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.