I...i don't want you to leave.

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Chapter 23: "I... i don't want you to leave."

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I walk into my room and ring Zach's number. First time he doesn't pick up, second time still doesn't pick up, third time he finally picks up

"Hello love." He answers the phone

"Zach, We need to talk."

"Is everything alright?"

"Can we meet at our spot in an hour or so?"

"Yeah, of course."

"See you then." I say before hanging up

I throw my phone on my bed and sigh. How do i tell him? What do i say?

>>>>>

Here i am sitting on the edge of the cliff. I've decided to come thirty minutes early. I just needed to think. He'll be here soon and i don't know how I'm gonna tell him that I'm dying.

>>>

I sit and watch as the sun sets, another day gone, who knows if tomorrow will come. I hear footsteps approaching close behind. I take a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

Zach sits down besides me and doesn't say a word as he just watches how the sun disappears behind the mountains..

I can't look at him. I'm too scared to see his expression. I take a deep breath and look down at my hands that are on my lap.

"Zach, i need to tell you something."

He doesn't say anything so i continue to talk.

"Sunday night when i was working, i had about thirty minutes left of my shift and Aria was getting annoyed, She wanted to go home. I decided to get her a croissant just so she would stop nagging. I was on my way back to giver her the croissant and Urhmm."

"Urhmm?" Zach asks still not looking at me

"I started feeling dizzy and then my vision blurred and i couldn't hear anything. Next thing i know I'm on the ground, glass shattered all around me. I suppose that's how i got the cuts and scratches on my face. I had a sei-"

"Are you fucking with me right now?! Why didn't you tell me this?" He asks finally looking at me

"Im not done Zach."

He shakes his head in disbelief and looks away from me again

"Later that night i woke up in a hospital and the doctor said that i had a seizure. He had run some tests while i was asleep and the results weren't so good."

"What were the results?"

"I was diagnosed with a brain tumor."

Zach stays silent for a while trying to adjust what i had just said

"I don't... i don't believe you."

"How about this?" I ask taking my phone out of my pocket and handing it to him showing a picture of my brain and how the tumor has spread all over.

Zach stares at the picture for a full minute before giving my phone back.

"Were they able to remove it?" He asks, his voice soft

"No."

Zach burys his face in his hands.

I kinda wish i hadn't told him. I hate seeing him like this.

"Zach, it's going to be okay."

He snaps his head up and looks at me, his eyes are red, tears running down his cheeks.

"I... i don't want you to leave." He says and i can hear the hurt in his voice.

I look at his hands and see that they are shaking. I grab them and hold them in mine.

I don't know what to say so i keep quiet. This is the hardest thing I've ever done and it hurts so bad.

I take a deep breath before talking

"Before you Zach, i was broken, sad and weak but then you came. You fixed me, you became my happiness and you made me strong and I'll forever be grateful for that."

I stop for a bit and wipe my tears before talking again

"Look Zach, i don't know how long i still have but im getting weaker, I'm losing weight and the headaches are getting worse but as long as Im breathing I'll fight."

Zach doesn't say anything.

"Please say something." I plead

Zach just stays silent. Im about to give up but he finally decides to talk.

"I'm sorry Elle. Im just... im just so scared. How am i gonna do it without you?"

"Hey, im still here."

"For how long though?"

"I can't say but im gonna live my remaining hours or days as best as i can."

Zach nods

>>>>>

~~~~~~~~~

Zach's pov

~~~~~~~~~

I lay on Elle's bed while she showers. I decided to come home with her. I don't wanna leave her side. I don't want her to go. Why'd it have to be her? She's so young. She has a whole life infront of her, senior year, prom, university, but she'll never be able to witness it.

I'm brought out of my thoughts as Elle walks into the room, a towel wrapped around her body.

"Zach, i told you to go home, you have exams tomorrow."

I don't say anything as i look her up and down. She was right, she has lost alot of weight but she is still beautiful regardless.

Elle seems to notice that I'm looking at her body and sits down quickly on the bed, her back facing me.

"You don't have to hide from me Elle."

Elle gets up and grabs some clothing from her dresser and walks into the bathroom.

After a while she walks out in my hoodie and some joggers.

"Hey! That's mine!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" She exclaims then chuckles

She's so adorable. So fragile, so perfect.

She gets onto the bed and lies beside me.

"Elle?"

"Yeah."

"Write a bucket list."

"For why?"

"Just."

She sits up and grabs a book from underneath her pilow, more like a journal and takes out a folded page from the back of the journal and hands it to me.

"You already wrote one?" I ask taking the folded page

She nods

I unfold the page and read it

𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑬.𝑫

1.𝑫𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏. ☔︎

2.𝑫𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓. ☃︎

3.𝑴𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒔. ⁂

4.𝑽𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒓𝒑𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆. ꕥ

5.𝑻𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒔. ☀︎︎

6.

I smile at her bucket list. It's similar to mine. Her initials on top, and besides everything that she wants to do is a small drawing, but what's number six?

"When did you write this?" I ask curiously

"The night i came out of hospital."

I nod and fold the paper and put it in my pocket.

Elle starts to yawn

"Come let's rest." I say

Elle puts her head on my chest and soon enough she falls asleep.

"I love you Isabelle." I whisper then kiss her on her forehead.

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Hi...

Keep going

Stay beautiful ♡

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