Everyone dies.
It's a fact of life. Everyone, at one point or another, dies. You lose people, you move on, you get over it.
I just didn't expect my family to get over me so soon.
It's not just my family. The Warblers are trying to get over it as well, as well as they can, at least. I think they miss me, but it's hard to tell sometimes. Sometimes they talk about how much of an ass I was, or how much of a pain I was when it came to choreography and shit.
They laugh. Then they stop. Then they stay in silence for a good ten minutes before Hunter forces them all to start again, and works them as hard as I would.
I thanked God every day for Hunter.
You must be confused, right? Sebastian Smythe is suddenly dead, what's up with that? Yeah, I know I started off a bit...morbid, maybe? I should have started from the beginning, I guess.
Well, the beginning is a bit happier, I suppose. I had just moved from Paris and to America. You all know the story, about everything that happened with the New Directions and the Warblers, how I nearly blinded Blaine, so I won't bore you with all of that again. No no, I'll start from the beginning of junior year, when Hunter Clarington showed up. God, he was great. It was someone I actually connected with, someone who... actually cared about what happened to me.
Of course, you also know everything that happened with the New Directions that time too. Steroids, trying to get Blaine back, not necessarily in that order. So again, I won't bored you with that. I'll bore you with the story of everything else that happened that year.
Hunter and I had already become great friends. We were almost inseparable. We were another Nick and Jeff. Except Hunter wasn't gay. No way.
At least that's what he told everyone else.
I was the first person he came out to. He told me he'd been having some feelings for guys the way he was supposed to have for girls, and he was confused and terrified. And I knew exactly how he felt. That's how I felt when I first came out to my family, but thank God they accepted me. Hunter's parents accepted him as well, but that's besides the point.
After that, we were even more inseparable. He and I went everywhere together.
Even to my first doctor's appointment.
Now, before we start there, we'll start when Hunter first convinced me to go to the doctor. I was in rehearsal, we all were, obviously. I had to take a few breaks because I had a major migraine, and I was just not having it that day. I wanted to go and lay down for five hours and just lay there until I felt better. Hunter came to help me to our room after rehearsal, and he looked ridiculously concerned.
"Hey, Bas, are you alright? Maybe you should go to the doctor. They can definitely give you some medicine for that headache of yours." He had said, motioning to his own head. I laughed slightly, shaking my head.
"I hate the doctors. They suck. All they're going to do is tell me to go lay down for a few hours just like the nurse did, and I really don't want to have to make my parents pay for that kind of shit advice." I told him, standing up and walking with him.
"Well, then I'll just have to pay for it, won't I? Can't have my bed Warbler injured and not able to perform, can I?" He said, laughing. "I'll make an appointment for next Tuesday after rehearsal, k?" He said, nodding.
I sighed, but nodded. "Yes, sir." I said mockingly, laughing with him. We went back to our dorm and got ready for bed, and the rest of that week and the beginning of the next week went just like normal. We'd gone to the doctors that Tuesday, and they decided I should get a CAT scan. So, I did. They told me they'd have the results in a few days.
And a few days later, they called me in. Hunter went with me, obviously. We'd gone in, they called me to the doctors office, and sat us down.
"Mr. Smythe, I'm afraid I have some... troubling news." He said softly, sitting down in front of me. "I fear we've found a...tumor. In your upper brain." He told me.
Hunter gasped, reacting immediately. I took a second. I looked up to the doctor when it had finally registered in my mind. I was dying.
"Is there a treatment?" I asked softly.
He nodded. "Chemotherapy. We can start you on Chemo next week." He said. Hunter nodded, doing all of the talking for me. I'd tuned everything out, I was too stuck on the fact that there was a tumor in my brain.
It had all made so much more sense now that I'd thought about it. The forgetfulness, the migraines, everything. It was because of an abnormal growth in my brain that was killing me.
I was going to die.
Everyone dies.