together

fourty-six

Ashton.

I took the note from the teary Ben, watching him sit, staring to his hands

I looked to the letter, seeing her familiar handwriting

Ashton

  You were the second male doctor I had met at this place- and you very much changed my view of things. I always thought doctors were hard and almost emotionless due to the death that they experience all of the time. But, there was a day that you lost a patient and you were upset, and I went to check on you, I offered you a hug, which I didn't know whether you would accept or not, but I shouldn't have wondered.
  You hugged me as if you had been needing that hug for years- and it's something I'll always remember. You have a heart, a bigger one than most people, and that's such a good thing.
I look up to you and I wish I could've lived a life through the perspective you gave me before I was diagnosed. You changed my life for the better and I am eternally grateful.
  Thank you for being here everyday to hold me as I got chemo. It was such a small and thoughtless act but yet it gave me so much comfort and got me through the worst thirty minutes of my day.
  I hope that you can impact another patient the same way that you impacted my life- I hope that the four of you can give as much love and comfort to others as you did me- I hope I don't ruin that for you guys.
  I want nothing but for you guys to be happy- be happy and live on, I'll be okay, I know that I'm okay. Trust each other, talk to each other- take some time off and go home and be with the dogs and you're immediate family, you all need that, you deserve that.
  Give hugs, pray, make jokes, cook, wrestle, swim, just be happy through it all. It's okay to be sad, it's okay to grieve but I don't want anyone to go into depression or change who they were because of death.
I love you all the way that you were, I don't want that to change- you all have so much potential, I wish you could see yourself through my eyes.

Thank you for all that you've done for me and all that you'll do now that I'm gone. Please just keep everyone okay and happy, that's all that I honestly want. I love you all so much, you guys don't even know it.

I folded the note back, laying it on my chest, over my heart

I'll make sure they're all okay, Sky