“Sporavitus,” the doctor said in a quiet, calming voice.
“I’m sorry?”
“It’s a rare form of heart cancer.”
“How does it work”? Jamie asked, his voice barely a whisper.
“If someone experiences a shock or thrill, their heart beats faster. If this happens too often their heart beats fast all of the time until they die of a heart attack.”
“Is there any cure for it?”
“Only one. But it’s extremely expensive. However, it says on my medical record you inherited your father’s money. Perhaps you have enough for it. Think about it and come and see me tomorrow if you’re interested.”
It was the longest night of Jamie’s life. Usually he couldn’t sleep because of James’s snoring but tonight it was for another reason. He had a choice. Save his own life or complete his dream. For as long as he could remember, he’d wanted to see the world’s most famous landmarks. The Statue of Liberty, the Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the list went on and on. He wanted to see them, to understand why they’d been built. When he turned eighteen he would see them all. But he wouldn’t live to eighteen. He was going to die in six months. He wondered what his father would say. A new thought came to him. Everyone dies sooner or later so… With that he packed his bags and called a taxi.
One Fatal Word
Jess Rees, Cwrt Sart
I was just walking. I didn’t mean for it to happen but that one word that changes a life forever can be fatal.
I was trudging through the mud, listening to the crunch of brown leaves and the rustle of scarpering squirrels. I would pause at the odd thing, a mossy log amongst trampled twigs and dry branches. It is a forest of wonders with deepest secrets at the roots, imagination at the tips of trees. The roots of the past run deep through the ground, whisper to each other excitedly.
The thing that struck me the most was not the ivy-covered cottage with a bird’s nest isolated in the chimney, out here in the middle of the forest. It was the gothic girl sitting on the porch, weeping into her lap and wringing her hands.
She was around twenty but was a small girl. As I approached, a twig gave way beneath me; she stood up with sudden anxiety, taller than I would have imagined, with her eyes darting forward.
Her jet black hair swung wildly, and she looked me in the eye.
‘Hello’ I called but she said nothing. She turned and seemed to vanish into the darkness of the forest but I could still see her shape vaguely through the trees.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and I felt like I was being watched.
I heard a gasp before what happened next. A gunshot rang out and a cry of strangled pain drifted towards me.
Whatever made me do this I do not know, but I ran towards the weeping girl. Just a simple word, ‘hello.’ If I hadn’t of disturbed her… She lay upon the mossy floor, bloody and still. Her brilliant blue eyes staring up at the canopy, seeing nothing.
Her body seemed to be complete resting there but I knew I had caused her death.