I creaked open the door to his room to the sight of him sketching in his sketchbook.
He was sitting up in his bed, his hand lightly gripping onto the pencil. He furrowed his eyebrows in concentration as he carefully drew each line on the sheet of paper.
I enjoyed watching him draw, especially since it's something he has such a huge passion for.
"What are you drawing?" I asked looking over his shoulder.
"You," he smiled. "It was the picture I took of you yesterday."
He tilted his sketchbook a little bit so I could see it clearer.
"Wow, it looks amazing."
He smiled and shook his head, "I don't know about that... I expected it to be better."
"Shut up," I took the sketchbook out of his hands and flipped through the pages. "You're extremely talented."
"These are masterpieces," I said in awe, "The brushstrokes are gorgeous, the pencil markings are perfection, and it just blows my mind that a teenage boy like you can create such beautiful art."
"It's a good feeling, I love creating things," he began, "I love letting my imagination go wild and putting my creativity in with everything I do."
He took a sad sigh.
"I loved putting my creativity into the videos I made with Gray before I got sick. I wish I still could."
I sat down next to him and placed my hand on his shoulder, "I know."
He looked down at his hands hopelessly.
"A-and you still can!" I forced out.
"No laur, I can't," he replied sadly.
"What do you mean you can't??" I closed the sketchbook and set it aside. "Having cancer can't stop you from doing the things you love, in fact, nothing should! You can still draw, listen to music, and annoy me--which I'm sure you enjoy a bunch--and if you can do those, you can most definitely continue to make those videos."
Ethan shook his head in disagreement, "You don't get it, I'm weak."
"We snuck out of the hospital and we spent the whole day outside yesterday, you're clearly getting better."
"That? Pshhh that was NOTHING compared to what I used to do," he sighed. "You've seen my videos."
"I used to have so much energy. I was on tour for goodness sake! And now I get tired after running 50 meters. I thought I was going to lose it yesterday in the car."
For once, I realized that Ethan was actually right. As much as we both don't want to admit it, he's too sick.
Ethan stared at the drawing of me in his sketchbook.
"Compared to a lot of the other works I have done, this is trash," he laughed. "And once we go to Paris and I finally get to draw it's famous landmark, it will be so incredible."
"How long are we staying there?" I asked.
"A month or so, maybe less. I have a lot of things planned for the the trip so we won't be bored 90% of the time."
"Like what?" I asked curiously.
"It's a secret," he winked, "but, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. The Make a Wish Foundation also bought all the plane tickets, booked the hotel rooms, and pretty much payed for everything I had in mind so you don't have to spend a dime."
