Electricityscape |-/ Tyler Joseph Fic

chapter twenty øne

The next morning I woke up with this unbearable pressure in my chest. I sneaked out of bed as quietly as I could before running to the bathroom, closing the door, and turning on the faucet. Just in time, too, because I couldn't hold back the cough that came out, which was so deep and rough that I threw up a little.

And there was so much blood in the sink, I could hardly stay standing.

I quickly forced myself to keep coughing up the stuff that was quickly gathering in my lungs, and every time the blood looked just as fresh as it did at the start. Eventually I just gave up. I knew this was it, and that I wouldn't recover from this. So I turned off the faucet, grabbed a few paper towels, and sat on the toilet. I just closed my eyes and prayed to God, any god that was listening, to let it hurt Tyler as little as possible.

Every time I coughed, I spit into one of the paper towels, which I promptly threw away without even looking at. Then I caught a glimpse of Tyler's pen that he had given me and a small notepad on the counter. So I grabbed it and started drawing whatever came to mind to distract me from dying.

I ended up drawing a ukelele with a tiny face and arms with little music notes around it, then tore it off as I stood up and opened the bathroom door. Tyler was still asleep, so I silently left the drawing on my nightstand before grabbing the last Harry Potter book and heading down into the kitchen. 

I poured myself some cereal and milk, then sat down at the counter while I flipped through the book. I was trying to find the part where Harry is talking to Sirius's spirit, because it calmed me down. Just like falling asleep, it read.

I read that scene about three times before Tyler came downstairs, his hair a mess and his hand rubbing his eye. He looked like he was going to say something, but he just stopped and stared at me.

I couldn't tell him that I needed help, even though I needed it so desperately. I just wanted him to have that feeling of walking downstairs in the morning and seeing your significant other in the sunlight, waiting for you, and have it feel as if we were adults living together on our own. I just wanted him to have this since I knew I wasn't going to be an adult.

While all of this was going through my mind, he was still staring. I just blushed and looked back to my book as I said, "Good morning, Tyler."

He leaned against the doorframe with his shoulder. "Morning."

I finished reading the scene one last time before clearing my dishes and then walking over to him. I could hardly stay standing and my head felt light, but I stood up on tiptoe and kissed him nonetheless. 

"How are you?" I asked, forcing myself to keep the pressure inside my lungs from escaping.

"I'm good."

"That's good."

"You?"

I wrapped my arms around him and leaned my head against his chest. I was getting dizzy. "I'm decent."

Tyler just held me close and kissed the top of my head. "You feeling okay?"

I couldn't fake it any longer. One more minute and I'd be on the floor. "Tyler, can you do something for me?"

"Anything."

"Drive me to the hospital?"

He froze before grabbing my shoulders and pushing me away so he could look me in the eye. God, he was so scared. "What? Why? What's wrong?"

I just smiled weakly. "I'm coughing up blood again."

He almost took me out as he grabbed my hand and dragged me outside, where he got me situated in his car before getting into the driver's seat, starting the car, and speeding down the road.

"Why didn't you tell me right away?" he asked. He seemed mad.

"I just wanted us to have a normal morning for once . . . y'know?" I couldn't keep my head up, so I let it rest against the window. "I just couldn't fake it for that long. I'm sorry."

He grabbed my hand and held it tight. "Your health is more important to me than anything," he said. "You know that."

I nodded, then closed my eyes. I was in so much pain. My lungs felt like they were getting pierced with needles and that they were filled with hot liquid gold instead of blood.

"Liz, talk to me," Tyler said. It was faint, but he was still there.

I couldn't stop the tears from escaping my eyes. I could hardly inhale without a tremendous pain deep in my lungs. "I can't breathe," I whispered.

"What? Baby, you need to speak up."

"I can't breathe," I cried, which hurt just saying.

"We're almost there, Liz, it'll be okay."

"It hurts," I couldn't help but sob out.

"I know it does. It'll be over soon."

The last thing I remember is Tyler opening the door on my side of the car and picking me up.

I guess the moral of this story is "Don't fall in love, because in the end, one of you has to die before the other."