Chapter One

A soft breeze rustled through the window, making the white curtains wave about. Emery stood back and took in the scene. Not everyone would notice the birds that were gliding through the sky, the bees that were buzzing about the flowers, the gentleness and smells the summer breeze brought, but Emery did. She always tried to appreciate and experience as much as she could in life, as one never knows how much time they have left.

“Live life to the fullest.”

Those were words that Emery Warden had lived by. She wanted to be the best person that she could be, even if it meant being the loneliest. It wasn’t that she was always by herself or that no one liked her, she had her parents and the friends she’d made with every charity and volunteer group that she did. But, the kids at her high school weren’t the friendliest or the best at being courteous to others, so Emery was always picked on regarding what she wore, what she did, and every other aspect in her life that made her who she was.

Emery’s mother came up from behind and kissed her daughter on the cheek. “I’m guessing it’s volunteer day at the hospital.” 

Emery giggled at her mother’s comment. “How could you tell?” She picked up the car keys and tucked them into the front pocket of her multicolored scrub top. The volunteers who worked on this particular floor had to wear colorful uniforms since it was a pediatric unit. Most of the kids there had terminal illnesses and Emery vowed to do everything that she could to make every day special for them.

Emery started at this particular institution about four years ago, right before her freshman year of high school. She volunteered every other weekend during school time, but now that it was summer vacation, she could spend more time at each place that she loved to give her time to.

“I’m going. I’ll be back in a couple hours,” Emery yelled out to her mom before she walked out the front door.

***

“Emery.” Molly, the little eight-year-old girl that Emery had been visiting every day for the past couple of months walked over to her and gave her a hug. Emery noticed that she seemed to be more worn out than any other day and figured it probably had to do with the new medication the poor girl had been put on because of the type of cancer she had.

“How are you today, Miss Molly?” Emery gave the ailing little girl a gentle hug and then walked back over with her to the rec table. This held the arts and crafts that were to keep some of the pediatric patients amused.

The room that they had designated as the floor’s activity room was designed with kids in mind. It was bright, colorful, and offered the sick children of the hospital all sorts of different activities to help keep their minds off of being ill and just being able to have fun like a kid. There were two Xboxes, several laptops with games, board games, and lots of different bins that held dolls, toy cars, train sets, paper, crayons, and any other thing that a kid could want.

“I finished it.” Molly held up the picture that she and Emery had worked on the last time she’d volunteered. It was just a simple child painting of two girls, which were supposed to represent Molly and Emery, playing at a playground in the middle of winter. The little girl had finished it with the sun shining brightly and the two of them standing beside a snowman.

Emery swallowed down the large lump in her throat and smiled brightly at Molly. “It’s beautiful.” She touched the figures that were painted on the paper and tried to keep her happy face on. She knew Molly would probably never make it to see the snow falling again or be able to build this snowman, none of them that were here in this ward would be able to. “I think your momma’s gonna love it.” Emery handed the picture back to her, but the little girl shook her head no.

“I want you to have it.” Molly sat back down at the table and instantly began to work on another painting.

Emery felt her eyes prickle with tears that wanted to come, but she knew she had to be stronger than that. She couldn’t let these kids see her cry. She was here to make them happy and enjoy what time they had left. “Thank you, Molly.” Emery patted her on the head. “I will hang this up on my wall at home.” Molly nodded okay and continued working on the next painting.

The room was busy today. It seemed there were more kids and volunteers in here than usual. Emery found the supervisor that was on command for this shift. She was an older lady who had just as much fun playing with all the toys as the kids did. Emery walked over to her to see if she had anything special planned for the afternoon.

“Ms. Anne.” Emery gave her a small side hug. “How are you today?” Anne was busy helping another child build a house out of Legos.

“Emery, it’s good to see you, dear.” Anne had known Emery since she was a little kid, like the ones that were in here now. But now, Emery was all grown up and was everyone’s favorite volunteer in this department.

“Is there anything special you want me to do today?” Emery noticed everyone was pretty content with whatever activity they were doing, so it would be a shame to interrupt them.

“You may want to see if the new volunteer needs to be acclimated to this unit, he’ll be here for the next six months.” Anne waved her hand to the area of the room that held all the video games and computers.

Emery let her eyes follow in the direction that Anne had motioned toward. There were two kids playing on one Xbox, three more at the computers, and one sitting with the new volunteer at the other game console. She had to blink twice and rub her eyes to make sure she was seeing things right. The new volunteer was none other than

Mr. Attitude,

Mr. Conceited,

Mr. Popular,

and Mr. Football himself,

Austin Murray.

It looked as though he had gotten his brownish-blond hair cut shorter for summer. He was already sporting a deep, dark, golden tan and it seemed he’d gotten even more muscular since school had let out last month. His shoulders were five times the size of the little boy seated next to him. Emery knew him, but she was almost certain that he didn’t know her from any other geek walking around the school.

“Okay, I will.” Emery took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and began her trek over to the gaming area.

