Change: a measure taken in advance to prevent something dangerous, unpleasant, or inconvenient from happening.

///

Morbid wisps of black wound themselves around my throat like throttling hands. My feet tried to kick upwards as an attempt to resolute out of the pit. Just as a glimpse of light vied it's way into my attention, a hue of blue overtook the shreds of hope.

"Mum?" I murmured, craning my neck to see the deliverer.

Numbing shots of cobalt made me stagger back, and suddenly I wasn't alone in this grieving pit. As water cascaded against each ridge, the cold liquid retracted beside my bare skin. Shivering like vulnerable prey, I took a hesitant step back and held out my feeble arms in order to prevent the droplets from contacting my tainted skin.

Unknown to my mind, the level of water had already reached my knees at a growing rate. By the time I had realised, I was already drowning.

~

"Ava! I won't ask you again!" Her cherry pink lips formed a scowl that crinkled a perfect face, "Why did you read the letter without me?"

I exchanged an exhausted glance with Dina, who was awkwardly twiddling with her hair and trying hard to ignore the last prawn cracker.

I met Mum's eyes and that's when the raging emotions that had tormented me for too long finally decided to erupt. If I wanted to start over, I'd have to get this all out of my system anyway.

"Why didn't I read it with you?" I raised my eyebrows and frowned heavily, "Maybe it's because you weren't around, even after promising to be back the day before!"

Defiantly, I jutted my chin out like a child who'd made a successful point. Her eyes flashed with dangerous signals at my response, "And? Was it impossible to wait for me to come back? And opening it at school for God's sake, what the hell were you thinking?"

I groaned aloud in frustration and then stood up, prompting my passionate anger, "I don't know what I was thinking! Being logical is the last thing on my mind right now, how am I meant to think normally when there are all these dark ideas winding around in my mind?"

For a split second, I heard my own words as they echoed through the caves in my head. After realising what I had spoken, I froze and conceded that now an explanation was due.

"Ideas?" She murmured softer now, "What sorts of ideas?"

Biting my lip at the tension that maliciously dripped through the air, I replied, "Bad ideas. Ideas that I struggle to push away every day, ideas that shouldn't be present, ideas that make me troubled," I was shaking now at the realisation that my problems were being openly admitted, "Ideas that I've been fighting all alone."

"You aren't alone!" Both Dina's and Mum's voices fused together and the two of them exchanged wondrous glances before nodding their heads.

"Ava you've got to talk to me." She swiftly moved through the room and sat me down beside her.

Have I said too much?

"No, I don't." I ignorantly replied.

"Ava, I'm your mother!"

"Well why don't you start acting like one then?" I burst out.

I didn't regret the words I'd spoken, because my points were crystal clear and certainly true. However, I did regret suddenly speaking and being the cause of the hurt that shot through her face.

"What's that meant to mean?" She whispered.

"Ms Lockhart?" Dina's cautious voice made us both turn around and realise that we weren't alone, "With all due respect, Ava's got a point. Without her Dad anymore, you're all she has as a parent's support."

Mum sighed before sharply replying, "Well I wouldn't know of a parent's support, both my parent's left me."

My best friend continued, "Right, you should know what it feels like to be so neglected. Yet the fact that Ava's still got a parent and feels isolated speaks for itself."

The nails of my fingers were now digging so deep through my jeans that I could feel the indents, "I want to spend more time together, instead of you wasting time with countless boyfriends."

Silence embedded the atmosphere for a few prolonged seconds as the words conveyed between the three of us made a dawning impact.

"Do you feel neglected Ava?" To my shock, her eyes now held brimming tears.

"I-I don't feel neglected. I just feel like most of the time you're only here to take me to appointments, see my teachers and give me my bare necessities. I know that might make me sound ungrateful, but the reality is that I feel like a pet."

Dina squeezed my hand supportively and then the two of us waited for my mother's response.

"I was never as good of a parent as your father," She hung her head dismissively, "When we had you, he was more prepared than I was."

"I was a daddy's girl," I reflected, "But that meant that his departure hurt me hard."

"And I had to hide behind my work, because he was the reason for my confidence in parenting."

"Why did he leave?" I murmured, feeling a twist beckon in my heart, reliving the painful acknowledgement only ever became worse.

"I wish I knew." Stunned, I watched Mum burst into fresh tears as she wrapped me into her arms.

As she sobbed close to my body, I finally concluded that this was the only other person who would specifically understand how it felt to lose what was such an important figure. He was one of a kind and was my world. We used to be feeble stars that twinkled in his galaxy, yet now he'd plummeted through a black hole.

"We're getting through this Ava," I didn't know if she was reassuring herself or me, but it was working, "We both will."

For a few seconds, we remained beside each other as I realised that Mum was suffering from her own perspective, one that was much different to mine. Enwrapped in my own grief, I'd never have thought that somebody so close to me was also grieving.

I couldn't leave her.

~

"This is going to seem overwhelming Ava," Doctor Ravensha confidently beamed at me, "But in this day and age, you'll live much longer than most would expect."

