All Chapters of The Boy Who Died: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

50 Chapters

Proof

Marcie“Nice work,” a girl whose name I don’t know says after our Nursing of Older Adults. “I thought Dummy-nic was a goner.”I blink a few times before the pieces slide into place. The old rubber test dummy I’ve been using for at least four years now gets a new name every year, and this year, it’s Dummy-nic. She’s talking about my save in the bronchodilator-cardiomyopathy example.“Thanks.” I smile awkwardly.She nods and wanders off. People don’t usually talk to me after class, but I always feel like I’m doing it wrong.Whatever. I pound down the stairs while pulling my phone out of my back pocket, hoping for an email from Everett with results. We watched movies until I passed out on the couch last night, and Heather told me this morning that he said it might take a couple of days, but “might” means it also might not.Nothing from Everett. But I do have a text from Ben. I swipe it open and read the message.I’d be a real lifesaver?The girl who just complimented me bumps into my sho

Last Updated : 2025-01-04

Blast From the Past

LilyMy shoulders heave, and I feel like I’m about to puke, but no tears come out anymore. I don’t have any left. I roll over on my bed and stare at the thin streams of warm afternoon sunlight squeezing in through the gaps in my blinds.Two days ago, at this time, I was out of school early, sitting next to Theresa at her mom’s hair salon, primping for prom. I was holding her hand and laughing. I was complaining about Michaela because Ryan—The sobs take me again.He wasn’t supposed to…to…I can’t even think it yet.Someone knocks on my door. I ignore it. Either Mom will just come in, or it’s someone else, and I don’t want to see them anyway.The door creaks open. “Hon?”Mom. I don’t turn over.“Do you want some lunch?” she asks. “I got another round of condolence gifts, and there’s a platter of deli meat in here. I could make you a nice sandwich.”When she dragged me away from the scene two days ago, I was still screaming. I couldn’t stop. My own words echo in my head on a loop—stop, l

Last Updated : 2025-01-04

Mending Fences

Marcie“Hey, Lily! You gotta listen to me,” Theresa says.That doesn’t make any sense. She left. And why is my face wet? I cried all my tears out days and days ago. Something harsh and fast echoes around my room. I run my hands through my hair—And find it’s braided, something I never had enough hair for. Had. Back in high school.“Come on, Lily, breathe,” Theresa says. “You’re scaring me.”I crack one of my eyes open. Dark wood railing. Shelves behind me. Book titles in French. Dana’s voice whispers in my ear, coaxing me through a simple grounding exercise.Inhale. I’m in the library at Ardent.Exhale. The movement of the railing in front of me is my own rocking.Inhale. Theresa’s voice is coming through the phone crushed between my shoulder and my ear.Exhale. It’s been six years since Ryan died.“Good,” Theresa says. “Breathe slowly.”I suck in another breath and run my hands over myself. I’m bigger than I was then. My clothes are different. I haven’t spoken to Theresa since that d

Last Updated : 2025-01-04

A Loss

BenI tweak the colors on a photograph and check my phone. Nothing. That’s fine. I open my email and type out a quick response to a private portrait request—not right now, but maybe around Thanksgiving—then check my phone. Nothing. Great. I sip my coffee, swirl the latte around in my mouth to taste the tiny remaining flecks of cinnamon, and… check my phone.Nothing!Fuck it. I open the message thread with Marcie and read what I sent over again. Yup, it seems just as normal as it did nearly two full days ago. I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday. Half a week between the date and now, and she still hasn’t answered. Even a perfectly normal guy would start assuming he was being ignored at this point.High-pitched laughter floats over the cubicles, and I jerk my head up. Heather is finally here. If anyone knows what I did wrong, it’s going to be her. I jump out of my chair and cut across the Arkly offices to her desk. She’s in the process of setting down her backpack, and two of her frie

Last Updated : 2025-01-04

The Package

MarcieI fidget with my phone in line at the basement mailroom of Delacruz-Webb. Maybe it wasn’t smart to cut out of Ethical Health and Technology early, but Professor Shields was going over a paper we’d been assigned, like, a dozen times. And it’s a Friday.And the box Theresa promised to send is here.The line moves forward. I show my student ID to the bored attendant then receive the massive package. It isn’t wrapped, just taped. The same box I remember. I mutter my thanks and hurry out.My heart races as I rush home. I unlock the apartment door and re-lock it behind me awkwardly, juggling the oversized package. I feel like it’ll disappear if I put it down. The dark living room means Heather has work today, which means she won’t be back until dinner, but I still go to my bedroom and shut that door behind me, too. If only I could install a lock on that without voiding our security deposit.With a huge exhale, I set the box down in the middle of my room. It looks exactly like I remem

