Disease

Afton sat in the living room, dressed in a pair of jeans and a long sleeve t shirt she had managed to grab from Oliver’s closet. Her patience was slowly dwindling away as she was forced to wait even longer for Oli to finish getting ready. She sighed loudly and began twirling a long piece of her dark blonde hair around one of her fingers. She pulled a Jolly Rancher from her pocket with her free hand and popped it in her mouth.

The sharp zing of green apple stung her raw throat slightly and she pinched her eyes together. As she opened them, she saw Oliver cross the living room, his jeans hugging his legs tightly and another one of his rather gruesome t shirts pulled on over his head, his shoes dangling from his fingertips. He sat down on the couch and looked into his girlfriend’s sunken in, tired, lightly made up eyes.

Afton locked eyes with him for only a moment before standing up and pulling the keys off the coffee table. Once Oliver slipped into his shoes, he stood up and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, holding her body against his. He clamped his eyes shut and rested his head on her shoulder. They stood there for a moment, not speaking, when Afton’s strained voice suddenly spoke quietly.

“We need teh go.”

“Af, meh folks live five minutes away. Will yeh just sit ‘ere with meh fer a minute?”

It had been nearly two weeks since Afton was diagnosed, and their relationship had been slipping and sliding against the ice ever since then. Oliver was lucky if Afton spoke two words to him, and Afton was lucky if Oli even looked at her. Afton was too sick to sleep at night. She was weak and thin. All she did was stumble around the house, trying to keep her balance, and Oliver would listen as she sat in the living room, the lap top perched on her lap. He listened to her type for a few minutes, and then she would stop to cry.

He used to go out to the living room and try talking to her, but there was no communication between the two of them, so he gave up and remained hidden in his bed, trying to keep himself together while he listened to Afton lose herself.

Oliver tried so hard to hold together what he could. He had all the pieces of their relationship held in his hands, but he just couldn’t bring himself to fit them together anymore. Afton didn’t want a thing to do with him. She was too wrapped up in the thoughts of her head. They slithered around her head like snakes and snapped in her ears, whispering things about death.

Finally, after three days of whining, Oliver was able to get Afton to agree to going over to his mum’s. Carol always made Afton feel better. Even if she didn’t know the full extent of the doctor’s visit, Carol always managed to put Afton in a better mood. He thought Carol could get Afton to at least speak to him. While, the only reason Afton was going was because she was sick of being cooped up in their flat. She wanted to be outside, and away from the sick smell of her own disease.

Afton was tired of Oliver treating her like a thirteen year old. He wouldn’t let her run her own bath water, he cooked dinner every single night, and he stayed awake until she fell asleep. She didn’t want Oliver to be brought down with her, she just wanted him to go along the way he had before. He made everything so obvious, and she wanted the disease to be dismissed, and only taken care of when it needed to be. But, Oli thought if he worked hard enough to conserve Afton’s energy, by the grace of God, she would somehow recover.



With unneeded help from Oliver, Afton climbed out of the car and walked up the slick drive way to the Sykes’ front door. Oli intertwined their fingers and gripped her hand tightly. They stepped through the unlocked door and into a deathly quiet house. Oliver’s heart sank, his mum had promised to be home to talk to Afton. Suddenly, Afton felt Oli’s hand loosed from her grip as he reached over to turn on the kitchen light.

“Well I guess we can jus’ wait, or we can-”

“SURPRISE! SURPRISE! WHOOOOO! Happy late anniversary!”

Many voices emerged from the crevices of the big house. Afton watched as Carol’s plump red face grew with excitement and Ian yelled loudly. Tom’s camera flashed in her’s and Oliver’s faces, and then she watched as Curtis and Matt Nicholls darted from behind the couch, soon followed by Kean and Lee.

Tears sprang to Afton’s eyes as she dropped Oli’s hand and darted towards the basement. Quickly, everyone fell silent and Oliver stood there, still dumbfounded by the sudden noise of an unwanted party.

“What the ‘ell is wrong with all of yeh?” He said quietly recalling the day of their actual anniversary, which went uncelebrated, “Our anniversary was two weeks ago!”

“Well,” Carol began, “We thought yeh’d like teh celebrate it. Yeh never got the chance.”

“Why would we want teh? We weren’t exactly in the mood fer it.” Oli snapped loudly at his mother and stormed off in the direction of the basement in search of Afton. He heard her crying coming from the patio out back. He walked over to the already open sliding glass door and walked out to see Afton with her knees pulled to her chest, rocking back and forth in the falling snow.

He quickly ran over to her and pulled her off the ground. He dragged her back inside and closed the door. Her shivering took a while to cease while she leaned against the door. Oliver had his arms on both sides of her, holding her in place. Her crying had started to diminish when Oliver brushed a piece of hair from her face.

“Babe, why’re yeh cryin’?”

“Are they glad I’m dyin’?” She sobbed, “Is that what they’re celebratin’?”

“No, no,” Oli mumbled, holding her as close as he possibly could, missing his hands on her hips, “ They just wanted us teh celebrate it cause we didn’t get teh.”

“Well,” Afton suddenly said loudly, pushing Oliver away from her, “Call meh crazy, but I jus’ didn’t feel like celebratin’ my anniversary after I found out I was goin’ teh die!”

Oliver was quiet for a moment, he grasped his head in his hands and bit his tongue, but not even that could hold back the anger, hurt, and fear he possessed.

“Piss off!” He yelled, throwing his hands up against the window on either side of Afton, startling her, “Would yeh quit fuckin’ sayin’ that?” He choked on his tears and continued, “Do yeh think yeh’re the only one terrified ‘ere?”

Afton’s face softened and she found a new respect for Oli, she opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off, “Well, yeh’re not! Do yeh not realize I love yeh? Did yeh ever stop teh think that the day yeh’re life ends, so will mine? Because I can’t live without yeh Af,” He paused, “And yeh ‘aven’t realized that lately, because yeh’ve been too preoccupied with worryin’ about bein’ sick teh think about anyone but yer fuckin’ self!”

Afton bit her lip and looked up at her boyfriend of two years and two weeks. The boyfriend who’d been there through literally everything. She suddenly felt a wave of guilt smack her in the face and shame rippled through her as she saw what she had started doing to him.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered quietly.

Oliver looked at Afton, tears trailing from her eyes down her cheeks, her face masked with hurt. He watched as his arms lost their tension and he relaxed them around her waist. He leaned his head against the cold window and let out a gust of air, fogging up a small spot on the window. Tears were still pushing against his eyelids and he suddenly felt Afton’s small arms snake around his ribcage, pulling him extremely close to her. He felt her chest rise as she took in a shaky breath and he started to talk.

“I forgive yeh. But yeh can’t keep doin’ this teh meh Af. Yeh’re scarin’ meh. I miss yeh. Yeh never smile anymore, yeh don’t talk teh meh anymore. I can’t keep doin’ this. I can’t live like this.”

“’M sorry. I promise I won’t talk about it in front of yeh anymore.” She cried, bringing a hand up and placing it on the back of Oli’s head, “I love yeh, and that won’t ever change.”

It was quiet for a long time, and once they both had composed themselves, they took each other’s hands and walked towards the kitchen.