It seemed both of the boys were really involved with whatever gun shooting game they were playing. Austin seemed as focused on this as he did when Emery had seen him playing in the football games she attended. Even though she didn’t understand the sport, it was one of the things that she forced herself to do to have the normal high school experience that every book and movie portrayed. So far, it hadn’t gotten her any Jakes from Sixteen Candles, but it did get her a few friends that seemed to be in the same clique as her…the ‘I don’t fit in anywhere’ group.

“Hey, Emery.” Brian, the little boy that Austin was playing with, finally noticed her standing beside them after a few minutes. He quickly went back to the game as his character seemed to be in some sort of fight.

“Beat ya.” Austin held up his hand for Brian to high-five him.

Emery noticed he seemed impressed with himself that he beat a ten-year-old in a video game.

After the hand slap, Austin turned to whoever Brian had acknowledged a few moments ago. A girl was standing there that was about his age. She had dark brown hair that hung past her shoulders. It wasn’t all prim, proper, and professionally styled looking like most girls her age, but just hung natural. She was on the small ends for both height and weight but had this glow about her that didn’t seem fake like the girls that hung around his group at school. This girl appeared genuine, experienced, and naïve all at the same time. She obviously was another volunteer because she had on one of those ridiculous colorful scrub shirts they had to wear. He’d seen her around before but couldn’t place where. It was most likely at school, but it was so hard to remember every face and name in a school that housed over four thousand students.

“Only because I let you.” Brian patted Austin on the back and then ran over to the line of tables where everyone was doing arts and crafts.

“Um, I’m supposed to show you around the unit." She waved her hand to the exit doors that went back out into the main part of the department. "You know since you’ll be volunteering here.” Emery hoped she didn’t sound too much like a stuttering fool. 

Austin stood and followed behind this girl who’d obviously been here a lot longer than he had since she was the one in charge of showing him around. It wasn’t like he really wanted to be here, but since he was forced to then he might as well make it as fun as possible.

“Is that all we have to do? You know, play games with them?” Austin broke the silence of the moment as they walked down the hall.

“Most of the time.” Emery went around the nurses’ station and into the back room that held all the supplies of what they may need in the future. “This is mainly the stuff we have to work with, you know to keep them content.” She motioned toward the boxes and boxes of donated toys that had been given by all of the local stores. “Some of the kids aren’t well enough to go down to the activity room, so sometimes we have to take stuff into their rooms to play with them.”

Emery saw Austin made a face about maybe having to go into a sick kid’s room. She assumed it was because he wouldn’t want to catch anything that they may have. It might ruin his ability to be the awesome person everyone thought he was.

“I’m sure you won’t have to do that. Anne will probably let you just hang out and play video games with whoever wants to play.” Emery saw he only nodded his head once at her insinuation as he continued to look in several of the boxes that contained the toys. “Ready?” She held the door open for them to leave. There was more to show him and she didn’t want her whole volunteer time to be with the one who got enough attention at school.

The rest of the tour took about thirty minutes. Emery showed him all the points within the department that she thought he would have to know, in case there was an emergency. She took Austin down and showed him where the cafeteria was located, just in case he was there for long days and might need something to eat or drink.

“How long have you been here?” Austin was impressed that Emery knew her way around this large facility so well. There were so many different departments, elevators, stairwells, and hallways that one could get lost for days.

‘When haven’t I been here?’

“Over three years.” She’d started prior to her freshman year of high school coming to help kids in the oncology ward. She motioned with her hand that they needed to take the next left. She didn’t want to run into him unexpectedly with a sudden turn.

“I guess you like to volunteer then.” Austin knew none of his friends, and especially not their girl followers, would ever give up any of their time to help someone else unless it somehow benefitted them also.

Emery just shrugged and opened the door for them to go back into the activity room. She had no response to his statement. It wasn’t a matter of liking to volunteer or doing this to feel good about herself. She came here because this felt like home, someplace she belonged, a place where she could relate to these kids.

Most people didn’t like to volunteer in this part of the hospital. They didn’t want to be sad all the time knowing that most of these kids wouldn’t see the end of the year. But what they failed to realize was, these kids knew they were dying, they accepted that fact, and they wanted to be treated like any other normal kid. They wanted people to play with them, even if it was in the hospital.

“Austin,” Brian yelled across the room. “Want me to let you win again?” He held up the game controller from the Xbox.

Austin glanced at Emery. He wasn’t sure if she was done showing him around.

Emery motioned for him to go join Brian. “Go ahead, I’m done.” She watched as he lightly jogged over to the gaming section and took his seat next to the little boy. They began to play the same game they’d played previously.

***

Austin glanced at the clock. He and Brian had been playing on the game for the past hour. He had twenty minutes to get to the high school, get changed, and be on the practice field before his coach had his hissy fit for him being late.

“I have to go to football practice, but I’ll see you tomorrow.” Austin held up his hand for Brian to high-five him. The little boy did, then raced over to the bins that held all the trains and such. He looked around and saw Emery was on her hands and knees picking up all the crayons and markers that had been left out. Austin lightly touched Emery’s arm to get her attention. “Will you be here tomorrow?”