My hands were shaking and the anxiety that wanted to make me surrender was slowly breaking away. This was my moment, and I was breaking away from my solitary cocoon.

Clearing my encased throat, I nodded my head, "I'll take the responsibility of making the medicine a routine."

"Great," She patted my shoulder before her face clouded in a serious thunder, "Remember, sometime you will feel fine, or maybe the mucus won't particularly be problematic at a certain occasion, whatever the occasion...Never break away from your routine."

A stream of saliva ran down my throat narrowly as I gulped, this was where multi-tasking came in.

"So, Doctor," Mum murmured quietly, "Will we be seeing somebody else about the prescriptions, or?" She trailed off questioningly.

"Not to worry, I'll be Ava's Doctor through this entire process. I'll discuss each factor with you now, there are many different stages of medication; it's all a matter of familiarising yourself with each one. Once you're used to the routine, it will all become a normal aspect of your life."

I nodded, meeting her dark eyes with a feeble smile and following her small figure glide, eventually selecting a white box that had bright yellow on it.

"Pulmozyme is going to be one of your main allies," She placed the foreign object into my hands as Mum peered over my shoulders, "Think of this as a scissor. It works as an enzyme to cut off the extracellular DNA, in other words it will thin your mucus and make it much looser."

Nodding my head like a fearless puppet, I acknowledged every important word with a sincere mindset.

"How is it taken?"

"You'll start with a clean surface," She used an antibacterial wipe, then washed her hands carefully, "And any chances of spreading bacteria are eliminated."

I took an uncertain step to Doctor Ravensha and watched in an utmost horror as she unpackaged an object that resembled some sort of generator, "This is your compressor, you've got tubing and then the nebuliser itself."

I slowly nodded my head, not bothering to mask my confusion at the foreign words.

Noticing my expression, the doctor chuckled, "I bet algebra seems easy now."

"Tough decision." I gave her a pained face that symbolised my experience with disastrous numbers.

Inside the box that she had previously shown me, there were these sort of pipette-like tubes that contained clear solutions.

I peered closer towards all the different compartments as she narrated, "These are your ampules; sort of like your dosages. Before you ever continue, you have to check them for expiration dates, leakages and if the solution is cloudy."

"And if they are, I won't use them." I summarised understandingly.

"Good," She smiled reassuringly at me, "I'm glad you're being so mature and responsible about the situation. Anyway, moving on now."

"One side will go on the compressor," She held up an end of the tubing before encouragingly motioning for me to try, "Go on."

Rushing to clean my hands, the water poured through my fingers before being brutally scrubbed off.

My fingers fumbled as I took a place beside her, the plastic material felt smooth as I took a grip of it before attaching it to the cylinder shaped nozzle that was obstructing out of the compressor. The objects collided together like two pieces of a jigsaw, I then took a step back in satisfaction to watch the next process.

"The other end will attach to this nebuliser section like so," She twisted the objects together before reaching back for that pipette thing, "And now you just have to pour this solution in."

I watched the liquid tremble down into the medicine cup, then my eyes followed her hands as she rotated the odd part of the nebuliser onto the cup, "Um...is that my mouthpiece?" I murmured in precaution.

"Spot on." She nodded her head approvingly before firmly making sure everything was attached correctly.

After Doctor Ravensha reached over to turn on the compressor, she met my eyes and I knew that it was time to try out this technological leap of medication.

Holding up the mouthpiece, she commented, "You'll see mist being exerted, and now I want you to place this in between your teeth and tongue. Don't allow your tongue to block the airway."

Following her instructions like a reliant nervous wreck, I introduced the odd object to the right destination. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't uncomfortable, and as she told me to take steady breaths, my Mum's anxious eyes were the only thing that prevented me from running away.

Instead of removing the mouthpiece, I breathed in the unusual substance and focused my brain on oral breathing instead of nasal.

The next few seconds of deep air that filled my lungs felt almost exhilarating, the medicine wasn't taking a direct impact but the concept that I now had help on my side had made everything appear brighter.

As the misty feeling subsided, I met my doctor's eyes for conformation before removing the piece, instinctively taking a smaller breath.

"This is only one of the medicines?" I murmured faintly.

"Oh Ava," She smiled and shook her head, "These are only tiny additions into to your life that will actively improve your health. Now, before I continue I'd like to arrange a regular scheduled time to check up on you."

It was now my Mum's turn to act, and as I sunk back down into my chair in relief, I watched her face crease in concern as she scrolled through a virtual calendar.

The two of them continued to discuss times, pointing at the screen like shooting arrows. Instead of paying attention, I took another gulp and felt relief as normal air passed through the passages inside my body.

"Don't worry about my Ava," My ears pricked up as Mum murmured to the doctor, "She's been through hell and developed immunity, so being brave is probably her motive."

A soft smile tweaked the edges of my lips victoriously, and as she confidently affirmed her beliefs in me, I felt the foundation of a new beginning start to build itself.

I was going to fight this disease.

A/N: Trust me, I'm as lost as Ava in this situation and whilst it's easy and simple to write about normal topics, doing my research for this medication makes me feel like I'm contributing even more towards this story.