A room fill with balloons, cards and people sitting in chairs as a girl about 15 laid in the bed. Her eyes were shut closed. She took slow, but steady breaths.

Hi, I am Nina Markus, I am fifteen. I was born on the 31st of October. As I lay here still alive, there is a story I want to tell you a story I would like to tell. Let me begin about a year ago, I was fourteen going onto fifteen in about a week. It was almost halloween.


I walked down the hallways. I walked towards my locker. I wore my favorite hat as my long brown hair ran down to the middle of my back. I also wore my brown cowboy boots, and a plaid blouse and and a stylish knee high skirt.
“Nina!” Casey called my over as she waved at me. We all started high school about a month ago.
“Hi Casey, Nico and Jannett. What is up?”
“Well, we, I mean I, was wondering what you were going to be for halloween.” Nico asked me. To tell you the truth, I have been friends with them since kindergarten and they always forget that my birthday is on Halloween.
“I actually have not decided yet.” I told them while opening the locker. “Do you know what you are going to be?” I took out my books for my next class.
“Nico and Jannett are going to Salt and Pepper shakers. I am going to be a witch.” Casey answered me.
I was in the processes of closing my locker when my heart started to slow. I took slow and steady deep breaths, I did have a chip inside me, but one day I was going to get it.
“Nina, are you okay?” Janet asked me.
“Yeah, I am fine.” I then started to head to my English class.

Okay, I did not tell my friends yet, but ever since I was born, I had been sick. It is like this, the doctors said that there is no cure, but I doubt that. Anyways, I have to take so much medication. I only have to do it at night and in the morning and at noon.


I walked into class and sat down in the front as the teacher walked in. “Okay class I want you to take out your essays that you were working on that was due today. Once you have them out, I want you to peer edit with the person either behind you or in front of you.” I turned around and saw Louise. She sat there quietly as I turned around.
“Here is my essay.” Louise gave it to me.
“Okay, here is mine.” I placed mine on her desk.

We looked over each other’s essay for about twenty minutes until the teacher called everyone back.
“Now I want you to hand your partner their essay back. When you finished that, I want you all to be on page one hundred by the end of class. So get out your books and start reading if you have not been there.” Mr. Manchester warned the class.

I sat quietly breathing in and out slowly trying to keep my heart rate up. The class went by so fast.



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I walked out of the classroom last, and then towards the my second class which was gym. I hated gym. I was never good at it anyways and even if I still have the disease. All I had to do was sit on the side. At least I had two of my friends.

I walked into the gymnasium and sat down on the bleachers. My friends came out a minute or two later and walked over to where I was sitting.
“Nina, why are you always sitting here?” Nico asked me.
I took a deep breath, “Medical reasons.” I told them.
“Okay, like what?” Casey asked me.
“It is hard to explain, you should go and line up. The teacher is taking attendance.” My friends turned around and went to get checked in.

I sat on there on the bleachers the whole class as the class played Volleyball. I never liked sitting on the side. All my life I wanted to be able to do something, but every year, I was on the side. The only thing that I needed to worry about is medication and trying to finish high school. I stood up and ask the teacher if I could go to the nurses. She let me go as I turned around and headed towards the door. My friends saw me leave and asked if they could go with me. I did not know that they followed me all the way to the nurse’s office.


I walked into the room and went to my bin that my mom brought in. I brought it to the bathroom and took my medicine. They were more likely pills. I then checked my blood; I recorded it. When I walked out with the bucket, my two friends were sitting in the chairs.
“Nina, what was that?” Nico asked me.
“I have to take medication okay.” I looked at them. “
“Why?” Casey stood up and walked towards me.
“I just have to okay.” I took a deep breath.
“How long have you been on medication.” I sighed.
“Since birth.” I mumbled. “Okay, can I ask you to do something important?”
“Sure.” Nico agreed.
“See this button that is hanging on my neck, well if I stop breathing or I am still breathing, but can not reach it, please push it.” I asked them.
“Why?” Casey and Nico nodded.
“I can not tell you that. You will find out when it happens.” I turned around and put the bucket into my slot.
“Why are you not going to tell us?” Casey asked me.
“It will be too depressing. Wait, I have told you too much.” I walked out of the door and walked back to the gym. My friends followed, but they started to whisper.

