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It’s today. Tania thought. March 15th, year 2107. Today is the day she’s getting treated for her cancer. She’s going to see Dr. Walker, who has saved countless lives with his invention. A pill.

Dr. Walker created the pill 5 years ago. When it’s swallowed it somehow scans the entire body of the sick person to know what is making them ill. Once it knows what the problem is, the pill destroys the source of it, then, the rest of the injury, and finally, it helps regenerate the damaged parts. Nobody has more information about this pill than what was just mentioned. Dr. Walker has always made sure that he is the only one to make and update the pill. He guards it, like a treasure no one is supposed to find. Tania would know, she is a reporter after all.

Tania works at Daily News, a digital newspaper, when she was twenty-four her boss assigned her to write an article on the pill, so she did what was asked. She scheduled an interview with the doctor but, what she did not expect was the secrecy in which the doctor answered every single one of her questions. One thing he kept repeating was, “When the time comes, everyone will know.” That only made Tania more curious and she kept digging. She read more articles after publishing her own, all the reporters got the same answers but, one of them got a little bit more information, Dr. Walker said, “You’re not ready yet.” But nobody read that newspaper, it never got the attention it deserved thus nobody knew that they were not ready, that in Walker’s opinion, at least.

One day she finally decided to let it go. After months of investigation she realized that the doctor saved every patient and without side effects. They all fully recovered.

Now, she is walking out of her office to go to Luna’s office - Luna is her best friend - and leave together to get lunch before heading to the clinic.

They work together and have pretty much spent their whole lives together. They met in kindergarten, went to school together, then it was high school, college, and their current workplace. It was never easy for either of them, their families were poor so they never thought they would ever go to college, but they both worked hard for it and so did their families. Luna and Tania have always cared for each other, sure they had fights and dramatic teenage split-ups but, as an easy and simple “I’m sorry” was said they found their way back. It might have sounded cliché but that is their life, and they are grateful to have each other in their lives.

She knocked on her friend’s office door, “Luna, you ready?”

Once she got inside, Luna looked up from her laptop. The sun shone on her face because the window was open, it made her green eyes look even greener, her black curls and her dark brown skin glowing.

“Yeah, just let me grab my stuff,” Luna said with a smile that Tania happily returned.

Once Luna finished gathering her things, they left the building, but not before saying goodbye to their friends. They all wished her good luck.

Luna and Tania met their friends at Daily News. Sidney is the oldest, thirty years old, and they are the parent of the group, not because they are older but because Sidney always stops everyone from doing stupid things, mostly Leah, the youngest, she’s twenty-four and she met all of them because Tania was kind of her mentor when she first got her job at Daily News. It also turned out that Spencer and Leah met in college. Even though Spencer is twenty-five, she gives the best advice, but she is also the kind of friend that does give the best advice but will not use it on themselves. Finally, there’s Elijah, he is a chill friend and an amazing listener.

When the two best friends got out of the building, they went to Tania’s car, a 'Mercedes Vision AVTR'.

The ride was quiet, a comfortable silence surrounded them. The first one to break the silence was Tania when they arrived, “Hungry?”

“Why do you even ask, you know I’m always hungry.”

They laughed and got out of the car to go to their special lunch place, Buddy Up, it’s their go-to every-single-meal-outside because “it gives off good vibes” even though everyone knows they only go there to get free pastries since the owner, William, loves their company, the feeling is reciprocated though. He is a 61-year-old sweet man who only talks about his wife and daughter and how he is the luckiest in the world. He really is, thinks Tania. He is very lucky to have a family and together they’re happy.

Tania feels a bit of jealousy followed by guilt of feeling envious in the first place but, she does have her reasons. Tania’s father, Jack, died in a car accident where her mother, Maura, and Tania survived. She was only fifteen, too young. As a result, Maura started to drink, she could not ease her pain, so she switched to drugs, well, not exactly switched. She consumed both until, four years after the accident, she overdosed. Everyone told Tania it was not on purpose, that it was because she had spent too much time doing drugs and drinking and she did not care anymore how to do it. They told her that she just… forgot. But Tania knew better than that, she was a nineteen-year-old woman, a girl underneath it all who needed her mother. She had been needing her since that car crash, but she was simply not there. She thought she lost only one parent that day but, the truth is she lost them both, she did not realize it back then however she came to that conclusion not long after the funeral. Her mother had killed herself.

Tania sold the house and moved closer to her University, trying to escape the nightmares, the memories. She rented a small flat two floors right above a pub no one visited. It was silent and calm. Uncanny, nevertheless. The nightmares did not stop so she decided to stop sleeping, hoping to soothe her agony. Instead, all she accomplished was to understand why her mother depended so much on those drugs and that alcohol, so she went to the bathroom. She was not as desperate as to kill herself but maybe inflicting some sort of pain would distract her. She cut her thighs over, and over, and over again, it kept happening until two months in, Luna figured everything out.

