Before I Go

Chapter Two - Em's POV

There was a long silence. I could see the moment where all the eyes in the room were looking in different, random spots of my apartment before shifting to me all at once when the sound of me opening the door could be heard. It appeared that all fourteen people that I invited were here, and now I was ready to start this...party.

"Why are there so many of us here?" my mom said, cutting through the silence, phone in hand.

I imagined she was pretty uncomfortable and annoyed. She hated being around any creature that wasn't a cat that hisses at everyone except her. The fact she was standing next to my dad, a man she has hated for most of my life, was even stranger.

"Yeah, we haven't even talked in..." Karla started to say.

"You said you were..." Madeline said, cutting Karla off.

"I know what I said. I know why you're all here. I invited you guys here, not the other way around. Let me just put my backpack away and then we can get this started, huh?" I said.

Digging into my pockets for my key, I accidentally hit my hand against the back of my phone. I silently winced in pain while I put my key down on my desk. As I walked to my small bedroom, I heard a loud crash.

"Someone else's problem," I thought to myself.

I dumped my backpack off onto my bed. I looked at myself in my mirror, looking at my reflection with a type of concern usually shown from one person to another, not themselves. With a deep breath and a calming exhale, I walked back out to address my guests.

I noticed the group in front of me wasn't really one uniform group when you looked really close at them. Most of the people I invited here knew at least one other person here, with Madeline as an exception, so they were in small clumps of two or three people. It looked like there were seven small cliques standing in front of me.

"As you all should know, since you actually showed up, I'm dying," I said.

"What?" Steven said. For such a short spoken response, his face showed a stronger emotional reaction than anyone else in the room as it quickly distorted into looking horrified and concerned.

"What happened? You look fine to me," my dad said, suddenly diagnosing me with the education of a man who dropped out of college after two weeks.

"Should you be in a hospital?" Madeline said.

Hearing her mention a hospital slightly enraged me. It brought my mind back to a place from only a little over a year ago. A place in my mind I never wanted to revisit. Soon, I'll bring that up. In all due time.

"I'm dying in roughly a week's time. I wanted you, those who are either close to me now or were close to me once, to spend my final time with me before I go," I said.

"What are you dying of?" my best friend asked, taking a step closer towards me.

"I don't really want to go into it. It's very hard to talk about out loud. It's easier to just leave it out of discussion and enjoy each other's company. Besides, you wouldn't want to make a dying person any more uncomfortable than they already are, would you?" I said, determined to make eye contact with each individual person around the room.

Being emotionally manipulative instead of being emotionally manipulated felt like a nice change of pace for myself.

"So, did we just come here so you could tell us that in person?" Adrianna asked.

For a full, long second, I became too distracted to answer. Looking at Adrianna for the first time in the long time it has been is so... nice, almost. I can see that she hasn't lost a shred of beauty.

"Yes... and no. I didn't invite you all here just to tell you that. I have something I wanna ask you guys for," I said.

"And?" my dad asked.

"And I'd like to spend some time with all of you guys before I die," I said.

A wave of discomfort washed over all my guests. They all seemed uncomfortable with the thought of death, as I once felt.

"I can't hang around for too long. I've got work," Jaydan said.

My eyes darted to him, glaring. My gaze threw daggers at him, sharper than any wit he has ever had. I remember when he and I worked together. I remember when I thought we would work in more ways than one.

"I have a system set up for you all. For the next seven days, you will all spend one hour with me a day. One on one from ten in the morning to midnight, to be more specific. Only one hour, so you will have enough time to go to work and do whatever you need to do in your everyday lives. Don't let the person dying over here get in your way, right?" I said.

"How is that going to even work?" Anastasia asked.

"I've got some sheets here, one for each day. You'll each sign up for one hour for each day. Whatever works best for you," I said.

I laid the papers out, one for each day of the upcoming week, on my desk. I gestured for everyone to come up to sign their names.

"Line up," I said with a smirk.

There was an awkward shuffle as my crowd of guests made their way to my desk. I smiled until a thought suddenly struck my mind.

"Where'd I put my phone?" I quietly said to myself.

I looked up, slightly panicked. I tried not to be too dependent on technology, but it was hard for me not to worry at least a little when my phone went missing. I looked for someone to ask if they had seen my phone. I quickly pulled on my best friend's shoulder. He was the only one there I felt comfortable asking about this.

"Steven, have you seen my phone?" I asked.

"Your phone? I think I saw it on your bed when I left the bathroom," he said.

I went back into my room and my phone was on my bed, just like he had said. I let out a sigh of relief. Now it was time for the fun part. To find out the timeline of my upcoming week, all planned out for me.