Listen to the song as you read
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Once we arrived, Dylan quickly got Sofia out of her car seat and carried her to the front door and she was still holding onto her bucket.

I took Derek out of his seat and put him in a stroller and he was still sound asleep and had no idea about the chaos that was going on.

When we got inside, we rushed to the front desk and I said to the receptionist, "Our daughter, Sofia, has leukemia and is experiencing sympoms she's not supposed to have."

"Yes, we were informed about her. A stretcher is coming for her now," she said and typed something on her computer.

"Thank you," Dylan said and continued to rub Sofia's back.

We sat down on one of the large couches in the waiting room and Dylan placed Sofia on his lap and bounced her lightly. I pushed Derek's stroller back and forth slowly and there was silence in the emergency waiting room except for the sound of Sofia quietly crying.

After a few minutes, a stretcher followed by running nurses came down the hallway towards us.

Dylan gently put Sofia on the stretcher and they rolled her down the hall and Dylan, Derek (in his stroller) and I followed behind.

When we reached the room, I put Derek and his stroller against a wall and the nurses started to transfer Sofia onto a hospital bed.

"The doctor will be here in a few minutes," one said as they left the room.

Dylan and I ran toward Sofia so we were on either side of her and we held her hands.

"Hey princess...How are you doing?" Dylan asked as he ran his hand over her hairless head.

She nodded and opened her mouth to say something but got interrupted by a doctor running into the room.

"Mr. and Mrs.O'Brien, can I speak to you for a moment?" She asked frantically.

We nodded and I placed a kiss on Sofia's head and then walked toward the doctor.

"I'd everything okay?" I asked nervously. Dylan reached for my hand and I slid mine in his and squeezed it gently.

"I'm afraid Sofia only has another hour to live... I'm so sorry... I'll leave you alone with her," and then she walked away.

Tears quickly fell from my eyes and I slowly turned toward Dylan and he was crying as well.

He pulled me into an embrace and I hid my face in his chest as I cried.

I then pulled away and looked at Sofia.

Dylan and I slowly walked towards her and she asked, "Mommy? Daddy? Why are you crying?"

I took a deep breath and said, "We love you so so much. We didn't want any of this to happen-" I got choked up. I couldn't believe that Sofia wouldn't be in our lives anymore. "You're going to go to your kingdom up there a little early," I said and pointed up.

"Yeah...They need a new princess and they loved you so much that they want you to go up soon..." Dylan said with tears continuing to fall.

"But I don't want to go! I want to stay with you, Mommy, Derek and ChiChi! I don't want to go!" Sofia yelled and started to cry.

This caused Derek to wake up from his deep sleep and he ran out of his stroller and jumped onto Sofia's bed and sat down.

"Where are we?" Derek asked.

"The hospital..." Dylan said.

"Oh..." Derek said and looked down then back up at Sofia.

We told him everything that was happening and everything that was going to happen and this was one of them.

Derek started to cry hysterically and say, "But she's my sister, she can't leave, SHE CAN'T!" He practically screamed the last part.

Dylan and I sat down on the bed next to him and Sofia sat up in her bed.

"I love you...Always...I'll look over you while I rule my kingdom..." She said and struggled with her words. One last tear fell and her eyes closed forever.

I screamed and covered my mouth and tears rolled down my cheeks. Dylan pulled Derek and I into a hug and we all cried. Out of nowhere, Derek started to scream over and over again. Sofia was his best friend and he lost her.

We pulled away from the hug and Dylan's eyes were red and puffy and tears still fell down his face. I never stopped crying either.

"I'll g-go get the d-doctor..." I said and my voice was shaky.

Dylan nodded and I poked my head out of the room and into the hallway and I saw the doctor and nodded.

She came up to me and said, "I'm so so sorry... You let us know when your ready..." I nodded in response and walked back into Sofia's room.

Derek was curled up in a ball in one of the corners of the room crying hysterically.

I ran over to Dylan and pulled him into an brace. "Why?...WHY!" I yelled the last part and let all of my tears come out.

I hid my face in Dylan's chest and he said, "I guess they wanted her early...Too early..." And he cried with me.

Our little princess, and Derek's best friend, gone forever...

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Hey everyone, sorry for the sad chapter... 😭 I was actually crying as I was writing it
I'm sorry...😢

~Amanda
RockinGirl10123