TO THE MOON
The car was running sixty kilometers per hour as Zachary was seated at the passenger sit of their car. His eyes were looking intently at the evening sky, the moon was at its full beauty and his mouth was slightly opened in amazement at the wonderful sight of it.
"If you're to have a child, what would you name him?"
A voice from the backseat caught his attention, he then threw his gaze to Ken, who was looking at him with curiosity obviously written on the latter's face.
"What are you talking about my child?" he raised a brow at him, "Maybe you mean our child?"
Ken let out a playful smile, "Oh, no. Are you turning gay on me, Zach?"
"Very funny," Zach rolled his eyes. "But, really, i don't have plans on having a child for the both of us, Kenny. . . " he trailed off and abruptly stopped his breathing to prevent a smile from forming on his lips as he saw the latter's shoulders fell down, "Yet," he then added.
Ken scoffed, "idiot!" then he laughed.
"Oh, come on, you know you love this idiot," he said then winked at his partner.
Ken bowed his head to hide the obvious blush from what Zachary said.
"But on a more serious note," Zach said as he adjusted the grip of the seatbelt on his body, "We're still on our second year in college, I think it's too early to start talking about building, but I'm sure that we'll get there."
"Then what would be our child's name?"
"Selene," he said with happiness laced on his voice.
"You'll name our daugther from the moon?" Ken asked.
"What? I think that's a great name, " he then looked at the moon, "The moon's a beauty, don't you think?"
"What's with the moon and you? Are you two dating?"
"Ha. Ha. Ha," he laughed sarcastically. "I just find comfort by looking at it."
Ken nodded in agreement, "That's pretty obvious. Your room's walls and ceiling are filled with pictures and paintings of the moon."
"Because I love the moon, Ken. But, hell, I love you more than the moon," he said then winked.
"Shit, so cheesy."
The car halted and the both of them went outside of it.
"Thanks, Manong," Zachary thanked their driver then went to Ken and placed his arm over the latter's shoulders. "So, let's go inside?"
"Come on," Ken squirmed from his shoulders, "And stop being clingy."
He rolled his eyes, "I am not clingy. I just want to feel my boyfriend, I just missed you--" Zachary stopped midway when he felt a sudden pain at the back of his neck.
"Are you okay? Wait, is that blood?!"
Zachary touched his upper lip with his left index finger and felt a thick liquid coming out of his nose and dripping to his lips.
He felt dizzy. The pain from the back of his neck didn't disappear. It became more and more unbearable.
"Ugh," he winced in pain.
"Are you okay?!" Ken was at shock at his appearance. The both of them were already seated on the floor. "Manong! Help!" He shouted for help.
Zachary's vision started to blur, he looked at Ken's face, which was filled with worry anxiety at tha then at the moon -- two things that he love the most -- and smiled a little before losing consciousness.
***
"His Leukemia's worsening," it was a familiar voice for him. It was Dr. Dizon. "His body's starting to reject the medicine that we're giving him."
He pretended to be asleep, but he can hear the cries of her mother. But what assured him of his safety is the sight of a chalk drawing of a moon on his ceiling and the grip of Ken's hands on his.
"Zachary. . . " Ken whispered at his ear, "Fight, 'kay?"
He wanted to say that he would, but his body's a constant reminder that he couldn't any much longer. So he just kept his eyes closed and let a lone tear flow from his left eye.
***
"So it had been a week that you've stopped attending classes for the meantime," Ken said as he was searching for some documents inside his backpack. "I've already explained the situation to our instructors and they did a compromise. Here's the modules from our subjects," he placed the documents on the bedside table.
Zachary's eyes were just fixed on the ceiling, his attention was focused on the moon that was drawn on the ceiling.
"You know, I think I'm like the moon now," he said, completely ignoring all of his boyfriend's remark.
Ken straightened his back on the back rest of his chair, "Why so?" he asked.
"I'm just like a reflection of what's happening to me," he said. Visualizing the skin and bones appearance of himself. "Like how the moon reflects the sun's light."
He cleared his throat, "Uhh, is that a bad thing, Zachary?"
"I don't know, I just want to stop living here on Earth and go to the moon."
"Silly, you. You cannot breathe there, you won't be able to live there," Ken said, trying to sound happy.
Zachary looked straight into Ken's eyes, "Can you call this living, then? This -- whatever situation I am in right now -- is far from living, this is just not dying."
Ken couldn't control his tears from flowing, "We promised, right? Remember? On our first anniversary. We promised that we'll both go to the moon. . . together."
"Yes," Zachary said, eyes still fixed on the ceiling.
***
"Did you know that the moon would also be destroyed when the sun explodes?" Zachary asked Ken, his voice soft just enough for the both of them to hear.
"Oh, really? I don't know that."
"Yes, and I am the moon who'll get caught up with life's explosion. Or maybe it already exploded and what you see is just remnants of Zachary."
"Ssshhh," he hushed. "Stop saying those things, okay?"
Zachary smiled, "Ken?" he called
"Yes, Zach? I'm here."
"I love you. Never forget that."
"I love you, too, Zach. And I won't forget that you love me."
***
"Ken. . . "
"Yes, Zach?"
It's too noisy for Zachary. Beepings of various devices and sounds of machines.
"I'm tired. I think I need to go to the moon earlier than you."
"Is that so?" Ken was crying with a faint smile on his lips.
Zachary nodded slowly.
"Then go to the moon already. Wait for me there, okay?"
"I'll wait for you. But take your time, the moon and I won't be gone, we'll stay there and wait for you."
"I love you, Zach."
"I love you, Ken. . ." his voice trailed off.
The sound of a machine with a flat line on its display and sound of people silently sobbing filled his ears before everything went black.
"Am I already on the moon?" he asked.
"Yes," Ken whispered. "You're almost there. Sleep tight. I love you, Zach."
