Cancer

The girl had not been at school that day, or the day before. He had not really been all that concerned, she had skipped school before; but this time she hadn’t called him. He called her that night, over and over again; nobody picked up. The first couple of times he had shrugged it off. With four brothers, her house was often too loud to hear the phone. Then when she nobody answered the twelfth time he called, he began to get worried.
That night when he went to bed, he tried to convince himself that she had just gone on holiday, “That would explain everything” he thought. But somehow, he couldn’t quite believe it.
In the morning he went over to her house and rang the doorbell over and over again, but nobody let him in. He texted her on her mobile, and called her friends from school; nobody knew where she was.
That night at around 10PM, his phone rings. As he answers, he realizes that something is terribly wrong. On the other end of the line is an odd, cold voice that he doesn’t recognize. The voice says words that chill him to the bone. The voice informs him that they work at the local hospital. He automatically assumes they have the wrong number, and asks why they are calling. The answer he gets makes his heart stop. His girl is in a critical condition and only wants to see him.
His blood runs cold. He loves her more than he had ever loved anyone.
He runs to the hospital as fast as he could, and it is almost too late. Lying there in the hospital bed, she looks so helpless, so frail. He reaches over and holds her hand; it is as cold as ice. Using the last of her strength, she opens her eyes and whispers “What would you do for me?”
He stares into her beautiful blue eyes, and knows that she won’t be around to hear him tomorrow. “I would do anything for you. I would breathe my last breath for you; I would take a bullet for you any day babe. We will always be together.” She struggles to breath but her next words were as clear as crystal. “I love you.” She said.
He realizes that he doesn’t know why she is here. Before you even ask, she says “My cancer came back.” Then, seeing the puzzled look on his face, she continued. “Last year, I went through loads of chemo because I was diagnosed with Leukemia. That’s cancer of the blood by the way.” Here she sighed, as if every word she spoke caused her the pain of a thousand knives. But she went on “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to hurt you. The doctor said I had a few more years to live; so I got on with life. Then, yesterday, I collapsed at the bus stop. They sent me to the hospital and ran lots of tests.” A deep sorrow filled her eyes now “I’m on my last few hours.”
He lied with her all through the night, on the cold, scratchy hospital sheets, and cried.
He awakes early in the morning; the girls’ breathing is becoming labored. One last time she whispers that she loves him, and then nurses rush into the room, pulling him away from her.
He screams and cries, not letting go of the girls’ arm. “She will die without me! No, you can’t!” The doctors and nurses fill the room. They ask him, and then tell him, to leave. “You don’t understand! You can’t! No! No!” A doctor comes in, and physically removes him from the room. Still screaming, he holds on to the girls’ hand until he can’t anymore.
He takes one last, desperate glance at the girls’ eyes. They are wide, frightened and full of pain. He knows that she needs him, but there is no way they will let him in. He bangs on the glass window, tears streaming down his face. Staring at her, he knows that he will never hear her voice again.
That is where he stays. On the cold hospital floor, outside her ward. Even after the nurses come out and tell him that she is gone. After they tell him to leave. He stays. Only when the undertaker comes and wraps her body in a horrible white sheet does it hit him. She was gone for real.
He flies into a rage, screaming at the nurses. “How dare you let him die! How dare you underestimate the power of love! How dare you not feel any guilt-” The nurses desperate attempts to comfort him were met with more screaming. “YOU LET HER DIE! YOU MURDERED HER!”
He turns and runs home, tears of anger, grief and confusion falling from his eyes. He feels like nothing else mattered; his girl was gone.
Then he realizes what he has to do. He remembers what he said, and knows what has to be done. He left a note, and said he loved has mother and father, then he signed it goodbye.
Then he went into his fathers’ cupboard, and got out his fathers’ gun. He cried, then pulled the trigger; and with that he was gone.

The next morning the boy was found dead on the bathroom floor, a gun in his hand. He had promised to take a bullet for the girl any day, and he had kept his promise.