Just One Life [A Brian May fanfic]

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(A/N: the parts in italic are moments where she is thinking about events taken place in the past. okkk, enjoy!)

I sat on my bed. Emotionless. Yes, it had been a long time coming but I still hadn't prepared myself for it. All those nights, lying in bed, crying. Trying so hard to hold back the tears or at least muffle them somehow but that just caused them to flow more and more. I hadn't told anyone how I was feeling. Not even my mother. I knew that if I told her then she would become even more emotional about it. Every single day I would hope and pray that some miracle would happen and this impending event would never happen yet no matter how hard I wished, that miracle never came. I suppose I should explain what has happened. Well in short, my best friend, the man who never failed to make me laugh, the man who I could always go to with my problems, the man who understood me, the man I spent all of my time with has fought his battle yet didn't conquer his illness. That man was my grandfather and my heart is shattered. I would visit him every day after school even before he was diagnosed with his illness. After his diagnosis we still carried on like nothing was wrong however, there were many a day where I wasn't able to contain my emotions. I will cherish our memories together forever.

One particular memory that will always stick in my mind is when he took me to the park when I was around 10 years old. This park had a lake and was a home for countless geese and ducks. I remember the day vividly. Himself and my grandmother didn't live too far from from this park and so when I was visiting them with my mother one day he took me there with my bike. I had only just learned how to ride it without stabilisers so I wasn't the most confident rider however, he made sure that I didn't fall off or crash into a tree or something. He had brought a loaf of bread with him so that we could feed the ducks. We sat on a nearby bench and began to break off pieces of bread to throw to the ducks. We had been sat on the bench chatting and feeing the ducks for I don't know how long but when we had finished I decided to go off and try riding my bike without any support, forgetting I was still holding some bread. I got on the saddle of my bike and started to pedal down the clear, straight path and I realised that all the ducks were following me. I picked up the pace and began to pedal faster, the ducks still following. I didn't notice the bread in my hand until my grandfather shouted for me to throw it away. I did just that and the ducks who were following me immediately removed their focus from me and headed straight for the bread. I made my way back over to my grandfather who was still by the bench we were sat at, laughing. It wasn't until I had calmed down did I start laughing as well. In retrospect it was probably one of the funniest things that have ever happened to me even though it didn't feel like it at the time.

Reminiscing on the things we did together was now making my eyes fill with tears. I was home alone as my mother was at the hospital, my brother with my other grandmother and I didn't have any plans today so I figured a lazy day was on the cards. This was far from a lazy day though. My mother called me earlier this morning to tell me the news. It was now 2pm and I didn't really know what to do with myself so I decided to go to one of my favourite places. The record shop in town. Myself and my grandfather would spend many hours just searching though all of the records they had on offer. He bought me my very first record. It was The Beatles album, A Hard Days Night. He already had the album at home as he got it when it first came out and I would listen to it non stop so on my 15th birthday, he surprised me with it and its an item I have cherished ever since.

I put on my converse, grabbed my bag and purse, took my key off the hook and left the house. It was a beautiful day. The sun shone brightly in the sky and there was a gentle breeze. My favourite kind of weather. The town wasn't too far from my house but I wouldn't have minded if it was a fairly long walk. On my way there I began to remember all the time me and my grandfather had shared listening to music. I have him to thank for all of the music I have been introduced to. I suppose he was a father figure for me in a way seeing as though my real father had left when I was only 4 years old. I can't really remember much about him which i'm fairly glad about because he wasn't a pleasant man from what i've been told.