had a chance to speak up, Amber was next to emerge from the door. Austen had to admit, he’d missed his girls. He doubted that they even knew that he thought of them as his girls, but he did they were all like sister’s to him simply because he’d known them for so long. Ashley’s one rule was she didn’t care if he dated any of them, but it’s hoes before bros and just cause he was her brother didn’t mean she wouldn’t kick his ass for hurting one of her friends.

"Good morning everyone. Hey Austin, how are you doing?" Ashley glanced up to Amber as she spoke. "Is Ria still sleeping?"

“Pretty good, glad to be back with my favorite ladies of course.” He said shooting her a charming smile to which he heard his sister scoff. “I haven’t seen her so I assume so.” He shrugged.

Just then as if she’d been cued, Ria stepped out of the back door and Ashley smiled to her as she grabbed Amber’s wrist gently and pulled her into her lap. She loved her friends more then they knew and they were ridiculously close, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Good morning, girlies, And Austen,” Ria chirped happily, which only put Ashley in a better mood, Ria was always happy which seemed to put everyone else in a good mood. “Who’s hungry? I was thinking of making breakfast now. What does everyone want?” she asked happily.

“Oh! I’ll help.” Ash said kissing Amber’s cheek, before pushing her up gently and grabbing Austen and pulling him up from his chair. “You need to unpack Ace.” She said glancing to Sam and Amber. “You ladies mind helping my handsome brother bring all his shit inside, while Ria and I make breakfast?” she asked. “Oh and Austy, why don’t you stop by Chris and Em’s house and see is they’d like to join us for breakfast.” She smiled, interlocking her arm with Ria’s.

“Chris and Em still live next door?” he asked and Ashley nodded. The dover family had been vacationing in crystal beach every summer their entire lives, so it was only natural that they knew their neighbors. In face Chris and Ash used to keep Em company on hot summer days in the hospital when they were kids, while Austen would sing to her.

“Duh.” Ashley said, like he was an idiot. “Zach attack spent the night last night, he really missed us.” Ashley smirked. Zach was their other neighbor and Ashley had always had a crush on him, she could remembered, sitting on the porch in the mornings waiting for him to leave the house or writing Mrs. Chesterfield all over her notebooks when she’d have to go home after summer, but she doubted he even remembered her name most the time.

Austen raised a brow. “Really now?” Austen had never really cared for Zach, he was the kind of guy he tried not to be.

“Go.” Ashley ordered as she opened the door and pulled Ria inside with her. She went over to the stereo and slipped in one of Lady Gaga’s older CDs and turned up load as she made her way into the kitchen to help her friend cook breakfast.

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Ria smiled at Ashley’s offer to help, watching the display of sisterly affection in front of her and finding it quite normal.

“You ladies mind helping my handsome brother bring all his shit inside, while Ria and I make breakfast?” Ash asked Sam and Amber. “Oh and Austy, why don’t you stop by Chris and Em’s house and see is they’d like to join us for breakfast.”

Ria wasn’t sure if she knew who Chris and Em were, or if she’d met them before, but she decided to save her questions until they were inside.

She linked arms with Ash and followed her inside, or rather, was dragged behind her. While her friend was putting some music on, Ria gathered the necessary equipment to cook their breakfast. When Ash came back into the kitchen, she decided to ask about the neighbours.

“Did you have a good night’s sleep?” She began politely, before getting straight to the point. “Do I know Chris and Em?” She asked, washing her hands so that she could start cooking. “I don’t really remember.”

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Chris listened to his cousin with rolling eyes as he often did. The talking genes of the family must have come from his mothers side, because his Em and his mom could both talk his ears off, while he and his dad hardly said a word. Chris didn't think that his cousin was right How can a person ever be lonely if you're surfing almost every day. If only he could ever say no to her, but he had never been able to. Not before she got sick and not during her sickness, to him she was his little sister and she had heard the word 'no' more than enough in her life. Who was he to say the same thing...Fine, fine, we'll go after breakfast and getting dressed. And if you want to run my life, like you do so well, do you want to pick out my clothes as well? What kind of food do you think mom made? If it's any kind of desert, I'm keeping it. He replied to her with a wink. At least he had surfing to look forward to. And maybe they had plans already and wouldn't have a lot of time for Em and him.

The eggs and bacon were done and he grabbed some plates from one of the cupboards. Each plate he filled with two slices of toast, some bacon and a freshly finished omelet. He put the plates on the counter and got some cutlery. Handing Em her fork and knife he sat himself on another bar stool on the opposite side of his cousin. Looking at his plate he started to dig in only to be finished 5 minutes later. Why does it always take so much time to make, and so little to eat... He stood up and put his dirty dish in the sink. Em..., I'm going to take a shower and brush my teeth, then I'll be done. And by the way, I would love to become an old man with dreads. With that he climbed up the stairs.

