Time is Slipping Away

Chapter 2

There it was; the uncomfortable silence, although he never expected it to last this long.

It seemed that time had stopped for the pair, as neither one of them made any attempt to move, at least not until he decided it was time to part ways with the gawping boy.

"Sebastian, wait!"

He turned to face the ex-warbler, he had arose from his seat and had followed him to the door.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know"

Yes he didn't know, but he still took the time to judge him. He still took the time to say those harsh words. He still took the time like everyone else did.

The taller boy looked down, he focused his gaze on to his neatly polished shoes; drawing in the faint reflection that gleamed from their leather surface.

"Cancer... acute lymphoblastic leukemia"

He remembers the term that has forever haunted his mind since the day of the diagnosis. He remembers the doctors expression; plain with no emotion, as if it was just another fact of the day. It might have made the man feel better, but adding a "I'm sorry" after didn't make it better at all. He would still get to live his life to the very end, even after he had cut all of those patients' lives short, he would live to see generation after generation suffer. It sickened the boy.

He remembers his mother bursting into tears, his father burying his head into his hands, whilst he just stood there, shock taking over his body; before the blackness took over him and he had collapsed to the floor.

He had expected to wake up in the comfort of his bed, the large four-poster that sat in the grand bedroom of the prestigious Smythe house. To wake up from the nightmare that he had been enduring; but it didn't happen. He had awoken to the white of the hospital room; to the many white coated figures; to his mother stroking his hair; to his father gripping his arm; to one of the doctors carefully checking his pulse.

It was real, it was all real. He was dying.

"But..there must be something they can do. Come on, I mean doctors these days, they can..."

"It's too late"

He returns his mind to reality, the boy in front of him looks heartbroken. But the truth hurts, why live your life based on a lie? If there was something Sebastian Smythe wasn't, it was a liar.

"It's too advanced, there's nothing they can do"

There were the crushing words; the words you would hear on soap operas or dramas, the eight simple words that caused a character to break down, to show their ridiculous overreactions. Except it wasn't, not this time. He could empathise with those characters, he could share their emotion, their fear, their pain.

He hated it, he didn't want it to be like this; he wasn't some dumb character, he was real; this was real.

"How long have you got?"

He could see the tears brimming in the other boys eyes. The pain stabbing at his heart; all of the hurt, guilt and self-hatred building up once again, from the way he had treat him. He was right, he should be sorry, he jumped the gun, he judged him. Now that was all coming back to him now.

"Months maybe...maybe even less"

He didn't want to think any more ahead of time. He wanted time to stop now, for everything and everyone to come to a standstill. For that precious time to come to a halt, so he could escape from dying for even a few seconds.

"Oh Sebastian"

The boy reached forward, he took a step back.

"Now you know...why do you care? I'm not your boyfriend"