Building Her Throne Burying My Heart (Claire) novel Chapter 47

“I know everything now. You don’t have to hide it from me anymore.” Aaron grabbed my arm, his voice shaking as he finally let it all out.

He told me what happened when he brought me to the hospital. I was in rough shape, barely holding on. The doctors checked my old records and saw my previous test results. When Aaron saw the diagnosis, he just froze. He just stood there, silent, not knowing what to do.

“How long has he been like this? Has he even started treatment?” Aaron had asked, his voice full of panic.

One of the doctors from the next room recognized me. “I remember this guy, he was here last month. He didn’t want to believe the first diagnosis, so we ran the tests again just to be sure. His mother’s a patient too. He still hasn’t taken our advice, just went with the most basic treatment…”

That was when Aaron finally understood why I kept hustling from one job to another, picking up every shift I could. Why I was always so tired and distracted. I’d been trying to shoulder all of this by myself.

“You really should talk to him,” the doctor had told Aaron. “He needs to take his treatment seriously. He’s so young…”

“Thank you,” Aaron had managed to say.

When he got back to my room, he found me unconscious, my face thin, lips cracked and dry. He couldn’t hold it in anymore. He covered his face and sobbed.

In his mind, I was always the guy who smiled, always ready to help, never talking about my past but sometimes zoning out, lost in thought. Now he finally realized just how much I had been going through alone.

“You go through all this and you don’t tell me anything,” Aaron said, his voice thick, almost angry. “Do you even see me as your friend? Darleen’s sick, and you barely mention it. And you… you’re this sick, and you don’t even try to get better.”

He rambled on, voice cracking, and I finally woke up. As I started to get up, he lost it.

“Can’t you fight for yourself? Just once? Even if it’s a long shot?”

He held my arm tight, pleading. I looked up at him, my chest aching. Of course I knew what he meant. But what choice did I have? Life and death weren’t up to me anymore.

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