Cross It Off The List

Chapter 1 - "Diagnosed"

I stood in front of the doctor. He was looking at papers with a fearful expression across his face. He's been like this for the last ten minutes, just reading something. He would occasionally glance at me with sorrow. He finally set down the clipboard and rubbed his nose. He looked into my eyes for a quick second before turning away.

"Mason, there's no easy way to say this." He said still not looking at me. I turned to John, my step dad, who sat there with emotionless eyes, like always. "You have Azulfatice (A-zul-fu- teece). I'm sorry to say this Mason, but you have an estimated thirty days to live before the disease crosses into your blood stream and starts killing you."

I look at him with sad eyes. "I only have thirty days?" I look at John to see how he took the news. He was still expressionless. "So today is the first day of the countdown?" I asked saddened that my stepdad was sitting there like I wasn't dying.

"Yes," My doctor said. "today is day one."

_____

When I get home I go straight to my room, ignoring the fact that John didn't give a single crap about me in the time I needed him the most. I close the door behind me and slump against it. I look up and see my step brother, James, sitting on his bed reading a book.

He looks up and sees me and smiles. He was the only one who liked me in the family. No one else did because I was the outcast. When my mom died John got full custody of me and that meant I had to live with him.

"Greetings Mason." He said in his British accent, the one I loved to hear so much. He set his book down on the nightstand that separated our beds. "How was your check up? Did it go well?"

"I'm dying." I state. "The doctor told me I have thirty days starting today." I look up at him to see his confused expression. I don't acknowledge it as much as I should. I walk to my desk and sit down taking out a notebook. I start writing down things that I wanted to do. I did this whenever I was stressed. It was a way of telling myself that I could do these things one day.

I stopped at twenty-eight as I always did. I looked over the things I had written and see teardrops on the paper. I hadn't noticed I was crying.

"What?" James asked surprise from his bed. "Don't play bullshit with me Mason, this isn't funny." He got off his bed and walked over to me. He crouched next to me and I looked down at him. He looked at my list and lifted the notebook. "You always write these things down. Have you ever done any of them?"

I shake my head. "No, I want to do the things on this list, but it doesn't look like I'll be able to." I say moving the notebook to the side and standing up. I walk over to my bed and jump onto it, staring at the ceiling.

"Then lets do them." James says tearing the sheet of paper out of the notebook, folding it, and sliding it into his pocket. He walked over to me and slapped my foot. "Pack your clothes, we're going. I'll make sure we get each of these things done."

"We're just going to leave?" I ask as he walked to the closet and pulled out two suitcases. "We're really about to just leave?"

"Let's be honest, my dad won't notice and you're dying. People aren't going to deny you the right to do the things you want to do before you die." He said with a smile as he pulled his really nice clothes out of his dresser. "Now pack your nicest clothes and lets get going. It's only one o' clock so we can get number one done today and get rest for the next one, which we'll do tomorrow."

I don't wait one second, I jump out of my bed and start putting my clothes in the suitcase that James gave me. I also put the hundreds of dollars that I've been saving up since I was smart enough to save money. James looked over and nodded at the cash.

"Smart move, mate. Might need some big bucks on the road." He smiled his adorable little smile. "Now, lets get on with it."

"Yeah," I say. "Let's get outta here."