One Last Wish

With her favourite songs playing quietly in her ear, Molly Kingston sat in the rocking chair she’d inherited from her grandmother, staring out through her large bay window of her bedroom, watching the Pacific Ocean meet the golden sand. It hadn’t been one of her best days. She’d felt too weak to make it downstairs and so had spent the day sat in her chair, listening to music, reading one of her favourite books or as she was doing now, staring out at the world beyond her window.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed movement from behind her, and turned to see Bridget, her best friend walking into the room. She smiled, pulling out the ear buds of her iPod as Bridget crossed the room and took a seat on the small stool opposite her.

“Hey, how are you feeling today?” Bridget asked with a warm smile.

“Tired, drained, nauseous, you know the usual.” Molly replied with a tired smile.

“Well, I’ve actually got something that may cheer you up.” Bridget said hopefully, waving the large brown envelope she was holding lightly in front of her.

“Oh yeah, and what would that be?” Molly asked, eying up the envelope with a smile.

“Well, you remember a few years ago, when we were talking about things we’d love to do before-“

“Before we die.” Molly finished for her friend. “You can say the word you know, I’ve come to terms with it for a while now remember.”

Bridget nodded solemnly. “Well anyway, I was thinking about something you said, and I actually wrote a letter to someone trying to get one of your dreams fulfilled.”

“What like my dying wish?” Molly joked.

“If that’s how you want to see it, yeah.”

“So, what thing on my list have you tried to set up?” Molly asked quirking an eyebrow as she continued to smile at her best friend.

“Guess.” She replied simply with a large grin, her blue eyes sparkling. Molly rolled her eyes and smiled.

“Um, I’m going to sing in a show on Broadway?” she asked the first thing that came to her mind.

Bridget chuckled. “Sorry Hun, but I don’t think there’s a director in the world that would let you get up and sing on their stage, terminally ill or not.”

“Ok, so what else did I have on my list?”

“Think someone not something.” Bridget prompted. Molly was silent while she thought about Bridget’s suggestion. Suddenly her eyes widened as she remembered one person in particular that she’d mentioned in more than one of her bucket wishes. Slowly she returned her gaze to meet Bridget’s eyes in disbelief.

“Synyster Gates?” she questioned slowly, watching as Bridget’s smile widened as she began to nod.

“Yep!” she replied triumphantly.

“You wrote to Synyster Gates?” she questioned still in disbelief.

“Yeah, I wrote to him explaining your situation and about how you’ve been a fan since the beginning, and that ever since you saw the photos of his bike you’ve wanted to be taken for a ride on it.” Bridget began to explain.

“And what? He’s written back?” Molly asked.

“He’s done more than that. He’s invited us down to Huntington to see him and the other guys so he can take you out on the bike.” She replied, visibly jumping for joy in her seat. Molly’s eyes widened as far as they could, not sure if she really was hearing her friend correctly.

“It’s all there; he even says that if you don’t feel up for the journey down there then he’ll drive up.” Bridget continued passing her the envelope she’d been holding. Molly took it from her and pulled out the contents, looking over the handwritten letter signed by the man she’d idolised for about ten years, who’d been her number one crush for just as long.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe this, I’m lost for words.” Molly stuttered continuing to stare at the letter in front of her.

“Believe it Hun, the invite is for a week tomorrow.” she replied happily.

Molly gazed at her, again in disbelief. “Seriously?”

“Yes. Don’t worry that gives us plenty of time to work out what we’ll wear.” She replied with a smile which Molly couldn’t help but return.

*****

Molly slowly made her way down the stairs of her home, holding the banister tightly in her hand as she took each step. Bridget was waiting for her at the bottom, ready to drive her down to Huntington Beach so that they could meet Synyster Gates and so that Molly could have one of her dream fulfilled.

“Wow, looking good Miss Molly.” Bridget cheered. “How are you feeling today?”

“A bit sick, but I think that’s just the nerves.” Molly replied with a smile.

“So you don’t want me to call and reschedule?” Bridget teased flipping open her cell phone.

“Don’t you dare!” Molly warned with a smile as she reached for her jacket that she’d hung up at the bottom of the stairs.

“You ready to go then?” Bridget asked. Molly nodded and followed her out through her front door and to her car.

As they drove towards Huntington, the girls talked about the day ahead. Both girls had been fans of Avenged Sevenfold since they were nineteen, watching them play in Chain Reaction.
From that moment, Molly had been in awe of Synyster Gates. Meeting him alone was going to be one of her dreams coming true, but actually taking a ride with him on his bike would be something else. It was her dad that had sparked her interest in bikes and when she’d seen pictures of Synyster’s bike she’d fallen in love. She’d mentioned to Bridget how much she’d like to ride on that bike with him a few years ago when they were talking about things they’d like to do before they die. Never in a million years had she thought it would actually happen, especially when she got told she didn’t have much time to fulfil anything on her bucket list.

