028 Ignore
Character: Max
Max walked down the street, the trio of flowers held loosely in his hands. His mother had pruned the flowers for him just for the occasion. He'd never had the same touch with flowers as she had. She could make them bloom in such beautiful bright colors and she always made sure to give him the nicest flowers she could. Today he'd decided to take a pair of lilies and a rose. He liked the way the red popped out against the other flowers.
He'd made this walk many times and knew it by heart. He liked to take this route even though it wasn't the shortest because it was more scenic and avoided the major roads. He liked the quiet and it was safer so his mothers were secure enough in his safety they didn't protest. He turned onto the long winding driveway that led up the series of hills ahead. He liked standing at the foot of the hills at sunset, seeing the stones silhouetted by the setting sun.
He made his way along the driveway, ignoring the people who were already visiting loved ones. He passed many rows in which he knew friends were buried. Many of the friends he had were gone now but he'd always felt lucky to know them, no matter how short the time he'd known them had been. Since his mother had started taking him to the local hospital for charity work when he was just ten Max had always managed to make friends with many terminally ill children. Over time their illnesses won out, but Max tried not to focus on the sorrow of their passing. He chose to focus on the joy of their lives.
Max reached the row that was his destination. He walked past the graves, smiling when he would see freshly places flowers beside tombstones or small mementos left for the dead. He reached the stone that he was looking for and stopped before it.
She had been his first friend to die of a terminal illness. It had happened suddenly, and had taken her so quickly that it was one of the deaths he felt had been unfair. Still he remembered how her father had fallen apart, how he had convinced his mothers to take him to the hospital almost every day to see her. He'd felt good to see the smile she'd give him, even in the final days when things had become difficult for her. The nurses had always told him how much she looked forward to his visits. When he would visit her he realized how many children there were with illnesses that lucky enough to have visitors. That was what had inspired him to make trips there to make friends with children in need.
Max put the flowers down before the grave and sat down. "Hey, Linda." He smiled at the carved name. "So I've been busy. Don't really have any good news. I got turned down for the last of the scholarships I was hoping for."
Max's smile fell a bit. "I'm going to have to go with my backup plan. My moms are going to freak when I tell them, but I'm going to apply before I tell them what I have planned. If I serve my time the UNSC will pay for me to go to school. It should get me enough education that I can get a job and pay my way through the rest of the years. Maybe I can even become a medical unit for the UNSC. I'd be helping save lives, which is what I want to do."
Max stared down at the flowers and let out a long breath. "Well, I thought you'd want to know." He just sat in silence for a while, staring at the flowers. He knew he should head home, go break the news about the scholarship to his parents and file an application for the UNSC. He didn't want to yet, so here he sat. As soon as he put in his application he'd been saying goodbye to all the plans he had. Still, it was his only way of even getting close to having an education so he'd do it. "I guess I should go. I promise to come see you before I head off to bootcamp, for sure." Max smiled and stood hesitating for a second. "Bye, Linda." He turned and walked down the row of graves to head home.