When the Rain Falls

causa mortis

2. 

            {for hasti for being the wonderful writer of the bad boy, cupid, & me}

Aiden Isaiah Cole is dying. Well, perhaps that's an exaggeration. But he might as well be.

After all, cancer is not much better. It's practically synonymous with dying.

Of course, he's not totally shocked. As an almost-Harvard-Med-student, he could spot the symptoms. It was the little things, most specifically the headaches and nausea.

            Honestly, Aiden hadn't wanted to see a doctor, but when he actually vomited in the middle of an aisle at the grocery store and he'd had to suffer through a severe reprimanding from his boss about puking on the job, he decided it was time to finally diagnose whatever it was he had.

            Stage I brain cancer, in case you were wondering.

            The doctor patted Aiden on the back, gave him the typical spiel — "We'll do everything we can, son." — and sent him on his way. With a promise to return in a week for an official biopsy, Aiden left the awful white hospital and stepped into the rain.

            When most people get life changing news, they tell their families and friends And while Aiden does intend to let all the aforementioned people know, he has no need to hurry home and break the news to his now, so he decides to wander around the streets of Chicago, thinking.

            He passes the restaurant where he took Maria on their first date. A smile pulls at the corners of his lips, but quickly diminishes when he passes the building where...well, he doesn't want to think about that now does he? He rushes past it in a few quick, calculated steps.

            Aiden's trying, possibly too hard, not to think about the street, which only results in him thinking more about the street and he's so lost in his own thoughts he doesn't notice where he's walking and runs right into a girl.

            "What the fuck?" the girl mutters under her breath, almost inaudible, but just loud enough for Aiden to hear.

            He offers her a smile. "Sorry."

            She looks around, confused, as if not quite sure he's talking to her. Aiden just smiles patiently at her and then offers her a hand, "I'm Aiden."

            She glances at his outstretched hand briefly before ignoring it. "Good for you. I have somewhere to be, however, so if you'd just move. Thanks." She does not say the last word gratefully, more as a finalization of her demand — which is, of course, that he move.

            He drops his hand, still smiling. "Oh, you have somewhere to be? A date, perhaps?"

            "No, no, of course not!" She exclaims, disgusted. "I've simply...lost something." She says 'lost' as if ashamed.

            "Well, I could help you look for it. What'd you lose?"

            The girl hesitates, assumedly assessing Aiden. He can see her thinking, processing.

            "My," she begins as an answer to his question before hesitating. Finally, she finishes, "...brother."

            Aiden chuckles at the distress of the girl in front of him. His amusement is met with a glare before she turns away, nearly whipping him with her hair. She gets barely five feet before Aiden straightens up.