I know it's been a while since I've updated and I'm really super sorry but there were some things that got in the way. I think there'll be only one or two more chapters in this story. I'll try to update again before Monday. Thanks for the reviews and alerts, as always keep reading!
Wilson pulled the wheel sharply to the right, missing the oncoming truck by mere centimeters. He drove into an empty parking lot, taking a minute to compose himself.
Sucking a deep breath, they stared at each other.
"Geez Wilson, I know I'm dying faster than normal but try not to speed up the process."
The oncologist burst out into laughter. All the pressures of the day, built up behind his calm façade poured out at Chase's small joke. Chase laughed too, unlike the other drugged chuckles from his medication. The laugh bubbled from his stomach, passing through the cancer and up on the roof of his mouth. Chase continued laughing, never wanting it to stop.
Wilson's hands slid the keys back into ignition and turned them slowly, reluctant to end the moment. He drove past their normal exit from the highway, pressing the pedal faster and faster.
Chase didn't ask any questions, he snuggled closer into the leather seat with the blanket around him. His eyes slid close, his head leaning against the seat belt strap.
A hand nudged him awake. He blinked to see the fuzzy outline of Wilson against the night stars.
"Wilsssaa?" He slurred as the oncologist slung one arm over his shoulder and grabbed him by the waist.
His eyes dilated and then focused on the crashing waves on a beach. He could almost taste the saltiness on his tongue. He heard the water rubbing against and colliding into each other. He untangled himself from Wilson and stumbled forward onto the sand, lying face down as the tiny rocks dug under his fingernails. The sand washed into his mouth, and as disgusting as it was, Chase let it. He didn't deny as his tongue felt the saltiness and tiny grains evading his mouth. He clutched the sand between his fists. The particles, abrasive and elusive, ticked out of his hands, like seconds on a clock.
"Why'd you bring me here?"
Wilson heaved a sigh and sat next to Chase.
"I come here when I need to sort out my thoughts. It's a little covert place I discovered after my first divorce."
He plucked a pure white seashell, running his palm over the grooves.
Chase turned onto his back, gazing at the salty stars.
"When I'm gone, the world will keep turning won't it? What do you think death is like?"
Wilson tilted his head back placing the seashell down.
"You'd know better then I would."
"But what if none of it matters? What if this is all we have? I've never been skydiving; I've never gone cliff diving. I've never painted on a canvas. I haven't attended that yoga class I signed up for last year. Christ Wilson, there's so much, so much that I haven't done!" He screamed the last bit out, tears biting at the corner of his eyes.
Chase got to his knees. He tore off his shirt and then went for his trousers, his fingers stuck on the button.
Wilson knelt closer, his adroit fingers easily slipping the button through the hole.
Chase steadied himself on Wilson's shoulders. He stood up, shedding his sweat pants. His toes curled around the sand, unused to the roughness. He pushed his sluggish limbs to run into the water. For a moment he was Doctor Robert Chase, confident, free, and a little cheeky. The whole world turned exclusively for him. The water collapsing and surging in a constant struggle for redemption, just for him.
He dove in head first, sucking in the salty water. He didn't want to come up, but his lungs burned without oxygen.
Strong arms grasped him and pulled him forcibly up to the surface.
"For someone who wants to live you seem awfully suicidal to me."
Chase spit out the seawater, letting Wilson carry him like a dead weight in the water.
"Why do you do this?" His voice felt raw after the sand and water.
"I take care of my friends."
"But we weren't even good friends-barely more than acquaintances."
He could feel Wilson's bare skin against his own, and somehow that relieved him.
"Everyone needs someone to take care of them."
Wilson started swimming back to shore on his back, dragging Chase with him.
"This could be the last time I ever go swimming."
His voice waivered. He closed his eyes, feeling the coldness and the gentle water lap over his motionless body like a baptism.
"Then I hope it was a good one."