One Last Breath

Noah

All through dinner I couldn't keep the words that the wise teen had whispered to me. How was is possible to be so mature at such a young age, I had wondered. When I was her age, I was partying around, not having a care in the world. But, I didn't have a fatal disease to heed me.

Julia interacted with all the children as if she were their best friend and maybe even a mother. No matter how many times they called her name, she gave them all the attention they needed. None of them could never feel alone with her around.

Not even lonely Skylar, who had not a friend in the world when she entered this big unknown. Julia was her life, the only person here she truly trusted and was friends with. Sure, there were other people around, but no one who knew her like the teen.

Which would make the girl's disappearance all the more heartbreaking. One moment, she would be here, healthy as could be, and the next, she would be gone forever. Could Skylar cope with the loss of her? I highly doubted it.

Halfway through dinner, I excused myself from the table, food barely touched, and walked out the door. I felt eyes on my back, and didn't have to turn around to know who it was. The heavy weight at my back lifted once the doors closed behind me.

The hallways that I waked through were all empty, the sound of my shoes hitting the floor being the only thing that echoed in the lonely walkway. It was a little eerie, but the lights were on, which made it a little better.

When I got to my destination, I made sure to open the door as quietly as I could, trying not to wake the sleeping girl in said room. The only sound was her soft breathing breaking through the darkness. I turned the last switch on, bringing a small amount of light into the room so I could see where I was going.

Skylar moved around for a moment, disturbed by the new lighting behind her closed eyes, but ended up settling back down, curled into a loose ball with her back facing me. I couldn't suppress the smile that snuck onto my face as I looked at her, and how much younger she looked while she slept.

I pulled a chair up to her side and just leaned back and watched her. The blanket that was pulled over her body rose and fell with her breathing, the only movement that she was making as she slept.

As I watched her, I couldn't help but wonder what she would be doing right now if she didn't have her illness. What was Skylar interested in? Would she have a boyfriend? Would she have been the most popular girl at her school? Would she have been famous one day?

One day. That simple statement could make any heart ache. This young woman could have been something one day, someone big who everyone looked up to, someone who could end up saving the world. Fate had different plans for her, though, and many more.

I placed my hand over hers, engulfing her smaller and colder hand in my own. As I did so, I could feel the small muscles in her hand twitching. Not too noticeably, but definitely there. The test results of the EMG test came to mind, but I pushed those thoughts from my mind and started to softly stroke her skin with my thumb. Soon enough, the twitching subsided.

"If this is what you meant by 'never leaving', I think I've changed my mind."

I jumped in my seat, startled by the voice, and looked up from, since my gaze had been on my patient's hands. While I had been massaging her twitch away, she had woken up, and now her dark blue eyes were staring right into my own.

"I-"

Skylar

To save the poor man from the awkwardness that I had made, I grinned and squeezed his hand, which he still had in his possession. I felt his warm start to seep into my skin, and I noticed that the hand that he was holding seemed to be the only warm part in my body. Ignoring this, I tilted my head to the side.

"What exactly are you doing in here?"

"I came to make sure you were alright," he spit out quickly, "you didn't look to good when Julia and I left you."

I pushed myself off, pulling my hand out of his in the process, and turned my body to look at him fully. The movement hurt my legs, but I pushed down the pain and paid attention to the doctor in from of me.

"You're the specialist, you know that this is common. You should know that I would be alright."

He shrugged his broad shoulders, making me glance at them for a moment. "I do, but the symptoms of the rest vary in everyone. There's no harm in checking up on you."

The silence hung in between us after that, and I couldn't think of anything to keep the awkwardness away from us now. What exactly were we supposed to talk about? I wondered if I should just go back to sleep when Noah piped up.

"When were you diagnosed Skylar?"

I blinked at this question, never having really heard it asked before. No one had really cared when it had developed, the only cared about the here and now. "When I was thirteen."

"And what did you want to do before you found out you had dystrophy?"

I bit my lip, looking down at my lap. Of course he would have to ask that question, wouldn't he? The thing that caused me more pain than any test, surgery, of muscle spasm in the world. "I wanted to be a dancer," I mumbled, glaring down at my failing legs.

"I bet you were the best," Noah whispered, making me slowly look at him again. He had a look of sympathy on his face, and even though I had seen that look so many times in my life, it didn't hold pity. Just pure sympathy.

I gave him a small smile, fiddling with the white blankets under my fingers. "I tried to be. I loved to dance, and I wanted to be famous but…"

"I would have loved to see you dance."

I laughed at that, remembering the last performance that I had been in, and how much effort I had put in it. The last time I had watched it was years ago, and that had been to hurt myself. To show myself what I could no longer be. But maybe, watching it with Noah would make it something to be proud of.

"I'll as my mom to bring in a video next time she comes to visit me."