Mark Evans // Endou Mamoru
"And they all said, 'Let's play soccer!' And lived happily ever after. The end."
Mark Evans's mother closed her laptop and smiled sadly at her son.
He looked so pale and skinny, lying there in his hospital bed.
It was amazing how long Mark had lived, his mother reflected. She still remembered the day he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He had been so excited to start his first year at Raimon Junior High, but his illness had keep him away from school. He had been devastated, but was even more so when the doctors estimated he had a year to live. He had decided to not have chemotherapy, as it would not have made any difference to his life span.
But there he was, three years after his diagnosis. He had fought for his life, and was proud he had changed his fate and lived two more years than the doctors thought.
But now he lay on his deathbed, and had heard the last of the stories that his mother had written for him.
They had been magical tales, set in a world where Mark and his friends played super powered soccer, and lived happily with no illnesses to worry about. They were the things that had kept him alive.
And as Mark recounted the stories that he had been told, he looked around the room at the sad faces of his friends, the ones who had played soccer with him in his dreams. He locked eyes with all of the people he had won the Soccer Frontier with, the people he had battled aliens with, and the ones he had become the best of the world with.
He smiled, and spoke quietly.
"Guys, let's play soccer."
And he closed his eyes for the final time.
