Camp Chemo (Fiction)

"It's a lonely life, dying," says Rollie, who yearns for a friend at Camp Chemo. She gets more than she wished for. Read Austin Gilmore's short story, exclusively on Esoterica.

By Austin Gilmore

Stave I

Most healthy kids my age don’t want anything to do with a Cancer Girl. They don’t want the constant reminder of death looming over what they’ve been told is the best years of their lives.  I mean, I get it. I wouldn’t want to hang out with me either.

Even on the third floor of St. Luke’s, at Camp Chemo, a name I tried desperately …