I'm at the edge of the world.

Where do I go from here?

Do I disappear?

Edge of the world.

Should I sink or swim?

Or simply disappear?

Music blared into Tanis' eardrums as he laid sprawled across his bed. His mind got lost in the world the song put him in. It spoke to him. Connected with him on a personal level. He was on the edge of the world and he knew it wouldn't last.

Tanis coughed and felt his weak bones shake. He moved his hand to his mouth to cover his cough and found his skin extremely pale.

It was happening again.

He groaned and closed his eyes out of sheer despair. He would never forget the day his life changed forever.

His doctor took his dad outside for the news first. After hearing it, he couldn't even come back inside the hospital room. Tanis, at the age of fifteen, was left alone to hear the dreadful news. The doctor said it was Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, but all Tanis heard was death. He went through a ton of treatments and eventually got better, but then it came back.

He was terminally ill, and nothing could be done. The disease was caught three years too late. The symptoms never showed this time around and it only caused his imminent doom. He was going to be in stage three in the next few months, where the cancer would screw his system up in many ways. There was no point in getting treatment. None of it would make a difference. He took multiple medicines the doctor prescribed, but other than that, he was hopeless.

Tanis opened his chestnut brown eyes and forced himself to sit up. He hated remembering that day. He hated how his father wasn't there when the doctor told him. He hated too many things to count.

He glanced around his empty room. Gray walls, light brown carpet, a couple of ACDC and Metallica posters, and a desk in the corner accompanied by a chair and a charging laptop. That was it. The closet was half full of plain clothes. The room matched him. Empty. Bland. Unimportant.

Everything his dad made him feel.

His dad, Dr. Hardin, didn't care. He was too obsessed with his work to be an actual father. If you look up "Prick" in the dictionary, his name would probably be there. Time after time, Tanis tried to get his attention, and to no avail. Nothing seemed to be good enough.

Tanis practically raised himself after his mother left. His parents always fought and broke furniture. Those nights usually consisted of them screaming at each other and Tanis hiding in his bedroom. His mother couldn't stand being around his father, or Tanis for that matter, and decided to leave. Friends and partying seemed more important to her.

It didn't really matter anymore. Tanis hated them both for what they've done. Abandonment, neglect, oh, and how could he forget? They named him Tanis. They both set him up for a future of torture from kids and questions from teachers.

Some part of him felt like this was all his fault. He was terminally ill. Even after finding out, his father could care less. Maybe he wasn't a good enough son. That could be why his parents never spent time with him. Maybe the neglect rubbed off on him in a negative way and that's why he couldn't keep most of his friends. Or maybe it was just the fact that he was beginning to lose his hair and body functions. He wasn't sure anymore. Everything felt so overwhelming and complicated.

He just wanted to go back to the good old days when his parents got along and his life was great. Friends. Family. A future. He had the whole package.

Then life snatched it right from his grasp.

Tanis wanted to get out. Explore the world. Get away from his dad and his home. Meet new people. Taste new food. Take in the gorgeous views of places in person. He wanted to do so many things before he died.

Some people had all the luck.

Tanis...well, he didn't.

He was twenty-five, but his father wouldn't let him travel the world alone. Not like that. Tanis had been taking small amounts of money from his father's account for a while, slowly accumulating more and more until he finally got enough to leave. That would be the day where he could truly live his life the way he wanted to. That was the dream for him.

He forced himself up and made his way to the kitchen. Tanis grabbed his pills and chugged them down with some water. He wiped his mouth as he set the cup down with shaking hands. The pills helped take the symptoms away for a few hours and made him feel healthy again, but the sick feeling would always come back.

Tanis slowly went down to the basement where his dad worked. The room had equipment piled from wall to wall, lighting up and buzzing cohesively. Bright white lights lit the room, causing Tanis to shield his sensitive eyes for a few seconds. Papers scattered over the metal table in the middle of the room. Some had depictions of a small object. Others had algorithms and numbers scribbled all over it. The computers on one side of the room had a map and a target locked on. Something was pulsating energy, but the object didn't move.

