April 7, 1984

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Ricky looked at the images above and around him. There were paintings of Jesus, Mary, and others. Here in the monastery, life was just on the outside while he was in heaven, meeting God.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Keith appeared beside him. He was wearing sunglasses and black jeans. "So much peace and quiet."

"Yes," Ricky said quietly. "It's quiet and very beautiful."

Would this be what heaven was like when his time was done? Would it?

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It was in the middle of the night, and Ricky could feel himself sweating in bed. He'd had this since March, and whenever he got out of bed in the morning, he would have a splitting headache, so he would take aspirin to ease it.

Originally, Ricky and Keith were going to leave for Greece after Cindy's birthday, but Ricky suffered from diarrhea, and it got so bad they had to postpone the trip to April. They'd been here for three days, and so far, there was no diarrhea or vomiting yet.

Weirdly enough, he never had this before the diagnosis.

Well okay, he did  start to have diarrhea around six weeks before he went to the doctor's to get tested for HIV. And he had a fever at the same time.

For the umpteenth time, Ricky thought to himself.

How long have I been suffering from the disease?


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