"I'm sorry, Miss. Blackwood, you have a cancerous growth of abnormal cells in your brain. If discovered early, it would have been manageable. But now, I'm afraid you have just three months to live,"
Hazel Blackwood went over the words the doctor told her. It was like a movie, playing in a loop in her head. She must be dreaming, right.
Outside the hospital, Hazel found a bench by the sidewalk and sat down. No matter how much she thought about it, it still seemed like a dream to her. She was going to die in three months?
She should have known; the frequent and severe headache; tiredness; blurred vision and vomiting. Those were signs that something was wrong with her body but she had ignored them, thinking it was just work-related stress.
One couldn't exactly blame her, working in the factory all day was a physically demanding job and not once nor twice, many workers reported being unwell and unsuitable to work. Hazel knew the factory precautionary measures were shitty and working there was risky, but she had no choice.
It was not like she could find a good paying job with her high school diploma. No one cared about an orphan who has no family or relatives to rely on. There was no one to help her.
Hazel had not thought the symptoms were serious since they got better each time she took over-the-counter drugs until the seizure occurred and now, here's the good news - she has brain cancer. Hurrah!
It was enough that life was shitty enough but according to the doctor, there is a big possibility she came from a family history of brain tumors. The family that did nothing but abandon her in the orphanage also left a parting gift.Brain cancer.
Hazel began to laugh. She laughed so hard that other patients with their families who passed by avoided her, thinking that she had finally lost her mind.
No, this can't be real. Things like this only happen in movies, not in real life, right? Of how many billion people in the world, why does she have to be the one to suffer brain tumor? What were the heavens thinking?! Hasn't she suffered enough?! Does God hate her that much?
Hazel swore she was not going to cry but the resentment in her heart was too much and it was suffocating her. She began to beat down on her chest hard, tears running down her cheeks.
This was so unfair. Why does she have to be the one to suffer this terrible fate? Life was being so unfair to her. Hazel was still lamenting in her heart when she felt someone occupy the other space on the bench.
Finally aware of her environment, Hazel was embarrassed that she was crying in the open. So she simply acknowledged the woman's presence without looking up and turned to the other side, trying to stop the tears.
"It seems unfair, right?"
"Yes. Eh?" Hazel answered unconsciously until her brows furrowed and she realized she just answered that stranger.
With a puzzling expression, Hazel finally lifted her head to see an elderly woman beside her. She had blonde locks and wore glasses with an inquisitive look on her face.
"What is bothering you?" She asked.
"Excuse me?" Hazel asked, confusion etched on her face. It is not every day that a stranger asks what's bothering her.
"You are crying," She pointed.
"No, I'm not," Hazel denied it immediately, clearing the tears in her eyes with the back of her hand while searching for her handkerchief in her purse with the other, "It's nothing,"
"It's not always right to hide your problems from people who are interested to know. Who knows they might hold the answer to your prayers?" The woman had a comforting smile on her face.
She's a scam, Hazel thought but for some reason, she just wanted to let it all out. Moreover, what's the harm in telling a stranger her problem? They wouldn't even see after today.
"Well…" Hazel turned to her, "I'm sure you certainly don't have the cure for me who would be dying in three months from a brain tumor. So there, problem shared," She said sarcastically.
"You must be angry," The woman said.
"Angry?" Hazel threw her head back and laughed, "I feel mad! What am I going to do in three months, huh? I feel like a kidnap victim strapped to a bomb jacket, looking and counting down to the timer on my body. I wish I had five years, no, two, no a year. A year would be much better! I would be able to make ample plans, " She complained.
Unable to contain the fury in her heart, Hazel stood up and began to pace up and down, saying, "All this while, all I've ever done is work hard so I can put food on my table. I didn't even have the time to date and fool around like the other girls. Gosh, it would be nice to fall in love before I die. I want to know what true love feels like…." She yearned for it.
"Is that your wish?" the woman suddenly said.
"What?" Hazel turned around, staring at that strange woman.
"You wish to live for a year to be able to find true love, is that it?" The woman asked again, as if wanting to confirm her opinion.
"Yes," Hazel answered without a doubt, "A year would be a blessing to me,"
"Wish granted then," She said.
"As if," Hazel laughed, "If wishes were that possible to grant, you think I wouldn't be able to pray for them,"
"But I just granted you one?" the woman blinked, "I cannot give life but I can extend one,"
Hazel was dumbfounded, what was that woman talking about? She was not only a strange woman but a crazy woman at that? Hazel looked around the hospital, trying to see if it had a psychiatric wing and the woman possibly escaped from it.
"You don't believe me?" the woman suddenly looked offended.
"Grandmother," Helen noticed the sudden change in her demeanor and tried to appease her, "It's not that I don't believe you, but there comes a sudden time in one's life when one might not be able to differentiate between reality and imagination," She hinted that she might have dementia.
"Ignorant humans!" The woman stomped her feet angrily, "Fine, I'll show you then,"
Hazel snorted, "Show me what…..?" Her jaw dropped when the woman suddenly began to float in the air. That phenomenon was against the law of gravity, right?
"H-how… W-what… W-who…?" Hazel stuttered badly, unable to comprehend what was going on.
The woman hovered in the air proudly, hands on her waist, "You can call me fairy godmother."