When I finally learned that Klaus was sick, truly sick, we had so little time left. It was an accident that I found out too; otherwise I don't think Klaus would ever have told me. We ran into a woman at the grocery store who broke down crying when she saw Klaus and told him the unfortunate news that her twelve year old son had passed away. That was a bad day.
"Who was that?" I'd whispered after Klaus finally pried the grieving woman from his shoulder.
"No one," Klaus said, turning away from me to survey the cereal selection. We came in to get ingredients for cookies, not cereal, so I knew he was only avoiding my question. "Just, uh, just a lady I used to know."
"It looks like she knows you pretty well," I commented, trying to speak gently and not pushy. "Did you know her little boy? Was he sick?"
"I don't know!" Klaus blurted loudly before abandoning our grocery cart, and me, and walking out of the grocery store.
I followed him, deciding cookies weren't going to happen this afternoon. I reminded Klaus he promised me there would be no more lies after our last conversation at The Falls. I told him I could tell he was upset about that little boy's death, and I wanted him to talk to me about it. It was better to talk, I told him, than to hold it inside and feel like shit.
He finally spilled the beans. "I met them at the hospital; Andie, and her son Jimmy. He had bone cancer. It went in remission for a while, but it came back stronger than before. I hadn't seen him in a few weeks. I wondered why he didn't call..." He shook his head, looking close to tears. "I should have called him. I should've-"
"It's not your fault," I cut him off with a hug. "I'm so sorry. Poor little guy." After a moment, I realized something. "What did you meet them at the hospital for? Did you volunteer there?" I didn't really see Klaus as the volunteering type, but he surprised me every day, so I could have been wrong.
"No," Klaus laughed bitterly, "I didn't volunteer there." He sighed and then took a ragged breath before he told me, "I was there for treatment. I guess you're going to find out anyways. Might as well be now."
"You're sick?" I'd questioned, feeling hollow inside. He had to be joking. I couldn't believe him. How could he be sick when he acted so alive?
Klaus nodded. "Leukemia." He shrugged indifferently. I waited for him to laugh, say he was only kidding around. He'd done it before. He had told me that he was really a girl, that his weird Uncle Fred had touched him as child, that he was actually a one-hundred and fifty year old vampire who wanted to drink my blood...lots of things, but none of them were serious. This was different. He didn't laugh. He didn't take it back. He meant it.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I'd asked while I tried to hide the fact that my hands were shaking uncontrollably. I clasped them together and shoved them in my lap while I sucked in my bottom lip and stared at the blue-eyed boy sitting next to me inside of his Camaro.
"Everybody bites it sooner or later," Klaus said coolly, "I'm just in the AP class, ahead of the game." He acted like it was no big deal and he didn't care at all.
I sniffled and fought the sadness from creeping in my voice when I complained, "It's always a joke with you."
"Doc says it's a phase," Klaus told me. "It'll stop soon, but hey, at least none of this was about sympathy for the sick kid."
"That's not fair," I said through blurry eyes. I held in my tears as long as I could, but when he started yelling about what really wasn't fair in life, I couldn't hold them in anymore.
"What is fair, Rodialyn? Is it fair that I'm taking classes to prepare me for a college I'll never make it to? Is it fair that I've always wanted to go to Europe and I'll never make it there? That I'll never make it past eighteen, never be able to have a legal drink, or get married, or have kids. I don't even get to decide if those are things I want. Life isn't fair! But so what?!" By the time he finished, he was screaming in my face. He tried to pretend he didn't care, but I knew he did. He was angry. He was scared. He hated the world, and he hated me.
"You should have told me," I'd said firmly. "Everything makes sense now: why you always avoided talking about college or anything after high school; why you don't believe in marriage or love; why you are so obsessed with vampires..."
Klaus shook his head, denying my words. He denied that his obsession was based on truth. He denied that he believed, but I knew he did. "Shut up Rodialyn, you don't know what you're talking about. I told you not to care. I told you to leave me alone. I tried to get you to lose interest, but you just wouldn't let me go."
"I'm still not going to let you go!" I exclaimed, "I don't care how long we have. I want to be with you. I'm going to be with you until the end. Get that through your thick skull, all right, Partner?" I rubbed the remaining tears from my eyes and pushed my way into Klaus's arms. He accepted my words and hugged me tightly as he placed a kiss on my temple.
The last few weeks of school, Klaus was sick a lot. He missed most of the classes, but he made up his work and he managed to pass all of his tests so he could graduate with our class. He didn't walk the stage on Graduation night, but I think he was happy enough knowing he made it through the year. All his hard work wasn't for nothing once he got that diploma in his hands. Still, it broke my heart to see him in the hospital while I was in my Graduation gown. It broke my heart to watch him waste away before my very eyes the following weeks. The life and color drained from him; his bright blue eyes dulled and his skin was pale as a ghost. He could barely eat and he was always sleeping. I didn't want to ever leave his side, worried he'd be gone when I returned. When the hospital could do no more for him, they sent him home, so he could die in the comfort of his own bed. I hated them for giving up on him because I felt like they made him give up, too. I hadn't given up. I still believed in him. Klaus was strong. Klaus was full of life. Klaus could be a survivor. He had to, I realized, not only for him, but for me. Because I needed him.
