The Charlotte Chronicles

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Synopsis:

Charlotte and Nathan were supposed to be forever. They grew up together. Their families were intertwined. Charlotte was Nathan’s first love. Nathan was Charlotte’s first everything.

Until they weren’t.

How do you hold on to the person you know in your heart you are supposed to be with when everything and everyone in the universe is telling you it’s over?

How many times does a heart break?
When is enough…..enough?
How long is forever?

Chapter One

Charlotte

Today is a no good, very bad, wholly rotten day. In the history of bad days, this has to be on the top. My best friend, Nick, is sitting by the window and won’t look at me. His brother, Nathan, is in the corner, glowering as if somehow this is my fault. Mom is trying not to cry, and Dad is pacing like a lunatic.

And my head hurts bad. The doctor says tonight’s surgery will help alleviate the pressure from the tumor that’s taken up residence in the back of my skull. No one knows what will happen next, other than to not operate would be a death sentence.

My choices are dying or getting my head cut open and possibly dying.

Being only fifteen, I don’t get to make the decision. That’s up to my parents, who said yes to surgery before the doctor even was done introducing the idea. Did either of them even hear the litany of absolutely terrible things that could happen during surgery?

They could administer the wrong amount of anesthesia, and I wouldn’t wake up. Or they could accidentally cut into some vital portion of my brain, rendering me conscious but incapable of speech or movement. Or the tumor could be so large that surgery was a worthless endeavor in the first place.

Everyone wants me to have the surgery. As for me, I’d like a moment, just one, to think about it. But there’s no time. It’s now, tonight, immediately or not at all.

None of the adults are going to give it to me straight. Even the doctors talk in quiet tones to my parents in the corner. I want to yell that I’m the patient, but I can’t yell because even speaking is too painful right now. But I’m glaring. My eyes are shouting at them. Unfortunately, no one but Nathan is even looking at me right now. Nathan, who must think I’ve done something to create this tumor in my head and ruin his day, because he can’t stop glowering at me. His face looks thunderous, like he’d like to squeeze my head until the tumor pops out like a zit. I’d like that too. But at least he’s looking at me, unlike everyone else.