“Funeral arrangements,” the doctor said perfectly calmly, like his words weren’t killing me.
I shook my head.
“Is there someone else we can call?” he asked. “Your parents? Or other relatives?”
I shook my head again and turned back to my uncle. And I heard his labored breathing. I saw the blood in the corner of his mouth. I thought about all the weight he’d lost. He wasn’t healthy. He was sick. He was dying. “How long does he have?”
“A few days at the most. More likely a few hours. I’m really sorry.”
I didn’t hear the doctor leave. I couldn’t hear anything over my uncle’s labored breaths and my own sobs.
Untouchable - Chapter 31
Monday
“Hey, kiddo,” my uncle said.
I lifted my head off the rough sheets of his hospital bed and looked up at him. He’d taken off the oxygen mask. His breaths sounded more even. I could have sworn we’d just fallen asleep during a movie. That we were back home on the couch. Except for the beeping. And the fact that he was lying in a hospital bed.
I didn’t know how I had any more tears left. But they started to spill down my cheeks all over again. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I stopped treatment a few months before your mom passed away. When you showed up…I didn’t want to burden you with more bad news. I thought I had more time.”
“But even before that. The doctor said you fought it for years. You never told us.”
“You and your mom were going through enough.”
“You shouldn’t have had to do it alone.” I wasn’t sure what made me hurt more. The fact that he’d gone through all those treatments all by himself, or that he’d sacrificed the last few months of his life to take care of me.
He squeezed my hand.
“Isn’t there something else we can try?” I asked. “My mom tried all these experimental treatments.”
“I’m tired of fighting, kiddo. I’m so tired.”
“Okay.” I tried to stop crying. I tried to be strong for him. But I couldn’t. I could feel myself breaking into a million tiny pieces. “It’s okay.”
He shook his head. “I get why your mom was able to hold on as long as she did. You’re a good kid, Brooklyn. You’re worth fighting for.”
So was he. I would have given up anything for him to keep breathing. Anything so he wouldn’t leave me too.
I held his hand until he took his last breath. Until his fingers turned cold. Until the nurses pulled me away.
Untouchable - Chapter 32
Wednesday
Mrs. Alcaraz took me in. She’d signed papers agreeing to be my guardian before my uncle passed away. Kennedy had thought those papers meant they were getting married. But my uncle wasn’t planning a new beginning. He was planning for the end. An end that I was the only one who hadn’t seen coming. Kennedy and her mom had both known my uncle was sick. But unlike her mom, Kennedy didn’t know my uncle had stopped treatment. She thought he was getting better. She was as heartbroken over my uncle’s loss as me. I heard her sniffling as she tried to fall asleep every night. And I didn’t have it in my heart to be mad at either of them.
I glanced over at Kennedy in the bed that we shared in her small room. Her breathing had slowed. I slipped out of the bed, trying not to disturb her. I tiptoed out of her bedroom and to the front door. Mrs. Alcaraz snored. I could hear her through her bedroom door. I was already growing used to their sounds. Like I had been here all along. But I didn’t want to forget about my uncle. I hadn’t known him long, and I wasn’t ready to let go. I wasn’t sure I ever would be.
I quietly slipped out and walked down the hall to my uncle’s apartment. Most everything inside was already packed up in boxes. There’d be a new tenant by the end of the month. But until then…coming back was my only solace. The apartment still smelled like him. And if I closed my eyes tight enough, I could still picture him at the kitchen table doing crossword puzzles.
I opened my eyes. The table was gone. The memory just as fleeting. I pushed open the door to my old bedroom. The floor was covered in flowers in various states of decay. Apparently Matt thought the right bouquet might make me happy. So there were roses, lilies, daisies, tulips, chrysanthemums, and more I didn’t know the names of. My room was like a nursery. Except I wasn’t watering them. The thought of scouring Kennedy’s apartment for dozens of vases wasn’t at the top of my mind. So the roses were dry. The daisies wilted.
But then there was Matt. Sitting on a sleeping bag in the middle of my room where my bed used to be. He’d come every night. Like clockwork. And he was brighter than any flower. He made my heart smile, even if I couldn’t make my lips mimic the feeling.
There were never any words. Just flowers. I was comforted by the silence. He didn’t offer a lame “I’m sorry.” He offered to hold me as I fell asleep. And that was what I needed. Him coming each night spoke louder than any words.