Last Updated : 2025-01-04

In the Lion’s Den

MarcieI stand on the front stoop of an apartment building I’ve seen once before trying to catch my racing breath. Ben texted me back right away and said he was free tonight. Maybe I should’ve expected that. Maybe I should’ve backed down when he asked to meet somewhere private because the explanation is kind of personal. Maybe I should’ve told Heather I was coming here instead of saying Dana had a late appointment open up.But I’m so close I can taste it. A bright picture unfolds in my mind. I walk upstairs, and Ben-Ryan confesses, and he’s carted off to jail where he further confesses that I never even hallucinated Ryan because he was visiting me all along. Dana apologizes and says I’m done with therapy. I change my major and get the degree in theater I wanted. Hell, I move back home, and everyone there apologizes too. I get a chance to be the person I was always meant to be, without Ben-Ryan’s interference.I buzz apartment four.“Hi, uh, I’m downstairs,” I say. “Marcie. I’m Marcie.

Last Updated : 2025-01-04

By Heart

BenI flinch back from Marcie and her question. She just had to ask again, and right when I almost forgot that was why she agreed to come over. My stomach twists, and I feel like a science experiment.But she hasn’t pulled out of my hold. Her dark eyes search my face. She seems interested.Whatever it takes to keep her. I suck in a deep breath.“Believe it or not, I didn’t spend my whole childhood inside playing weird video games,” I say. “I wasn’t much for team sports, but my dad got me into rock climbing. First, we did those little fake walls at gyms, back when I was nine or ten. But they got easy pretty quickly, so we moved onto real mountains.” I smile grimly. “Or as close as we could come to mountains in Illinois.”Marcie furrows her brow, but she nods. I ache to smooth that little wrinkle, make her understand.“Anyway, when I graduated from high school, my parents asked what I wanted for a present. There was this cliff just outside of town. Not a mountain, not by a long shot, bu

Last Updated : 2025-01-04

Unmoored

MarcieMy mouth drops open. He doesn’t remember anything? A whole childhood, just missing?“But you told so many stories,” I say.“Secondhand.” He shrugs. “Familiar things were supposed to help me regain my memories, so most of those first few weeks were just Mom pumping me full of stories about myself between sobbing fits.”“Fuck.” I sink back against the couch. I lost eighteen years, too, but more like if I’d lost the sweater Grandma bought me one Christmas that I absolutely hated by “accidentally” leaving it on the bus. He really lost it. I can’t imagine having so much nothing to look back on. Even just hearing about it, I feel like a boat set out to sea, lost and drifting.“The people who found you… they’re all you know about the accident?”He nods. What a stupid question. I don’t even know what I’m asking anymore.“Your life starts in the hospital,” I murmur.“Hey, don’t worry.” He smiles. “The life I don’t remember started in St. Mary Medical too. I was born there, or so I’ve be

Last Updated : 2025-01-04

Leap of Faith

MarcieBen leads me to the final door, the one I guessed hid his bedroom.“Shoes off.” He smiles sheepishly and kicks off his slippers.I untie my sneakers. He opens the door. Inside, the walls are also soft beige, and the furniture looks like rental stuff, but I barely notice anything other than his patient gaze on me. I’m not a power grid anymore. I’m something warmer, softer. I remove my shoes, and he pulls me inside the room.Then, because it’s him, he fumbles for a few minutes. The light level isn’t right, so he puts on a lamp instead. It’s too quiet, so he plays some music then changes the playlist three times. I lie on the bed, watching him, that warm feeling growing all the while.Quickly, before I forget, I text Heather that I headed to the library after my session and not to expect me home soon.Finally, Ben turns to me, his eyes dark. I pat the mattress. He ignores the instruction and climbs on top of me instead, coaxing a surprised gasp from my lips. With a smile, he kisse

Last Updated : 2025-01-04

Smooth Sailing

BenI drum on the corner table at Fitzgerald’s, a little restaurant off campus Marcie and I have been going to a lot over the past three weeks of dating.Three weeks. That still feels crazy to say. Three amazing weeks of dinners out, evenings in my apartment, stolen moments after class. Well, fewer of those. She pretty much insists that we spend time in my apartment or off campus. But she has a roommate, and I don’t, so I’m fairly sure that’s normal. And things are so easy with her, even after my confession. She looks at me like I’ve grown a second head every now and again, but those moments are getting fewer and farther between. I’m hopeful they’ll disappear entirely before too long. We’re just getting used to each other, a little more every time we hang out.And she’ll be here soon. I run my hands through my hair. The wind kind of wrecked it. I really should wear a hat as the temperature drops, but somehow I only brought one from home, and I haven’t been able to find it in like a we

Last Updated : 2025-01-04

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