Every Last Moment Counts 4

A soft, faint voice called out to him in his dream. Viiiiiiktooor...
Viktor suddenly awoke to a faint moaning in the bed next to his. "Mommy... Daddy... Viktooooor..."
"Sarah? What's wrong?" he asked, sincerely alarmed by the faintness of her voice.
"I can't breathe..." she wheezed weakly.
Viktor grabbed his crutches and hobbled over to her bed, nearly pulling down the curtain between them in the process. They both knew it was time. He felt for the bed and kneeled before it, setting his crutches aside. He leaned over Sarah, for although he could not see her, he could feel her presence in the smell of stale vomit and the wheezing of her breath.
"I'm... scared..."
Pity and sadness overcame Viktor. Though he had always known in his heart that this would happen, he had kept telling himself that she always had just one more day left. He still held on to the smallest glimmer of hope that this would pass and she would be fine, but he secretly knew the truth of what would become of her.
"It's okay, Sarah... I'm here..."
"I dun want... to... die..."
"Maybe you won't!" Viktor said frantically. By now, he was grasping at straws, willing to do or say anything to make her better. "Maybe you'll get better!"
"Will ya... tell me again... what Heaven's like?"
Viktor could not help but shed a few tears over this. He grabbed Sarah's hand. "Well..." he sniffed. "It's hard to describe. But you get to be with God and the angels... and you'll see your brother again... It's a really happy and warm place, and you'll get to stay there forever."
"Sounds nice... will I... see ya there... someday...?"
Viktor couldn't bear to drudge up his past as evidence that he might not make it there. Not now, not when she was dying. "Yes! Yes. I'll be there for you," he immediately replied.
"Don't leave... me... I dun want to be... alone..."
"You won't be. I promise."
He sat before her bed, holding her hand in silence for hours.