Diagnosed with a terminal ailment, Ashley Grayson divorces his husband Jonathan in hopes he will be able to move on. But plans go south when Ash ends up falling in love first, with the last person he expected...
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(Johnny POV)
I stand in the hallway outside his room after our visit, leaning against the cool metallic wall felt nice against my emotionally ravaged body. I press my forehead to the metal in hopes it will cool my brain and the cold would spread to my aching heart. The nurses and drones hover past me and ignore me for the most part, probably thinking I'm insane or some shit but I didn't care.
"You alright there bud?" A voice asks but I ignore it. Facing the wall and refusing to look at the voice in hopes whoever it is, goes away.
"Hey," He continues but I continue to ignore him. Until a hard piece of metal hits my leg and I'm forced to look up. Seeing Chris in his wheelchair, looking up at me with a raised thick brown eyebrow.
"You alright there?" He asks and I just nod.
"That was the most pathetic yes I have ever seen. You expect me to believe that?" he snorts and I then shake my head.
"That's more like it, come with me," He beckons with that friendly smile as he starts rolling down the hall and I follow after him.
"You know there's one thing on this stupid island that reminds me of home and it's your beautiful night sky, the moon especially. Even though it's daylight over in New York, I like to think about how my family and I might be on two separate continents but we still share the same moon," Chris says as he takes a sip of coffee while sitting with me in the midst of the dark garden on the hospital roof. I had been here once before.
The area was unfamiliar in the dark but as I take in the rooftop garden, very little had changed. I could still see my firstborn child running around, chasing butterflies in bushes the morning before he died. Kaleb... My son's name was Kaleb.
"So what are you here for?" he asks and I'm snapped out of the broken chain of memories to the present.
"How much time do you have?" I ask as I take a large gulp from my own cup of strong dark roast and he laughs running his fingers through his thick brown hair.
"I've got all night," He says and I let out a deep breath.
"Well, you in luck because it won't take that long. My husband, Ashley, he's here with some sort of rare genetic disorder that brought on some unnecessarily long name cancer and he's in treatment. He's been here for three months now but there's not much in terms of improvement." I confess and he listens with small nods.
"But yeah, that's it really," I sigh, not wanting to spill out the rest of the details containing our daily struggle for the past year.
"Really? I feel like that's only the tip of the iceberg." He huffs.
"What about you?" I ask and he shrugs.
"I was diagnosed about a year ago with a rare cancerous brain tumor. The doctor said it would hit quicker than I expected. I didn't want my wife to have to take care of me, especially with our six boys. So I told my brother to watch over them an I left. I heard about this cancer treatment called project Kaleb and thought I would give it a try. Little did I know, I'd be on a waiting list. And then Dr. Grayson proceeds to tell me that Project Kaleb would take away the brain tumor but not the missing tissue...each day I'm losing more and more of them. More memories I'm failing to see, their tiny face I can't list off the top of my head. Their names all start with J but I couldn't tell you anyone other than my eldest Jamie. I don't remember how my wife and I met...I'm losing more each and every day. It sucks but what can you do." He says and I look at him in shock.
"I'm sorry to hear about that Chris. Your bravery is inspiring," I tell him honestly and he smirks.
"Just tell your husband not to give up, life could be worse but we pick up and move on. It's what humans are hardwired to do." He says, tapping his skull with his index finger.
"And in the end, you'll all be stronger for it. It's all you can really hope for huh?" he shrugs and I agree with him.
"So just hold him a little closer, and I'm sure he'll make it through," He says before going into a coughing fit. The cough...
"Ash didn't cough today," I mutter under my breath.
"Ash didn't cough today!" I cry out and Chris looks at me confused.
"Ah! I gotta go talk to Peter but thank you Chris!" I cry out and he laughs.
"Alright meet me here tomorrow!" He calls out and I run back into the hospital.
