The Nightingale and the Dove

She gripped the edge of the nightstand till her knuckles turned white. "Yes." She put down the phone and finally let the tears fall.

The sickness had consumed every part of her life since she was a child. Now, it was going to take her away too.

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As she lay there on her bed, holding her pillow to her chest, she stared at her tear-stained face in the mirror next to her.

No. This wasn't how she was going to leave. She's going to leave happily, content with life.

She turned to her nightstand once again, and her eyes landed on a photo frame on it. It was a photo of two friends. The taller one had an arm wrapped around the other, in a tight hug. The girls' faces grinned back at her, merrily.

She picked up the telephone and dialed a number she had thought to be long forgotten.

It was early in the evening, surely–

She fell her heartbeat quicken as the other end picked up on the third ring and someone said,

"Hello?"

She had half a mind to put the phone back. Instead, she croaked, "He– Hello?"

Silence.

"Um. Jo?" Maybe she was gone. But just as the thought formed, Jo's voice came through.

"Ann? That you?"

Ann inhaled shakily. "Hey." What was she going to say? Why would she suddenly want to spend a day with her childhood best friend whom she'd gotten distant with?

"What's up?" Jo asked. There was no emotion.

"I'm leaving to... Scotland. In a few days. I was wondering if... you'd like to–"

The line went dead. Oh well.

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As Ann sat there on her bed for another two hours, she was left wondering if she'd ever had any dreams to be fulfilled.

Just then, the bell rang. She walked down the stairs to open the door, only to reveal a wind-beaten, hair-ruffled Jo. Ann's eyes widened and she wondered if she was already dead.

Jo smiled at her. Then she stared at her attire. "Why aren't you ready?"

Ann blinked. "The phone call– you– isn't this a bit abrupt–?" She stuttered as Jo looked sheepish.

"Yes, well, I s'pose that was a bit rude of me. I wasn't sure if I'd get a ride and quickly got on the first train here." Jo continued to look at her, eagerly. She pulled Ann by the arm, out the door. "Actually, y'know, this is fine. You look splendid either way."

They rode on a bicycle, with Ann in the back. She yelled through the wind, "Where are we going?!"

The bicycle came to a sudden stop in front of a shop with a poster of–

"Ice cream!" Jo said, cheerfully. 

They walked back home, Jo's bicycle by her side, licking their ice creams with a sort of childish delight.

They got home and had dinner after washing up. Ann smiled to herself as she went to bed. Maybe she'll live to see another dawn.

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