Until the Melody Fades

Evan was about to ask what was wrong when the bathroom door opened. Jane stepped out, wrapped in a towel, her voice soft and sweet. "I'm done, Evan. Let's go!"

Evan didn't even so much as budge an inch, but I pointed at the door of my room, speaking through gritted teeth, "Didn't you hear her? Go. Your girlfriend is calling you. What, don't you listen to her anymore?

"Are you thinking about someone else? Aren't you afraid of being called a two-timer?"

Giving me one final look filled with complex emotions, Evan turned around and left with Jane.

The moment the door clicked shut, I couldn't hold it any longer. I made a mad dash for the toilet, vomiting a mouthful of blood into the sink.

I frantically reached for a painkiller syringe in the cabinet and stabbed the needle into my arm, injecting the liquid into my body. As I felt the medication work, I looked up at my reflection in the mirror, pale and haggard as a banshee, and the tears finally tipped over.

The man I loved was so close, just a few steps away. I wanted to tell him that I was in pain, and that I almost couldn't hold on any longer. I wanted him to hold me, if only for a little while.

But I couldn't do that now, nor could I do it anymore in the future.

In my daze, I thought I heard his voice calling my name from outside the room, so soft it was almost unreal.

"Melody…"

A hallucination, I thought. The pain had finally made me lose my mind.

I laughed bitterly, and then my phone rang.

As soon as I picked up, my doctor's furious voice exploded through the speaker.

"Melody, do you have a death wish?! Why haven't you answered your phone? It's been days! Don't you know your chemotherapy session's already overdue? Don't you care about your life at all?

"Get back here right this second!"

I was in so much pain that I couldn't even form words, only a faint whimper escaping my throat.

Then, suddenly, the door slammed open with a violent kick. Evan barged into the room, snatched my phone, and shouted to the other end without even taking a look at the caller ID.

"Where's she supposed to go? She's busy, so go bother someone else!"

After hanging up, he walked closer to me and gripped my wrist hard, his voice dripping with mockery, "Wow, so that's how it is, huh? You dumped me so cleanly because you found someone new! You really know how to pick them, don't you? Are you just going to let him control you, yell at you and treat you like dirt?

"You're pathetic, Melody."

This time, I didn't even have the strength to fight back. His grip on my wrist pressed against the injection site, and blood oozed from the needle mark.

The pain in my chest surged again, my lung cancer burning me up from the inside, and I almost couldn't breathe.

I gasped for air, trying to speak, to tell him that he misunderstood, but the very next second, blood flowed out of my nostrils.

Evan's pupils contracted sharply, and then he caught sight of the blood seeping from my arm. His expression immediately changed, his voice shuddering as he spoke, "What… What is this…?"

My heart sank.

It's over!