After I first arrived to the United States from Mexico, while I was in my room unpacking some personal items from my bag, my sister came in and she said that I had a call waiting on the phone. She had this look on her face that made me thought of a million of things at the same time. My stomach had this feeling like if it was eating itself. She didn’t say any other word, just left and behind her closing the door. I immediately went out the hall and grabbed the phone and called my Mom who was still in Mexico. She said, “Mia, you have to be strong and understand that SHE needs you right now more than anything.” I couldn't understand what and who she was talking about! I said, “Mom, who are you talking about?” She softly said, “Marilyn, she’s hospitalized and…” there was a silent pause.  At that moment, I knew that something even worst was coming. She kept talking and saying, “You have to be strong because the reason why she’s in the hospital is because she has cancer.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My mom then told me, “They found it in time, but she will continue to have chemotherapy.” She said some other few words and I just stopped listening to what she was saying. I was shocked and I just wasn’t there in that moment. My mind went in blank and the negative thoughts came in within seconds.

Somehow, I went back in time and started thinking on all what we had done together. How when I first met her we used to play outside in the garden with our dolls, walk together to the mountains, pick up the softest pebbles to add to our collection. We’d go to school together and think what our future was going to be like living together in a big mansion. My mom used to buy me Barbie movies and Marilyn and I  would never get tired of watching them. We just had everything planned. Obviously, it was just dreams of children that were not going to come true, but since we were little we used to believe it was going to. I flashed back in my  mind to the times she cried when my parents decided to come and visit my family in the U.S. and she thought we would never see each other again.

And then the worst memory, that day when we had a fight and we yelled at each other so many things because anger and rage blinded us. We wish to the other to die. I was really mad at her for what she had done---become friends with my  worst enemies. Now that I think about it, it was a stupid fight. Even tough for me it was like drowning in a puddle of water.

Lost in my thoughts, scared that I would never have a chance to see her again, began to hear  my mom in distance saying, “Mia are you there? Everything will be fine, we will be there with her, but YOU need to be with her too.  She needs you.” I couldn’t feel when suddenly I started to cry. I guess my mom understood what was happening. She said, “Try to call her today and maybe she won’t answer, but you can let her mom feel your support.”

I hung up the phone and went to my room slamming the door, angry, sad and full of doubts. I questioned myself what to do in moments like this. I couldn’t just go insane. If I had to cry, I would do it, but I would not cry while talking to her. I knew that if I called her crying it would only make her feel even worse. I was willing to forgive her, but the one question that consumed me was, “Will I ever see her again?” Those millions of thoughts came to my mind again. Now I was able to understand how she felt when she thought we would never see each other again. I cried a lot. I didn’t eat for two whole days and finally I decided to call. As I expected, her mom answered. She burst into tears the moment she heard my voice.  Maybe she thought I was going to call the day I found out what happened. We talked for a while. I tried my best to be strong, but she wasn’t and that was reasonable. I asked how Marilyn was and she said she was very weak but the doctor said she would be okay and that’s what kept her with hope. I had to wait some time to talk to my friend; she recovered pretty well and fast. I  didn’t mention anything about our fight, all I did was gave her encouragement and let her know that everything would be fine.

A year passed and my parents had decided for me to go to visit my home in Mexico  in summer. The moment I saw her I couldn't believe how cancer made her look way different. The features on her face were very different than I remembered--her eyes had dark circles, her hair looked like it had less, each time her skin color was not the same, she had a pale color. But none of that mattered because we were together, and maybe not by much, but I swore I would make her smile again.  We spent two months together and we fixed our differences. We made really good memories and I was glad that she was good now. I had accomplished what I promised, to make her happy and to make her forget she had cancer for a moment.

The worst moment came when I had to leave. I didn’t want to, but I had to. We said we wouldn’t cry, even though we did I was really happy to be friends with her again because I really missed her. She was my first best friend and I wouldn't ask for anything else because I was happy to have my friend back and help her to recover from cancer. It was the best two months of my life.

And I believe that people should have second chances, just how she did. She was even stronger than cancer and our friendship love was even stronger than everything else around us.