Cape of Good HopeBoard

Leukemia. What a terrible word.
“How the hell do I keep letting you drag me into these crazy races, Iz?” Isabelle ignores her brother’s question, whipping to the right and stepping on the gas, her long, coral pink hair trailing behind her in the chilly wind of the night as the hot pink convertible narrowly avoids hitting the corner of a building. The car slides smoothly back onto the road and she blows through yet another red light. She taps her pastel pink nails against the steering wheel, her gray-brown eyes scanning the familiar streets of Waffle Valley and calculating her next move.
He’s in a lot of pain, Miss Cole. There’s really not much more we can do for him.
Isabelle shakes her head. She needs to stay focused on the road. “How you guys holding up back there?” She asks, not even bothering to look over her shoulder at her two brothers in the back seat.
Jayden rolls his eyes. “Are you serious? You wouldn’t let me ride shotgun, how do you think I’m doing?”
“Uh, guys?” Kenji says nervously. “I think we’ve got company.”
“I could use some company. I don’t want to die here all alone.” The small, joking smile on his face reveals the smallest hint of fear.
Isabelle tenses slightly at the distant sound of sirens behind her. “Dammit! I can’t get arrested tonight. Luca’s more important.”
“Luca?” Ken narrows his eyes at the mention of the youngest of the four siblings. “Iz? What’s going on? Why’d you pick us up tonight?”
“We’re not going for a race, are we?” Jay already knows the answer, even as he asks the question, his heart growing heavier in his chest. Isabelle once again ignores the question, pushing the car even faster than before as the sirens and flashing lights draw ever closer.
“Izzy?” Kenji asks again, as they blow past a stop sign without so much as slowing down.
It’s not looking good. A couple days, maybe.
Isabelle shakes her head again, glancing back at Kenji and Jayden. The solemn look on her face gives them all the answers they need.
“We’re going to say goodbye,” Jay states softly, and Isabelle gives a small nod in confirmation.
“No,” Kenji breathes. “You can’t just–”
“There’s nothing we can do,” Isabelle snaps coldly.
I’m sorry. There’s nothing else we can do for him.
The three of them are silent for a long while, driving down the long, open stretch where Isabelle usually races with her friends. The sirens are slowly closing the distance, inevitably catching up with them, much like their brother’s impending fate.
“Not today.” A small, halfhearted smirk comes across Isabelle’s face as she finds the narrow gap she’s looking for between the buildings. “Hold on,” she warns the boys behind her.
“No way, Izzy, you’re not going to make it!”
Isabelle laughs maniacally as she abruptly yanks the wheel to the left, flying into the narrow alleyway. She pushes a button on the console and the car lurches forward, a bright pink blur in the otherwise peaceful night. The lights and sirens breeze past the alleyway behind them, unable to keep up and completely missing the turn.
“Where are you going? Hospital’s the other way,” Jay points out.
“If we’re going to have one last night together… I’m going to make it good. Like old times.”
Satisfied in having lost their pursuers, Isabelle follows the same path she’s taken so many times as a child, quickly finding her way to the cozy, familiar diner and smiling at the softly lit sign: “Waffles on a Stick”. She pulls up to the drive-through window and the old man inside smiles warmly at her, immediate recognition flashing across his face.
“My favorite little family,” he flashes a friendly grin. “It’s good to see you again. Three of you?”
“Four,” Isabelle says softly.
“Ah, taking some for the little one, hm? Tell him I said hello.” He disappears back into the shop for a moment and comes back with four massive slabs of deep-fried waffles, carefully handing them off to Isabelle. She passes three of them into the back seat, holding onto one. “Thanks,” she gives a solemn nod to the old man and they share a glance, an understanding passing between them.
She peels out of the drive-through and back onto the streets as her brothers start eating their waffles; Kenji’s already licking chocolate syrup off his hands, somehow smudging chocolate all across his face and into his salmon-colored hair. Jayden takes careful bites, trying not to make a mess despite knowing how impossible it is to avoid. Isabelle holds her waffle in one hand and the steering wheel in the other as she once again steps on the gas, speeding down the street as fast as her car will go, silently wondering if she can outrun what’s coming.
Before long they’ve found themselves pulled up in front of the hospital, sliding smoothly to a stop in a parking spot near the front of the mostly-empty lot. Isabelle and Jayden both get out of the car but Kenji can’t seem to force his limbs to move. “Maybe if I stay here I can just stop time,” he whispers, willing his words to be true. Jayden comes back and grabs Kenji’s hand, knowing that as much as he wants Kenji to be right, that’s not how the world works.
“Come on, let’s go. Luca’s still here right now, all alone.”
Kenji nods weakly, and finally manages to pull himself out of the car and onto his feet in the chilly night air. The three of them silently walk into the hospital, with Isabelle offering a friendly little wave to the familiar young man at the front desk as the three of them make their way up the stairs and into Luca’s room.
Jayden knocks softly on the sliding glass door, then pokes his head inside. Lucas perks up a little bit at the arrival of his siblings.
As he walks inside, Jayden looks his brother up and down. It’s hard to see a difference from one day to the next; he doesn’t look any worse than he did last week or a month ago. His soft, magenta hair is still vibrant as ever against his pale face. But Jayden can still tell that this isn’t the same healthy, vital kid that Lucas had been before the cancer. Lucas knows the same truth they all do: he won’t live past tomorrow.
Kenji silently gives Lucas his waffle, watching the smile that comes across his brother’s face. True joy. For a moment, Lucas has forgotten about everything else. The cancer, the hospital, the doctors, the pain, all of it disappears and fades away into true, simple joy as he bites into the waffle. For a brief moment, he’s a little kid again.
The sweet, creamy whip hits his tongue first, with too many colorful sprinkles to count, then the thick, dense chocolate syrup, and then the crunchy, buttery, warm, golden brown, deep-fried waffle fills his taste buds and overwhelms his senses. He’s taken back to all the afternoons that the four of them spent together, in the diner or by the lake or in their backyard, sitting together and eating their waffles on a stick.
Lucas quietly thinks that he can die happy.
Isabelle, Jayden and Kenji all find spots to sit on Luca’s bed, quickly settling in and getting comfortable. The hours pass quickly, the four of them talking and laughing and smiling together. Just like old times. Like when they were kids. Isabelle pulls a deck of cards from her back pocket and they play whatever games they can remember. They talk about anything and everything and nothing at all, letting the feeling of love wash over them, letting everything else not matter.
They barely even notice as midnight and 1:00 and 2:00 and 3:00 pass them by.
Half past 4:00 the very first light of the morning shows up in the window. They all go quiet, sitting side by side and holding hands as they watch the sun slowly peek over the horizon, as it always does, unavoidably bringing in the new day. They hold their breath, all silently wishing for some kind of miracle, waiting for some good news they’re all vaguely aware is never going to come.
Lucas finally sighs softly. “I love you all, so much,” he says, a bittersweet smile falling over his small, pale features.
The four of them wrap him in a hug, a sea of pink hair and warm familiarity and knowing what comes next but refusing to let go. So, they hold on for a long time, as long as they possibly can.
“I’m really tired,” Luca says softly.
“It’s okay,” Isabelle murmurs, the tears threatening to choke off her words. “Get some sleep.”
“We’re not going anywhere,” Kenji adds.
Lucas nods and closes his eyes, laying back in the hospital bed, his siblings crowding around him and snuggling close. Lucas falls asleep and the four of them stay there like that, letting him slowly slip away. The doctors have already disconnected the heart monitors; they don’t need the loud, constant beeping to know that he’s gone.
Still, they know they'll be okay. They're still all together.