• On January 15, Alice Scott returned to school. Her first day in Flora Elementary.
    “Class, today we have a new student her name is Alice Scott,” Ms. Simmers said with a sweet voice as she gave the class a radiant smile. Alice came inside the class and introduced herself.
    “H-Hi my n-name is A-Alice Sc-Scott I came here from Los Angeles, California and I live with my dad. I hope we have a good year together?” Alice said with a stutter. She looked at Ms.Simmers waiting for directions as Ms. Simmers told her to sit next to Jack. Alice went to her seat and sat down. She looked to the side to see the dark haired boy and with a smile she said “Hi”. He stared at her and smiled back.
    “Hi, my name is Jack Dean.”Jack said cheerfully. “Nice to meet you, Jack.” Alice said very happily.
    As the day quickly came to an end, Jack walked Alice home. They start to walk and halfway, Alice hides behind Jack.
    “What's wrong Alice?” Jack said very worried. Alice stayed quiet with her head down. Jack looks to the woman in front of them.
    “Alice, my sweet darling. COME HERE, DID YOU AND YOUR FATHER THINK YOU COULD RUN AWAY FROM ME!”Mrs. Scott yelled angrily. She started to walk up to Alice and Jack.
    “Alice, RUN!” Jack screamed. He grabs Alice by the hand and runs. They lose her midway, panting and sweating.
    They go to the closest place to hide and rest for a bit.
    "Do you know that person Alice?" Jack said catching his breathe.
    "That person was my mom...." Alice said quietly.
    "WHAT?! No way!" Jack says. As he looks at Alice he sees that she has her head on her knees. He goes up to her and hugs her saying, "Alice, I hope everything is alright with you! Don't be so down! CHEER UP! Come on smile." with a cheery voice.
    After resting for a bit they started to walk towards Alice's house. As soon as they reach her house, they went up to the door and started to knock. As her father looked out the window wondering who it could be. He saw Alice and the boy in front of the door. Mr. Scott walked to the front door and opened the door.
    “Welcome home Alice. Are Alice's new friend? Who are you boy? Your name?” Mr. Scott questioned. Alice walked inside the front door and they stood there.
    “My name is Jack Dean. I’m Alice’s friend!” Jack replied with a cheery voice. “I hope she's ok now. I’ll be leaving now Mr. Scott. Bye Alice! See you tomorrow at school and see you next time Mr. Scott.”Jack said with a smile. Starting to walk away and look back at Alice. Alice waved saying bye. And he walked away.
    “What happened Alice? What does he mean?”Mr. Scott asked with a worried expression. “Come on let's go inside.”He smiles tenderly.
    They walk inside the house to the living room. Alice sat down at the couch. Mr. Scott 's in the kitchen, heating up his tea.
    “So are you going to tell me what happened? Alice?” Mr. Scott questioned while getting his tea and walking to Alice from the kitchen.
    “ I saw her….Mommy..... She was…..being scary.” Alice said as tears fall down her face. Mr. Scott drops his cup, you hear hear a huge clash. He hugs Alice and comforts her.
    “It’s okay, everything's alright sweetie! You're safe now!”Mr. Scott said worried and comforting her.
    The Next Day…
    Jack saw Alice walking through the gates. He goes up to her.
    “Alice, I'll be here for you. Don't worry if something scary happens like yesterday. I’ll protect you Alice!”Jack said. Alice looked up at him. “I promise! Pinky promise!” Alice nodded with a smile. They both did a pinky promise on that day.
    Time Skips to Ten Years Later…
    “Alice, hurry up! You’re going to be late if you don’t hurry up!”Mr. Scott shouted from the front door. Alice rushes downstairs and replied saying, “Okay, I just need to put my shoes on. Wait for me outside!”
    Mr. Scott walks outside.
    “I’ll be in the car, sweetie.”Mr. Scott shouted from outside. He went to the car and started the engine.
    When Alice finished, she closed the door and ran outside to the car.
    “Let's go, dad!”Alice said. Mr. Scott backs up and starts to drive.
    As soon as they arrive at Or’rein Academy, Alice sees Jack almost at the school gates. Alice hurries out the car.
