shine - grayson dolan

0.46 «Elliot and Evan Samuels»

She nodded sadly.

"And I'm telling Mum, so don't even try anything," I say, "Not like you can even go anywhere."

She scowled at me. But as I kissed her heated forehead, I knew she didn't mean it.

"Get some rest, Emmy."

"I will, Elliot. I feel like I'm primary school all over again." she gave me a small smile.

I made sure she slowly closed her eyes and drifted to sleep before finally waking out of the room, shutting the door behind me.

God dammit, her room felt like such a quarantine.

*  *  *  *

EVAN

Elliot came back down about ten minutes later, but with no Emmy.

"Where is she? She catching a ride with Grayson or what?" I question, grabbing my bag for school and the car keys from near the door.

"No. She's not coming today."

"Oh. How tired is she?"

"Getting worse," he says the answer I expected.

I sigh, "Still losing weight?"

"Damn right. She probably weighs 90 pounds right now. If you thought she was light before, she's fucking holographic now."

I say nothing, looking down at the floor.

"Ev, I found her lying on the ground. She could barely walk, bro," he continues.

"My God, I fucking hate this. You tell Mum?"

He nods, "We gotta get going, though. If we're also not there, Grayson's gonna flip shit."

I chuckle grimly, "Can't wait for that. Gonna be fucking great, huh?"

He doesn't answer, and I climb into the driver's seat of the car, and start driving towards school. 

It's mostly silence between my brother and I, until he speaks, "Did you see the MRI scan pictures from last week's hospital visit?"

I shake my head, "No, I didn't go. Only Grayson and Mum did."

"Right, but Mum brought home copies of the scan."

"I didn't see them, no. What's new?"

He sucks in his breath, "God dammit, Evan. It's getting quicker. The doc's not too sure about those two more weeks."

I swerve the car as I'm in total shock. "EVAN!"

I grip the steering wheel back tightly between my hands, "Sorry, sorry. What do you mean she's not gonna make it these final two weeks?" I look at him.

He looks just as sad as I feel, "It's spreading towards her vital organs. Heart, lungs. I mean, her pancreas has pretty much given out."

"But the doctor promised us two months when we were at the hospital the day of the track meet! THAT'S EIGHT FUCKING WEEKS!" I shouted.

Elliot doesn't raise his voice like I did. Damn him for being the mature brother. "Yes, but they hadn't predicted this."

I pounded my fists on the dashboard in anguish, "Evan?! Can you drive like a fucking human before you kill us too?"

"Shut up, Elliot!" I tell him off, but begin to drive seriously. 

Kill us too. 

"Like I said before," Elliot says, "We need a fucking miracle," he mutters quietly as we pull into the school parking lot.

He was right. We were desperate for a breakthrough in medicine within the next seven days. But as immature as I could be, I was still thinking about this whole situation realistically. 

We weren't getting shit.

*  *  *  * 

Grayson came running up to me after first period, which I had been late to. I could have argued with the teacher and explained the situation since the school knew, but I didn't have the energy, and settled for a detention.

"Hey, Evan. Where's Emmy? I can't find her," he smiles as he greets me.

I hated to be the one to wipe that smile off his face, since a genuine one was so rare for any of us these days, but he would kill me if I didn't tell him the truth.

"She's at home, Gray. She wasn't feeling too good this morning."

His face turns serious instantly, and he tries to run past me, towards the front doors of the school.

I hold him back, using my strength to shove him. He stumbles, "What the fuck, Evan?"

I hold up my hands as he picks himself up, showing him I wasn't going to touch him again, "You can't go see her."

"And why the hell not? You may be taller than me, Evan, but I can still take you on," he challenges.

"Just let her rest, Grayson. If she sees you, she won't sleep. She'll want to get up and talk with you and all that shit. Just please let her sleep," I'm practically begging him at the point, and he knows it. It's not like I could physically stop him from going anywhere, "Go after school."

He stops and thinks, "Alright, but what's wrong?"

"She's getting weaker by the day. Elliot found her on the floor in her room this morning," I tell him.

He sighs, leaning back on the lockers, "My God, I'm just so worried about her," he buries his face deep in his hands. I can tell he's holding back tears.

I pat his shoulder, "We all are, Grayson. But now, there's jack that we can do," I whisper.

It hurt to say that to him. The poor guy was living off of hope at this point, and I was slowly crushing it with every word that came out of my mouth. 

But he needed to know the truth.

No, scratch that.

He needed to believe the truth:

His beloved girlfriend was going to die in two weeks.

~  ~  ~  ~

SONG OF THE CHAPTER: Sugar, We're Going Down

ARTIST: Fall Out Boy

ALBUM: From Under the Cork Tree