Hole in the Heart:

Simone’s Notes:

The word death comes from Old English dead, which in turn comes from Proto-Germanic *daupaz. This comes from the Proto-Indo-European stem *dheu- meaning the 'Process, act, condition of dying'. Daupaz was reconstructed through the use of the daughter tongues of Proto-Germanic, such as doth from Old Saxon, dath from Old Frisian, dood from Dutch, tod from Old High German, daudi from Old Norse and modern-day Icelandic, dod from Swedish, and daupas from Gothic. Almost all animals fortunate enough to survive hazards to their existence eventually die from senescence. The only exception is the jellyfish Turritopsis nutricula, thought to be, in effect, immortal. Causes of death in humans as a result of intentional activity include suicide and homicide. From all causes, roughly 150,000 people die around the world each day.

His eyes look blank. William is barely there most of the time. He keeps fading in and out in his hospital bed. He knew people came by to visit. They knew he could hear them. Tina and Karen knew that right off the bat. Both visited him daily without even knowing about the other one doing so. At least, Karen didn’t know that Tina was taking care of him as well.

Karen

She always trying to keep herself from breaking down. It hurts to see him like this. The man she sees every day in the hospital is not the man she fell in love with. He used to be a man with his own hidden body underneath that geeky exterior of his. The strength is starving itself to death. He just looks like a skeleton lying in his chest with his chest heaving up and down. She fights back her tears for every visit.

He notices it and it hurts him worse than the disease.

“Come on, smile!” he tells her with a weakened chuckle.

“I am!” she says back.

“Aw, tears don’t suit you,” he says. “Just smile. At least once for me.” She tries to do so for him. He coughs twice.

“No, that’s not good enough,” he says. “Give me a real smile.” She really fights back her tears as she does so.

“Aww, come on,” he whispers. She rises and walks over to him. He takes her by the hand with what’s left of his strength. The dropping temperature in his hand almost makes her jump. He looks up at her with a weak smile.

“Hey, we will beat this time,” he says in a raspy voice. “Trust me you will.” The tears well up in her eyes as she draws her lips into a pout.

“Come on now, don’t cry me! You’re going to make me feel like the bad guy for being sick here,” he says. She lows her head.

“I can’t!” she wails.

“I keep a close watch on this heart of mine. I keep my eyes wide open all the time. I keep the ends out for the tie that binds. Because you're mine, I walk the line,” he tries to sing. That alone has the power to calm her right down. He tries his best to smile at her.

“No more crying, okay?” he whispers. She nods as she wipes away her tears.

“Okay,” she whispers. The rest of the visit continues without any tears.

Tina

They can’t speak to each other. They can’t even look each other in the eye. How could they? They fooled around for years, but now…

“How’s Karen?”

“She’s struggling.”

“Ah.”

“How are the guys?”

She nods. “Good.”

More silence. She looks out the window.

“Does she know?”

“Know about what?”

“You know…”

“No.”

“You know… about us?”

“Are you kidding?”

“Just checking.”

“Why would I tell her that?”

She shrugs. “Just a question.”

“A tacky question!”

“Okay, okay. I get it.” She pauses. “But she will have to learn about us someday.”

“Not now. Not while I’m sick.”

“When? After you’re dead?”

“Yes! That would be perfect! Karen’s gone through enough. I don’t want to dump our relationship onto her as well. That’s just too cruel! So, shut up about it, okay?”

Both go silent. She looks over at him.

“Want to talk about something else?”

“Yeah.”

She lies down next to him. “Let’s go away on a trip after you get better.”

He looks over at her. “Where?”

She gives him a little shrug. “I don’t know just anywhere of your choice. What do you say?”

He closes his eyes and smiles. “That would be great.”

“Yeah.”

The silence is actually pleasant between for a change.

	Moby - Porcelain .mp3
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