Song Bird

Part 5

We stayed in the park for a long time, just sitting on the bench, thinking. Allison eventually stopped crying and began to grow tired. I packed up her stuff, and started to head back to the hospital. I picked her up when she couldn't walk any further, unsurprised by how light her frail frame was. Walking into the hospital with Allison in my arms freaked out a few nurses, who only managed to calm down after I explained myself and they had her hooked up to an IV again. I didn't stay for much longer after that, allowing her to sleep. I had too much on my mind anyway.

I felt like I was on autopilot the following day at school. I couldn't focus and found myself staring off in the distance even when people were talking to me. Kyle tried once or twice before giving up and going back to the book he was reading. When I finally tried to do something else for a while, I sifted through my backpack looking for something to distract myself with only to see something I didn't expect. I carefully pulled Allison's sketchbook out of my bag, trying to remember when I had stashed it in there. Kyle looked up from his book when he saw me place the sketchbook on the desk.

"I didn't know you liked to draw," he said out loud, leaning over to see what was on the inside as I lifted the cover.

"I don't," I replied, looking at the first drawing. It was a page of multiple birds, either flying or perched, all intricately detailed.

"Hey," Kyle said curiously, leaning closer. "Those are really good."

I flipped to the next page, taking in the picture of a bird drawn on what looked like the windowsill of Allison's room. I knew there never were birds that perched there, but the window brought back the pain I was trying to stifle in my chest. I blinked away the burning sensation behind my eyes before turning the page again. I froze. Drawn on the paper was the sketch Allison did of me. She had me sitting casually in my chair, turned to gaze out the window. It was strange how well she captured my look, so much that it looked like I was looking at a black and white photo of myself. The longer I stared at it, the easier it was to understand why she asked me the question she did when she talked about this sketch. The expression on my face was distant, if not a little lost and lonely. I wondered when I made this particular face around her.

"Dude, is that you?" Kyle asked suddenly, breaking me out of my stupor as he leaned in closer to look at the drawing. I rubbed my eyes slightly as he stared at the drawing for a while. Eventually, I gave a quiet sigh and spoke the thoughts on my mind.

"Kyle..." I said quietly, catching my best friend's attention. "What would you do if you knew that somebody you just started to get to know was... going to die soon?"

Kyle seemed to catch the serious note in my voice, his light and happy atmosphere dimming down. "Aaron... What aren't you telling me?" he asked quietly. When I didn't respond, he tried a different tactic. "Well, I suppose I would try to spend as much time as possible with them, doing fun things and things they'd never forget to make their last days count."

"Make them count..." I repeated slowly, flipping the page of the notebook again. This page had a drawing of a songbird in a cage, gazing out at the world beyond its cage bars, staring out at the world outside the window. I stared down at this elaborate, but simple drawing, feeling like Allison was saying something much more than what it seemed. Emotion began swirling around in me, a thought coming to mind that I couldn't stop thinking about.

"Kyle," I said suddenly, surprising him a bit. I looked up at him, a determined feeling bubbling in my chest. "If I promise to explain everything, would you help me put together a new project for Student Involvement?"

My best friend tried not to look flabbergasted at my question, and quickly nodded in agreement, unable to hide his happiness at my desire to get involved with his group. I nodded as well, thanking him before launching into describing my idea, reaching in my bag to pull out my notebook to write down the notes for my idea. The longer I talked about it, the more Kyle's eyes lit up, and he started feeding his own ideas to the plan. The more it came together, the more determined I became. Finally, I found something to work towards.