Final Moments

Silas walked down the long corridor toward room K108. He was visiting Alice for the first time since she had been moved to this facility. It had taken all of his strength to come here today to face her. It wasn’t really even Alice that he was afraid of seeing, it was seeing what her condition had done to her. 

As Silas got closer to the door, he could remember countless Sunday dinners at the local diner down the street from their house. Alice would always order the same thing, a chicken salad sandwich with apple pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert. He gripped the bag in his hand tightly. He didn’t even know if she was well enough to eat anything. He held back tears as he dropped the bag off at the nurses' station.

    He took a moment to gather himself before he reached the door to Alice’s room. The young man shook himself and reached toward the handle of the door. An image of Alice’s smiling face flashed through his mind. It nearly broke his fortitude, but he still managed to open the door without a sound. It was only the click of the door closing the gave him away.

“Has it really been sixty-four years already?” Alice asked with a frail smile as the door clicked shut. The air grew tense as a heavy silence filled the room. At first, she waited patiently for a reply, but as the moments passed panic started to etch across her face. Her eyes darted around the room in a fruitless attempt to see. “Silas? Silas, are you here? Please don’t leave me alone.”

With a deep breath, a male voice cut through the silence. “Hush now, my heart. I am still here.” He said attempting to comfort Alice. He was trying to gather himself after his talk with her doctor. Today was her last day. His heart was pounding in his chest to the point where he could feel it in his hands as lightly ran his fingers through Alice’s hair. She smiled contently as the panic began to fade. 

 When Alice entered the hospital they had to lie and say the Silas was her grandson. No one in their right mind would have believed the truth. In reality, they had been together every day for the last sixty-four years. Even though Silas looked like a young man, he was well over two-thousand years old. He couldn’t age, nor could he die. He was a true immortal. Until he met Alice he had accepted that people would always come into his life and leave it. He used that fact to never get close to anyone. It was a lonely existence, but it was one that he could survive. That was until he met Alice. She changed his life in every way. He grew to care about and even love her. That is what made today so difficult.

It had been a long battle. Cancer that had ravaged Alice’s body had already taken her sight and mobility, and now it was coming for its final price. The life of his beloved. Somehow he had fooled himself into believing that she would never die. Having to face this truth was tearing him apart from the inside out.

As an immortal, he had one simple question that was burning in his mind. “Aren’t you afraid?” His voice was shaky like he was teetering on the edge of falling apart. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye. He didn’t believe he would ever be. 

Alice just calmly smiled toward him. “I suppose for an immortal it might seem-” Alice began to cough violently. Silas quickly grabbed her hand and help on tightly. He clenched his eyes shut and tried to block out the sounds. His heart couldn’t take it. He wanted to run, but at the same time, he couldn’t imagine leaving Alice even for a second. He promised he would never leave her. So there has was, a spectator in the final act of his love’s life. “-It might seem strange, but as long as you are by my side I am not afraid of death. Thanks to you, I have had a wonderful life.”

Silas stared at her in disbelief. “I am afraid of one thing though.” Alice sighed softly. “I just don’t believe you will take care of yourself when I am gone.” Alice closed her eyes and smiled. “You would think after a few thousand years you could at least cook.” She chuckled to herself and lightly squeezed Silas’s hand. 

Silas just shook his head and smiled, typical Alice. Trying to make everything seem okay. He brushed her long silver hair out of her face and smiled. “I’ll be okay, I promise.” His voice cracked. It was the first lie he had ever told her. He just looked into her eyes and let the time pass. Finally, it was broken when Alice yawned. She looked as if she was struggling to stay awake.

The doctors had told him that this was a sign of her final moments.

“Just don’t… Don’t forget about me, okay?” Alice said. It was just like when they ran away together. Her only fear was to just fade away. Her mother had always been wrapped up in the chaos of her life after Alice’s father passed. It was actually because of this chaos that Silas was brought into Alice’s life.

“To forget about you would be like forgetting the Sun,” Silas said as a thick sorrow entered his voice.

“You have always been too cheesy.” She said with a weak laugh. She closed her eyes and Silas could feel his heart drop. He wasn’t ready yet. She couldn’t go.

“Ali-” he choked. He couldn’t even speak her name. His throat felt like it was full of stones as he tried to say it just one last time. Silas tried to yell but nothing came out as he opened his mouth. Only the deafening sound of the monitor’s slow and unsteady beeping filled his mind. He wanted to struggle against this fate that would condemn him to this pain. He wanted to join her in the afterlife that had long since been out of reach. His grip tightened as these thoughts rushed through his head.

“‘Do you think your life is something that can be so easily tossed away’” Alice mumbled as she weakly opened her eyes. They were the words he spoke to her the night that she tried to kill herself. The same night that he revealed who- what- he was. His arms fell to his sides in defeat. Even in the state, she was in, she knew him too well. “I am just gonna close my eyes for a bit, can you sing me to sleep like you used to…?”

“Okay, my heart,” Silas said quietly.

“Be here when I wake up?” Alice asked breathlessly.

“Of course, my dear.” Silas lightly kissed her forehead. He wanted to say goodbye but couldn't find the words. Instead, when he opened his mouth he began to sing in a language that has long since faded to time.

His song was cut short by the monitor’s flat-line. He felt the room grow cold as the sound seemed to echo into his very core.

“Goodbye, Alice Graham.” He wept.