The Last Of The Stars

Part 7

A nurse came into the room.

"Is everything alright?" she asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

Sarah nodded once, then smiled weakly. "Ye-yeah," she looked at me, wiping my eyes. "Yes."

"This might be a bit unpleasant." the nurse said, tugging on the cords.

Sarah's eyelids fluttered. Then she coughed out a weak chuckle. "Not pleasant?" she whispered. "Gosh, that'll be such a change." She eyed the tube stuck into her arm and coughed again.

The girl looked like she only had hours left, and she had to be in pain, but she was making jokes.

She was not going to die, she was going to live. I would fight for her, keep her alive. A sense of hopelessness engulfed me. My mind was lost in desperate speculation. Hysteria flared within me. I opened my eyes in surprise.

I'm going to have to be careful what I say around her, choosing my words more carefully.

She needs rest, and medication will make the pain go away so she can do just that. I sighed in frustration.

It was hard to be frustrated when she was like this. Thankfully, amusement doused my previous anger. She was grinning playfully, and it was affecting me too.

"Don't leave me," she whispered.

She was worried that I wouldn't be here. Her thoughts were completely irrational. I took her face in between my hands so she had to look at me.

"I told you I'm not going anywhere. Don't be afraid. As long as it makes you happy, I'll be here."

She smiled back. "You're talking about forever, you know."

Of course, no one had forever. If you had forever, you could check every single piece of straw in the haystack, one by one, to see if it was the needle.

Right now, I wouldn't mind disassembling a haystack. At least that would be something to do. I hated knowing that I could be losing my chance.

"As long as you want me," I promised.

Her irises were a familiar - but amazing- rich brown, with little gold flecks scattered around the pupil. Her skin looked pale, creamy ivory. All besides her cheeks, which flamed with color.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"I, um, need to speak to the nurse," she said at last.

"Okay," I said and got up to leave.