Taylor x Travis: In Every Life

one last good day

this has got to be the longest one shot i have ever written in my life, it's 10.2k words, which is insane.
and a warning: i sobbed my eyes out writing this

Taylor's POV

13th December 2002

Dear Diary
I'm thirteen today! Happy birthday to me <3 Mom and Dad and Austin and I went out for such a fun day and had dinner and now I'm writing in bed. We went to the diner in town like we do every year, and Angie gave me a free dessert and a candle, so I made the biggest birthday wish ever. Mom says I can't tell anyone or it won't come true, so I'll keep it hidden but I promise you it's the bestest wish ever. I hope it comes true. Okay, Dad's calling me now, gotta go!

18th June 2005

Dear Diary
I got my results back from that test I took at the hospital last week when they found something weird in my blood test. Mom and Dad can't stop crying, but I haven't cried about it yet. I don't know why, maybe it's because it doesn't seem real. Mom keeps saying that the doctors must have made a mistake, that they got me mixed up with someone else and I can't possibly be sick, but I think she's just saying that because she doesn't want to accept that her daughter has cancer. We don't know how bad it is yet, but I'm going to go back soon and do more tests. All we know is that there's cancer somewhere in my body. We don't know where and we don't know how bad it is, but I'm young, I'm sure it's easily treatable.

6th August 2005

Dear Diary
Okay, maybe I spoke too soon. The doctors say I have acute myeloid leukemia, but I'm just going to call it AML to make it easier to write. They say that I probably don't have more than five years left, even with treatment, so it's finally hitting me that I have cancer and I'm going to die. I cried for a while with Mom, but I don't feel like crying anymore. It still feels weird.

19th November 2006

Dear Diary
I met a boy today. His name is Travis, and he plays football. He's only a few months older than me, he had green eyes, and we met at the library when Mom took me to get some more books. We talked for a while when we both reached for the same book (I know it's so romance movie coded) and he asked for my phone number, so I gave it to him! I don't know what he's going to say when he finds out I'm a dead girl walking, but I decided I might not tell him for a while. It's selfish I know, but he's the only person I know who doesn't treat me like glass. Yes I'm dying, but I'm still living right now, you know?

13th December 2006

Dear Diary
Okay, so Travis kissed me today. We've been hanging out all the time and today he came around to my house to give me a birthday present and we were sitting on the steps outside and he just leaned over and kissed me! He just left, and I'm still buzzing. He asked me to be his girlfriend, which is so amazing, but I feel so awful that I still haven't told him about my AML. I like him so much, and I just want to live while I can.

10th February 2007

Dear Diary
It's official. I am dying. I am a seventeen year old girl who may not live to twenty. We've officially decided to stop treatments, because they've done some more tests and there's just nothing more they can do for me. It was a really hard decision, but I want to get the most out of my time left without being held back by treatments. Mom and Dad understand, and they're trying so hard to be supportive, but I know it's killing them that I'm on a proper clock now. Oh, and I finally told Travis that I'm dying. I cried the whole time because I felt so bad about not telling him, but he just hugged me and told me it was going to be okay. I really thought he'd leave me when he found out, but once I'd stopped crying he just told me he'd be there until I didn't want him anymore. We've only been together for two months, but I'm so crazy about him and this just made me fall for him even more. And it's not like I'm going to die tomorrow, because they say I probably still have a few years left.