The first step Jack took had punched the air out of him. His back arched forward and he gasped every breath. Finn watched worriedly from the door frame as the seemingly shorter boy whimpered and huffed with every step. Slowly but surely, Jack had made his way to Finn and breathed nervously in front of the sickly pale boy.
"Where are we going?" Jack breathed harshly against the pain.
Finn hummed and turned to look down the hall. "Maybe we should just go to the end of the hall and back? I can tell you're in a lot of pain, " Finn suggested, looking back to Jack for confirmation.
Jack nodded and let a ragged puff of air push out of his lungs, "sounds good to me."
Finn grinned at the pained boy and for a split second, Jack had thought he had seen an angel. Finn was stick-thin, Jack knew right away as soon as he saw him standing in the door frame that he could touch his thumb to his pinky while holding the skinny boy's wrist. Jack internally scoffed, they probably looked like polar opposites. Jack wasn't skinny, he wa necessarily chubby or fat, he just was a little thick in certain areas, but that's what street-life entailed, Jack had to eat as much and as often as he could seeing as how he doesn't ever know when his next meal would be.
Jack's stomach tightened painfully as he glanced down the hall, it was long and lonely even when nurses walked hurriedly around. Everyone was in their own world, Jack didn't blame them if you made ties with someone who was in the hospital it would hurt when they leave, whether that be for heaven or for home.
"So, Jack, " Finn hummed trying to make conversation as their show footsteps ventured hesitantly down the hall.
"Hm?" Jack hummed, his lungs heaving painfully around the tightening grip in his belly.
Finn looked down at him and walked even slower practically waiting ten seconds in-between each step. "How'd you end up here?" To Finn, the question wasn't really personal, he had asked the same question so many times that he had lost count.
Jack scoffed through a shallow breath causing Finn to raise an eyebrow, "I was in a street fight. I lost badly...as you can probably tell." The two moved at a sloth's stride while they passed a smaller singular nurse's station outside of a five-year-old's room.
"Why'd ya' gone and do that?" Finn asked flexing his fingers by his side, one of many nervous ticks he had picked up.
"They were thugs, " Jack heaved, "they were raping a girl and I just wanted to help..." Jack half expected Finn to either quicken his pace or turn around and find someone else to walk with, Jack wouldn't blame him though, it was a weird story. Instead, Finn listened carefully humming along as if he cared, which made Jack think he actually did.
"Well, that sucks... Good for you for defending her! I'm glad she's okay now because of you. To be honest, you're pretty brave, " Finn almost let himself leave out the brave part but he didn't wanna scare away Jack.
Jack smiled shyly up at the boy who grinned back, "thanks... Uh, why are you here?"
"Oh! Uh, I have stage three brain cancer..."
"Shit!" Jack exclaimed breathlessly, looking up at the taller boy.
"Yeah, it's pretty serious, I guess.
Jack scrunched up his nose, "you guess?!"
"I've technically had cancer since I was eight-years-old. It developed into stage three when I was twelve, " Finn explained a hint of sadness in his voice mixing with the sympathy already there. Jack had just met the boy but he could already tell he wasn't mourning himself but someone else.
"How long have you been here for?"
"Since I was thirteen, " Finn answered freely then suddenly stopped at a T in the hall. "Do you wanna keep going?"
Jack heaved a breath and his ribs protested loudly, "no I think I'm good for now."
"Okay!" Finn cheered and the two turned around and walked back.
As the two boys walked back they talked about everything and nothing all at the same time. Everything that wasn't important and everything that was. And for once in both of their lives, they didn't entirely hate being in the hospital.
YOU ARE READING
Butterfly, Fly away
Fiksi Penggemar"WILL YOU WALK WITH ME?!" ~ It was a week from his eighth birthday. He was standing across the street from his driveway with the other kids waiting for the bus to pull up as it did so every school morning when suddenly, he collapsed. Finn Wolfhard...
