~•Garroth•~
Everything in the world is put on hold. My ears hear nothing, my eyes only see the concerned doctor, frozen in time. I turn my head to see mom, her eyes flooding with tears and they eventually spill out. She grabs my hand. Her whole body shakes.

"W-What?! Two months?!" She screams.

My face stiffens in the position its in. Tears burn my eyes as I try to block them from coming out. But, it doesn't work. I sit there, with hot tears slowly sliding down my face.

"There's got to be some way you can save him!" Mom shakes harder by the second.

"Even if we tried, I don't think it'd... It wouldn't save him. It's gotten too far," He sighs. "I should go, you guys may leave soon. You signed the discharge papers, right?"

I nod. He leaves the room with his lips pressed in a line. Mom pulls me into a hug. I wrap my arm around her, never wanting to let go. She's the safe one, dad's gone.

I'll be sixteen in a month. In a month. I'll barely have a month to be sixteen, and that month I'll be in so much pain. I'm not ready.

I can't give my life away yet.

"I can't, mom! I can't give away my life yet!" I say with staggered breath.

Her mint green eyes show more concern than ever. There's even anger and sadness in there. Tears spill down her cheeks.

"I'm not ready yet, either, baby," She says. "Just... your father is gone and..."

She chokes up and begins to sob. My immediate reaction is to comfort her. I hug her tight. She doesn't have the safe smell of dad, of course, but she's my mother. I know I'm hers and I know she's mine.

"I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't do it..." I mumble quietly.

"I know, baby," Mom separates. "But you are so strong, and so brave. You're dad's soldier, remember?"

"He's gone! And I will be, too!" I shout.

"Shh," she puts a hand on my head and strokes my hair. "It's okay, it's okay."

I feel a violent urge come on, like a wave that is strong and needs to hit something. But I don't let that wave hit me. I can't hurt anything, especially in a hospital. I'd be too weak to do it, anyway.

"Calm down, I'm right here," mom says as she hugs my head to her shoulder and keeps stroking my hair.

"I-I wanna leave," I say.

"Okay, we can go," her voice shakes.

She wants to cry again. Why won't she?

~•Aphmau•~
I sit in class, shaking and waiting for something to tell me Garroth's gonna be okay. My eyelids feel heavy, I was up until four last night. The only problem is I don't think I can sleep. I'm too concerned for Garroth.

The entire class is scared, too. Laurance sits next to me, and he can't concentrate on anything. He just stares out the window with his hands in his pockets. The teacher seems to notice, but doesn't try to get his attention. I guess it makes sense, even the teacher doesn't seem right.

I tucker my phone into the side pocket of my backpack so I could reach it easily. I look down at it, and the sound of a text alert fills the ears of the entire class. Everyone turns around to look at me. The teacher stops the class. But I don't care, I take out my phone and see who texted me.

Garroth: Are u available? I need too talk to u ASAP.

My heart drops. There can't be anything right when he texts me something like that. I look up. The class has mixed reactions to my own reaction. Some of them look at me with a blank face, some eyes are fixated on my phone, and others narrow their eyes at me.

Aphmau: In school. I'll text you later, ok?

Garroth: K.

I slide my phone back into the pocket of the backpack. Everyone slowly turns around and the teacher starts up the class again. Laurance and I don't pay attention. We just stare at each other intently. I take out a piece of paper and start writing.

Garroth. He said he needed to talk to me. Something's wrong, very wrong.

I fold the note and pass it to him. He slowly opens it and his mouth drops open slightly. He looks at me, I nod in response.

The bell rings. Laurance immediately comes up to me, his powder blue eyes scared for his best friend's life. I grab my stuff.

"We need to call him after school, both of us," he says.

"Agreed," I say and rush to class.

~•Zianna•~
My mind races with thousands of thoughts as we drive. That's probably not the best thing while you're driving, but we need to get home somehow.

The drive is awkward and silent. Garroth stares out the window. He hasn't moved for at least five minutes. I would be scared for him, but I understand.

What I don't understand is why he has to die.

What did he do so wrong that his body has to take over and kill him? He's just a 15 year old boy! I shouldn't have to bury him, he should have to bury me!

Tears burn my eyes and blur my sight from the road. I wipe them away and take a deep, shaky breath. I keep my eyes on the road and take one hand off the wheel to hold his hand. He doesn't give a grip back, he just lets me do it. I give him a glance, still hasn't moved.

It's all my fault. If I had taken him in sooner, he wouldn't be in this position. He wouldn't be dying, rather starting chemo and being cured in a year. Instead, he has two months. Maybe less.

He's father was already stolen from me. I can't let that happen to him.

But I guess there's nothing I can do.

"Garroth," I say, still holding his slim hand. "It's gonna be okay, I promise."

He doesn't reply. He just stares, which is what he does when he's angry. Of course he's angry, who wouldn't be?

"Baby, please say something." I beg.

"What is there to say? I'm dying, that's all there is to it," he says in monotone, like he's not human, just a robot.

"That's not all there is to it, buddy. There's so much more..."

"I'm not even sixteen," he says, this time a little more emotion comes through.

"They were sure you were dying as a baby. You weren't even one then, but you still lived what you had to the fullest," I try to make a valid point.

"I was oblivious back then," he goes back to his monotone voice.

I sigh and pull up to the house. We both get out of the car. Garroth steps inside and runs up to his room. I sit down at the dining table and bury my face in my hands.

My little boy, he's dying.

~•Laurance•~
He better not be dead, is all I'm thinking.

Aphmau and I rush out of the building. Our bags weigh us down from running too fast, but we get out of their quicker than a lot of people. Both of us stand at the side of the building, where not a lot of people can see us. Aphmau begins texting.

"Is that all he said? That he needed to talk to you?" I ask.

She nods and bites her lip, "Yeah."

I get a glance at her phone. He hasn't read it yet, so I don't know why I'm expecting that grey bubble. Then it appears, I lean against the wall, waiting for him to reply.

Aphmau reads the text aloud, "'Before I say anything, I want you guys to know that you are my best friends.' What? What would he mean by that?"

"Just reply," I say.

She texts fast, the clicking of her keyboard causes a constant and quite irritating sound. When she's done, I still hear that same clicking in my head.

Her phone alerts again.

"'You guys have to promise not to freak out.' Oh God, there is something really wrong!" She exclaims and types again.

"'I got the news from the doctor. He said I'm dying.' No, no, no!" She drops her phone on the ground and covers her mouth.

I stare at the text wide eyed. My heart drops and I'm pretty sure all color drains from my face. I'm frozen, frozen in time and I can't move two inches.

Then I turn to Aphmau. She sobs loudly as tears fall from her caramel brown eyes. I go over to her and hug her. She keeps covering her mouth, pushing herself closer to my chest. I rub her back in a circular motion as she cries quietly into my shoulder.

"It's okay, it's gonna be okay," I whisper with tears in my eyes.

But there's only one thought that comes to mind.

Why him?

••••••••
I'm just preparing for a mob to come up at my house and murder me.

Btw, the fanart contest is still going on so please enter! We've gotten entries but we still could use more!

Thanks for reading! Bai!

(Plz don't show up at my house thanks)
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