The Call

The call was all too memorable

A hot summer day filled with laughter and love

Suddenly turned

Nothing was funny

Almost as if it turned to a brutal winter day

The call

The call you never want to get from a loving friend

Surgery was already underway to remove a tumor

Too young to even have to be thinking about this

The call

The call that changed everything

Fighting

Fighting is being sixteen years old in a hospital bed

Feeling the life be sucked out of you because the chemo is taking over

Frail but beautiful

Depressed but still ambitious

Dying but fighting to live

Turning to God because you can feel your life slipping from underneath you

Fighting because everyone that loves you walks in with the same glassy eyes

All screaming “fight for your life” although they are not saying a word

I

I spent a year and a half watching

Watching as his body shrink

As he began to look at little less like himself everyday

Listening to him laugh, cry, and pray

I laid in the hospital bed holding his hand

I pushed him when he felt beaten

I gained a second family, his

I found myself knelt at my bedside every night

Begging the Lord to let him live his life just a little

The most deserving boy in the world

I watched take on cancer

I would have traded him places

See You Later

The chemotherapy ended

The smiles brightened

Senior year and prom became the topic of discussion

Together, we were going to take on all of it

Together

The end of junior year came to a close

Summer approaching

Walking into class

Stares piercing through me

Feeling my heart in my stomach

All of the sudden the car was weaving in and out

Speed to 110

Hazard lights flashing

Almost as if I had been placed in a drag racing video game

How do you prepare yourself for this when all of the smiles were so hopeful?

The elevator to the third floor felt like it moved in slow motion

While my head felt like a tilt-a-whirl

Embracing the hands on both side of me

I remember walking into the room

“We waited until you got here to take him off the ventilator for you to say goodbye.”

Voices echoing

Bells ringing in my ears

Sitting in front of me was my better half

The better part of me

Taught me to love hard and care for others

Tears heating my face

Drowning in my thoughts

Was this even real?

I held his and whispered

This is not our goodbye James, you are a fighter and I will see you later.

Time After

Days crept by

Slowly getting faster

The smallest things began to remind me of you

A song, a smell, or even a laugh

Time has made it easier

Feeling love through both families gave closure

The closure felt warm

Making me spread your love throughout everyone

Helping them feel your presence through me

Giving others a small reminder as to who you were

Spreading your story with people who are willing to listen

More often than not

The love for you will never die

For it will only grow on