Chapter 1 Where Dreams Meet Reality
Dreams visit us freely, whether we ask for them or not. They arrive quietly, slipping into our minds and reality when the world slows down, when the noise fades and our eyes finally close. They paint pictures of lives we have not yet lived, happiness that has no pain, and of futures where everything somehow works out. But it is only when we wake up and face the reality of life that we begin to understand what those dreams truly demand from us.
Everyone dreams of a life they have not seen but desire. A life where love is uncomplicated, where pain has an expiration date, where loss does not linger longer than it should. What we often fail to realize is that dreams do not exist without obstacles, and hope does not come without sacrifice. The road toward the life we want is rarely gentle. More often than not, it asks for pieces of us we were not prepared to give.
I believe we are given a choice in this world, especially when it comes to telling sad stories.
On one hand, there is the version we have grown used to. The version where pain is softened, where beautiful people suffer briefly before learning beautiful lessons. Where nothing is ever too broken to be fixed by a heartfelt apology, a dramatic confession, or a song playing softly in the background. The kind of story that ends with relief instead of truth. I like that version as much as the next person, believe me. It is comforting. It is easy to digest. It promises that everything will be okay in the end even when it's not perceived.
But it is not always honest.
Some stories do not resolve themselves so neatly. Some pain does not fade simply because love appears. Some lives are changed in ways that cannot be reversed, only endured. And some people are forced to grow up faster than they should, carrying burdens they never asked for.
Clara was one of those people.
She was seventeen years old when cancer entered her life and refused to leave quietly. At an age when most girls were worrying about school dances, friendships, and fleeting crushes, Clara was learning medical terms she never wanted to understand. She was learning how to read test results, how to recognize the exhaustion that came with treatment, how to sit still while machines hummed around her like reminders of how fragile her body had become.
She had no siblings. No close friends. No secret late-night conversations whispered over the phone. The world she lived in had slowly grown smaller, reduced to hospital rooms, quiet hallways, and the concerned faces of her parents. They were the only family she had, and even with them, there were things she could not bring herself to say.
All Clara had ever wanted was a happy life. Not a perfect one, just a simple one. A life where worry did not feel constant, where tears were rare visitors instead of familiar companions. She had once imagined a future filled with ordinary joys: laughter that came easily, days that passed without counting pills or appointments, moments that did not revolve around survival.
But the weight of cancer pressed heavily on her, and with it came the slow loss of excitement for everything she once cared about.
She stopped going out. Stopped pretending she had the energy to keep up with other girls her age. Invitations faded, not because she rejected them, but because people eventually stopped asking. Clara watched life continue from a distance, feeling as though she were standing still while everyone else moved forward without her.
Her parents noticed the changes long before she acknowledged them herself.
She ate like a bird, pushing food around her plate more often than finishing it. Smiles became rare, appearing only when she felt obligated to reassure someone else. Laughter, when it came, sounded forced, more like a performance she no longer had the strength to maintain. And though she insisted she was fine whenever they asked, her eyes told a different story. They were tired. Not just physically, but in a way that spoke of quiet resignation.
Clara would never admit she was depressed. To her, that word felt heavier than the illness itself. Depression was supposed to be a reaction, a phase, something that came and went. What she felt did not feel temporary. It felt final.
Depression is often described as a side effect of cancer. Doctors mention it gently, carefully, as if trying not to alarm anyone. But to Clara, it was not a side effect of being sick. It was a side effect of dying or at least, of feeling like death was slowly approaching, no matter how hard everyone tried to deny it.
She did not fear death loudly. She did not cry herself to sleep every night or scream into pillows. Her fear was quieter than that. It lived in silence. In the moments when she stared at the ceiling and wondered how much time she had left. In the way she stopped planning ahead, stopped imagining a future that felt increasingly uncertain.
Her parents worried in ways they did not know how to express.
They watched their daughter retreat into herself, watched the spark they loved dim little by little, and felt helpless in the face of it. They tried to be strong for her, to keep conversations light, to offer encouragement without pressure. But love, as powerful as it is, does not always come with solutions.
Eventually, concern outweighed hesitation.
They scheduled another appointment with her doctor, hoping for answers they had not yet been given. Hoping, perhaps, that there was something they had missed, something that could help their daughter find her way back to herself, even just a little.
The doctor listened carefully. Not just to test results or physical symptoms, but to what remained unspoken. He understood that healing was not always about medicine alone. Sometimes, the mind suffers just as deeply as the body.
It was then that he made a recommendation.
Clara should be enrolled in a support group, one made up of people her age, people living with the same diagnosis. A place where she could share her thoughts without feeling like a burden. Where conversations did not need to be softened or simplified. Where everyone understood, without explanation, what it meant to wake up each day carrying uncertainty.
A place where she would not be alone.
Her parents agreed almost immediately, clinging to the hope that connection might offer what medicine could not. Clara, however, said nothing. She simply nodded, her expression unreadable. The idea of sitting in a room full of strangers, all reflecting different versions of her possible future, did not comfort her.
But sometimes, life moves forward whether we are ready or not.
And sometimes, the saddest stories do not begin with tragedy, but rather with the quiet decision to keep going, even when h
ope feels dangerously fragile.