The pill

"I can get my own job! Stop yelling at me!" Andrea yelled as she started getting dressed.

She had an interview at Berris Labs. One of the labs the produces a majority of the country's medication.

Andrea hadn't been feeling well lately and as she was trying to get ready, her mother was in the kitchen, making breakfast and yelling. She made her daughter some eggs, sausage and toast with some hot tea. After putting everything on the table Andrea came in and sat down. As she started to eat, her mother started laying out all of her medicine for the day.

Andrea sighed to herself and her mother rolled her eyes.

"You have to take them Andy." she replied as she sat down the very last pill. A circular blue one that Andrea couldn't take her eyes off of.

After finishing her breakfast and drugging herself, Andrea headed to her interview. The man who interviewed her loved her personality and said she would be a great fit. They were only hiring for secretary at the time but they needed a smile like hers to make everyone comfortable and happy to be at work.

They laughed and continued to exchange pleasantries. At the end of it all, they informed her that they would only need a list of medication that she takes, if she took any at all and blood work to be done to match the medication in her system. She hesitated for less than half of a second before she agreed with a smile.

When she got home to talk about the interview and the fact that she essentially got the job, one would think it would be a happy and celebratory conversation.

Her mother simply yelled at her about the blood work and handing over her list of drugs. Andrea didn't see a problem with it. But her mother was livid.

It didn't deter her. She wanted this job. She had been cooped up in her house like an injured bird for MONTHS and she wanted to be out. She simply let her mother be mad. She went to her room and locked the door.

Her mother was out in the living room throwing around papers, breaking things and yelling about how ungrateful she was.

"After EVERYTHING I've EVER done for YOU! You're really just going to let them take YOUR blood and test it against your medication!? How STUPID can you be!?"

Andrea put on her headphones and went to her happy place. Music and a good book. She received a text message later on that night confirming that she did indeed get the job and that she would need to come in the next day with a list of all her medications and her blood work.

While she had no problem with this, there was just one drug she didn't know the name of. That little blue circular pill. Its the only one her mother never let her look at. She was always curious as to why, but her mother's attitude was so volatile she never pushed for an answer or explanation.

That next morning, her mother was sound asleep in her room. The door was cracked open, and Andrea didn't want to wake her up. She couldn't deal with another emotional outburst before work. She was able to find all her medicine in her pill planner box. Including the blue one. Her mother must have forgotten to hide it until time for Andrea to take them all. She grabbed it and ran out of the house.

As she stepped into the building of her future job, her phone started buzzing. Of course it was her mother. She turned the vibration off and just let the phone sit in her purse. She checked in at the front and spoke briefly with the nurse.

"This is all my medicine I take in a day. I know what all of them are, except one. Would you be able to tell me what it is?" Andrea smiled shyly. The nurse smiled. As if she had been through this before. She let Andrea know she would get her a complete list and her results once she had them. Andrea smiled and thanked her as she went to sit in the waiting area.

She was too scared to pull out her phone. But she did anyway.

42 missed calls.

15 texts.

9 voicemails.

She sighed and put her phone back in her purse. When she looked up, the nurse was standing in front of her ready to take her back for her blood work. Once it was all said and done, she didn't want to go home. She already knew the volcano would erupt the moment she walked in the door.

Andrea called her boyfriend and told him the news. He insisted they celebrate. She ended up having an amazing night with her friends. Made even more amazing by sleeping at her boyfriend's house, in the peace and quiet.

That next day, she woke up and felt a little off. She hadn't had her medicine just yet. Her pill planner still in her purse. She started to cough and she noticed the blood on her hands. She rushed to her medicine and saw her phone. Did she want to look? She did, but she didn't dare.

Her boyfriend drove her home. She only needed a couple changes of clothes. The door was cracked open. Her boyfriend went in first. She followed behind closely. The place was void of people but there was certainly a disastrous mess. Andrea shook it off and went and got her clothes. Her boyfriend wanted to ask, but he already knew the answers to any and all of his questions.

They left and Andrea had the biggest smile on her face.

Relief.

When she finally went into work, her smile turned to a frown. Her mother was there in the lobby. Hatred in her eyes. But Andrea pretended like she had never met her. Her mother started screaming and yelling. And Andrea ran to the door to use her badge. When she finally got in, she was almost hyperventilating. The nurse from yesterday asked her if she was okay.

She simply nodded and smiled.

She got comfortable at her desk and as the days went on she became a bright gift to the office. Every day she argued with her mother after work. Her mother followed her to work to scream at her in the mornings and Andrea just let it go.

One day, her boss came to her desk and quietly asked her to excuse herself to his office. She came in and her boss, his boss and his boss' boss a woman named Kassy sat at the desk across from her. They pulled out a seat and offered her some water. They told her how amazing she was at her job and that they did get her bloodwork back.

"Andrea, have you been to the hospital in the past few months?" her boss asked.

"Yes! I was coughing up a little blood. My mom and boyfriend were concerned so they took me. My mom told me they said it was just an airway issue." she replied with a small smile.

Her boss looked at the other 2, somber looks on all of their faces.

"Andrea... did you already know you had brain cancer?" Kassy asked.

"Wh-what? What are you talking about? No I don't" Andrea laughed nervously. Her face turned red, her body started to ache and her head felt hot.

"Andrea, the blue pill you gave to the nurse when you did your bloodwork is a chemotherapy pill. We had to double check with your doctors, you have brain cancer amongst other things." Kassy replied as she handed Andrea a folder.

Andrea flipped through the pages frantically. The highlighted words; cancer, brain, organ failure, liver damage, mental instability.

This continued to make her panic. The three of them tried to calm her down so that they could all talk about helping her with her treatments.

"She lied to me! You! You lied to me!" Andrea screamed as she pointed to the wall. Her mother was standing there, with a smirk on her face.

Kassy and the others just looked at each other and started calling for security to get Andrea to their back facility. Andrea at that point was on the floor crying hysterically.

As they took her away gently, the police were at her house, getting her mother's body parts out of the freezer.