the death of mr. [miller] man
He let out a throat-breaking cough, deep from the bottom of his lungs, despairing at the sweet, dusty taste of the phlegm in his mouth. She was by his side in moments, propping his head up, urging him to drink. It burned on the way down, like all those bottles of Jack Daniels he'd choked on in the years after Sarah had died. He chuckled, coughed again as he fell back onto the pillows.
I guess this is the best I get after all these years, huh, God? Hacking up my ribcage in a bunk bed. Well, there are worse ways to go.
"Joel?" She sounded so far away, like there was an ocean between them. He cracked his eyes open to see a flash of auburn hair and pale rust-colored freckles, emerald eyes staring at him worriedly. The right side of her face was bathed in a white light, blinding at points, warm at others. The left was pitch-black, accentuated by swaths of dull flesh-tone and streaks of grey. She was so beautiful, his baby girl, now a weathered and hardened survivor.
"I'm sorry," he choked out. "There's so much I needed to tell you. Should have told you."
"I know-"
-this hurts, baby.
"Alright, I'm gonna-"
-pick you up.
"Come on-"
-baby, please.
"Don't do this to me-"
-baby girl.
"Stay with me."
Oh, God. Sarah… baby…
"Don't do this to me, Joel. Don't- don't do this to me, Daddy. Please, please, don't do this. Please, God…"
"Oh, no, no, no…"
She wept.
Author's Note
Uh, hey, guys. So: I'm still alive, still working on my degree and my own personal stuff.
Sorry for not posting for nearly a year. And for deleting my chapter stories.
I can't make any promises atm, but I hope that I can start giving you something more consistent in the next few years.
-Nate
P.S.: If you guys want to PM me on some other sites, I'm on PSN as JosephRichardL and on Reddit as u/yizofu.
P.P.S.: This fic serves as a prequel to Storytime, and is inspired by the album "Sincerely" by Stephen.