“Do you think?” Nico whispered to Casey.
“Maybe. Should we tell Janet?” Casey whispered to him.
“I do not know. I guess we should. Lunch is next and Jannett is going to be there.” Nico looked at me and then at Casey.
“Okay.”

The bell was going to ring less than a minute as everyone gathered at the door of the gymnasium. When it did ring, everyone walked towards the lunch room. I stayed back and talked to the teacher until the hallway was clear. I then walked down the hall and towards the dining hall. When I arrived, my friends were sitting in the front. I looked at them and then at the food line. Taking a deep breath, I walked towards them. When I sat down, Janet looked at me and then at Nico and Casey.
“Casey and Nico told me. I won’t tell anyone.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked them.
“With the medication since you were a baby. A lot of people take medication, it is not a big deal.” A big deal? I am the one with the disease here since a baby and I have a heart problem! “And the part about the button. I am with you one hundred percent!” Well, she was happy. I then took out my lunch. My mom had packed me a salad, it was homemade, I had an apple, an orange. I forgot to tell you that I live on a farm. Father owns it. I help them out once in awhile, but my parents will tell me when they want me to do something else.
“I just realized that you are a vegetarian right?” Casey asked me. “Also, We have actually never seen where you live.”
“Yeah, I guess...” I was not even sure if I actually ate meat. “Oh, okay.”
“How about we come over after school.” We live in Texas.
“You can’t I am sorry.” I was already finished my salad and was eating my apple. Let me tell you who is in my family, I have an older brother and sister and then I have two younger siblings. They are both girls and they are twins. And then I have a mother and father. The twins are, Maribelle, and Annabelle, then my other brother is Alexander, we call him Alex for short, he is a senior and then my older sister, she goes to this school and she is a Junior. Her name is Mary. So basically there is Maribelle and Annabelle Markus, Alex and Mary Markus, and me, Nina Markus.
“Why not?” Janet asked as she saw a hot guy come over.
I turned around and saw my brother and sister walked towards me.
I thought.
“Nina!” Alex called me.
“What do you want Alex?” I asked him. He looked over at me friends.
“We need to talk to you.” Mary, she was the hottest girls in school.
“Did something happen to mother, father...” When I said that my friends stared at me.
“No, not exactly, but they need to know if you are taking your medicine.”
“I am taking my medicine, don’t worry. But why are you really here?” I asked them.
They looked at me and ignored my friends. “The doctor called...”
“Can we talk out in the hall.” I packed my lunch. My brother and sister waited until I was ready to head out into the hall.
“Sure.” Mary agreed.

Alex, Mary and I walked out of the dining hall and into the hallway. They told me what the doctor said. Both my brother and sister knew it since I was born. I was only two years from my sister and three years from my brother, so they knew what happened when I arrived into the world and having my mother stay in the hospital almost a year practically. I sighed.
“Why?”
“He just told mother and father, and when we were called down to the office, mother and father told us and asked us to tell you. I am sorry.” Alex hugged me as a tear ran down my right cheek. “We will be here until the end.” Mary joined us.
“Why can I just live a normal life?” I asked them. I was the only one who took medication in the family and my twin sisters did not understand, so I know that they will be sad when it happens.
When we unhugged each other, my brother had an excellent idea. He told my sister and what it was. We agreed that is was an excellent idea since Halloween and my birthday was coming up in only five days. My siblings and I finished our conversation just in time for the bell.
“Alex, will you give me a ride home today?” I asked him.
He looked at me, “Sure, anything for my little sister. I will give Mary a ride too if she wants to.” I noticed that he smiled. He had not smiled since I was born. It was weird.
“Thanks.” I hugged him one more time and walked with him until the hallway split and we went to our next class. This was the second to last class. The next class was physics which was on the second floor. The only thing I did not know was it was going to happen sooner or later. A tear ran down my cheek as I thought about what Alex and Mary told me. All I had to do was not think about what they told me. Taking a deep breath, I sat down in my usual spot in the front. I was one of the first students into the classroom, but the teacher was there at his computer typing away. The rest of the class came about a minute later. When everyone was settled and the bell rang, the teacher started. We were working on Kinetic and Potential energy.



