Dear Cameron,
They're taking you off of life support tomorrow. They thought I didn't know. I've had a lot of free time, I hacked into your medical file. I found your living will the day after we got here. I knew.
Maggie asked me to write your obituary. She says she thinks I have a lot to say about you. So here goes.
Cameron Goodkin was a man of science. He was brilliant, and curious, and driven. He cared deeply about his work, because he thought that what he could do in a lab was his best shot at accomplishing something good. But he didn't know that he was something good. Cameron was warm, and kind, he valued his friends above everything. He made everyone around him feel safe, and loved, and important.
Except for that one time he called me 'Queen of the Estupidos'.
The world is darker, emptier without him. We took him for granted while he was here. We didn't know how rare a person he was, how lucky we were to have him. And now he's gone, and we're worse off for it, and sadly most of the world won't know what a loss that is. But I do.
To say that Cameron will be missed is so inadequate it seems like a waste of words. Cameron will be loved, wholly, painfully, even in his absence. The work he leaves behind is a legacy, undoubtedly, but the friends he leaves behind know that his work only scratches the surface of what he gave us. We thank him, not for his science but for his compassion, his heart.
We'll miss you Cameron. Without your light, this darkness is impenetrable.
So there. That's all you get. That's all I can say, on paper or out loud. They're just words, Cameron, do you understand that? If you die, that's all you get. The stilted writing of a girl who just only started to understand her emotions and doesn't really know how to say any of it. That's how the world will remember you. My words. And they aren't good enough.
So wake up. Because I can't be the one to fail so miserably at telling the rest of the world why they should miss someone they never met. You have 24 hours. That's not enough for me. I might not feel time, but I know I need more. I want a lifetime. So don't let one day be the rest of your life.
- It's getting dark out here. Kirsten.