Aloha Oe - my character has to say goodbye to your character.
Had there ever been a very morbid and out of place dicussion about the logistics of Claire Knighton’s death, she gambled no one who knew her would’ve guessed it would be due to a tumor wrapped tightly around her brain stem.
But she had a collection of PET scans tucked underneath her scratchy hospital bed’s mattress as proof that every single time you think you’ve hit a new low, life will find a way to drag you lower.
Mom can’t handle seeing her weak, the chemo makes her skin cling to her bones and her eyes sink back in her head, and Dad can’t handle the guilt, he’s the one that bore the gene, he’s the reason she’s here in the first place, but Hailie sticks around.
Hailie sticks around when she signs a DNR, when she sips at gross kale smoothies, when she’s coming back from yet another MRI, and she holds her head as high as it will go, mouth pressed into a firm white line that admonishes Claire for even thinking of dying.
Alas, as strong as Hailie Tyler’s willpower might be, it isn’t strong enough to stop nature from running it’s course, and it’s bullshit, but she’s stuck being there when Claire finally bites the bullet, finally decides she’s ready to close her eyes and smile one last time.
“I’m sorry,” Claire rasps, offering her a pale, shaky smile that hasn’t seen sunlight in days.
“Shut up,” Hailie shoots back, holding tightly to Claire’s hand as if somehow that will keep her there.
Claire’s smile pulls wide into into a grin, and she ignores her, pressing on, “Do me one last favor and just be okay after this.”
“How?” she asks through clenched teeth, tears gathering at the brim of her eyelids.
“Figure it out,” Claire says, pressing a kiss to the top of her hand, “it’s the least you can do for me. I am dying, you know.”
That makes her laugh, a careful, watery laugh, and Claire knows then that that’s the last memory of her she wants to have. That’s the thing she wants to bring with her as she heads off towards the rest of forever.
So she utters one last ‘I love you’, leans her head against the pillow, closes her eyes and walks steady towards the light.