Back in his room he quickly undressed and stepped into his bathroom. He turned on the shower so the water could get warm. Then he prepared his toothbrush before he stepped under the nice hot water. They were lucky enough to have a bathroom with every bedroom. He never had to share and nobody cared how long he stood under the shower. Even now there was still sand coming from his hair and body, that stuff just gets everywhere... He was only in the shower for about 15 minutes before he got out, kind of a record time for him. Coming out he searched for his swimming shorts, they were going to surf afterwards, so best to be prepared. Since it seemed impolite to him to meet new people without a shirt on, he grabbed one from his cupboard. Seeing as they lived next to the beach he thought he would be okay without shoes or flip flops. Last but not least he opened his drawer of wrist bands. He'd never counted them, but he must have at least 50 matching sets.He grabbed one for his left arm, and one for his right arm.

He went down the stairs again and called for Em' as he came down. "Well..., am I approved?" He spread his arms and turned around in front of his cousin.

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Amber smiled at Austin's answer. He'd better be happy to see us, we have been his 4 biggest fans since before he could even play one note. Hearing the sliding door open she turned around to see Ria coming out as if Amber's question had been a magic spell. Before she could say anything Ashley had pulled her on her lap. Although it was sudden and she hadn't expected it, she felt quite comfortable with her new seat. She tried to hide a big yawn, but wasn't doing a very good job. Still feeling tired she laid her head down on Ashley's shoulder. Thank goodness that Ria mentioned breakfast, her stomach had continued to grumble lightly ever since she stepped out of bed. She could also be glad that Ash would help with breakfast. Amber herself had never prepared any food in her entire life, as her friend knew all too well. The highest culinary achievement she had reached was emptying a bag of chips in a bowl and opening a jar of onion dip.

Ash kissed her cheek and as if a command Amber stood up. Standing again she stretched and was happy to help with getting Austin's stuff into the house. At least that was something she could do. "Okay Aussy, key me! If you just ask the neighbours over, I'm sure Sam and I can talk Zach into helping us." she said while putting her arms around Sam's shoulders. "We can be your roadies for today." Amber grabbed Sam's hand and dragged her inside after her. She walked straight to Zach, took the juice from his hand and put it on the counter before grabbing his hand with her free one. "Zach.., us ladies need a hand with Austin's stuff and I think this one will do perfectly." She waited patiently to see if he would come with or not.

If they would hurry up with emptying the car breakfast would be done much sooner. It didn't make much sense, but Amber believed in that. She was curious to meet the other neighbours. She had heard enough in stories, but had never really seen them. And quite honestly Ashley usually spoke more about her other neighbour, Zach. She didn't really know what Ashley saw in him, but Amber was sure she had her reasons.

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"And by the way, I would love to become an old man with dreads." Christian said.

Emilia began laughing so hard that she spat out the juice she had been drinking. "Good one, douche-bag!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. She quickly arose from the counter to grab a wet cloth from the sink; when she looked up out of the window she could see her neighbors and their friends sitting on their porch. Hey eyes moved along to a girl who had ginger hair. "Woah, she is beautiful" Emilia muttered under her breath. All of a sudden she became extremely excited to introduce herself to the neighbors. Maybe this Summer would be different and perhaps her time before she dies would be spent having fun with others.

She turned around and moved to the counter, where she wiped the splattered juice on the counter with the wet cloth. Emilia became lost in thought, thinking about how she never really had a close friend. It had been far too long before she talked to someone other than her cousin and his parents. She looked down at herself and realized that she could probably dress a little better.
Whilst Christian was showering, she ran upstairs into her bedroom and opened up her wardrobe. Due to the fact that she rarely got out and spent her time in hospitals or at home, she barely ever had clothes to wear outside. After spending around 10 minutes just staring at her wardrobe of around 13 items of clothing, Emilia decided on wearing her black and white striped tshirt with a pair of overalls to wear over the top. Although to some this would be something worn when gardening, Emilia was able to pull it off.
She decided on not wearing shoes; her cousin inspires her to do that. Emilia loved the way how Christian spent his time just enjoying the world.
On her left ankle she wore an anklet, that had rainbow colored beads intertwined in it. On her right wrist she wore the bracelet her cousin made for her when they were younger, which had the lettered beads 'Fight.It' in it.

Deciding that she looked presentable, she skipped down the stairs whilst singing, "I'm walking on sunshine, woahhh!"
Emilia jumped up onto the counter stool and waited for her cousin. It wasn't even two minutes later when he appeared from the top of the stairs. Once he reached the bottom he did a little spin, ""Well..., am I approved?"
Emilia couldn't help but smile. She would forever adore her cousin.
"You look like a loser that has dreadlocks." Emilia smirked. "Are we ready, or are we ready?!"