June 27th 2018…
Finn drove slowly, glancing at Amanda… it had only been an hour and a half after they had found out but he saw the nervous expression on her face.
"I don't know how she's going to react… she's always been overprotective. And I would always say that I'd be a wife before..." Amanda replied as Finn lightly rubbed her left wrist to calm her.
"She's not gonna kill me. Doesn't mean that your dad won't try to." Finn responded.
"I know he's got that shotgun somewhere. Maybe after this, we can run to Vegas, get married and then tell him." Amanda replied.
"Then he'll really kill me. Provided that your brothers don't." Finn responded.
"They're not homicidal, Finn." Amanda replied as they were near the house and saw Immy outside.
"No but they are scary." Finn explained as he parked the Equinox and shut the engine off before they got out and locked the car up… and Amanda and Immy hugged.
It was as the three walked in that Amanda's and Finn's eyes widened when they saw Sachael… but she managed a smile.
"You, sister… get over here. This broken ol' body isn't gonna hug itself." Sachael spoke after the few initial moments passed.
Amanda walked over, crouched down and hugged Sachael… and Sachael heard her sniffling and knew she was fighting tears.
"Look at me…" Sachael responded, Amanda doing so. "This isn't your fault or anyone's… I'm just running out of time, Mandy." She explained.
"I don't want to lose you…" Amanda responded quietly.
"You won't just yet. We've got work to do, very demanding and desperate work… it's called a walk down to the beachfront, think you can manage that?" Sachael replied, before glancing down, unable to tilt her head down too far due to the breathing aid attached to her throat. "Okay… trip to the beach."
It was when they had reached their destination that Sachael closed her eyes and smiled as the summer warmth felt good against her face.
"Remember that one summer that we spent a whole day out here? You, me, Andre, Immy and everyone?" Amanda questioned, Sachael opening her eyes.
"Yeah… that was the day when Andre chased you through the waves on the shoreline and you ended up getting a big bruise on your knee by tripping over and bashing it on a pebble." Sachael answered, looking up to Amanda.
"He felt so bad but I kept reassuring him it was an accident." Amanda replied as she sat up straighter. "Doctor confirmed it earlier…" She responded as they smiled.
"Nice… I said this to Immy, please don't name a girl after me if it's gonna make you sad every time you call them. I… I wouldn't want that in my legacy." Sachael replied, looking back out across the flowing waves of the sea as she thought… she couldn't keep it a secret from anyone now, least of all from Amanda. "Sometimes… the nurses and my parents talk when they think I'm too doped up on morphine to hear them. They've been saying… Mandy, my respiratory system is failing. And there's only one way it goes… one day, pretty soon, the lungs become too weak. They stop drawing air, but they do it before anything else stops, I… I suffocate without any power in my chest and…" She trailed off, as the more she'd said, the harder it had become to say it.
The two were just silent for a while. Between hearts being torn from the inside and the desire not to lose each other, neither knew what to say.
"Mandy… I'm glad you came. We may not get much more time like this… so let's make it last."
"We need to… me and Finn will make sure this little one knows what you were like before the accident, Sachael." Amanda replied, Sachael smiling.
"You're scared to tell your parents." Sachael responded.
"Yes." Amanda replied.
"I would say… just never forget what a legacy is, Mandy. It's what's kept me going, leaving something behind, planting seeds in a garden you never get to see. The things you create will last long after you're gone and they will all carry part of you with them, that's… I wish I could have been a mother." Sachael responded, quietly at the end after a pause.
"You would've been a damn good one." Amanda replied.
"I like to think I would… my… nose is getting cold, we should get back indoors now." Sachael responded with a smile, looking up at her again.
Back in the house, Amanda was having trouble staying alert… and Finn got her to lie down on the couch.
"It's been a hell of a day. We could both do with some rest." Finn spoke quietly. Though if there was one thing about Sachael that hadn't grown rusty, it was her sharp ears.
"Get in here then, I've got something to do! And chairs that are more comfy than that old couch… I think. They look it anyway."
The two headed into the room curiously, Sachael's room being the garage extension of the house with the door filled in and all the medical apparatus she needed in there. Stepping through the door felt like going through a portal from the house to a hospital room.
Sachael nodded towards a small box that was on the shelf opposite the foot of her bed, beneath the TV. "I seem to recall that one of our favourite things as young ones was to watch a movie all night and see who'd fall asleep first."
"Yes it was. Except for that time we watched Poltergeist. That movie still scares me." Amanda replied.
"Before my legs gave out I went and burnt that old VHS tape. My mom told me if I unleashed a curse on the house because of it, she'd pull my arms off… then put them back on and kiss them better. She was so much more funny before… there's a few different films in there. I think there's a Star Wars too, might be a bit dusty." Sachael explained.
