When I awoke, I was in a hospital bed, a heart monitor beeping next to me. The bright lights blinded me for a second, but I eventually grew accustomed to it. I propped myself up on my elbows and looked around the bare room. A nurse was washing her hands at a small sink, her black hair tied into pigtails. Her short-sleeved scrubs revealed a sleeve of tattoos on her left arm. I cleared my throat and she turned to me. Her face went from shock to a smile. "Doc, he's awake!" she yelled and dried her hands. She walked over to my bed and looked straight into my eyes. She had dark brown eyes, usually very plain-looking, but they suited her. She was actually very pretty. "Hi, I'm Lindsey. Your nurse," she told me. You can call me Lyn-Z, extra accent on the Z. Would you like to be filled in?"
I slowly nodded. What did she mean? Not like I suddenly forgot everything.
"Your name is Gerard Arthur Way, in case you forgot. You're 17. Your birthday is April 9. Your brother is named Michael and your mother Donna and your father Donald. It's June 31--"
"June 31?" Holy shit, school got out on the 24!
"Yes. You've been out for a week." Her smile faded and she sighed. "Now's the hard part." She took her hand in mine and squeezed tightly. "Gerard, you've been out for a week because you had a seizure on the 24. We found a tumor in your brain."

My heart stopped. Still, I managed to stutter out, "W-W-What do... do you mean?"

She looked me straight in the eyes, her own filled with sorrow. "Gerard... you've been diagnosed with cancer."

Tears began to sting my eyes and I felt something rising in my throat. But I didn't cry. And I didn't throw up. I just stared back at Lyn-Z. I was hoping for her to laugh or smile or say she was kidding. But she didn't. "Is there any way to.."
"Treat it? Not yours. Too advanced a stage. You have..." I tuned her out. My heart was going crazy. I feared death so much, and now... Now I'll get to meet him. She stopped talking when she realized I wasn't listening. "Y-You.. you must be starving. Your visitors brought some food for you," she said, barely above a whisper. Just then, the door swung open. Mikey stood in the doorway, holding a bag of chips, and Patrick was behind him. Mikes smiled weakly and nodded to Lindsey. She got up and quickly left the room, leaving it to me, Mikey, and Patrick.
"Hey," Mikey whispered, his voice breaking.
"Hi."
"So, uh, how're you feeling?" Patrick asked.
"Terrible. Have they told you?" They both nodded. Mikey handed the bag of plain sea salt chips to me. I took a few chips into my mouth but I wasn't that hungry.
The room was completely silent for the next 5 minutes. Until Mikey started sobbing, that is. I brought him into a tight hug, not letting go until he had calmed down. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what he was going through. And I didn't know if they knew it was untreatable, I didn't wanna lie and say everything would be okay if they didn't. Mikey pulled away, his brown hair a mess and his eyes red and puffy.
"I love you, Gee Bear," he whispered. I smile spread across my face, despite all the pain I was going through.
"Love you too, Mikes." He looked like he was about to cry again when their was a knock at the door. I turned around to see a middle-aged man with a stereotypical doctor's coat and a clipboard standing in the door way.
"I need to speak with Gerard. Alone." he said in a deep voice. "I apologize." I turned back to Mikey and gave him a hug, and then Patrick. As soon as Patrick pulled away, he snapped his fingers in realization.
"Dude, I forgot to tell you. Someone kept texting you, said he wanted to go on a date. Fred? I think that was his name."
My eyes immediately lit up. I thought it was gonna be a one-time thing, us seeing eachother, and then we weren't gonna speak again. "Frank." I corrected.
"Yeah, Frank! Anyways, you guys have a date tomorrow. Dinner at 7." He looked past me and to the doctor. "Will he be out in time?"
"He will actually be released this evening. Please, hurry, I must talk to him."
"Bye, guys!" I said as Mikey and Patrick shuffled past the doctor.
"I'm Dr. Johnson," the old man said. "I need to talk to you. It's about... your life expectancy."
Dr. Johnson refused to look me in the eyes, no matter how intently I stared at him. He fiddled with his pen before sighing and looking to his clipboard.
"Gerard... I--"
"Tell me." He finally dared to bring his gaze to mine.
"6 months."
I felt sick to my stomach. Scratch that, I was already throwing up. The nurse ran to my side and held up a trash can as I emptied my stomach of the little food I had eaten. Once my stomach was completely empty, I wiped off my mouth and looked back to the doctor.
"I'm so sorry, Gerard. You're so young. You have so much to live for." I felt tears sting my eyes and I covered my face. I didn't dare look away from my palms until the clicking of loafers had faded.
182 days. 182 days and I will meet my doom.
What a great way to start off my summer break.

---

I woke up the next morning, well, afternoon, in my own bed. My phone was going off. I pulled it from under my pillow to find an unknown number, but it was my area code. I decided to answer it.
"Hey," Frank said into the phone. I had to cover my mouth to stop myself from squealing.
"Hi!!" I replied, sounding a bit more excited than I should've.
"So, I heard you were in the hospital. What happened?"
"I--Uh... I got a fever. That's all."
"Oh, you okay now?"
"Yeah. Perfectly fine." Damn me for lying.
"You ready for dinner in a few hours?"
"A-A few hours? What time is it?" I hadn't bothered to look at a clock after I woke up.
"It's 4...?"
"Oh." I chuckled. "I slept in really late, huh?"
He laughed. Oh my god, his laugh was like the cry of a million angels that descended from heaven. It was so adorable. "Anyways, I gotta go ba-- Gerard."
"Aww, so soon?" I asked, mocking him.
"Yeah. Sorry. Later."
"Later."
I let a smile spread across my face.
I was in love with a man I just met.

Notes

so i kinda wanna do something like in Looking for Alaska, like how the book counts down to (SPOILER ALERT) alaska's death.
i wasn't as inspired when i wrote this, so it probably sucks

xo