“Your honor, I believe if the defendant wanted to be a good and viable citizen, he would have never purchased the firearm and shot Mr. Williams at point blank range. The state asks for the maximum penalty. There will be no further statements” Edith flips the long brown curls off her shoulders as she walks back towards her desk. She crosses her legs and black shiny pumps with red bottoms adorn her feet; she adjusts the hem of her skirt and begins to quietly shuffle papers. The jury deliberates for an hour and return with a verdict. “We the jury find the defendant guilty on all counts.” Court is adjourned and everyone begins to slowly exit the court room. Edith grabs her bags and proceeds to strut towards the exit. Bailiff Jones holds open the door for her and as per usual tries to shoot his shot.” You are the reason why the sun shines every day.” He places his hands on his head in disbelief. Edith smiles and places a hand on his shoulder. “Jones, you are something….” The surrounding visual circumference Edith has, begins to fade. Her life goes blank; her eyes open again and she is staring at what seem to be white bars in a straight line flying before her eyes. People in masks and holding strange objects are prodding and probing her.
Everything is moving so fast she has no time for confusion; someone with a mask grabs Edith’s arm and gently places it down. A wave of relaxation floats over her body, the lights fade and her eyes close. A continuous beeping noise fills the room, Edith starts to shake her head. Her eyes open and standing over her is a woman wearing a mask. “The doctor will be with you shortly.” The nurse leaves. Edith stares out of the window; she is trying to make sense of what happened. She closes her eyes and tries to remember what happened after court. Edith wonders how long she has been in the hospital. What day it was; what time it was?” A knock on the door startles Edith, she tries to sit up, but quickly lays back down. “Ms. Triton, good evening I am Doctor Martz. You were admitted yesterday in an unconscious state. After some testing and consulting with other specialists; I am deeply saddened to inform you that you have a stage IV brain tumor that is inoperable. Your life expectancy is close to 2 to 4 months. You will experience fatigue, headaches, nausea, weight loss, hair loss and eventually pass. I have ordered a list of hospice care and other services. I highly suggest you get your affairs in order. On behalf of Meadow Hospital, our deepest condolences.”
Edith sits up in her best and the doctor rushes in to help her accommodate herself. “I have assigned pain meds for you to make you comfortable in the midst of your illness.” Dr. Martz places his hand on her shoulder as he walks out of the room. Edith sobs and she burrows her head in between her knees. That afternoon she is discharged from the hospital. She hops in a cab and makes it to her apartment in the suburbs. Edith used to love arriving to her apartment, that huge building with shiny glass windows and doors. It gave her a sense of accomplishment. Today, it felt icy, like she was walking into a place that was not home. After showering, Edith grabs a tub of French vanilla ice cream and slumps on the couch. She turns on the TV and turns it off after talk about health and exercise. She reaches for her phone and after unlocking it, she deletes her social media. “Won’t need this crap anyway.” She laughs and starts surfing the internet, an ad for a all expense paid vacation to the Free Waay Islands. “Come to Free Waay Islands and disconnect! Forget about the world and make your own.” A woman riding a white horse strolling on the beach smiles and waves towards the beach. Edith closes her eyes and imagines herself on the beach, her toes in the sand and the salt from the water evaporating into her skin. She dials the number on the commercial and books her ticket for the very next day. She jumps off the couch, pulls a suitcase out and packs all of her bathing suits and all of the summer clothing she can find.
The seatbelt sign on the plane turns on and Edith smiles as she looks out the window. “Freedom.” Edith whispers to herself. Four hours later she arrives at the resort, decorated with flowers of different colors, birds chirping and horses; a lot of horses. Edith makes it to her room and smiles at the fruit basket and the champagne on ice. She grabs a glass and pops open the champagne and before taking a sip she makes a toast “To life!” This trip was going to be one for the books. Edith was not about to let any stupid death sentence stop her from having fun. She picks up the bottle and notices that there is barely any left; she picks up the phone and requests another bottle. She dances and prances around the room and plops on the bed. Lying on her back she looks at the second bottle and just like the first one, gone. Edith grabs her room key and her phone and stumbles out of the room. She finds her way to a buffet; snacks on something light and leaves. There seemed to be a beach party and Edith makes her way there. The bouncer scans her bracelet and she walks into the bar.
Feeling better than earlier she plops herself at the bar. “Double shot of whiskey, make that double. No triple.” The bartender serves her drink and she gulps it down, signals the bartender to serve her another round. Edith zones out looking towards the beach and remembers everything Dr. Martz has told her. She takes one last drink and stumbles on the beach. Edith grabs her phone and opens a chat with her mother, Mrs. Triton. “Mom, I just want to tell you that I love you. Thank you for everything, for all the love and the happy moments. Tell dad I love him so much and give rufus hugs and kisses for me. I do not want to lie to you, nor do I want to worry you. However, I cannot keep this from you. Mom, I am dying. I was diagnosed with a brain tumor in its final stage. My dr. Martz from Meadow Hospital is on my case. Mom, I am sorry. I don’t want to die. I do not want you to worry. I took a vacation to clear my head. Funny my head is not clear at all. I will get back to you…. I love you.”