    “Dad, bye. Cya at home. Love you!”Alice said with a huge smile. “Ok, bye sweetie! Love you too!” Mr. Scott said smiling.
    She closes the car door and runs up to Jack.
    “Jack! Hi! Jack?”Alice exclaims. As she runs up to him, she sees that he has his headphones on. She waves in front of his face. He finally notices.
    “Oh, uh, hi Alice. We’re going to be late if we don’t hurry up.” Jack said removing his headphones. “Well then ok. Let's hurry!” Alice said. They run to class.
    *Ding Dong*
    “Hm….Who’s here and who’s going to be late?” Ms. Carol says.
    Bam, the door opens. “Are we late? Wow that was tough!”Jack said catching his breath. Alice had her hands on her knees, squatting and Jack sat on the floor.
    “You two are just on time.”Ms. Carol says smiling. “Go sit in your seats while I take attendance.” They nodded. They got up and went to their seats then sat down.
    Later On…….
    “Oh man, it’s P.E!!!! NNNOOOOO!” A student shouted groaning.
    “Go dress out class. Come down to the field when you're done.”Ms. Carol says. The class dresses out and go down to the field when their done.
    “Sit down and have a partner help you with your sit ups.”Ms. Carol says blowing her whistle. Everyone choose a partner and started to do the sit ups.
    "Wanna be my partner?" Miley asked Jack. "Uh, sure." Jack replied.
    Jack and Miley became partners. Alice looks around and sees that Jack is partners with somebody else. She panics because she doesn’t know anyone who can be her partner.
    “Who doesn’t have a partner? Raise your hand.”Ms. Carol says. Alice raised her hand. “Oh, Alice come over here. I’ll be your partner.”Ms. Carol says with a warm smile.
    Alice walks over to Ms. Carol and gets started on the sit ups. Alice felt upset. She didn’t Really know anyone else but Jack in school.
    Later on, they run a mile.
    While running the mile, a girl student asked Alice, “Alice are you alright? You don’t look good.”
    “I’m okay!” Alice says smiling.
    Alice keeps running, she starts to feel dizzy and suddenly falls to the ground. People around her panic. As Jack was running, he saw a crowd of people around someone and heard “ALICE! ”. He ran to the crowd.
    There he saw Alice laying on the ground. Her skin was pale. Blood started flow out of her mouth. He picked up Alice. He carried her and started to walk. The teacher came over.
    “Is everything alright?!”Ms. Carol says worried. “No, Alice fainted and has blood streaming out. I’ll be taking her to the nurse!” Jack yelled with an worried expression.
    Jack kept walking then started to run to the nurse.
    “Class continue what you were doing..”Ms. Carol says looking over to see Jack running with Alice in his arms.
    Halfway to the nurse, Jack wondered what happened.
    “Alice, I hope your still alive! Don’t die on me!”Jack said very worried with watery eyes, fearing what would happen to her.
    When they arrive at the nurse, she took a look at her and then called the hospital. Immediately. A ambulance came in front of the school. They went in the nurse's office and put Alice on a stretcher then went inside the ambulance.
    “Wait, take me with you guys!”Jack said.
    They called her dad and Jack was beside her. He sat there holding her hand and praying that she’ll be okay.
    As soon as they got to the hospital, they started to take her to the operation room. While rushing to the room, Jack held her hand and started to tear up. When they got to the room they told Jack, “Sir, please wait outside the room.” Jack waited outside the room.
    As soon as Mr. Scott arrived, he ran to Alice's room. Mr. Scott went up to Jack and said, “Is she alright?!”
    “I don’t know, they haven’t told me anything yet.”Jack said averting Mr. Scott's eyes.
    The doctor comes out the room. “Who’s the parent of Alice Scott?”Dr. Maggie asked. “Right here!” Mr. Scott said walking up to the doctor.
    Dr. Maggie takes him inside the room and they have a talk. Jack is outside thinking about Alice and that she’ll be ok.
    “How……..ng to get rid of this dum… diagno…...” Mr. Scott yelled from the room. Jack heard him yelling and goes up to the door and listens.
