My Unforgettable Brush with Mortality

I almost died. Okay, maybe I wasn’t knocking on death's door or anything, but to a fourteen year old, I thought I was a goner. The last real thing I was going to experience was my eighth grade graduation. “I hand this diploma to Kyllah Riann Glass in her final days.” But I’m getting ahead of myself. First, to tell you how I almost died, I must first tell you what happened.
The day started of normal for me, but trust me when I say it didn’t end that way. First, I groggily woke up, took five to ten minutes to convince myself to get out of bed, and groaned as I began getting ready. In the background were the beautiful morning songs of my mother screaming at her sons to finish getting ready before they missed the bus, it was an everyday thing

in my house. As I looked in the mirror I began to fix my “makeup” for school, though it was more like a make down considering I wasn’t very good at it, but that didn’t matter to me. When I was fourteen I was beautiful, no one could outshine me, I was the cream of the- “What is that?” I spoke aloud. There on my collarbone was a bump, it was hard and painful to touch. I got nervous quickly considering I had never seen this bump until now and I had no clue what it was.
“Mom!” I exclaimed as I ran down the hallway of my house. Quickly I found her in the kitchen and showed her the bump. “How long has it been there?” Mom asked as she inspected it closely.Thinking for a moment, I realized that I had no clue. I was young, scared out of my mind, and I had no idea what was going to happen. This day had officially become the worst day ever and it had barely begun.
Here I sat in the hospital room recalling today’s events, I began to wonder if I had ever noticed the bump on my collarbone and possibly had just overlooked it. “Don’t be alarmed, but…” Those were the first words the doctor said as he walked into the room. Immediately my heart dropped, “You are going to need surgery. The bump is a swollen lymph-node and we believe it could be cancerous.” That’s when I knew my life was over, I was going to die. I was told the surgery would be in two days because they needed to remove the lymph-node quickly in case it was something dangerous.
Two days later they performed the surgery and removed the lymph-node. I remember how drained I felt after the surgery and how hopeful I was of good news. I knew that the possibility of cancer was there, and truthfully I was scared. I just wanted things to be okay. I wanted me to be okay. I wanted to make an impact, I wanted to get my drivers license, i wanted to turn eighteen, and I wanted to see the world. But how could I do that lying on my death bed.
A week later the doctor called my mother. During that thirty-second phone call I thought I was going to faint. That was until a smile grew on my mothers face. Immediately, I smiled with her knowing the news was good. “What did he say?” I asked urgently as soon as she took the phone down from her ear. “No cancer.” She smiled. At that moment the rejoicing began.
So okay, maybe I wasn’t near death or even close, but the time I spent thinking taught me a lot of things. It showed me just how abrupt life really is. How nothing you plan is always definite. “I present this diploma to Kyllah Riann Glass as she moves on to better things. (That have nothing to do with death.)”