4:06 - A Tale of Leukemia

Who Am I | Chapter 10

010 | The Art of Riptides

BOO hummed, a familiar tune residing on the tip of his tongue. The melody, and lyrics of of the song remained lost in his head, as did the mellifluous voice that had sang the words so gentle and soft, it reminded him of a mother's lullaby, and had lulled him into a peaceful slumber he hadn't been able to get for a long time, that wasn't medicine induced.

 Andrei had left not long after he fell asleep, and he arose a couple hours later, the memory fresh in his head, and his zesty scent engraved into the back of his mind like the chalk dust on a blackboard. His absence had left him feeling more bittersweet than ever, and all he had remembered was the fact he'd be dying on God knows when, and God knows where, without having lived more than fifteen years.

Finally voicing his thoughts, he looked to the ginger sitting across from him on his bed, unmade sheets and markers laid scattered about.

''Hey, Teddy,'' He addressed, hearing him hum absentmindedly in response. ''What would you put on your bucket-list of things to do before you die, if you knew you were dying?''

Not the smartest way to phrase it, but it got the job done.

A pause, Teddy stopped scribbling for a moment as he processed his words in his mind. After a second he began drawing again, green for the eyes, red for the blush, and some wacky color for the hair. ''I dunno, probably go snowboarding or something.''

Boo thought about it.

'' . . . why?''

''I don't know, just never thought about it before.'' Never had too until now. ''My bucket-list is empty, wanna help me write one?''

''Sure...'' He agreed. ''Maybe later though, I've got a lot of homework to do.''

''Shouldn't you start on that now?''

''Yeah, I should, but I'm a huge procrastinator. It's probably going to get done right on the morning before its due.''

Boo rolled his eyes. If that wasn't a Teddy response, he didn't know what was. He did, however, find himself starting the list he dreaded.

Calling it 'Boo's list of things to do before death.'

Hoping no one would look to deep into its cynical name.

And that's what he spent the rest of his weeks doing, whether it was in school, or the hospital, or even at home. He was finding something worth adding to the list, and he knew Andrei would help him with it if he asked, but with the blonde's bipolar visiting days, he wasn't too sure when he'd see him again.

And when he did see him the following week, he didn't hesitate to ask him about it.

''Had to deal with some at home stuff.''

He was starting to sound like Teddy.

Andrei was a pretty closed off person, as Boo stated before. It'd take a miracle from God to get him to talk about his home life. He was either naturally or intentionally a private person, Boo knew nothing about him other than the fact he was dating Cassandra, he played the guitar and singed pretty well, and he smoked.

He had come to the realization after catching the older smoking by the entrance of the hospital one morning. It made sense though why he always smelled like loads of enthralling cologne, because he always double-sprayed himself with it, to keep his smoky scent from making the younger sick.

He couldn't help but feel more grateful for his being.

 Whenever Andrei would come by and visit during one of his treatments, he'd sit on the chair by his bed and either talk to him, or make him laugh until he fell asleep, which was getting harder to do with the increased amount of medicine he received after his last blood work came back from the labs.

Recently, however, Boo had somehow managed to convince the older to lay down with him until he fell asleep.

With Teddy's recent disappearances, and lack of visits, some company felt nice in the dull atmosphere that was the Children's Hospital.

The nurses seemed to be familiar with the blonde whenever he visited, but Boo just assumed that was because he was a regular when it came to visiting him, and making his whole afternoon significantly better, after a morning of getting stuck with needles, and getting blood drawn for tests.

Andrei was currently sitting bedside with him, letting Boo play with silky locks that reminded him of when he had hair.

He had hated his wild and untamed locks then, but now he regretted it. Spending too long complaining about it, and not enjoying it while it was there in the moment, and now he desperately missed it, and the excitement having hair brought.

Being bald made him feel ugly, though he wasn't given much time to dwell on his appearance when he had more pressing manners at hand.

Like, death for one.

He didn't know when he was going to die, but he felt soon. And suddenly making that list of things to do before he died seemed more prominent.

And finishing that documentary-blog thingy Teddy had started, was at the very top of his list. Live, being second, and taking a trip to France being third, although that one seemed a little far-fetched.

After running out of ideas, he looked to Andrei, who was staring at a spot in the wall in thought.

''Hey, Andrei.'' He nudged him a little, feeling that familiar 'butterfly' feeling he felt whenever he glanced over at him, when his eyes snapped on his. ''Yes?''

''I need ideas...'' He gestured to his list. ''My bucket-list.'' Was his elaboration. ''Things to do before I... die.''

Andrei suddenly sprung up, after a moment of thought. ''I'll have to get back to you on that, see you later, Boo.''

For some reason after his grand exit, Boo burst into a heap of tears, blaming the medicine for his sudden increase of emotions.

An uncomfortably churning in his stomach told him he was going to die without doing anything on his bucket-list.

He didn't want to die without doing anything on his bucket-list, or die at all. 

So, he told himself tomorrow he'd complete his bucket-list, without anyone's help.