Love Letters to Write Before I Die

“I’m going out to lunch with a friend of mine today, honey. Do you want me to bring anything back?”

Haley shook her head. “We ran out of soda last night,” Haley said, batting her eyelashes. Her mother rolled her eyes.

“That’s enough sugar for you this week, young lady.”

Haley pouted. “Well, can I go out with a friend today?”

“Who?” Her mother said, waggling her eyebrow suspiciously.

“Nathan,” Haley answered. “Have a good day, mother!”

As she watched her mother shut the door close, she pulled the knitted blanket over her head and switched the channel to a TV show called ‘Bones’. The characters were talking, the colors flashed across her figure and she wanted to enjoy the show, she really did…

But her mind kept reeling back to that one moment she saw in the elevator of a fancy hotel.

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“So, what did Dr. Vera said?” Haley prompted.

“That I’m fine. My lungs haven’t exploded or anything yet,” he said, a playful glint in his eyes. “Just a tiny infection, nothing to worry about.”

They were at the indoor wall climbing centre. It was Haley’s idea of having fun (and how to keep him in shape). They raced each other to the top and Haley almost beat him but at the last moment, her fingers slipped and she lost her footing just like that. Ever since then, Nathan had this smug look etched on his face that was really irking her.

“How about your life expectancy? Surely she has told you?” Haley said, running her fingers through her hair, smeared by sweat.

Nathan shrugged. It was that kind of shrug that told her that he didn’t want to talk about it and no matter what she did, she wasn’t going to get an answer out of him. Haley groaned and playfully punched his shoulder. “Tease,” she muttered and Nathan laughed.

The only good thing that week was Nathan, Haley thought. She picked up the reply he gave that morning as she was jogging in the park. It was short and simple but it made her glad. He was trying.

“I’m going to go climb some more, you coming?” She said, getting up and shoving her hands into the pockets of her sweatpants. He shook his head. “I’m going to hit the showers. Honestly, I just want to sleep right now.”

“Pfft. Your loss,” she said, turning around and jogging over to the gigantic wall. In the process of pulling her hand out of her pockets, Nathan guessed that she dropped a few contents of it. A dime and a folded up note. He sighed and picked them up. As he tossed them around in his palm, he noticed something awfully familiar about the note.

With his thumb, he flicked the note open slightly so he could see some of the contents.

The colors drained out of his skin slightly as he realized what it was. He closed his eyes shut, feeling – for some ridiculous reason – somewhat numb and stupid at the same time. His fingers clenched the paper, the edges of the folded paper poking his palm.

He didn’t know what to feel or how to react.