Tears ran down Layla's eyes as she recalled her interaction with the doctor hours earlier.

The disease has eaten deep into your heart, there's only little I can do which is to administer drugs which can only reduce the pain.

You have less than a year to live, Layla. I am so sorry, he said sadly.

Layla couldn't stop the tears as she squeezed the hospital report in her hand.

This is good news for me but bad for my parents . She was happy that she was soon going to be free from the clutches of sickness but worried about her parents as she was their only child.

She decided to hide the news from her parents and her best friend Tanar . Two months before my death I would travel to San Francisco and wait there patiently for death to come find me she said and slept off on the bed.

The door knob turned and Tanar came in exhausted from work. Hey lay, she said which was her nickname for Layla . Upon getting no response she checked the room and found her sleeping. As soon as Tanar entered her bedroom,she woke up.

Hey Tanar she said groggily, how are you ? Am fine lay. you good , your eyes are swollen.

Yeah I am fine ,just been too stressed you know. Did you buy my favorite, Layla asked, trying to change the topic.

Tanar noticed her intention and went along with the flow, yeah I did get you your strawberry muffins.

Thanks baby she said while grabbing the paper bag in Tanar's hand.

Heavenly she muttered as she took a bite.

You always say these all the time , don't you eat them every day, you're such a cutie. The taste is different every time Layla says with her mouthful.

How did it go ?. As usual, Layla answered with an indifferent look on her face.

You are acting differently, is there something you're not telling me.

I don't wanna talk about it Tanar, Layla said walking to the kitchen .

Layla's phone was ringing, she picked it at the first ring .It was her mom and for sure her old man was beside her.

Hello baby , how are you doing? Her mom asked. On hearing her mom's voice filled with concern, Tears formed in her eyes, she was doing her best to prevent them from spilling.

Seeing that she had not responded,her dad spoke up ,Baby can you hear us he said . Immediately the tears flowed from Layla's eyes. She cut the call and decided to call them later. She couldn't let them know the reason why she was crying and they wouldn't stop asking until she told them.

Layla went on her knees in the washroom and cried her eyes out. 

More tears in one day. She remembered how her dad would back her to the hospital every Friday for a full body checkup and buy her drugs for the week.

Her parents were not rich and had no properties, they were very hardworking. All their money had gone into Layla's health , they believed that she would one day be in perfect health.

Her parents would eat only what she ate, whatever she stayed away from because of her disease they would also stay away from it 

Guilt gnawed at her because their sacrifice still did not pull through, she was still going to die after all. Layla decided to keep this secret to herself only , she couldn't let her parents or Tanar know as they would be in so much pain and she would not be able to see them in pain. She would rather die than see her parents suffer. 

Her mom might not be able to take it and would likely have a heart attack if she told them the truth concerning the hospital report, same with her dad. They loved her more than themselves and would always put her first .

Layla decided to act healthier than she was and fulfill all her parents' wishes before she dies . It would be nice to see them happy once more before she leaves them for the afterworld 

 ........

Mr and Mrs Fisher were Layla's real parents house keepers. Layla's parents were so nice to them and provided them with a house and car. Mr and Mrs Fisher really loved their employers and of course loved little Layla the most .

On a certain morning , as the family of three were about to go on a vacation, Layla's father called Mr Fisher to his room which no one enters apart from himself .Mr Fisher was scared thinking that he did something wrong. Layla's dad gave him a document to keep safely for him and told him not to open it.

He also told him that if he doesn't ask for it, Mr Fisher should give it to Layla when she gets married.

Mr Fisher was quite confused and wanted to ask questions but Layla's father told him that he would answer the questions when they returned. Please don't let anyone know about this, he concluded before sending him away .

 .......

The day's event played through Layla's head as she retired for the night. She couldn't sleep and had to be up early to go to the flower shop.

After much tossing about , she finally caught some sleep a few hours into the morning.

She woke up an hour later with her clothes soaked with sweat. Those nightmares again. 

Layla always dreams of seeing her parents and her soaked in blood and would see her mom crying in the dream. But this time her mom was not crying, rather she was looking at Layla smiling.

Layla woke up thinking about the smile on her mom's face. She would have forgotten how her real parents looked but because of the dream which she always had, their faces are still etched in her memory.

Layla knew that Mr and Mrs Fisher were not her real parents but adopted her after her parents died while her father's only brother whose face she can't remember dropped her off in an orphanage. Her now parents came to adopt her, they had been the best parents to her and took care of her even more than her parents did while they were alive.

They would show up at every school event, take her to parks and celebrate her birthdays with her. They got her gifts and made every year count. She found solace wit

h them and hardly ever missed her dead parents.