“Oh my god, I think that’s them.” Bridget said as she pulled her car into the parking lot next to South Beach. Molly turned her head to where she was pointing and nodded. Across the lot there were all five members of Avenged stood next to the chopper.

Molly slowly got out of the car and waited for Bridget to come to her side before they walked slowly over to the group of guys, who were all watching them walk across the parking lot towards them.

“Hi, I’m guessing you must be Molly and Bridget.” Synyster said with a smile as the two girls reached them.

“That would be us.” Bridget replied confidently.

“Hi, I’m Brian, which judging by the smile on your faces and the fact that I know you’re fans you already know, so I’m not going to bother introducing these idiots.” Brian rambled, his face flushing red.

“Um, are you always this nervous when meeting fans or is it just the terminally ill ones?” Molly said with a warm smile.

“Sorry, I’m, well, I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s ok, I’m used to it now, I’ve gotten it a lot over the past couple of years, just treat me as you would anyone else.” Molly said with a reassuring smile. Brian nodded as did the other four guys.

“Ok, so um, we thought we’d make a day of it, we’ve packed a picnic, I’m going to drive you to this park the other side of Huntington, Bridget can go with the others if that’s ok?” Brian explained.

“That sounds perfect.” Molly replied still smiling as she took a step forward towards the bike. Her eyes roamed over the bikes body work, admiring every detail.

“It’s beautiful.” She whispered, her hand reaching out to run a finger over the detailed gas tank. “I can’t wait to have a ride.”

“Well, there’s no time like the present.” Brian replied with his trademark smirk. Molly looked up to find him holding out a helmet for her. She took it with a smile and quickly removed her hat to place it on her head.

“I’ll see you when we get to…wherever it is we’re going.” She said turning to Bridget with a smile. “Take care of her mind.” she added glancing to the guys.

“Don’t worry about me, you just behave yourself.” Bridget replied with a smirk.

“I always behave myself.” She replied as Brian sat on the bike. She gave Bridget a wave as she attentively swung her leg over the bike and pulled herself forward so that she was pressed gently against his back. She slowly wrapped her arms around his middle and braced herself as he started the engine, the bike roaring to life.

“Hold on tight.” He called over his shoulder as he revved the engine and gently pulled off. He slowly pulled around the parking lot and gently began to increase their speed as they drove down Pacific Coast Highway.

It was such an amazing feeling as they rode along the seemingly never ending. Molly tightened her grip on Brian as he sped up slightly, allowing a freshening breeze blow over her face. She could have stayed like this for the rest of her life.

She silently watched the streets of Huntington fly past her, not giving her the chance to take in the scenery. They must have been driving for about twenty minutes before Brian began to slow as they approached a small park. He pulled into a parking spot beside the sidewalk.

“Wow, that was amazing, thank you.” Molly said with a huge smile as she got off the bike and removed her helmet, which she placed on the seat so that she could put her hat back on her head.

“It was my pleasure.” He replied with a wide smile just as a black SUV pulled up behind them. Molly watched as Bridget jumped out of the vehicle followed quickly by Matt, Jimmy, Johnny and Zack.

“How was the ride?” Bridget asked as she skipped over and linked her arm.

“Amazing.” She replied simply as they turned to walk towards the park entrance.

“Um, girls, this way!” they both turned to see Matt gesturing to the opposite direction to which they had started walking. They both turned around and proceeded to talk as they followed the five guys through the park.

“Here’s as good a place as any.” Brian said coming to a halt at a secluded spot beneath a large tree. Zack, who had been carrying the picnic hamper, set it down on the grass as Johnny unfolded the large tartan blanket onto the ground for them to sit on.

“Can I ask you a personal question?” Brian asked quietly as he watched Molly pull off the stalk of the strawberry she’d picked from the punnet in front of them.

“Go for it.” She replied with a smile as the others took part in their own conversations.

“How long have you known about the…well you know…” he asked with a blush.

“The cancer.” She finished for him. She’d been wondering how much longer they’d be able to talk before that topic came up. They’d spent most of the afternoon successfully avoiding the subject, talking instead about music, movies, food, bikes, families and friends, basically everything else.

“I was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer when I was nineteen.” She began, watching a sullen expression fall over Brian’s face.

