Chapter Text
“Have you ever wondered what happens after you die?" he asked, looking at his old dusty camera that still works somehow, just to record these words. "Like do we stand in line for the pearly gates? Because if we do, that'll be so tiring; there are almost, like, what, 100,000 deaths per day?" He spoke with a slight chuckle while the IV line continued to drip in rhythm inside this cold, sterile hospital room. He knows his time is almost up, yet he still has that burning determination inside him, while holding a notebook with the heading, “bucket list”.
"Till, are you awake?" came with knocks on the wooden door, with the slight worried tone of a mother. "I am Mom! You can come inside!" While he was saying that, he ended the recording of his camera with a slight hand wave and hid it under the cushions of the stiff hospital bed, same goes for the notebook. "Thank god you're okay. Is there any part of your body hurting? Are you not dizzy? Or do you need water?"
"I'm fine, Mom."
"Are you sure you aren't dizzy or something?" she said, looking at him staring at the window with an annoyed expression.
"I really am fine! Can you stop worrying for a second?" whilst looking in her uneasy stance.
"I'm sorry, but you know I'm just worried about your health, right, Till?"
"Yeah, but you need to learn to make me my own person, Mom."
"Thanks for understanding, but I really am worried about your health. You've been pretty frail in the past few days, your doctor himself is even worried."
with Till, looking at the wilted Edelweiss flower at the table beside him. He slowly turned and looked at his mom, saying
"I'm still strong wouldn't you think?" with a smile that can shine brighter than the sun, yet his eyes didn't shine the way it used to.
"You really are tough aren't you?" she spoke softly, not seeing the false light in his eyes
After that conversation his mom was walking to his cabinet, full of towels and cleaning supplies to clean, she stopped when Till asked for one favour.
"Can I go to school tomorrow...?" With a look in his eyes, screaming determination.
"Huh? Why...?" as she looked with a confused face.
"Well, I kind of want to watch the football game tomorrow between my school Anakt Academy and another school in our district, and I realised I never really attended one," with a look that can make a mother say yes, while fidgeting with his fingers.
"But won't you feel sick?—"
"Please?"
"You know what, fine, but you must go to the nurse's office if you feel—"
"Okay! I sure will. Thanks!" With the look of a guy that won the lottery.
…
The elevator had some really nice music going when they were going down. But the hospital hallways were a different story, it was kinda creepy as there are not that many people out and about. They walked towards the exit and as they opened the door, the cold breeze instantly became noticed for them as they walked in the parking lot.
Till and his mom went inside their car. The flickering of the street lights were obvious in the dark sky, paired with the neon signs in the bustling city. Their drive home was in silence as it was already late. Till had his earphones on, this was his routine since he was 12, the music inside his earphones was surprisingly a soothing type of music instead of his usual rock music. After 30 mins of driving, they finally got back to their humble abode, where Till said goodnight to his mom while going up the stairs into his room. He went straight to his bed and stared at his clock. It was already 11:34 PM. He was annoyed that he will have less sleep than he usually does, but he remembers the reason he wants to go, so he closed his eyes with a grin of a guy with a plan.
He slowly lifted his eyes open, his alarm clock beeping, while the rays of the sun went to his face. He slowly got out of bed and looked at his closet, which was filled with a set of clothing that has a goth aesthetic, the black shirt and metallic accessories glimmered in the light, he then picked the most nice pair of clothing and set it aside for later. He went down stairs still yawning as his mom was cooking breakfast, he slowly looked at their wall clock that was ticking and saw the time, it was already 7:30.
“Mom, why didn't you wake me up?!??” he yelled, suddenly not feeling an ounce of sleepiness anymore.
“I already did wake you up, multiple times actually, plus if you were really tired I wouldn't have woken you up because of your condition.” while the bacon and eggs were sizzling in the hot pan.
Till looked at her, her face unfazed, yet there's no time to waste now as he only has 30 minutes until school starts. He quickly showered while his heart began to race from panic. Then he realized something, why should you bother to panic when you're already so late? So he weirdly had the wave of calmness with that thought. He then put on his clothes with cologne. By the time 17 minutes had already passed, he went down stairs again carrying a ton of things, his canvas, his painting tools and his electric guitar.
His mom looked at him, and he looked at her, his mom had the bewildered look of him carrying so much. His mom just got up, took her keys and went outside to start the car, and he followed. As they were packing up his bags his mom lifted one of his many bags and said
“Why are your bags so heavy, well how can you even walk with this?” till shrugged and also wonders how he can walk to school like that. While he got inside the car, he brought his canvas inside and that occupied most of the space at the back. His mom looked at the rearview mirror and said, “Are your things secured?” He gave a thumbs up and put on his earphones as the car started driving.
As the car started driving, he glanced at the window, seeing different houses and trees as the car went by. His music, humming in his ears as he lip synced to some of the lyrics. And not long after that he's already at school, thankfully not late, his mom hugged him even though he looked annoyed, and he said goodbye to her as he entered the bustling school. It's busier than it usually is, as today is the day that the Performing and Visual arts festival starts. Since there are no active classes, Till went straight into the art room to grab handmade flowers that he made and personally painted, as he was trying to get the attention of the school's star, Mizi.
The art room was heaven, it was full of lively colors. The murals in the wall were filled with eye-catching and gorgeous art. He slowly put his canvas down in his corner where he usually paints, he didn't need to carry a huge canvas anymore.
He then slowly turned into the cabinet and opened it. Inside was a tulip made out of cloth that he painted, with a metal wire as base. It looked cute and had its own charm. Then he walked to the door with his bag and flowers.
With his heart beating, he said to himself “You can do this Till” as he opened the art room door to go back in the bustling hall.