    “She’s going to die! Why can’t we find a cure to save her?!?! She’s my only child! My daughter….My precious daughter! She’s all I have.” Mr. Scott yelled and breaking down into tears. Mr. Scott looked at his dear daughter, Alice, laying on the bed silently with tubes connected to her. Jack stared into the room and tears started to slowly fall down his face. It made him mad and sad because she was always positive and smiling no matter how much it hurt. She always kept things to herself.
    He looked away and walked to the bench. He sat there thinking about her. About the times, she smiled no matter what. That bright and cheerful girl standing in the field of flowers, smiling.
    “I promised that I would protect her but I couldn’t do anything for her.”Jack said feeling pathetic. He cried to himself with his head down on his hand. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looking up, he saw Mr. Scott with a small smile with tears still running down his face.
    “It’s not your fault Jack. Thank you for being a good friend to my daughter.”Mr. Scott said with a gentle smile. Jack gave a smile.
    “Can I go see her, please?”Jack said with tears falling down his face.. “I need to see her!” Mr. Scott sighed and nodded as Jack dashed into the room.
    He stood there next to Alice. He looked at her with a worried expression. He then sat down and held her hand in his. Mr. Scott came into the room. Jack turned to Mr. Scott.
    “Do you know why she has this strange diagnosis?” Jack said questioning Mr. Scott. “Yes.”Mr. Scott replied.
    “Could you please tell me?!?”Jack said. Mr. Scott nodded with a sigh.
    “It all started when her mom became cra-”Mr. Scott said with Jack interrupting him. “You mean that crazy lady from 10 years ago?”Jack said. “Yes.”Mr. Scott said. “Anyways, continuing. She became crazy. It all started when we had our first child. A boy. In her 7th month of being pregnant, she had a miscarriage. After that she broke down. She went crazy. I put up with her because I loved her. She wanted another child and each time we tried, I just couldn’t get her pregnant. Eventually she went to other men and slept with them. She would be drinking. I have tried to stop her but I just couldn’t cause then we would always be fighting. One day, we did it! She got pregnant again! I thought that she would stop her addictions but she couldn’t stop her addictions. She would drink 3 bottles a day. Doctors told her to stop but she didn’t care nor listen. When Alice was born, she became happy but she still didn’t stop any of her addictions. One day, I noticed something was wrong with Alice at 1 years old. I took her to the doctor and they said that they've never seen anything like this. She’ll die when she turns 17 and I’m sorry to say this but it's not curable. I broke down into tears. I stared at her smiling face.”Mr. Scott said crying and his voice cracking.
    Mr. Scott walked up to Alice and kissed her forehead. He sang her the song he would sing her when she was little.
    Later on…..
    Jack fell asleep. Mr. Scott put a blanket on Jack and wrote a note. As Mr. Scott was walking out the door, he said “Take good care of Alice!” with a smile.
    After an hour later, Jack woke up. Alice still hasn’t woken up. Jack started to talk to Alice while she was asleep.
    " I wish…. You would’ve told me about your diagnosis. I wish you never went through that and I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. Don't leave me yet. I need to tell you something really special. So wake up.”Jack said feeling sad.
    Jack pulled out his phone and went outside the room. He called home.
    “Please Leave A Message At the Tone.”
    “Mom, dad, I’ll be staying with Alice for the night. Don’t stay up waiting for me to come home. I’ll come home tomorrow.”jack said leaving his message. He went back to the room and sat back down.
    He stared at Alice and held her hand and like that he fell asleep.
    The Next Day
    Jack was outside her room.
    “Huh? When did I get here?”Jack wondered.
    Jack saw people running into Alice's room.
    “Hurry! Give me the syringe!” Dr. Maggie yelled.
    Jack peered in and saw them doing an operation on Alice. As he kept looking, tears started to fall down his face. Then Dr. Maggie came out 20 minutes later.
    “Who knows Alice Scott?”Dr. Maggie asked.
    Jack walked up to her and said with his tears falling down his face, “I know her.”
    “I’m sorry to say but…………”Dr. Maggie said.
    "ALICE!" Jack said waking up. It was only a dream. Tears were flowing from his eyes.
    "Did you have a nightmare, Jack?" Alice said cheerfully smiling.
    To be Continued……….