Tanis glanced over at his father, who stood scribbling down more notes by the radar screen. Dr. Hardin's blond comb over stuck up in a lazy fashion, almost like he had run his hands through it countless times. His brown eyes stuck to the screen, while his hand moved as fast as it could recording numbers and pulses. His white shirt appeared dirty from spilt food and sweat. He stretched his legs out in his brown pants, his black shoes screeched against the tiled floor.

Tanis set his hand on the table to steady himself and he called out to his father, "I'm going to the hospital for my checkup."

Nothing. His father didn't even pay attention.

Tanis grew slightly annoyed and spoke up again, "You said tell you when I'm leaving. I am."

Silence and scribbling.

He turned around and rolled his eyes. Typical. He whispered under his breath, "Of course. When I don't tell him something, he gets on my case. But when he ignores me, oh no, it's my fault." He scoffed and started back up the stairs until his father turned around.

"Tanis, I didn't hear you come in," Dr. Hardin said in a scratchy voice. He cleared his throat and set his scribbled notes on the table with the rest of the papers. "You will not believe what I just found! This could change science as we know it. This could change everything."

Tanis closed his eyes for a second in annoyance and turned around to face his father. He hadn't explained any of his research to him in a while. Dr. Hardin's last test didn't pan out so well, so maybe this new one inspired him to share. Either way, why should Tanis give a rat's ass? Not like his father paid attention to anything he cared about. Tanis reluctantly asked, "What is it?"

"I don't know what it is." Dr. Hardin bit his lip and played with his small amount of hair in thought. "It emits energy like crazy! This much energy could help generate power for this whole block if we used it correctly. The question is, what exactly is this object?"

"That sounds very interesting, Dad," Tanis nodded genuinely. An object like that could sell for a bunch of money. I could get out of here with it. He thought to himself.

Dr. Hardin turned around to face the monitor. "It's in the middle of nowhere. Maybe some ancient ruins. I don't know exactly where..." His finger scanned the map he pulled up on the computer to match the coordinates. "I'm going to head out there to see if I can take it. The map isn't showing any cities or towns there. This could be the biggest breakthrough of my career!"

Tanis perked up at the travel aspect. He raised his eyebrows and questioned, "Can I come out there with you?"

"What? No. Don't be silly, Tanis. You have to stay here."

Tanis furrowed his brow and shook his head. He didn't want to fight about this. He wanted to travel, and this was the perfect opportunity, with or without his father. "No. I want to go. I could even pick it up myself. It won't be hard."

Dr. Hardin sighed, "No, Tanis. You are not going. End of discussion."

End of discussion. Just like that. I can't believe him. After all he's put me through, he won't even let me accompany him? I'm locked down in this house? No. That's not going to be how I live. Tanis angrily huffed and curled up his hands into fists. He walked up the stairs and out the door. I'll just wait it out until he sleeps. That's when I'll show him he doesn't control me.

This could finally get him out of the house. Tanis wasn't going to pass the opportunity up. He only had so long to live, so might as well make the best of it. Plus, he could finally say he traveled out of the country! Seeing new sights was always a dream of his.

Tanis got out of bed and stuffed a few things in his backpack. Clothes, phone charger, pills, some soap, and his toothbrush all went into the backpack. He took out money he had been stashing behind his desk and stuffed it into the front pocket. Tanis stared at his room, saying goodbye to his dull life for a few days and heading straight into a new exciting one. He snuck down the stairs, trying not to make a peep. His pills helped keep himself composed enough to where he could control his body and his coughing fits ceased.

When he got to the kitchen, he found the light still on and his dad sleeping with his head on the table. He had fallen asleep while trying to snack on peanuts and write all over the map from earlier to pinpoint the location of the object. Tanis slowly took the map from the table stealthily and smiled.

This was it.

The beginning of a new adventure.