Ana woke up drenched in sweat.

‘Ugh.’ Ana shook her head and coughed as she rose from her bed.

She’d had one hell of a nightmare.

“Good god.” She felt a stab of pain cross over body, “Damn cold’s passing around again.”

She wasn’t going to hear the end of this. Her mother had already told her she was going to get sick overworking herself at the gym and now she just had more ammunition. She’d have to take those disgusting vitamins for a week now.

The fever and nausea slowly died down as she went through her daily routine and by the time she’d washed up and was ready to go out she was feeling a hundred percent.

‘Okay, maybe ninety percent.’ She grinned to herself.

She had a big day planned and she wasn’t going to let a silly little cold get in the way of having fun. She quickly draped on a coat and scarf as she remembered the weather was going to be cold.

“Ana you have a visitor!” Ana’s ears perked up as her mum called her name.

“Yeah! Get down here you lazy bum!” A familiar voice followed her mother’s.

She rushed out of her room and bounded towards the kitchen. In the middle of the kitchen eating an apple was a familiar chubby figure.

“MILLY.” Ana bounded across the room and wrapped her arms around her best friend.

“ANA.” Emily returned the hug with gusto.

“Yes, yes.” Ana’s mother smiled gently and pushed the hugging girls towards a table ladled with food, “You’ll have time for socialising after. I’ve made enough food to give you energy for two days.”

“Thanks Maria.” Emily chimed happily.

She’d already thrown what was left of the apple into the trash.

Ana grinned. Her friend never refused a good home-cooked meal. They all took a seat and Ana stared down at her plate. She didn’t feel too hungry at the moment.

“Actually,” Ana pushed the food slightly away, “I think I’ll save mine for tonight. I’m not feeling too hungry right now.”

“Your loss.” Emily eyed her food greedily as she dug in.

“Oh gosh.” Maria eyed Ana with disapproval, “You’re not going on a diet now, are you? You’ve been skipping breakfast for weeks.”

“Yeah Ana,” Emily agreed, “You’re already a skinny bean. God damn, I’m so jealous.”

Ana laughed at her friend’s interjection. Somehow there was never an awkward moment when Emily was around.

“I just don’t feel like eating.” Ana was content to sit back as the other two ate.

“So what’s the plan for today?” Maria tried to scope her daughter’s plans out, “Gym?”

“God, please no.” Emily groaned.

“Followed by a nice twelve-kilometer swim-” Maria continued.

“The horror.” Emily was smiling between bites.

“-Finally ending in a lovely sprint back to the flat.”

“And she’d be dragging my dead body on her back!”

“Milly please.” Ana had already told Emily what was planned and knew the two were just messing with her, “Don’t encourage mum.”

They all laughed.

“We’re meeting up with Andrew and going to the park.” Ana finally answered her mum’s question.

“That boy.” Maria snorted, “Is going to die the moment the sun touches his skin.”

“Oh yes.” Ana’s eyes lit up, “He’s going to burst into flames and we’ll roast marshmallows.”

“God I wish we could do that.” Emily’s eyes turned dreamy, “Maybe without Andrew dying. But if it’s for marshmallows then sacrifices have to be made.”

“It’s inevitable.” Ana nodded her agreement.

“I suppose it’s not his fault he’s so pale.” Maria waved a fork in the air, “It’s that damn game he’s addicted to. What’s it called again?”

“Zodiac online.” Ana and Emily chimed the answer at the same time.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know it.” Ana pointed at her room, “We’ve been playing the damn thing for four years.”

“You’ve been playing.” Maria shook her head, “That boy better have been making some good money for the amount of time he spends on it. I spent two hours talking last night to his-”

“Oh, would you look at that,” Ana interrupted her mum hurriedly, “it’s time for us to go Milly.”

If she let her mum start describing her story now then they wouldn’t leave the house for another hour. That was valuable time she could be using to not listen to her mother talk about how Andrew’s mother was so disappointed her son had become a video game junky.

“Come on Milly.” Ana lifted herself up off the table and brought Emily along with her as she walked towards the door.

Her friend was helpless as Ana used her superior strength to move them both.

“Nooooo.” Emily looked despondently at the food she was being dragged away from.

“I’ll save it for you to eat later.” Maria called out mirthfully.

“Thank mum!” Ana waved goodbye with her free hand then immediately stretched as she walked out the door, “Oh man, I needed some fresh air.”

“I think I needed some more food.” Emily grumbled but her eyes quickly beamed as she remembered what they had planned for the day, “Oh man I can’t wait to see Andrew.”