Luna convinced Tania to go to therapy but there was not enough money, she was saving it to finish college, graduate, and officially become a journalist. She did talk to Luna which turned out better than both expected. Tania immediately stopped cutting, she did relapse at times but, it’s part of the recovery. She had nightmares but, less and less until one day they suddenly stopped. Her grades went up once everything went back to place, she ate more, she slept and before she knew it, she moved on.

“Hey, you okay?” Luna’s voice startled Tania, they already got out of the car and are sitting on a table next to the window. “Yeah, sorry. I zoned out for a second.”

Luna, seeming to know what was on Tania’s mind, smiled at her, understanding and supporting. “Listen, it’s going to be okay.”

Tania wanted that to be true and being honest, she did believe that it would but, there’s still that little voice in her head that from time to time tells her all those what-ifs she doesn’t want to think about.

William approached their table with his friendly smile and the warmth he exudes, his happiness palpable miles away. “Here are two of my favorite girls, how can I help you today?”

They looked at each other and smiled at William. They ordered their usual, talked about everything and nothing, avoiding important things just to enjoy the little free time they never have. After eating and of course, having their free dessert, they left for the clinic.

“You know, I never thought I’d get this far. In life, I mean.”

Luna was already getting inside the car while saying that. Tania, surprised by the sudden burst, answered, “Why though? You’ve always been good at this, what wouldn’t make sense would be you not getting this far.”

"I don't know why I just said that." They laughed, hard.

Already in the hospital, Tania had to identify herself. Since Luna is not a family member she won't be able to be with Tania when she takes the pill but she will be with her when signing a few papers, just in case. They're headed to the waiting room, the hall's walls are white, too white even, there are also a few simple decorations hanging from them, over every black dull bench. Finally, they got to the waiting room which was not different from the hall or any other room in that hospital. The only change was the benches, they were now chairs next to each other, circling the whole room, and to fill the area, they just put more chairs, a few plants here and there but nothing much. Everything was rather boring. Luna and Tania sat on a corner, they were the only ones there except for an old woman who a doctor called in a few seconds after they sat.

After a short wait that felt like the longest to Tania, Dr. Walker opened his office door, "Tania?"

She nodded and looked at Luna. They got up at the same time and got in through the grey wooden door.

Dr. Walker’s office is small, that’s the first thing that pops up in Tania’s mind while looking at it. It’s not very warm, that’s for sure and it gives Tania chills. The doctor's desk is black, same as his chair but the patients’ or visitors’ chairs are white, on top of his chair there’s a small shelf with a little grey elephant as decoration. The rest of the room is full of medical equipment, a few diplomas, the PC, and a calendar, nothing much.

Tania and Luna sat in the black chairs, “hi” Tania said with a small voice, herself feeling small.

“Hello Tania, and...?” He shook Tania’s hand fist, “oh, I’m Luna,” the best friend answered while shaking Dr. Walker’s hand back.

“Okay, we’re going to get started, but first, Tania, we’ve met before haven’t we? You look familiar.” He said with a slight hint of a frown on his face.

“I interviewed you five years ago, about the pill, for Daily News. Does it ring a bell?”

“Yes, now it does. I remember you’re one of the first people to ever interview me.”

“I felt honored back then, you were also one of my first important interviews.”

Then Dr. Walker put on the table a few papers after smiling at Tania. “Tania, you have to read and sign these papers so we can start with your treatment.”

“Sure.”

Everything seemed normal, it was what she expected, there were a few side effects, not really big ones, it hasn’t happened before but, she thought it was better taking into account every possibility of what might happen to her. There’s from an allergic reaction to a death warning. The death part was mostly directed to people with more health problems than usual, Tania didn’t have to worry about that part, the part she actually got worried about was falling into a coma. Not because of any health condition, just because of a default in the pill's system.

She got to the end of the contract, “what does this mean? The pill won’t be out immediately? How does that work?”

“I have had quite a rough time trying to get it out, nothing seemed to work and I almost didn’t launch the pill but I figured something out. It wasn’t necessary to get it out, I just had to change a few things so the pill would stay somewhere where it would slowly disintegrate. In a year and a half, it will have completely disappeared.”

Luna looked at Tania, to make sure she wanted to do it. She wasn’t as sure as before but, what other choice does she have? It’s either that or death. Tania nodded at Luna and signed.

“Follow me.” Dr. Walker said.

That’s the part when Luna couldn’t continue the accompaniment, Tania had to leave her behind but, not before hugging. Luna left the office and stayed in the waiting room, meanwhile, Dr. Walker and Tania went the other way, to the implant room.