*4 years later*

Four years ago, at the age of eight, a lot happened. I battled cancer and my father went into the army. He's alive and well, in case anyone was wondering.

Looking at myself now, I would never guess I would have had cancer. My hair has grown back, though it's slightly lighter and straighter than before. I'm not as skinny as before, though I didn't put on that much weight. My scars from the surgery are hidden.

Now that I look normal and seem to act- Well, not normal, I'm definitely not that of all things, I guess you could say that I'm just your average, quirky, 12 year old. Now that I'm at the front steps to the middle school, I feel completely normal.

I look up at the huge brick building, letters all over the top stating the school's name, "O'khasis Middle School". The steps are concrete as well as the floor before you enter the school. It's big, but not too big. Mom wanted me to go to a big school but not too big just so I won't get sick again.

Very protective, she is.

I walk in, shaking like a mad man. Blue and black lockers line the sides of the walls with a white tile floor with grey specks inside the material. I start walking around, seeing if I could find someone who could possibly help me.

I take my first left and then a right. As I walk straight ahead, I see two extremely familiar looking people. A raven haired girl and a light brown haired boy. I shake it off as nothing, but I turn around again to see the boy. Light blue eyes.

I squint my eyes at him and he does the same to me. Then, his face lights up. He starts walking over to me. I look at him weird and try to walk away. Before I can, he grabs my arm.

"Aren't you Garroth?!" He asks. This guy knows my name? Stalker.

"U-Uh, yeah," I say. "Do I know you?"

"I'm Laurance Zvahl!" He exclaims. I look at him weird again.

"I'm sorry?"

"You had cancer when you were younger, right?" He asks.

My mind immediately goes back to all those memories. Getting shots, getting chemo and being sick, having radiation and getting terrible sunburn like things across my skin. And on top of that, dad leaving for the Army.

I nod, "So?"

He looks at me confused, "You don't remember us? We hung out in the activity room like, every day!"

Then, my mind goes to the happy memories. Playing games and Laurance quizzing me on capitals. I remember it all now!

"You quizzed me on the capitals of everywhere!"I smile.

"Yeah, and you got them all right!" We exchange the same smile.

Then, that raven haired girl comes up to me.

Aphmau.

She smiles and hugs me. I think its weird at first, but then I hug her back. She separates with tears in her eyes.

"Did you listen and not get cancer again?" She asks.

I laugh, "Of course I didn't! You?"

She shakes her head, "Nope, neither me nor Laurance."

"That's good," I say.

Aphmau and Laurance nod as the bell rings. Aphmau jumps and Laurance and I laugh.

"That wasn't funny!" She crosses her arms.

Laurance shakes his head, "Let's just get to class."

Aphmau nods and takes us both by the arms and drags us both to class, presumably not wanting to be late for class on the first day. We get into a huge classroom, but only about 3/4 of the desks are occupied. Aphmau sits down and Laurance and I sit next to her, me on the left and him on the right.

The teacher walks in and puts her bag down. She smiles at all of us, her hazel eyes soft. She looks so young, too young to be a teacher.

"Hello kids, I'm Ms. James, and this is your homeroom for the year, though you will be switching for each class," she smiles at me. I look away, its awkward.

She starts explaining a bunch of stuff for the school year. I don't really listen, as it's all stuff I've heard before. "Do this, don't do that." I focus on a spot on the wall where it doesn't look like it was painted evenly.

As I do this, my eyesight goes blurry. My eyes water for a second, but then I press my fingers to my eyes and it goes back to normal.

That was weird as hell.

But I just decide to carry on normally, as I would any other day. I must have been staring at it too long or something.

~•~

I run out the school, waving to Aphmau and Laurance. I only run because tonight we're using Skype to call dad. We do it every other day, or pretty much every day if he's not busy. The route home is extremely short.

I start to walk home on the pavement, careful not to trip on any cracks or sticks. I look up at the trees, and my eyes blur again. I press my fingers to my eyes to fix it.

Man, I need to stop staring at things for so long.

I get to my house and open the brown door with the golden doorknob. A six year old Vylad greets me, his vibrant, emerald eyes shining brightly. I chuckle to myself.

"Hey, Vylad," I say as I drop my backpack.

"Dad's on Skype! C'mon, Garroth, you'll miss him!" He tugs at my arm.

I laugh, "I'm coming, I'm coming."

He pulls me into the dining room, computer open and my mom talking to him. She turns and smiles at me.

"Hey, Garroth! How was school?" She asks.

"Fine, nothing happened, really," I lie.

"That's good," she says. "You wanna talk to your dad?"

I nod and she gets up from her chair, letting me sit down right in front of the screen. Zane sits right next to me, a smile on his face. Weird, he's not usually like that.

"Hi, dad," I say, smiling.

"Hey, G. School was good?" He asks through the screen.

I shrug, "As good as school can ever get."

He laughs, and everyone in the room smiles. My vision goes to blur once again. I do the same thing as I did those times before. Everyone looks at me weird, especially dad.

"Are you okay?" Mom asks me.

I nod, "Can I talk to dad for a moment alone, please?"

Mom nods and grabs Vylad by the hand and waves Zane over. He leaves the room first, and then mom and Vylad. I make sure they're gone and turn back to the screen.

"Is something wrong, Garroth?" He asks. I look down.

"M-My vision's been going blurry again," I choke out.

He gives a look of shock and concern. I look back away, I can't look at that. I want to cry, but I have to be strong for him.

"Are there any other symptoms?" He asks. I like how he immediately knows what I'm thinking.

"Not for now," I say. I can tell he relaxes a bit.

"If there is any other symptoms, tell someone, okay?" He says.

I nod, "I promise."

I'm still his soldier, I have to fight whatever this is.

••••••••
Raise your hand if you thought this book was over.
Raise your hand, be honest.
Yes, you did. Don't lie to me.

THIS TITLE WAS AFTER THE WALKING DEAD 😂😂
Thanks for reading! Bai!
•••••••••