Pedaling down the bumpy dirt road, curving around the rocks, I see Madison looking down the row of houses to spot the house that is mine. With all of the houses looking the same, I wait.
As she arrived closer to my house, I ran outside managing to step on every stick or rock in my way. Once Madison pulled in my driveway, she jumped off her bike and ran up to me and gave me a big hug. That hug made me feel as if my best friend was back. Not being able to hang out with your best friend for 7 months is one of the hardest things to do. As our arms untangle my hands graze over hers. They felt as if she had left her hands in a freezer for days. “Sorry, they get kind of cold now. It’s really not a big deal,” she explained. Being kids, neither of us knew what was suppose to happen in situations like this. We have never been taught how to deal with people being this sick, and the people who are sick have never been taught how to live like this.
“Well lets go inside and I can show you my new room!” I stated, as I grab Madisons ice cold hand walking her up my driveway. Madison has never seen my room before. Well actually she has never seen my house before except for in a picture. When you’re in a hospital bed for 7 months, you seem to miss out on a lot. After Madison saw my room, the rooms kept coming. This house was huge compared to my old house so there was a lot more places to show her.
“Look at this one,” I jeered, opening the door to our toy room.
Madisons face lit up like the top of a Christmas tree. There were tables full of toys and bins with dolls. Anything you could think of was in this room.
“Come look at this,” as I walk over to the table that has all of my friendship bracelets I was working on. I had two of them made for Madison. One was of her favorite colors, blue and green. The other was a mixture of her favorite colors and my two favorite colors, pink and purple. I help her tie them around her wrist and as I look up I see a smile on Madison's face. Which in return put a smile on my face.
I hear Madison's mom walk in and it put in perspective why I haven't seen Madison in so long. Her mom has to go everywhere with her. Although, it’s not Madisons fault, its more of her cancer.  Things will never be the same. at least not for now. Her mom comes up stairs asking where my mom was not looking in the kitchen first and we walk her mom downstairs. I have always been really close with Madison and her family. Our moms have known eachother since birth and so have Madison and I. My mom cleared her throat and asked how Madison was doing.
“Her treatment resumes in 3 days. Hopefully after surgery she will be able to come home more often,” said Madison's mom.
“She isn’t staying home?” I asked concerned.
“No honey. We are just visiting. You are more then welcome to come visit Maddie in the hospital if you would like.”
At this point, I have realized that I have just reunited with my best friend and she is getting taken away from me again.
I remember the day I found out that she was diagnosed with leukemia cancer. We were at Madison’s house playing on her swing set when she told me. I wasn't sure exactly what cancer was. The only thing I was aware of at the time was that when people get really sick they shave their head. It wasn’t till I got home that day and talked to my mom who already knew that Madison had cancer that I actually found out what it was.
I went to visit Madison at the hospital a few times, when she wasn’t in the ICU. She looked so depressed and in pain. I wanted to help but at the same time what was I going to be able to do. The times that Madison was able to come home were the best. Those times helped me have hope that she was going to be okay.
I hadn’t thought about my life without Madison in it. It seems so foreign to not put your best friend in your plans about your future. Sometimes I would have nightmares about her and wake up panicked because my best friend has left me forever.
Her mom was getting ready to leave and Madison was getting on her bike. I ran up to her and gave her a big hug and whispered “I will come visit you in the hospital, or wherever you end up.”
A month goes by since Madison came to visit me at my house and I hadn’t heard anything. I was a little worried because I didn’t know if she had made it through surgery or not. My mom called her mom one day after work and it turned out that Madison was able to go home after her surgery. Her mom and my mom talked for what seemed to be hours. However they managed to make plans for me to spend the night at Madisons house that weekend. When my mom told me that I was going to her house,  I couldn’t believe it. It was going to be just like the old times.
I walk up to her front door bell and Madison answers. I lean in for a huge hug dropping my bag and blanket. I went inside to see all her medicine bottles sitting on the counter with a long list of instructions.
“Isn’t it hard to take that much medicine?”
“I've gotten used to it. Its not really that bad anymore,” she said.
We went and got everything set up in the living room and her mom came with a tray of medicine for Madison. Since she wasn’t feeling good, we just relaxed and enjoyed her being home for the time being. I missed this feeling of having my best friend here and I was glad to have her here.
We start to watch High School Musical, since we both love that movie. It was hard to stay awake because it was getting pretty late. As I start to doze off I look at Madison and she is passed out. I didn’t see her moving which made me start to panic. I tried to shake her to tell her goodnight. Again there was no movement. I ran upstairs to Madison's mom to tell her that I couldn’t wake Madison up and we both came flying back down the stairs. As Madison's mom tried shaking her my eyes filled with tears. Her mom sent me to the dining room so she could deal with this herself. I walk as fast as I could to the dining room, my face drowned in tears. I try to catch my breath but its too hard.
In this moment, I realized that not only did I lose my best friend that night, I tried to wake up someone who had left me forever. I pictured this happening in my dreams, never in real life though. I didn’t know how I was going to handle it, but in all honesty, I don’t think there is a wrong way to handle someone dieing right before your eyes.
That day I lost my best friend, Madison Michelle Schmidt. An 11 year old innocent girl who was taken from her friends and family only to wait for us to see her again. Hopefully there is an again.