TITLE GOES HERE...

So, I finished my short story!

Yay for writing!

Yay for writing and posting it on a writing blog!

Yay for Easter and chocolate hyperness!

So, yeah.  I don't have much to say...

I have a party tomorrow and a science class to get ahead in!

Story:

Jack

His name was Jack.  Has there ever been a better name?  Soft light from the small window trickled in, a beam of light falling onto his blond hair and pale skin.  The steady rhythm of the machines across from us matched my heart, but not my head.  A life was hanging in the moment, as fragile and pure as a white dove.

I could hear him breathing, slow and laborious as he made his final stand against cancer.  Last time I was here, he had been surrounded by machines, his heart monitored and breathing regulated.  IV had run through his veins, keeping him alive as his body battled the cancer.

Now, however, the machines were gone.  Jack was alone, fighting something he could not overcome. 

Was there anything I could do?  Laughter echoed in the hallways, reminding me of happier times, away from the hospital, with just us and no cancer.  When we were together, we were unstoppable.

Now he was stopping.  Dying, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.  I had been on the verge of crying for days, lost in the daze of what was happening.  The first tears were just about to fall when a voice sounded outside the door.

I looked across at the old lady in the shared room.  Visitors?  I hoped not.

They were visitors.  A couple, about our age.  The girl had long blonde hair, and the boy had black hair.  Besides that, they looked like brother and sister.  But they weren’t.

The boy hung back as his girlfriend went up to the lady.  “Grandma?  Hello grannie.”  She whispered.  The boy put his arm around her shoulders.  “Grandma, I have someone for you to meet.  This is John.”  She smiled at John.  “He’s my boyfriend I’ve told you so much about, remember?”

“Yes, I remember,” the grandmother smiled nicely and John opened the window behind her.  Yellow sunlight lit up her white hair and made the room sparkle.  I had shut out the light before, wanting to be alone and sad, with Jack. 

But for the happy couple, everything and anything they wanted was right.  They talked in quiet, pleasant conversation about meaningless things, and I felt a burning pit form in my stomach.

This could have been me.  This had been us.  This was now being slowly ripped away from us – the fun days, sad, quiet and angry days.  Time was running out much too soon.

Time was failing us.

I lay my head down on Jack’s chest, listening to the quiet heartbeat.  You could barely tell he was breathing and his heart was beating feebly.  His life was ending.

Their life was just beginning.  John had left the room, and the granddaughter was happily filling in her grandma. 

“He said he wants to marry me!”  A smile lit her face. 

“Do you love him?”

“Yes.  I really, really do Grandma.  I love him.”

“Then marry him.  Why, anyone would love to be in the position you are now, Mary.  You are young, you are happy.  You are in love.  Live life in the moment.”  She smiled wistfully, “because some day, you may not be able to.”

Had we lived life in the moment?  Our moments were plenty, but not enough for a lifetime.  We had made use of the time we had, I guessed, but it would never be enough.

Not if he died now. 

Especially not if he died now.

John had returned, standing in a ray of sunlight with his girlfriend.  That had been us, I knew, and it could have still been us.

But it wasn’t.  Now, I was the one watching, jealous of the time they would have together, the lifetime they could spend, wasting time like it was a renewable resource.

Time wasn’t renewable, but for them it probably was.

Perfection.

I felt like crying, my mind bringing up flashes of a time before the cancer.  Long walks on the beach, swings at the park; the sappy things couples are forced to endure.  I would kill for just another hour with the man I loved.

Could I have stopped this?  The question was ever-present, and unwavering rain on my parade.  It had been an invisible, stealthy, silent cancer, but there was always a doubt.  No one had detected the cancer before it was too late.

And it was ruining everything.

John had flowers.  Jack he given me almost the same ones for our first anniversary – red, pink and blue carnations.  The roses had been for year two. 

Jack and I had been together for two years.  We too, had been thinking of getting married.

But time had failed us, bringing the end all too soon.  Fate had chosen, I knew, and it had chosen to change my life forever.

Not once, but twice.  I rose to leave, giving Jack a final glace and kiss goodbye.  Tomorrow I would be back, if there was still a boyfriend to be back for.  I loved him so much.  Leaving him, and the thought of him leaving me, brought a black hole to my chest.

My heart was with him.  Where would it be once he died?

I slipped past the other bed and occupants, heading for the door.  And there, just before I left the hospital room, two hearts broke as one heartbeat fell silent.

EDIT TO THE MAX,
S'il vous-plait!

S a r a h