It’s a snowy, windy day. Alexia wakes up like usual. She is seventeen years old and goes to Lexall high school in Atlanta, Georgia. She is 5’ 8” and has light, brown hair; it is the color of caramel mixed in with coffee. Her eyes are as dark as chocolate cake, and her lips as pink as a bottle of pepto bismol. Alexia usually loves to wake up to the sounds of birds, get ready for school, and see the sunrise; today is much different. There are no birds, no sunrise, and not even the tiniest glimmer of happiness.
Every morning Alexia wakes up, and just for a split second she is happy, and then she remembers the dilemma she is currently facing. When Alexia was born, her father had died from lung disease. When Alexia was at the age of five, her mother was diagnosed with liver cancer. She has since been cured with the help of chemotherapy. She has had cancer off and on for the past twelve years. Ever since Alexia was a young girl, it has been hers, and her mother’s desire for her to get accepted into Brown; her dream school. Today, Alexia wakes up to hear her mother coughing, sneezing, and crying. Alexia runs into her mother’s room, asking her what is wrong, thinking that someone is hurting her. She enters the room, only to see her mother laying on her bed, looking more grey than she ever has been before.
“Mom, are you ok?” Alexia asked her mother. 
“Sweetie, I’m fine. You worry too much. Did you study for that test you have today?”
“Mom, if you need me, I’ll stay home with you...just say so.”
“Lexi, I’ll be fine.”
***
    Alexia is running outside, in her backyard. She is four years old, and she does not have a single care in the world. Her biggest responsibility is to make sure to let her mother know if she has to use the restroom.
“Lexi! Come inside, your sandwich is ready!”
“Hold on mom, I’m not done exploring yet!”
“Lexi, come inside right now!”
“Just a few more minutes mom?” Alexia yelled back as she was jumping on her trampoline, with not even the slightest worry in the world.
“Alexia! Now!”
Alexia had recognized her mother’s tone. She knew, even at the age of four, that if her mother called her by her full name it meant that she was beginning to get upset. Quickly, Alexia ran inside. She ran up the porch steps, in through the front door, and into the open, warm, comforting, loving arms of her mother. This was the only place that she knew that truly nothing could go wrong, she felt safe there. She was free from all harm, and free from anything that she could ever fear.
“Sweetie, what would you like for your birthday next week?”
“Mommy, I want macaroni and cheese!”
“Of course sweetie, I can do that for--” She was cut off by the cell phone ringing.
“Uhm, I’ll be right back Lexi. Don’t move! Stay in your chair and eat your sandwich.”
“Ok mommy.”
    Alexia can hear some murmuring from a distance. She can hear her mother sort of yelling, and crying. She tries to make out some of her mother’s words, but her mother seems to be crying too hard for it to be comprehensible.
“What do you mean Dr. Jerra? Last week you told me I was in great health...but what do you mean things can change? How bad is this supposed to get? Chemotherapy? No way!”
“Mommy?”
“Look Dr. Jerra, we definitely need to figure this out as soon as possible. Let me just finish eating with my daughter, and then I’ll give you a call back to see when we can set up an appointment.”
Alexia was young, but she was nowhere near ignorant. She didn’t exactly understand what chemotherapy was, but she did know that it wasn’t good at all.
“Lexi sweetie, are you done eating?”
“Yes. Mommy, is something wrong with you?”
“No sweetie! Of course not!”
“Then why do you have tears, Mommy?”
“No sweetie, not tears. It’s just warm in here and I’m sweating.”
Alexia knew better than that, she was not gullible. She did not believe her mother. She knew that something like sweat and heat, couldn’t have caused her mother’s eyes to become so red and puffy.
***
    “Lexi?”
“Yes, mom?”
“You haven’t responded in a few minutes, do you feel alright?”
“Of course mom, just get better please. I want a smile on your face by the time I get home.”
“Yes, and I want an acception letter from Brown by the time you get back home.”
“Anything for you mom. I love you, I’ll see you later ok? If you need me, call me out, and I’ll come take care of you.”
“Yes sweetie, now go.”
Alexia goes to school, and like usual she cannot seem to concentrate on any of her classes. All she can think about is her mother. Her lovely, beautiful, caring mother. She enters into Advanced Placement Calculus and takes a seat. Her classmate turns to her.
