Chapter 1
With Mom and Dad away on business trip, my little brother Jacob and I were playing our stupid “I Have, You Don’t” game.
I grinned, spreading my palm open. “Mom baked me a birthday cake herself.”
Jacob casually folding down one finger. “So what? The house deed ONLY has my name on it.”
I was stunned. But he kept going, looking smug as hell.
“Oh, and I’m the ONLY beneficiary on Mom and Dad’s all insurance too!”
My hand froze mid air. Brain went blank.
The words I’d been about to say just… died in my throat.
What I’d originally wanted to tell him was that I have cancer.
Terminal. Stage four.
Not much time left, probably.
All I wanted was to spend my final days with family.
ut apparently, they have their precious son. That’s enough for them, isn’t it?
What, don’t believe me?”
acob let out this obnoxious snort and lazily strolled over to the safe, pulling out two property deeds and a stack of printed contracts.
Take a look, dummy.”
ly hands were shaking, but I opened them anyway.
ur current three-bedroom house. The old cabin we inherited from Grandpa. Fifteen different insurance policies.
very single one had “Jacob Mitchell” printed in bold black letters.
nd Emma Mitchell? I might as well have been invisible. Not even a footnote in this stack of legal documents that apparently decided my worth.
So? Looks like I win this round, huh?”
acob crossed his arms and leaned back with this smug-ass grin, looking like he’d just conquered the fucking world.
Yeah, I lost. I lost hard.
lecause I didn’t even know Dad kept important documents in a safe, let alone what the combination was,
But Jacob could pop it open like it was nothing.
Hello? Earth to Emma?” He waved his hand in front of my face. “You brain dead or something? Come on, keep playing.”
I closed the documents one by one, my voice coming out like sandpaper. “Fine. You win.”
This was a first. Usually when Jacob and I went at it, I’d wipe the floor with him every single time.
Because Mom always had this rule: “Emma’s the girl, Jacob. Boys need to learn to be gentlemen and let ladies go first.”
So I got first dibs on dessert. First pick of what we watched on Netflix.
Hell, I even got the master bedroom while Jacob was stuck in that shoebox down the hall.
Little Jacob used to whine about it constantly: “Mom and Dad totally play favorites! They love you way more than me!”
15.01
All these years, I’d been riding this wave of guilt.
Guilty enough that when he’d tell me to drop dead, I just wrote it off as typical little brother bullshit.
But now? Now I really was going to DIE.
Last month, the doctors sat me down and delivered the news: Stage four cancer. Metastasized everywhere. Surgery wasn’t even on the table anymore.
Focus on quality time,” they said. “Make your remaining days count.”
couldn’t bring myself to tell Mom and Dad. They loved me most, right? It would absolutely destroy them.
o I figured I’d ease into it with Jacob first-you know, break it to him through our stupid game. Maybe he’d help me figure out how to tell our parents without ompletely shattering their world.
ut now? Fuck that. I wasn’t telling him jack shit.
cob cleared his throat. “Don’t give up so fast. You’ve still got three fingers left.”
shook my head, forcing a smile that felt like it might crack my face. “Nah, I’m done. It’s late anyway. Night.”
omething in my tone must’ve set off alarm bells because his cocky expression flickered for a second.
lo, you’re not gonna do something stupid, are you? Like… hurt yourself or whatever?”
hen came the gut punch.
Cause if you’re planning to off yourself, do it somewhere far away from here. I don’t want Mom and Dad pinning your drama on me.”
hat was just Jacob being Jacob-I’d gotten used to his shit over the years.
ut now the word-“off yourself”-hit me like a sledgehammer. My nose started tingling, and I could feel tears threatening to spill over.
paused at my bedroom door, not trusting myself to turn around.
ist as I was about to escape, Jacob’s voice followed me: “Wait, Em! I’ve got one more thing to tell you-”
Nope.”
didn’t look back, keeping my voice steady even though I was falling apart inside.
lave it. Go to bed, Jacob.”
shut my door and pulled out the bucket list I’d been working on for weeks.
ike up to Mount Wilson for sunrise. Take a family photo at Santa Monica Pier. Road trip through the national parks…
il these dreams of spending my final months making memories with the people I loved most.
Vas any of it even worth it now?
bit down hard on my lip, refusing to let a single tear fall.
