Interlude II

It was almost infuriating how bright the sun was. As if the limited time on his clock was insignificant to its majesty. While he fought every day of his life, the sun continued to shine like nothing was wrong. Of course, Leo knew directing his ire at the big ball of fire in the sky was senseless. But he couldn't have cared less. He was in the mood to blame anyone and anything.

"If I could just snuff you out," Leo mumbled as he raised his hand to the sky and enclosed his fist over the sun's outline, "then maybe I'd feel a little better."

He hated how powerless he was to do anything, how much pain he felt just from walking. Despite the doctor's supposed best attempts to alleviate his suffering, every day was wrought with grief and test after test. He felt like a guinea pig, and managing a simple smile proved to be one of the most monumental tasks of his life. Shore was one of the few things left in his life that he could still genuinely smile at, but even that had grown more difficult as of late.

Sighing, Leo leveled his gaze and let his arm fall to the side. On his nurse's recommendation, he had taken a stroll through the hospital's yard. Mere minutes later, the pain became so great that he had to sit down. He kept his IV next to him, like many of the other patients wandering the yard, and observed the nurses strolling alongside their patients. They offered kind words and gently guided those who were struggling to walk. Most of the patients were older, recovering from surgeries, or waiting until their last days like he was. That pissed him off.

At least they got to live a full life.

The bench was growing stale. Leo carefully stood, dragging his IV beside him, and walked over to the central fountain, taking a seat on the ledge. The figure at the center held a bowl in her hands, where the water overflowed into the basin below. A pair of wings sprouted from her back, and a trio of birds behind her head spewed steady streams of water from their beaks. The image was serene, and for a minute, Leo felt a sense of peace.

How nostalgic.

The scent of chlorine brought back vivid memories of going to public swimming pools with his parents. His sister hadn't been born yet, but his mom was pregnant at the time. She insisted on swimming to work her muscles, and Leo remembered being excited about getting a sister. The thought of leaving her alone pained him, and he fought back the oncoming tears he felt welling in his eyes.

Leo ran his hand through the fountain water to distract himself. He observed how the water ebbed and flowed between his fingers. Swimming was one of Mom and Dad's favorite activities. He lamented that such joyous days were behind him.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," Leo heard an older man say. He turned his head toward the man. He was sitting in a wheelchair and looked to be in his late forties. A woman of similar age stood beside him with her arms wrapped around his head. She kissed his forehead and rubbed her cheek against his grey beard.

"I'll always be here for you," the woman replied, her eyes glazed. "Until the end."

Leo's eye twitched, and he looked away, returning his attention to the water. He cupped a pool of water in his hand, raised it to eye level, then tipped his hand, spilling the water back into the basin.

He wondered what it was like to be in love. To know that another person was always in your corner, ready to leap into action at a moment's notice. Sharing one another's heat, holding hands, feeling each other's soft lips.

Leo brushed a finger against his lips as he recollected a pair of girls he fancied a few years back. Few women caught his eye as he grew up, but those two were something special. He could still see Macy's scruffy brown hair, her charming toothy smile, and hear the chipper tone of her voice whenever she detailed her day's schedule. No matter what, you couldn't put her down. Even on the worst of days, she found a way to make the best of situations. A trait Leo was sorely lacking nowadays.

"But Esmeralda," Leo chuckled, "now she was a keeper."

Like many who grew up through high school, Leo also had his goth girl phase. Esmeralda was a gorgeous woman who liked to wear fishnets and stylishly torn clothes to school. She had a lip piercing, which the school demanded she have removed. In protest, she studded out her whole left ear. She was the type of girl who often clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. She was never a fan of "the system," as she had put it, but even so, she was a girl you could count on if you were ever in trouble.

Leo desperately wished he could see them again. After they moved, they kept in contact online and through various social media websites, but over time, they drifted apart. Esmeralda found someone she loved, and Macy was on her way to becoming a professional athlete.

Meanwhile, he was here. Rotting away like a corpse.

I wonder what a life with one of them would've looked like.

Leo shut his eyes, then opened them to see the older couple happily resuming their conversation. They shared pecks on the lips, and after a brief cry from the man—who Leo assumed was her husband—she wheeled him back toward the hospital.

I guess I'll never know…