“I’d suffered with various symptoms for almost a year and started going to the OB GYN to find out what was wrong and they finally found out that I had a rare form of the cancer.” She continued slowly as Brian listened intently.

“I was considered lucky though as it had only affected the one ovary and hadn’t spread, so they removed the ovary and fallopian tube and I had to have chemotherapy to remove any left over cells.”

“But it didn’t work?” Brian asked with a slight shake of his head.

“Oh no it worked. And they were pretty confident that that was it.” She replied. “And it was, for almost five years. And then I started suffering with the symptoms again. They ran tests and found that I now had cancer in the other ovary that had began to spread to the womb. They did what they had to do. They performed a hysterectomy and again I had to have chemotherapy treatment.”

“Is it working? Is it getting rid of the cancer again?” Brian asked, almost pleading with her to give him a positive answer.

“The doctors think that my body didn’t react to it because of the treatment I had when I was nineteen. They’ve tried a few trail treatments but nothing has helped. The cancer quickly progressed. They’ve removed what they can, but it’s growing too fast for them.” She explained, feeling a lump form in her throat.

She watched as Brian opened his mouth to say something but decided to close it again.

“How long?” she asked the question she knew had been on the tip of his tongue. She barely noticed him nod.

“They gave me five months five and a half month’s ago.” she replied.

“Shit.” Brian muttered diverting his eyes away from her for a brief moment. “And there’s nothing they can do?” he added bringing his eyes back up to her.

“They can make things more comfortable for me when the pain gets too much.” She said with a weak smile.

“And that’s it?” he said, a hint of what sounded like anger in his voice.

“Basically yeah, it’s just a waiting game now.” Molly replied softly.

“But you’ve gone over the diagnosed time, surly that gives them some hope?” he asked.

“No, they gave me five months being optimistic, the doctors are just waiting for my organs to start failing now, for the pain to kick in properly.” She explained, watching the small glimmer of hope she’d seen in his eyes disappear.

“Properly?” he asked with a look of confusion.

“Don’t let me fool you I’m just having a very good day today, I’m on a shit load of meds to ease my pain, if jump up and down I rattle.” She said with a laugh, glad that Brian too had seen the humour in what she’d said.

“So how often do you get bad days?” a new voice asked. Molly looked up and realised that the others were all listening intently.

“It depends, my days vary. At the moment I’m still getting more good days than bad. On a really bad day I don’t make it out of my room, on a really bad day I didn’t even make it out of bed. Today thankfully has been an extremely good day, probably due to the excitement and stuff.” She replied.

“Not that she was going to miss today for anything.” Bridget said with a smile.

“Oh hell no, this was one thing I was not going to miss.” She replied her smile widening.

“Now, if you don’t mind, can we change the subject back to something a little less morbid?” she added.

“Actually, if you don’t mind, could a get a few pictures of you guys together, maybe even one of you two on the bike?” Bridget asked taking out her camera from her purse.

“Of course, and I do believe Zack has got his camera too if that’s ok?” Brian replied as Zack pulled out a small digital camera from his pocket.

“Wow, is it that time already?” Bridget called out in surprise at the sound of the bleeping coming from Molly’s phone from where she sat on Brian’s bike posing for another picture.

“Apparently so. Sorry guys, but we’re going to have to shoot, I wasn’t expecting to be here this long so I haven’t brought my meds with Me.” she said turning off the alarm.

“Not a problem, hey, do you wanna drive back to the beach?” Brian asked with a smile, watching Molly’s eyes widen.

“Really? You trust me to do that?” she asked.

“You have got your licence right?” he asked watching her nod enthusiastically. “Go ahead then, I trust you.” he said with an assuring smile as he climbed onto the back of the bike, sliding himself close to her, his arms wrapping around her waist for support.

“Oh my god, thank you so much, that was even more awesome than just being a pillion, thank you.” Molly cried ecstatically as she removed her helmet once they were back in the beach’s parking lot.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m just glad that I was able to help you fulfil one of your dreams.” He replied taking her helmet off her and placing it onto the seat.

“Thank you Brian, you wouldn’t believe what this means to Me.” she said stepping closer to him and wrapping her arms around his neck.

“As I said, a pleasure.” He replied pulling her closer into the hug.

“I’ll never forget this.” she said in a whisper before she pulled away, taking a step towards Bridget who was stood thanking the other guys.

“Thanks guys, for giving me such an awesome day.” She said, giving them each a hug before hugging Brian once more and saying her final goodbyes.

“Well, if this was it, and I don’t wake up in the morning, I would have died having the best day of my life.” She said as she gazed out of the window as Bridget drove them towards the highway.