“Yeah, the guy’s had his head stuck so far up Zodiac’s ass you’d think he was a machine.” Ana jumped on the spot as Emily walked so that she could get more exercise out of her actions.

Emily completely ignored the familiar sight, “What level do you think the guy is now?”

Emily knew that if she left Ana to her own devices her friend would find a way to turn the entire trip into a marathon or something equally horrific.

“I have no idea.” Ana admitted, “I haven’t played Zodiac Online for weeks now. Even then I was only logging on for an hour or so at a time to farm with Andrew. He looks like he’s an angel on steroids or something with all that armour he has.”

They laughed at the thought and Ana shrugged, “I guess he was always more into that game than I was. Honestly, once you left I didn’t even think about staying.

“Psh. I sucked balls compared to you two. At least you have talent, you even got invited to that professional team right? What were they called again…”

“Perfect Princesses.” Ana shuddered at the memory, “God Milly. The only way I’m going on a team like that is if they drag me in chains.”

Ana recalled the time a particularly heavyset fellow approached her avatar and had invited her to their professional team. Contrary to their name the entire Perfect Princesses team was composed of muscular and chubby men that looked more at home in a sumo ring than the castle they inhabited. They also all wore pink tutu-shaped armour.

She had run as far away from that encounter as possible but not before Andrew and Emily had laughed their asses off at her. She actually felt kind of bad for the team leader that had invited her. He seemed like a cool guy if you ignored the tutu.

All because she had gotten an extremely rare second class.

“They should have.” Emily tutted and shook her head in disappointment, “They missed out on hiring my extremely skilled friend.”

“Stop. Don’t put yourself down.” Ana jumped around Emily as she spoke, “You just never applied yourself because its a video game.”

“I got the most basic magi class and I barely scraped by the second class advancement.” Emily grinned, “Let’s not kid ourselves here. But it could be worse. I could be an Andrew and never leave the house.”

Ana sighed. Andrew really had become the more distant of the trio in the last couple of years. He hadn’t gotten into Zodiac Online at first but the moment he discovered the library it was like a flood of information that Ana had to listen to for hours on end. He could probably list all of the events that happened in the last four years the game had been out and then name a few more people didn’t even know about.

“God, I’m actually feeling a bit hungry now.” Ana stopped the excessive movements she was making as her stomach began to rumble, “I didn’t feel anything a few minutes ago.”

Ana saw Emily rummaging through her jacket and soon smiling with triumph as she brought something out of her pockets.

“Tada.” Emily flourished a candy bar in the air excitedly, “You’ve been skipping breakfast too much lately."

“Thanks, mum.” Ana said sarcastically but reached out for the food.

She was starting to feel a bit more than just hungry now. She vaguely remembered skipping dinner as well yesterday.

But before she could reach the candy it was suddenly snatched by a small shape flying through the air.

“Hey!” Emily cried out as a furry creature flew by her and landed lightly on the ground.

It was a small black cat. It hissed at the girls and Ana let out a small growl in response. It had stolen her food! It was holding the candy-bar in its mouth, wrapper and all.

“Woah, it's a bad luck cat.” Emily smiled and waved at the animal.

“Nonsense. Cats are just cute.” Ana squatted down and tried to catch its attention by making sounds, “Come here, little guy.”

“You’re not fooling anyone with those eyes.” Emily watched the cat as it hissed at Ana, “You look like you want to eat the poor little thing.”

“Just a bite.” Ana joked which provoked another round of hisses from the cat.

“It’s cursing us with its cuteness.” Emily joked.

“Bah.” Ana gave up trying to trick it into coming back and waved at it, causing it to leap onto a nearby wall and rush off, “Bastard. Come on, we’re going to the food court. I feel like I could eat a horse.”

“I can arrange that.” A new voice called out them cheerfully, “I know a guy.”

“Andrew!” “Hey.” Emily and Ana called out to the newcomer.

“The one and only.” Andrew walked up from one of the side streets, “I was heading to your place when I heard something about a cat.”

“I am not eating one of your virtual horses.” Ana rolled her eyes as he caught up to them, “I want a live horse. Preferably dead and served with chips.”

“Okay, maybe for your birthday.” He smiled and suddenly brought out his hands from his pockets, revealing two more candy bars, “You guys have a serious addiction and I am here to make sure you get your fix.”

