Then Tell Me Lies Instead...

Tell Me Lies Instead...

12 am and still he is awake, staring at the face of his love asking himself if this will be the last time he can see him breathing. His lover has been diagnosed with cancer, one incurable at this time and he knew that any day now, any moment too soon, he could be gone forever.

And the hardest part is he can go without him knowing nor they saying goodbye to each other.

"Chris...you're still awake?" His lover stirred in their bed as it slowly opened its eyes. He could see how he is struggling to breathe, every move of his chest a painful reminder of what state he is right now. And yet, he could do nothing to help him in this situation.

"Yeah, just thinking about things." Mostly about imagining how my life would be without you... He knows that saying that aloud will only add stress to his lover. But, it seems that even without telling anything about it, Dylan could still read him like the back of his hand.

"Stop thinking about this. I'll..." And Dylan couldn't really say that he'll be fine since he knew that it's a lie. Giving false hope, even the slightest bit, to Chris would only break his heart more if he...went away.

"You know the truth, Dylan. You know that any moment now, you could...leave. And I don't want that to happen. I-I, thought of so many things about you, about us being together. We would die together, side by side and not like this." Tears start to fall as he remembered all of the things that he daydreamed of when they were just starting off together; having a house, a dog, adopting three or more children if Dylan wants to. He couldn't take it much longer and just hugged his lover tightly, as if never wanting to let go.

"Then, tell me all about it. Tell me the future that you know we will have." Then tell me lies instead...of the truth. Dylan said, hugging his lover back. Chris laid his head gently at his chest as he laid back down on the bed.

"You and I, we will marry at the garden that we first met at. Everyone will be happy and the owner would be delighted that we chose hers instead of any place. We know how supportive she is with our relationship. She became like an aunt to us and you know how she went too far when we had a fight. The expensive candle lit dinner is a bit too much but she gladly pushed us to talk with each other and make up." Dylan giggled at that story. He positively could remember it and he knew he would never forget it. The fight was just a petty subject, like, who would wash the dishes and as such.

"Then, we would be living in our dream house. You know, that house that your grandmother gave us when she found out about our relationship. Even though she's a bit...out of here, seeing that she suddenly gave the house to us because, as she said, our relationship isn't that much accepted by society. She thought she was still living in her own generation." They could see the two of them restoring that house in its former glory. They will plant all of the plants once giving the place the glow it has back in his grandmother's days. They would have done that...

"I would want to start planting a mango tree there. I loved eating the ripe fruits t-that grandma has when I was young." A shiver escaped his lover as he added his own thoughts to the story that they were writing down, the story that they know they will never achieve right now. Once they could but...

"After rebuilding the house, we will adopt three dogs and I will even make you adopt a cat if you want to. Even though you know I'm not that fond of cats..." When he was young, his cousin's cat bit him in his hand that led him to be injected and he hated injections as much as cats. Ever since then, he had taken to move away from cats. But then, he married an animal lover that could even adopt an elephant if he was given the option to.

"Yeah, then adopt a child... We would become parents and take care of the little one. I would have been the overprotective dad while you're going to be that cool dad that will spoil him or her a lot. I would always be that dad will kill all of the fun. We would go to the park every Saturday to spend family time. We would show the little one all of the places we went to since we liked to travel a lot. Then... then..." He could feel his lover's breathing slowly lessening. This couldn't be happening. He isn't ready for this.

"Dylan!"

His lover took his hand and gripped it with all the strength that it has left. A pained smile went through the sick man.

"We'll see each other...soon. I know Chris. You can't hide it from me." Tears started to fall down Chris' eyes as he realized that even in the end, his love could read him so easily. As if, he was really half of his soul. He laughed bitterly and gave his lover one last kiss.

"So, what exactly happened?" The woman asked the police in front of her. She was looking disheveled, obviously only has woke up because of her bedhead and clothes. The police man sighed and thought of a better way to tell the woman what they found.

"Ma'am, your daughter called us around 6 am to inform us about his brother and his partner. When we got there, she was crying and on the bedroom are the two but-" The police stopped for a moment, reaching out for the report that he was given. It includes the details about the two young man found almost like only sleeping.

"...they're both dead ma'am." The police was waiting for the hysterical crying out of her, expecting it and having been handled numerous people that he thought is like her. Although, whenever he encountered cases like this, he would always feel down and sad after. But, he was shocked of what the woman did.

She smiled and, have only wiped a small amount of tears falling from her.

"I knew they would be leaving at the same time. The other couldn't live without the other one." She said, looking a bit daze, probably going back to the memories of her son.

"Maybe they weren't lies after all..."