❛in which one boy is done with life and the other isn't.❜
Maven Sullivan didn't want this. He didn't want any of this, really, but that didn't matter. Because it was already done. He had already got what he didn't want: a chance at a longer life. A...
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"Strange, how we decorate pain." -Margaret Atwood
warning: mention of suicide, depression, self-harming thoughts please do not read if you are sensitive to this.
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MAVEN SAT IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE hospital chair, seated in the hallway as he waited for his mother to arrive. After a long day of laying on the living room coach, watching reruns of Jeopardy and sipping on a cup of water, the last place he wanted to be was the hospital.
Alas, his mother had insisted.
After he had showed up in the passenger seat of his car looking like the living dead, she had immediately called the hospital to push his appointment up and insisted that he not go to school. He had tried to put up a fight, telling her that Aria would be there for him, but she hadn't listened.
Instead, she had blamed herself for making him go to school. That night, as he lay in bed staring up at the roof, he had heard her quiet sobs and chanting of prayers for him. The mere sound of his mother's misery had been enough to reduce him to tears; he continued to stare up at the roof for hours, even after Nicole had long since gone to sleep.
That night, he stayed awake until morning, eyes red with exhaustion and cheeks stained with tears. He had wished that his father was there with him.
It was hard, knowing that his mother had so much burden on her. She was supporting and raising two boys, working long hours at the hospital and getting barely any time to herself. Jaxton had school to worry about and Maven had Jaxton to worry about, along with his grades, his future, and his track team.
That had all been tossed out the window. Now, he had only cancer to worry about.
For the past week, he had been moping in bed and thinking of his future death. He couldn't imagine how his mother felt, having already lost her husband and now about to lose her son. Her son, who was somewhat uncooperative and too pessimistic to have any hope. She was watching him waste away.
Jaxton, who was only thirteen, was going to lose his brother. His older brother, who drove him to school even when he didn't have to because he didn't want him getting sick. Who played catch with him on sunny days and listened to him talk about his school projects; Maven, who let him hang out with him and Aria. Jaxton was going to lose the only other male figure in his life.
They had already lost Frederick Sullivan. Now they were going to lose him.
Maven sighed, leaning down to rest his head in his hands. He glanced up to find that the minute hand hadn't moved much since he last checked. There was still ten minutes until Nicole finished her shift, and even then, she had to make her way down the hospital to the floor he was on.