“Damn right.” Ana smiled heartily and they all began to walk down the street, “We’re still heading to the food court. A candy bar isn’t going to stop me from eating you two if I don’t get a burger in me soon.”

“Fine but I’ll just tell you now that I taste like chicken. Here you go.” He passed one of the bars to Ana, “And of course, a strawberry sprinkle for you Milly.” He smiled as he passed the other to Emily.

“Mmm. You are completely forgiven for not seeing us for two weeks.” Emily smiled as she munched on the snack, “Playing more Zodiac Online?”

“You know it.” Andrew’s smile widened, “We’ll probably be able to ride dragons in this upcoming patch. Man, I’m so pumped.”

“Dragons are cool and all,” Ana cut off Andrew before he could go on his usual five-hour spiel on how great Zodiac Online was, “But what rank are you now?”

“Grr.” Andrew suddenly hunched his back, “I fell down to the top five thousand. It hasn’t been a good patch for priests that’s for sure.”

“Holy crap.” Ana almost spit out her candy bar, “Aren’t there like sixteen million players or something? Being in the top five thousand is insane!”

“Yeah, but I was in the top two thousand priests until recently. Then suddenly Colt’s Crew comes gunning for me like hyenas. Damn Troy.”

“Oh no, you poor thing.” Ana said with a sarcastic grin, “You must be so disappointed.”

“Oh, woe is me.” Andrew put his hand over his forehead and pretended to swoon, “If only you two hadn’t stopped playing. You know we’d be able to make one kick-ass team.”

“You two maybe.” Eily interjected, “I don’t think I’d do anything except drag you guys down.”

Andrew wrapped his arm around Emily and smiled gently, “Stop. Don’t put yourself down-”

“-I already said that. I said those exact same words you copy cat.” Ana moved near Emily and flicked Andrew in the forehead, “Get off my best friend you lowly top five thousand plebian.”

“Hah.” Andrew jumped back, “It’s true though. The game isn’t about inherent skill. You just need practice and items. Lots of items. We’d bring you up to speed in no time Milly. Mark my words we could make you a professional.”

“Professional,” Emily had a dreamy look in her eyes, “But I don’t want to ride a dragon. Unicorns are where the fun is. And horses.”

“Unicorns are just horses with a horn glued on.” Andrew said dismissively, “I mean, don’t we already have those guys somewhere around here? Big, grey things.”

“They call them rhinos.” Ana rolled her eyes, “And those poor things went extinct.”

“Damn. Actually,” His eyes lit up, “I was thinking about the narwhals. Man those things are awesome to ride in the ocean.”

Ana smiled as Andrew once again forced Zodiac Online into the conversation. He and Emily talked animatedly about the various sea creatures they could ride in the game as Ana looked around and distracted herself with the surroundings. She had always been more about playing with friends than talking about the game itself. She knew Emily was mainly listening because it was Andrew talking but that guy was seriously some sort of encyclopedia.

Soon a familiar sight reached their eyes as the food court came into view and Ana breathed a sigh of relief. Emily and Andrew were starting to look mighty tempting to her hungry eyes.

“Come on!” She suddenly shouted and startled the chatting duo, “I’ll race you two slowpokes there. The last one to the shops has to pay for the food.”

Ana leaped forward before they could reply and grinned as she heard the loud shouts of her friends as they struggled to catch up with her. A video game player and a girl that hated to exercise. She knew it was unfair but she still laughed with joy as she slowed down to give them a fairer chance. She would use the last few seconds after they’d caught up with her to sprint forward and beat them both at the last second.

These were the good days.

Then the ground began to swim and her vision began to turn black.

“Hey-” She turned around to face the two, “Wha-”

“ANA.”

She felt a round of nausea crossing over her body and she could hear Emily screaming her name as suddenly the world closed in around her. She was faintly aware of a sharp pain hitting the back of her head and her eyes closing as she gazed up at the sky.

“Holy crap, is your friend okay?” A bystander rushed towards Emily and Andrew as they reached Ana’s prone body.

She was unconscious.

Andrew was silent as he quickly assessed the situation. He didn’t want to cause Ana any harm but he knew they needed to act fast. She had taken a nasty fall.

‘Did she trip?’ Andrew felt confused by the suddenness of the accident but he didn’t see any rocks or rough areas.

But then again Ana had been running pretty fast.

‘This isn’t the time to think about that.’ Andrew slapped his cheek lightly to bring his thoughts back on track, he was starting to panic, ‘Your friend needs help.’