The sun comes up and Edith can feel the sun burning her face. She stretches and looks around, the sand on her toes and she did have a bikini on after all. She removes her shorts and runs to the water. After a quick dive she floats up and admires the view. She gets out of the water and begins to walk down the beach. Edith looks at her feet and laughs because it might be one of the last times, she looks at them. She continues her journey and smells vegetables, her stomach rumbles. She starts to cry when she sees bruises on her thighs and stomach. She quivers into herself imagining what her last moments would be like. The harder she thinks the faster she walks, Edith crashes full force into what felt like a wall, a fish flops on her lap.” This island tends to do this to you, if you don’t pay attention.” A tall man reaches down and helps Edith up. She is mesmerized, she didn’t see anyone on the beach. Where did this stretch of land come from. She instinctively walks with the man as he chats away about the amenities of the island.
Before Edith knew it, she was laughing away with Garret. “You hook the bait and throw the line.” He spoke softly to her. Edith did not know anything about Garret but she honestly did not care. She had a lingering death sentence so why waste time that she did not have. Edith found herself waking up in the morning in her room and spent her whole day with Garret. Fishing, surfing and horseback riding, bottles of champagne she brought with her and all of Garret’s stories. On her last night Garret told her to be ready by 8pm and to meet him on the beach. Edith wore a tight silk orange dress, a dress she never wore because she never had the time. Ironic, she never had time. She smiles at the thought and she rubs her hand on top of a bruise that has appeared on her shoulder. She shimmied in front of the mirror as she observed her tan lines on her well-toned body. If she did commit to something in her life it was definitely working out. She would be a sight to see in the morgue; the hottest dead girl. She finished applying her lip gloss, splashed her best perfume and walked out.
Garret is wearing shorts and a button up shirt, his hair is slicked back and his golden skin is glistening in the candle light. His eyes light up when he see’s Edith, he pulls out a chair. The table is set and the waiter brings the meal, both eat and laugh the night away. Garret grabs Edith by the hand and they walk to what appears to be a cave; in it there is another bottle of champagne and a make shift bed. The two sit on the bed and talk for a while. Edith is lost in Garrets eyes. “I have a confession to make Garret. The real reason I came here. I want to take this little time I have left to tell you about myself. I am 29, I am a prosecutor, I live in on of the most prominent neighborhoods, hang out with important people…. I have it all.” Edith stops talking and looks at Garret; he is smiling at her. He caresses her face and softly responds “Edith, I don’t care about your life, the reality is we will probably never see each other again. I want to enjoy my time with you, this could be my last chance with you. I don’t plan to waste it on melancholy, time is precious and but you are much more.”
Edith closes her eyes almost instinctively and Garret leans in and kisses her. Just as soft as his voice were his kisses, he lays Edith back and they continue to kiss. Garret slides his hand up her dress and cups her breast, he moves his mouth to her neck. He can feel her pulse intensify as Edith lets out a soft but pleasant moan. She removes his shirt and bites his collar bone; he winces with pleasure and places his body between her legs. She slides his pants down and continues to kiss her all over her body. He starts to moan uncontrollably as he places himself inside of Edith, she accompanies his moan with passionate kisses. They both finish and stand naked in front of the ocean. Edith places her hand on Garret’s waist and he kisses her forehead. A strange sense of peace invades Edith’s body and Garrets words are hard to understand. Edith desperately looks at Garret to see if he notices what is happening to her. Garret continues to speak and its as if Edith is not there. She lets go of Garret and shakes him but he continues to speak. Edith stares at the ocean and it seems further and further away from her. She turns around and looks at the cave and it is not there. Before Edith can utter a word, she begins to bleed from her nose; a strong headache ensues and Edith screams for Garrets help. Garret is no longer there, in fact its completely dark all around her. She looks for the bar where she had those shots at and stumbles her way there. Edith visualizes a dim pink or orange light and right before she reaches the light she collapses to her knees.
“Mr. and Mrs. Triton, your daughter was diagnosed with a stage IV brain tumor. We discharged her a few days ago but the tumor had already progressed beyond our means of treatment. We’ve kept her in a medically induced coma to ease her pain. However, I regret to inform you, we have done all we can. Its best you make the necessary arrangements and say your goodbyes. We, from Meadow Hospital offer our sincerest condolences.” Mr. Triton grabs Edith’s hand and with his finger he traces where the IV is inserted. He wipes a tear and continues to whisper to her. Mrs. Triton feels her phone vibrate in her pocket; she grabs it and there is a message from Edith. She holds the phone to her ear and listens “Mom, I love you. Mom, I am sorry. I don’t want to die.” There is static after that part of the message and it ends. Mr. Triton lets out a scream almost like a howl; Mrs. Triton runs to Edith’s room. She is stopped by several male nurses who shake their heads; Edith has died.