“Alexia, have you gotten your letter from Brown yet?”
“No. Have you?”
“I need a pencil sharpener,” said Tom bluntly.
“Tommy, it’s ok. I won’t be mad.”
“Yes...I got accepted.”
Tommy already got into Brown? Why haven’t I received a letter? Maybe they chose not to accept me.
“Ms. Guren, the office is requesting your presence.”
Great, another sympathy party. Just what I need. Alexia makes her way down to the office.
“Ms. Guren, thank you for coming right away. Your mother is requesting you to go home. As always if there’s anything we can help with, let us know.”
“Thanks.”
    Alexia makes her way back to class, picks up her books, heads to her locker, and goes out to the parking lot and into her car. She turns on the radio, but it seems that no matter what she plays, everything makes her emotional. She arrives home, gets out of her car and heads for the door. She puts her key in the lock, but it pushes open, without her even having to twist the key. The door pushes wide open and she suddenly feels a cold absence. At the floor of the entrance of her door, there is an envelope. She picks it up, it reads Brown University across the address line. She is very excited and nervous, but she crumples it up into her pocket and looks for her mother.
“Mom? Where are you?”
Buzz, buzz, buzz!
Alexia’s phone vibrates in her pocket. It’s a weird number that she has never seen before. She decides to pick it up anyways.
“Is this Ms. Alexia Guren?”
“Yes, this is she.”
“Hello, Alexia. This is Dr. Jerra….”
Where have I heard that name before?
“I’m calling you because your mother is here at Elkridge hospital, downtown.”
“What!”
“Your mother is here Ms. Gurren...Ms. Gurren? Hello?”
Alexia drops her phone and leaves Dr. Jerra talking. She runs out the door and rushes to the hospital. She is driving over sixty miles per hour in a thirty five mile per hour zone. She is passing all the red lights, and skipping all the stop signs as if she doesn't even see them. She arrives to the hospital, doesn’t even bother to lock her car, runs across the street and in through the doors.
“Where is my mother? Where is she!”
“Who is your--”
“Terra Guren, where is she?”
“Room 526, be quiet, she’s not doing--”
Alexia leaves running as the clerk stands there talking. She goes to the elevator and pushes the up arrow. One second later, and it has already been too long of a wait for her. She runs to the stairs and goes up as fast as possible. Finally, she finds room 526, and runs inside.
“Mom! Oh my, mom. No mom.”
    Tears begin to flood Alexia’s eyes as she falls onto the ground, landing on her knees. She sees her mother in the bed, under the covers, with an IV injected in her arm. She is grey, and appears to have just a little bit of soul left inside of her. She runs over and hugs her mother. Alexia’s mother wipes her tears off of her cheeks, and Alexia holds her mother's cold, fragile hand to her face.
“Sweetie, I’ll be honest. I don’t know that I can make it. I am trying, but I think that it might be time for me to let go. I have raised you well, and I know you will be the best. I’m sorry I couldn’t go any further.”
“Mom, please don’t leave me! They’ll take me to social services!”
“Alexia, you have been so worried about me lately. Did you forget that you turn eighteen in three days? What was that crumpling noise that I heard when you hugged me?”
“Oh, uhm I got a letter from Brown, but I didn’t get a chance to open it because I rushed down here so quickly.”
“Open it.”
Alexia opens the damaged, crushed envelope that is in her pocket. She buries her face in her palms as she tries to hide her tears, and then she looks up to her mother. “I got in...I can’t believe I got in,” she whispered with disbelief in her tone.
“I knew that you would. I always knew. You’ve always been very intelligent...but my time is coming, and I need to tell you something. Do not stress about the money...I never told you this, but when your father died, I didn’t spend his life insurance. I have arranged for you to receive that, and my life insurance the day you turn eighteen, along with my personal savings. It is a little over $700,000, and the house is completely paid for. It is all yours sweetie. Be the best you can be, the best that I have raised you to be.”
Alexia is now filled with tears. Her face swollen and her eyes as red as blood.
“Mommy, please!”
“It’s my time now Lexie, I’ve fought a great battle. It’s time for this soldier to go back home. I love y--”
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppp.