❦ WINNER OF THE RIVETING WRITING CONTEST ❦
OLIVER IS DYING
With only months left to live at just seventeen, Oliver spends his remaining days of endless tests and debilitating drugs in the St. Andrews paediatrics ward planning his impending funeral...
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He wanted a funeral at night. He wanted to be sent off under a sky full of stars.
He went in my arms. I sat there on that bench under the constellations until the sun came up, brightening the Tuscan hillside.
When the morning rays warmed us, I saw his face for the first time since I heard his last breath leave his body.
He looked so peaceful. He looked like he was sleeping, but even when I ran my fingers down his cheek and through his hair, he didn't wake up. He was never going to wake up again.
It's been two weeks since Ollie passed away. My world hasn't felt this empty since Matt died.
We start to pack away some of his things at Tombstone. At times, it gets so painful we have to stop.
I notice Bobbi crouching by the side table to pull out a handcrafted wooden box. It's old and weathered. I never noticed it before.
"He loved that box," Simon says, stopping removing the paint supplies from the cupboard to lean against the desk. He looks good with legs, I'll give him that. "Kept a lot of things in there none of us were allowed to see."
"He let me," Bobbi whispers.
I watch her open it, the wood creaking, and a folded piece of paper falls out.
I frown. "What's that?"
Bobbi sets the box on the desk, picks it up and unfolds it.
A pained but amused smile widens on her face as she sits on the edge of the bed. "He told me he wasn't going to do one of these."
I settle down next to her and Simon sits on my other side. She hands me the note.
It's titled 'Things To Do Before I Die' with sentences lettered and numbered underneath. The first six are crossed out:
1. See Simon get his new legs.
2. See Bobbi leave Tombstone.
3. See the lanterns at Santa Monica.
4. Fall in love.
5. Find the bench in Tuscany and take him there.
6. Have my funeral under the stars back home (please play good music. I'm relying on you to do that, Simon. And, please, for the love of God, give me a good suit, Bobbi. I'll haunt both your asses if you don't give me an awesome send-off).
I'm shaking when my eyes move past the slashed line of pen across the page to a new list:
1. Get Nicholas Beauregard to fall in love with me.
2. Spend the rest of my life with Nicholas Beauregard.
I brushed my fingers across Ollie's words, my fingertips lingering on 'to fall in love with me'.
