Crash (Josh Franceschi fanfiction)

Chapter 24

Chapter 24:

-the first of the final days-

This was a better day than we'd expected. Tyler's family came in from their small home town 2 hours north; his sisters, uncles and aunties, and his mother. She stayed the longest.

"You know," she told me in the corridor when she was leaving at around 3pm. "I can't help but think, what could I have done to make his life better. I should have made it more exciting, given him more praise."

She held a hand on my shoulder - I think it was mainly to keep her steady and strong, mentally and physically. Her eyes were the same blue as her son's, growing slightly paler with age, but with a loving sincerity that only a mother's eyes can show. The grey strands in her short, blonde hair were prominent and her face was looking more wrinkled than last I saw her; amazing how a few days of stress and upset can show so quickly on a person's face.

"Oh, Angie. You've been the best mother Tyler could have ever had, even he's told me that many times. There's nothing more you need to do now but love him, you've already given him a beautiful life," I assured her.

She smiled. Well, she'd been smiling all day, but you could tell that was her keeping a brave face for her son. This smile was genuine and truly heartbroken.

Sadness swallowed us both as we embraced in a desperate, aching hug. We drew together like two magnets; we were the two people who loved Tyler the most, and therefore the two people with the most grief for him at that point in time. A tear escaped my forbidding eyes, and Angie wiped it away slowly and delicately, just like my own mother did when I was a little girl.

"That young man in there loves everything about you, especially your strength. So when he's gone, make him proud and be the brave young woman you are."

When I re-entered the room, Tyler raised an eyebrow expectingly.

"So? What were you and Mum talking about?" His voice was weak and tired as he pulled me up to sit on the bed beside him.

"Just what an amazing man you are," I smirked cheekily, resting my head on his shoulder.

"Ah," He chuckled, "No wonder it was such a long conversation then, there's a lot to cover on that topic."

That night, we made love; gently and passionately. I'm pretty sure sex isn't allowed in hospitals, but it wasn't like Tyler could go anywhere else to do it, and we just got so caught up in the moment that we didn't care if it was against the rules.

We did make an effort to be quiet, though.

-the second of the final days-

We played cards half the day, and Tyler slept through the rest of it. In between games of Blackjack and P's & A's, Tyler had visits from Louis and Eve, a few of his cousins and a great aunt. It was sad for him to say goodbye to all these people like this, in such a forced and artificial setting. But I think Tyler was just happy to be around people he loved for his last few days.

It was actually quite a sunny day, but Tyler's body was slowly bothering less with keeping him warm. So he was rugged up in a big jumper, two blankets, and a growing amount of stubble which he claimed was for extra warmth. I soon got sick of watching his sunken expression as he stared out the window, shivering helplessly, so I ventured out to the small cafeteria at the end of the cancer ward.

As I sat in the run-down little room among other miserable looking visitors and patients, a mug of overly-milky tea in front of me, an old woman in a wheelchair rolled herself over to my table.

"Who are you here for?" She asked in a sweet voice. Her greying hair hung just above her shoulders, and she wore a pink cardigan, floral skirt, and a lot of jewellery.

"My husband," I smiled weakly at her. She nodded understandingly.

"Is he gettin' pretty bad now, then?"

"How did you know?" I raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Well, my husband is also in his last days, so I came here to stop me'self from crying for the hundredth time this week. I thought you could be here for the same reason, because judgin' by the food in this place, you aren't here just to eat."

She chuckled quietly and I cracked a small grin, looking from my crappy tea to the dry piece of carrot cake on her plate.

"Yeah, the food is pretty horrid."

The woman nodded vigorously, poking unsatisfactorily at her cake with a plastic fork. She pulled a small, square photograph out of her pocket.

"Our children," she placed the picture of three smiling middle-aged people on the table for me to see. "My husband, Colin, has carried it with him ever since he was diagnosed; said that always having the kids with him would keep him alive 'n' happy. But this mornin', he took it out of his pocket and threw it at me, screaming 'I'm miserable as hell and I feel dead already.'"

A sad smile pulled at her lips as she put the photograph away again. It had never occurred to me that I was considered lucky among the people of my sort - some family members of terminally ill people get yelled at and pushed away by their desperately sick loved one. I hadn't been given the cold shoulder like this poor lady had

"I- I'm so sorry," I replied to the elderly woman who simply chuckled like before.

"Oh, don't be, love. Colin's always been a drama queen - you've got to have at least one of those in a good marriage."

"Guess I'm the drama queen in my marriage," I smiled. "My name's Kirsty, by the way."

"Ah, a Scottish name. That were my great-granny's name. I'm Geraldine." She wheeled herself over to put her empty plastic plate in the bin, then wheeled back and put a wrinkled, little hand on my shoulder. "I've gotta go now, sweetheart, but just remember; people die but love never does."

-the third of the final days-

It was the end. The moment I awoke from the uncomfortable armchair that I'd called bed these last few nights, I knew it was the end. The moment Tyler was awake, he knew too.

He'd reached out for my hand and pulled me towards him, whispering: "Can I hold you one last time?"

There was no response needed as I covered every inch of his face in bsoft, adoring kisses, before bringing his weak body into an embrace that I wished would have lasted forever.

Late afternoon, I'd fallen asleep in the armchair after a cup of the infamous cafeteria tea. I hadn't realised how tired I'd

Tyler was sleeping too, and when I'd woken up from my nap, I realised he wouldn't be waking from his.

A rush of doctors and nurses flooded in at the sound of the long, continuos beep, but they weren't in the room for all I cared. My hand clutched tightly at Tyler's growingly cold one as the last of my 'dying husband' tears soaked my cheeks.

Though death is never a nice thing, I'd always thought that being able to drift off and simply not drift back again was one of the nicest ways to die. No sudden pain, no sudden fear, just an accepting and harmonious realisation of the fact that it's time to go.

I was thankful that Tyler was so peacefully able to make his way to heaven. That day, I knew the gods were watching over us.

His soul would be at peace.

[a/n: just made myself cry with my own writing...

please please pleeeease comment, I wanna know your thoughts before I write the next chapter]