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I was in the middle of taking some notes, when I felt something stop, I tried to push the button on my neck, but I did not get there in time. My body started to fall off of the chair. Everyone heard a thump, but then saw that I was not in my chair. One of the cheerleaders, ran to my side and checked my pulse.
“SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE!” The teacher called the 911 and then went to help.
“Does anyone know CPR?” He asked the students.
“Yeah, Danara knows.” Danara walked over and started to give me CPR.
“Do any of you know if she has any siblings?” Mr. Pandra asked.
“Yeah, she is the sister of Mary and Alex Markus.” The teacher stood up and called the office and asked for my siblings. They came a minute later. A tear ran down their face.
“Alex, you go and bring her down to the lobby, I will call mother.” She took out her cellphone and called our parents. They were not happy. They had to drive about a mile to get to the school, but my sister told them to head straight to the hospital.


The ambulance and fire trucks could be heard about a mile away. They were here in less than ten minutes. My brother held me as he brought me down to the lobby. My whole class followed. People in the other classes all heard about some commotion, but they did not know what happened, so they followed.
“Nina, we are all here. Mary, you called mother and father right?” Alex asked his sister.
“Yeah, they were not happy. I knew this was going to happen. We should have done this a week ago when we had a chance.” Mary started to get worried. A tear ran down both Alexander’’s and Mary’s cheeks. The two saw the trucks outside. They watched as I was put onto a stretcher; they rode with me all the way to the hospital. Their teachers let them go because I was their sibling.



My friends were in their classes when they heard what happened. Well, they did not know it was me until someone told them it was a girl named Nina Markus. The three of them decided to after school.


I layed there in the bed quietly. It was halloween and my birthday. I took slow, but steady breaths. When I opened my eyes, my friends were standing at the end of my bed. “What....are...you...doing...here?” I tried to ask them.
“Nina, you are awake!” Nico saw me. “We came here to see you. We heard you had a heart attack or something. Please tell us what happened.” He begged me.
“Will you come closer.” I asked them. They came closer. “When I was born I was born on the 31st of October, but anyways the doctor told my mother that something was wrong with me, so I had to stay in the hospital for a year. When they found out that I had cancer, or something like that, they could not find a disease, so they just told me that I had to take some medication. Also my heart is not that stable, so I have to...”I coughed, “have to keep remembering to breath. That is why I had been so secretive. I am sorry.”
“If you were really that sick, then you did not have to tell us. And anyways, what did Alexander and Mary tell you?” Jannett questioned me.
“They told me that...” A tear ran down my cheek, I did not want to tell them the last words were hard to say. “ I am going to leave soon.”
“What do you mean leave?” Nico asked. Casey elbowed him on the side, “oh, that kind of leave.”
“Yes, it is almost time for me to, if we can not get any cure.”
“So before you do leave, where do you live?” Nico sat down on the bed.
“On a farm.”
“Which one?” He was too excited.
“The one about a mile from here.” I sighed.
“That one?” Jannett looked at me.
“Yes, that one. If you were wondering, Alexander and Mary are my siblings and then I have two younger sisters, they are twins. Annabelle and Maribelle. Is there anything else you wanted to know?”
“Why you are related to the two hottest kids in the high school.”
“That one I can not tell you. I am puzzled on that too.” Just as I said that my parents and my four siblings came in.
“Ni” Maribella called.
“Na!” Annabelle called right after her sister.
“Hey you two.”
“You wowied us!” A tear ran down Maribelle’s cheek. “Why?” My little sisters are only in elementary school.
“I am sorry you two.” I smiled as I ruffled Annabelle’s short brown hair.
“Mother told us you were going to leave, what does that mean?” Annabelle asked me. I did not answer because I knew that it would be too upsetting to them.
Alexander walked over to me and sat down on the other side of the bed, “I do not know what to say, but we will miss you sis. You remember when I told you my excellent idea, well, we are going to celebrate you right now. Happy birthday sis.” He kissed me on the head and then handed me something. “Here, I know that you will not be here to enjoy it, but I hope it will go with you.”
I took the package and opened it. It was exactly what I wanted. A necklace. Each charm was an initial of all of the family members. “Thanks, I love it.” Alex put it around my neck as Mary, my older sister came over and handed me another present.
“This is for you. I made it.” It was a picture frame with me and the whole family. It was the trip we took two years ago.
“I love it.” I smiled as she put on the side.
“And our present is our love.” My twin sisters and parents told me. “Also from your brother and sister.”
“I love it.” I laughed a little. “Thanks for everything. Being there when I needed it the most, I knew you were there to support me.” I told them. My friends just stood on the side of the room. “Alex, can I ask you a favor, you too Mary.” The looked at me. “My friends have been crushing on you since we came to school, will you go out for one night with them.” My brother and sister looked at me.
“Sure, we will do anything for you.” Janet, Casey’s and Nico’s eyes grew wide open and their jaws dropped.
“I have people in high places.” I smiled as I closed my eyes to rest. Everyone watched me as a nurse came in and asked everyone to leave. They did and went to the waiting room. They nurse check the equipment as she check my blood and everything else.


