Her words become suffocated by fragmented shards of emotion that slice the open air between us as the machines make pitiful noises.
“Please don’t take my sunshine away.”
Epilogue
Kaiden
Three fucking days. She lasted three days after being admitted before her mother’s wails chimed louder than the flat lining machines. It was long enough for her to submit finals from her hospital room and be considered a senior in high school for the new school year.
All she wanted was to finish junior year.
Security had to escort me out when I put my fist through the wall, and Mom didn’t talk to me until I calmed down outside.
Emery wore a fucking UM sweatshirt before she fell asleep on that too-tiny bed, and sure enough there was a makeshift patch with my name on the very back. Her eyes never opened back up though.
She never officially said goodbye.
I promise I’ll be at every single game.
She lied.
*One Year Later*
Rain nearly cancels our biggest game of the year, which half the upperclassman bitched about considering it was their last one before graduating from the University of Maryland. We worked our asses off in practice, and won almost every game against the other college teams. I could see their disgruntlement.
Then it happens.
The fucking sunshine.
The dispersing clouds.
The rainbow.
Once upon a time, I’d been told by a girl full of hope that her twin sister looked down at her from the sky. I thought it was bullshit. As much bullshit as the damn song she loved listening to that I can’t stand hearing when it comes on.
But there it is.
The weather report told us we were done for since we woke up. Ninety-nine percent chance of thunderstorms and rain showers. High winds.
We were fucked.
We were supposed to be fucked.
Someone slaps my back. “Is that a miracle, or what?”
Murphy was a dipshit who spent more time high than sober, but he was still one of my closest friends. He left me be when I got moody and distracted me with pot and girls when I sulked for too long.
He also kicked ass on the field.
I stare up at the sun. “Yeah. A miracle.”
I think about the two matching headstones underneath the sycamore tree in Bakersfield all while staring up at the sun beaming down on my teammates.
“Let’s kick some ass,” Murphy shouts, getting equal enthusiastic yells from everyone around us.
*Two Years Later*
There’s a knock at my apartment door that peels my eyes off the football game on the screen. Setting my beer down, I smack a half-drunken Murphy and shuffle over to see if our other friend Spencer decided to show up.