I stood over Roy’s hospital bed, his hand in mine, blinking back tears I couldn’t let him see. One of us had to be strong, and it would have to be me. He looked so… pathetic, paler than the sheets and eyes red from therapy. His hair, his beautiful brown hair, was gone, and he no longer looked like the Roy I knew.
But I couldn’t tell him that.
“Take care of Samantha for me? And Reif?” He asked softly. I stopped breathing, then had to remind myself to suck in more air.
“Roy… Don’t say that…”
“Just, please, I can’t leave my girlfriend and my… baby like that. Just please.”
I swallowed. “Yeah, I’ll watch over them.”
We sat in silence for a moment, the machines around us bleeping, sadness weighing down like a blanket.
“Roy?”
“Yes?”
“Are you scared?”
He blinked. “Nah, I’m not.”
A doctor came in hurriedly. Before he wheeled Roy away, Roy laughed.
“Nevermind, Callie, I’m scared out of my mind.” With that, he gave me a smile and they took him away.
That was the last time I ever saw him alive.