My family and my friends walked out of the room and went to the waiting room. Annabella looked at Alex and Mary. “Why does sis have to leave?”
Alexander squatted in front of her, “She is going die. There is nothing we can do.” He hugged her.



I laid there quietly. I breathed in and out slowly. I did not want to leave this world, but there was no cure. “Why did you have to curse me like this?” I asked no one. “I want another chance. Please.” A tear ran down my cheek. The nurse was already gone by the time I started to speak. “Please!” I kept breathing, but my heart started to come to a stop. “Not...now...” I did not speak, my body just laid there and my head fell to the side.



My family sat there in the waiting room with my friends. When Alexander looked up when a nurse came over. A tear ran down his cheek. “Is she...?” He asked the nurse. The nurse nodded.
“Yes, she is.” My parents heard what they said. My mother cried into my father’s shoulder. “I am so sorry. You can go see her if you want.” Alex was already up and halfway there. He ran into the room and saw the monitor was just a straight line.
“Nina, Nina! Please, wake up.” He ran to my side and held my hand. We were the best of friends until he went into high school. Well, we were still friends at home too. “I mean it!” I guess that this would be the hardest time for him.

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About a month later, we had my funeral. Everyone was gathered at the church. The whole church was packed with everyone from the town and the school. And a couple of customers from out of the town.
“We are here to commemorate Nina Markus. She was a kind person. We all knew here. It was not her fault that she had cancer. The doctors did what they could to save her...” The principal ran on and then let my family members speak. I listened to what they said about me. This was over in an hour. Everyone dispersed and went back to what they were doing in their life, but they did not forget me.