Emery knew who was talking to her before she looked up. She threw the last of the crayons in the box and stood up on her feet. “I’m here five days a week, so yep, I’ll be here tomorrow.” She brushed her hair back that had fallen in her eyes from bending over for so long. She glanced at Austin, who was still watching her with a look of fascination in his eyes.

“I have to go to football practice, but I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Austin was amazed she came here five days a week without being forced to. Not that it was a bad place to be, just a downer that these little kids were so sick.

“Yep.” Emery turned away from him and continued to clean up the craft area. She really had nothing else to say to him. It wasn’t like they were going to become instant buddies and have a lifelong friendship. She had no idea why he was here but knew this Austin, who was talking to her now, was not the Austin who walked around with his head held high like he was better than everyone else in their school.

Austin walked over to the exit. He glanced once more at Emery not paying mind to anything except picking up the mess that the kids had left behind and laughing with a little girl who was still coloring. One more look at the clock, which seemed to have picked up speed, and he bolted out the doors, knowing he was definitely going to get an earful for making the team wait.

***

“How was the hospital today?” Mrs. Warden was seated on the sofa when Emery got back from volunteering.

“It was good. Molly was finally out of her room, but she still looked weak.” Emery knew her mom would know who she was talking about. Molly had become one of her favorites over the past several months. The doctors hadn’t given her a good prognosis, but the little girl kept trudging along, never giving up when even most adults would’ve.

“I’m sure she was happy to see you.” Emery’s mom knew her daughter had a connection with this other little girl. It was going to be so hard on Emery if something happened to Molly.

“Yeah, she painted a picture for me.” Emery held out the painting that Molly had given to her earlier that afternoon. “I’m going to hang it on my wall.” She walked down the hallway toward her bedroom.

“Dinner is almost ready. Your father should be home soon.” Mrs. Warden got off the sofa and went into the kitchen to check on the roast in the oven.

“Do we have any bananas?” Emery looked in the fruit bowl but didn’t see what she was looking for.

Mrs. Warden placed the roast pan on the counter by the stove. She reached on top of the refrigerator and grabbed the bunch of bananas that she made sure were always around. “Are you feeling okay?” She peeled one open and handed it to her daughter.

“Just a little tired, nothing major.” Emery took a big bite of the fruit. She didn’t want her mom to start worrying over a little exhaustion. “It was a busy day at the hospital.” Emery finished the banana, then threw the peel away.

“More kids or something special going on?” Mrs. Warden took the dinner plates out of the cabinet and wiped each with a paper towel.  

“New volunteer. I had to show him around.” Emery picked up the plates her mom just got done fussing over and took them over to the table to set out.

“A boy. Wow, that’s different.” All the times that she’d been at the hospital she’d only seen a handful of male volunteers. “Is he an older fellow?”

Emery shook her head no. “My age, Austin Murray.” She sat down in her appointed table chair and glanced up at her mom. She seemed to have a look of recognition when Emery had said the name.

“Melissa Murray’s son. Isn’t he on the football team?”

‘Of course, Mom knows his mom.’

“You know them?” Emery had never heard her mom talk about them.

Emery’s mom flicked her hand at her daughter. “Oh, I’ve known Missy for years.” She looked around when she heard the front door open. “Hello, dear,” she greeted her husband before resuming her conversation with Emery. “We’ve been in the same scrapbooking club since you all were in middle school. I’ve seen all the football pictures and assembles that she’s put together for the team.”

“Who’s that?” Mr. Warden took his seat at the table.

“Richard’s wife, Missy.” Emery’s mom told her dad about them like they’d been old friends with this family for years.

“Oh, I just saw him today at the bank. He was heading over to the field for the first day of football practice.” Mr. Warden finished filling his plate with roast, potatoes, and green beans.

“I’ll see Missy this evening at the club. Emery said that Austin is volunteering at the hospital.”

Emery watched as her parents carried on their conversation about the Murrays. She'd never heard them speak of them until today.

“Maybe he’s doing it for college. You know how they all want some sort of volunteer hours and giving back to the community type thing.” Mr. Warden looked at his daughter as if she may have the answer.

Emery shrugged. “I just showed him around. I didn’t really have time to talk to him that much.” Not that she really wanted to either. She and Austin were about as different as night and day, summer and winter, or left and right.

“I’ll ask Missy this evening.” Mrs. Warden finally began to eat her dinner.

***

“Emery, do you want to go?” Mrs. Warden yelled down the hall to her daughter to see if she felt like getting out for the evening. She'd finally cleaned up after dinner and was getting ready to go to her scrapbook meeting. When there wasn’t any answer, she walked back to the bedroom and softly knocked on the door. Still no response, Mrs. Warden quietly turned the handle and opened the door just enough that she could see in. Emery was curled up on her bed sound asleep. She closed the door as quietly as she’d opened it. She knew with being at the hospital all day Emery was surely going to sleep from now through the rest of the evening and night. Mrs. Warden told her husband she’d be back in a few hours and left for her small time out.