“Hold her head still.” Andrew commanded the bystander who obliged, “Milly I need you to call Ana’s mum. I’m going to call a ride and we’ll drive to the hospital.” Andrew turned the Emily and saw she was panicking, then his face softened and he reached out for her hand and squeezes it gently, “I don’t know what’s going on but we need to stay calm.”

“Okay… Okay.” Emily took a deep breath and took out her phone, “Yeah. Thanks Andrew.”

Andrew withdrew his hand and brought out his own phone to call the taxi service.

“Hey.” He handed the phone to the bystander and motioned for the stranger to move, “Could you tell them to come and pick us up? I need to check for some stuff.”

The stranger hurriedly agreed and took over the phone call while Andrew held Ana’s head gently and poked around with his fingers. She had taken a nasty fall and he didn’t want to leave to chance any bumps or scrapes that might have been caused by the fall.

Andrew cancelled the call and breathed a sigh of relief as he moved his hands carefully around Ana’s neck and checked for any injuries from the fall. He couldn’t feel anything wrong.

Then he removed her scarf and felt the skin underneath it.

“What… What are these?” Andrew withdrew his hand as though it had been burned by fire, “Emily how long have these been here?”

“What?” Emily was quickly getting over her panic and rushing to call Ana’s mum, “How long has what been where?”

“Her neck.”

Andrew’s voice turned grim.

“How long have these lumps been on her neck.”

****

“Bloody hell.” Ana woke with a start, “God damn."

She'd been having the best dream.

“OH-MY-GOD.” Ana flinched as a loud voice pierced through her ears.

“Milly?” Ana lifted herself up and then suddenly felt her arms give way as though they weren’t able to support her body, “What the hell.”

“Don’t try to move. Oh man, Andrew had to go out to get lunch right when you wake up.” Ana was vaguely aware of Emily shuffling around in the corner and then she blinked as her friend’s head popped up next to her.

She couldn’t move her head.

“What’s going on?” Ana was beginning to feel panicked.

“Hey,” Ana could feel Emily wrapping her hands around her own, “Relax a bit. You hit your head pretty hard in the fall and… well, I forgot the specifics but they put a little cast around your neck that you’ll need to wear for a bit. It’s just a precaution they said so it’ll be off in no time.”

Ana suddenly realised the reason she couldn’t move her head was because her neck was being held in place but something. The cast that Emily was talking about.

“The doctor said you were nearly starved to death!” Emily’s cheek’s blushed a furious red, “No wonder you’re out here collapsing on the street. He doesn’t even know when the last time you ate was. Full meals, not a candy bar. No wonder I thought you looked so skinny!”

Ana looked up and frowned.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten either. She just hadn’t felt hungry. But she still thought she’d been eating enough to sustain herself. She wasn’t bad at that sort of diet.

“Ah, you’re awake.” A new voice entered Ana’s ears and, “I’ll bring in your mother. She’s been very worried.”

Ana heard shuffling steps and then the newcomer was gone, “Who was that?”

“The doctor.” Ana could feel Emily patting her hands absentmindedly, “He’s been running around doing all sorts of tests. Your mum had to sign off on a few as well but I never got an answer why.”

‘Tests?’ Ana was confused.

Had she hit her head that hard?

“ANA.” Ana heard her mother’s loud voice shouting and she smiled.

“You don’t have to be so loud.” She gave a light-hearted rebuttal as she felt her mother hugging her gently.

That just made Maria talk louder as she kept repeating her daughter's name over and over again. Ana smiled gently. It looked like she’d worried her friends and family a lot more than she’d intended.

Then she saw the doctor gazing at her with a grim expression. He moved over until he was fully in her eyesight and she could see his hands trembling slightly.

“Now that you’ve woken up. I have some news that needs to be told to you. I would normally wait a little while for you to recover, however, this news is rather urgent.”

“We have run some tests on the recommendation and information given by your friend, Andrew. I’m afraid…” The doctor hesitated

“Doc?”

Ana could see him eyeing Emily and she put on a firm expression.

“She stays here. Anything you have to say to me can be said in front of Milly.”

“We’ve had a thorough look with the permission of your mother. We will, of course, have to run some further tests now that you are awake and as soon as you’ve rested a bit…” he took in a deep breath, “But I’m sorry to say that you have stage four Hodgkin's lymphoma”

“What does that mean?” Emily’s forehead crinkled as she frowned, “Ana…”

She stopped her sentence as she saw the expression on Ana’s face.

It was something she had never seen before in her friend.

Fear.

“It means… I have cancer.”