Beyond The Sky

15

Our conversation ends when my doctor walks in. He checks my vitals and makes sure I'm doing okay, giving me the run-through of what he's doing and what had happened prior to me becoming conscious again. I nod in understanding, knowing what caused this whole situation. The doctor tells me how long I'm expected to stay. I'm thankful it's not too long. I wave to him as he leaves to check on another patient and look back over at Lance. "Thanks for staying with me, bud."

"It's nothing." He smiles. "Anything for my best friend."

I cough again, trying to get the smoke out of my lungs. "Did the crew get the house back to normal? Is it no longer on fire?"

"I heard they did. Well, the other team did."

"Oh. Well, the family's safe." My voice is very raspy at this point.
He nods. "Do you want some water?" He asks. "You sound like you need it."
"That'd be nice. Thanks, Lance."

Lance nods again, standing to go get the nurse to bring me some water. This place was weird.

My parents rush into the room within the next hour. I figured they'd find out sooner or later.

"Arlo!" My mom shouts. "Please tell me you're okay!"

"Mom," I say. She sighs in relief, hearing my voice. "I'm fine. At least, I am right now."

"I'm so glad we managed to make it here." My dad says, "I thought that by the time we'd get here you wouldn't be."

"Guys, I'm not going to die. I'll be fine."

"Actually..." Lance sighs. "They got the results from the x-ray they'd done on your chest."

"And?"
Lance looks over at my parents, whispering to them. "Do you want me to tell him or do you want to?" I overheard.

"Tell me what?" I ask.
Another sigh from Lance. My family looks to the ground. "Guess I'm telling you, then."
A pause.

"They found quite a large amount of smoke from the fire still trapped in your lungs. There's too much in your system to be treated."

I can't even imagine talking anymore. I sit there in silence.

"It will eventually completely take over and will probably suffocate you."

I can't believe my ears. So, basically, I'm just gonna die suddenly? Cool. That's fine.

It's not like I wanted to say goodbye to Serena or anything.

Ping. My phone goes off. I look over at it to see what it was. It was a text message from Serena.

I don't have the heart to tell her that I'm pretty much dying. I just leave it alone for now. I'm so sorry, Serena.

"It's Serena." I look at Lance, and then my parents. "I can't bear to tell her." I'm heartbroken for her. Knowing I'm going to pretty much just up and die at any given moment and her world is going to go back to black and white... With0ut us even knowing each other for very long.

"Do you want me to?" Lance asks me.

"No... I'm not even going to respond to it. I'm going to leave it." I reply. I know it wasn't the best option. I just don't want her to be worrying about me. But knowing her, she probably will be.

And that's the hardest part.