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Two years went by and Alexander was already in college. He was majoring in engineering. My sister Mary was in college and was going to major in becoming a teacher. My sisters were at their end of elementary school and my three friends were already juniors.
Janet and Casey started to walk to their first class. Nico was a yard away from them. “Janet, Casey!” He called making sure he got their attention.
The two turned and saw him. “Hey!” Casey called back, but just behind him a girl with dark brown hair that ran down to her back walked into the school. The girl looked at her.
“Casey!” Nico waved his hand in front of her face. “Earth to Casey!” He then turned around and the girl was gone.
“What?” Casey asked him.
“Are you okay?” He asked her.
“Yeah, I am fine, I just thought that I saw something.” She took a deep breath. She had never seen that girl before, but there might of been something familiar about the girl. “We have to get to class or we will be late.” Nico nodded and went to his class which was biology. Casey and Janet went to English.
The girl walked out of the office and towards her english class. She walked into the room and looked around. When she saw the same girl, she looked the other way. “Um..” She started to speak.
“Yes? Are you new here?” The teacher asked her.
“Yeah, I am new here. I am...I am... Lleana Markus.” She looked around at everyone and then wondered why everyone was staring at her.
“Well, welcome Lleana.” The teacher tried to stay happy, but remembered when I died.
“Thanks.”
“I have a question!” Lleana looked at the girl before. “Are you related to Alexander and Mary Markus?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about. I am an only child. And I do not know who they are.” Lleana lied.
“I know you are lying.” Casey balled her fists as a tear ran down her cheek and her hair fell in her face. “Two years ago our dear friend Nina died from cancer. We all were devastated. Now, you come in here and say that you do not know who Alexander and Mary Markus is?” Lleana looked at the girl. “And my name is Casey if you did not know. Which you already did.”
“Look, I do not know what you are talking about. I just moved here.” Lleana then sat down. Or I sat down.
“Well, we will continue with reading and taking notes on the book in silence. ”
English class finished and I walked out of the room and towards my next class was gym. I hoped that this was the chance I could do everything that I could not. Crossing my fingers. I walked into the locker room and changed. This was Lleana’s chance to actually do something. She walked out and grabbed a basketball; dribbled and shot it into the hoop. She scored. When Lleana put the basketball down, she went to a soccer ball and did some tricks. When she was done, she looked behind her and kicked the soccer ball into the hoop as she did a backflip. “Well, I was wrong.” She shrugged and went to get the soccer ball. The teacher called her over as she was getting the ball.
“Lleana!” Lleana went over.
“I am sorry,” She had a southern accent.
“It is fine. You going to join the basketball team or soccer or the cheerleading?” The teacher asked me.
“No...yes...I do not know. I just got here yesterday...” I told her.
Nico and casey followed quietly. They whispered until they were outside the gym; they watched as the new girl got it in the first try. Then they saw the girl kick the ball backwards into the hoop. Their jaws dropped, but then they realized that they needed to get to class. Turning around they ran.
The girl in the gym turned her head toward the door and then shrugged. She decided to head to the line. She was going to turn eighteen less than an hour. Which was on halloween. Lleana walked quietly out of the school trying to figure out why everyone on was so worried. She knew, I mean, I knew that I had a brother and a sister, but they probably did not know me because I am a new person. I turned my head and saw two girls and a boy run towards me.
“Lleana, we are all sorry.” Casey, who I was in the same class apologized.
“Yeah, Casey is right. We should of done that, like in class, we said that a girl died of cancer and we thought that you looked like her.” Janet looked at me.
“It is fine.” I took a deep breath. “There is something I need to tell you.”
“What is it?” Mak asked me.

I told them and then I watched them back up. They were too stunned to speak. “I know, I know, it is pretty amazing. Who wants to race?” I asked them. The three of them nodded and we all race. For the rest of the year and years after that, Alexander, my two little sisters and Mary found out about what happened; we celebrated.


My eyes slowly opened and I saw my bedroom exactly they way I left it. My small arms stretched up into the air. My medicine was on the side table.
“Nina, wake up!” Alex called me.
“I am coming.” I got up, got dressed in my cowboy boots and plaid shirt with a pair of jeans. I then ran down the stairs after I took my medicine.
“Did you take your medicine?”
“Yes, I did.” I told him as I sat down and started eating.
“Your birthday is coming soon, would you like anything?” Alex poured himself some Orange juice as Mary came down the stairs. Annabella and Mirabella came behind her. I smiled. “Would you like for me to drive you? I am going to drive Mary.”
“No thanks, I will take the bus.” I waved them bye as I grabbed my bag and headed out. I then went to school and met my friends at my locker.