Amanda looked through them and found Balto… and Sachael smiled.
"Go on then, that's one with a few memories." Sachael replied, nodding towards the old VHS player to one side. The whole system was covered in dust, the TV itself was pretty much the only thing that wasn't. It made Amanda wonder just how long Sachael had been unable to walk to them.
After dusting it off, Amanda put the movie in and they watched… and Amanda leaned against Finn, who held her.
Towards the end of the movie, Sachael had noticed that Amanda was asleep… and she glanced at Immy.
"Looks like she lost for once… usually she was the queen of late nights." Immy spoke quietly, Sachael letting out a quick laugh before cringing. "You okay?"
"Headache… could do with some pain relief." Sachael answered before nodding towards the IV to the left of her bed. Immy walked over to it, going to turn the dial on but then noticing that the attached fluid bag was almost empty.
"No can do?" Immy responded in a more questioning tone.
"Parents keep them upstairs, in my old bedroom where they think I can't get to them… you can."
Immy nodded and quietly headed out of the room, heading for the stairs. She found Sachael's old bedroom… some things were gone but it was like stepping into a time capsule of when her injuries weren't so severe, posters all over the place, a couple old Polaroid cameras, a bed which was still disheveled as though Sachael had only just gotten out of it, not that it had been almost two years since she'd been even near it.
She found the box in the corner of the room, opening it to find the fluid packs. "Morphine… Sachael is on some serious shit here." She spoke, thinking out loud to herself before closing the box and bringing the bag back downstairs.
Once the bag was attached and the dial had been turned on enough, Sachael let out a sigh. "Thanks… I'll be off my tits in the morning."
"I almost strangled the doctor when Mandy reacted badly to it after breaking her leg." Immy replied.
"Wish I could have been there… I'd have done it myself." Sachael responded, before glancing over at Immy. "Get some sleep, you need it as much as she does. Just… film's over, change the channel on?" Immy nodded and grabbed the remote, switching it from the VHS input to the TV stations themselves, the last used channel turning out to be a music station. "That'll do… get some shut eye." Sachael said with a smile as they caught it just as a new track started, which just so happened to be one of her favourites to hear, Mountains - Message To Bears.
When Amanda opened her eyes, Finn was picking her up into his arms.
"How long was I out?" Amanda questioned.
"Put it this way, the sun is up now." Finn answered, glancing over at Sachael who with his help earlier that morning, had headphones on listening to an audio book.
"You're more than welcome to take naps. And tell that bald headed asshole to back off of you when you get back to work." Sachael responded.
"Corbin needs to go back to SmackDown." Amanda replied before she noticed that Sachael was struggling to breathe. "Sachael?!" She responded in a panic as Finn helped her stand up.
"I'm fine… no I'm not." Sachael responded, leaning her head over and swinging it quickly forward to throw the headphones off and into her lap. "My parents think I don't know but it's not hard to do a little research… Mandy, they rented everything you see in this room. The bed, the IV, they buy the morphine… they dish out only a little short of a million a month for me, it's… I don't want that. I don't want them throwing away their life savings, their retirement money, just to prolong my life by another few painful months." As she spoke, Amanda stepped around the bed and sat down to the left side of it, beside her. "And then how I go when it fails, I… I don't want to die like that."
"Your parents love you so much… that's why they spend all this for you." Amanda responded, though she could see it did little to shift Sachael's mindset. To her, too many people had given up too much for a life she found barely worth living.
"Mandy, I… I need you to- I want…" Sachael spoke, so difficult to get the words into shape. Her eyes had already become wettened from the thought of what she was asking, but she had to ask. "I need you to… all you need to do is…" She looked up at the IV "...crank the dial up to eleven…"
Amanda felt Finn hold her right hand as they looked at each other… and she reached over, turning the IV dial up and Sachael managing a smile.
"Mandy…" Sachael whispered, the massive dose of morphine taking a moment to kick in. Just a moment to say what she wanted to, the words that would become her own legacy. "Having you here was… the best goodbye gift I could have asked for. And I can… fall asleep dreaming of us here, right now."
"If you see them…" Amanda responded as tears ran down her face, Sachael nodding slightly as she knew that Amanda meant the ones they had lost over the years.
"I love you, Mandy…" Sachael said quietly with her eyes closed… and the massive dose of medication kicked in and with the right timing, before it took over her mind she was able to do one final thing. She slowly managed to slide her left arm over the bed and rest her hand on top of Amanda's. "I'll see you around."
Amanda kissed Sachael's forehead and then she and Finn held each other as they let their tears fall.
And left the house one last time.