One Last Sunset

[~Chapter Four~]

Death slowly chewed at Calvin's heart. Accompanying death was its good friend fear, who was clawing Calvin's soul into thin black ribbons.

It had been three weeks since Calvin found out that he was going to die, and those three weeks went by way faster than they should have. He was unable to stop himself from crying, but those tears just kept flowing and flowing from his eyes.

The hospital room started to feel humid--Calvin hadn't left it for three weeks--and that made his skin clammy. He sat on that plastic bed, gazing out the window and into the city horizon, thinking of those were luckier than him. He thought of Jared, who was probably in his office or at home, harming himself because he believed that he could've done better when it was all Calvin's fault.

Calvin was just too damn stubborn.

He also thought of Scarlet. Poor, poor Scarlet. He knew that her heart was in pieces, littered all over what was once a happy relationship. That's something else that tortured Calvin; his relationship with Scarlet was most likely over, and he wondered if he would ever see her again.

More tears streamed down Calvin's cheeks.

It can't end like this. It can't. IT CAN'T!

But it's probably too late, so why try?

Scarlet won't want to marry a dying man, it would break her even more. It would cause her even more pain. Do you want that?

I don't want to hurt her more than I already have.

But I don't want it to end like this.

I don't want to just lay here and die while Scarlet lives alone.

But she will be alone when you die.

But I want to spend whatever time I have left with her, not here!

If you love her, let her go.

I. LOVE. HER.

Let her let you go...

Calvin screamed with gut-wrenching anguish. Then he began to sob like a helpless little child. Snot oozed from his nostrils, mixing with his tears, all of it dripping into his mouth. Hopelessness, fear, anguish, guilt, anxiety, they all attacked him, ripping him to pieces and chewing on him like a pack of starving dogs killing a helpless lamb.

"Why?" He screamed to the heavens, to the God that failed him. "What did I do to deserve this, huh? I WAS PERFECTLY  HAPPY, I WAS GOING TO GET MARRIED! I HAD EVERYTHING  I EVER WANTED, AND YOU  TOOK IT ALL AWAY FROM ME! YOU TOOK AWAY MY HAPPINESS!  YOU TOOK IT ALL AWAAYYY..."

Calvin didn't hide his face away. He wanted God to see what he'd done, the pain he caused.

"I DID NOTHING TO DESERVE TO SUFFER LIKE THIS!" He screamed. "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

At that moment, when Calvin revoked his faith in God and hope, when he felt what was left of his heart burned to dust, he slumped down in the bed he was going to die in, letting himself drown in the endless black ocean of misery.

"No." He sat up. "NO!"

He screamed towards the heavens again. "I WILL NOT LET YOU WIN!"

"I won't let it end like this!"

Calvin was certain.

"I will not, I will not, I will not, I WILL NOT, I. WILL. NOT!"

He was determined.

I will fight for her.

He clenched his fists.

I won't go down like this.

"I love Scarlet, I love her more than life, more than anything in the whole damn world. As long as I'm breathing, I will make her happy. I'll make her last moments with me ones to remember, ones that'll make her smile when she's old. I don't give a flying fuck about death. Death can kiss my ass!"

***

Calvin told Jared to call Scarlet, and she arrived within the next ten minutes. She greeted Calvin with a long, passionate kiss.

She kneeled beside him, squeezing his bony hand, caressing his thumbs, and looking at him with sincerity and the purest of love.

"Is everything alright?" She asked.

"Oh, yes," Calvin replied. "Just seeing you makes me feel alive."

She smiled, her eyes glistening with tears, and kissed Calvin on the mouth. Then she turned around towards Jared, who was standing in the doorway.

"Could you give us a minute, please?"

Jared nodded. "Sure."

"Thank you."

Jared left, closing the door behind him.

"So, what is it you wanted to tell me?" Scarlet asked.

Calvin drew in a deep, deep breath, hesitation holding his tongue.

"Scarlet," he started, once he finally got the nerve to speak, "you know that I love you, right?"

"Yes." She was already about to cry.

"I will do whatever it takes to make you happy, you know that too, right?"

"Y...yes." She was crying now.

Calvin parted his lips to speak but stopped. He held back a sob, a few of them, actually.

This is really happening, he thought.

Again, he amused.

Calvin pulled the little box, which he always kept beneath his white pillow. He opened it and the diamond ring inside twinkled like a star. Calvin forgot how beautiful it was.

"Oh, Calvin..."

"Scarlet, will you marry me?"

Right at that moment, Scarlet bloomed like a flower, and her true colors were revealed. Hundreds of different emotions erupted from her, from the depths of her heart. She threw her arms around him, and it didn't look like she was going to let him go any time soon.

"Yes," she sobbed. "Yes, yes, yes, yes."

Calvin, not expecting this reaction at all, said: "Really? You will?"

"Of course I will!"

They were now both crying.

"But...but I don't have that long to live, I thought--"

"I don't give a fuck!" She broke the hug and kissed him. "I want to spend every moment with you, even if it is just a few months."

The two lovers fell into an embrace again.

"I love you so much, Scarlet," Calvin sobbed. "I really do, I love you more than anything in the world."

"I love you too."