Upon hearing a knock, I ran down the stairs, jumping over all the toys like a monkey swinging through the forest. With my heart pounding, I listened to my rapid breathing. I then swung open the front door and met face to face with a broad structure. Looking up, I cannot contain my smile any longer. I embraced my childhood friend, Robert, in my giant bear hug.
Still hugging him, I exclaimed, “I’m so happy to see you! OMG, I have soooo many questions.” When Robert patted my head like a little puppy, I felt his familiar, warm hand that I had missed for 6 years.
“I see you haven’t changed one bit. As energetic as always,” Robert replied.
Backing up, I furrowed my eyebrows and pouted my lips. “Hey, I grew taller and more mature,....” I rambled on, as I continue to defend and explain the areas of my growth.
“You sure?” Robert teased, raising on his toes so he was a head taller. Chuckling, I then invited him into the house. I interrogated him about his life back in New York, until I knew all the details like I had been there before.
On Robert’s first day to Atlanta High school, we got to school especially early so that I could personally show him everything. It was still early spring, so by the time we got there, the field at the school was still covered in a thin layer of frost and the slight breeze was enough to send shivers up the spine. In the rush of getting to school, I forgot my jacket, and Robert gave me his. He shook his head and sighed, “Huh, just like when we were younger. Every time you’re too eager to do something, you forget everything else. It’s still a wonder how you became the school president.”
“Hey, that’s not nice,” I grumbled. I playfully bumped him on the side.
After viewing his schedule, I noticed that we have first and fifth period together. Excitingly, I escorted him to our class. When we walked down the hallway, I saw him stumble almost imperceptibly like he suddenly lost his balance. Unusually, this small action sends questions through my brain. That’s weird, he is usually really careful. Didn’t he also trip over himself getting off the car? Is something wrong? Maybe he was just nervous. When we reached the classroom, Robert jokingly bowed and said “M’lady” in his terrible British accent. This made me leave behind my insecure feelings as we entered the classroom.
During lunch, I enthusiastically introduced my best friend to Robert. “Liz, this is Robert, my old childhood friend. Robert, this is Elizabeth, my best friend,” I explained. After the brief introduction, Robert suddenly stumbled into a classmate. While they talked, Liz whispered, “Wow, you never mentioned he was this cute. Man, you hit a jackpot.”
“What? We’re just friends…,” I blurted. Yet, my face betrayed me and I blushed from ear to ear.
“Whatever you say,” Liz continued as she took a bite out of her sandwich.
Right after the lunch bell rang, I stood up from my seat to throw away my lunch. However, Robert did the same and we collided with each other. From the impact, a slip of yellow paper slipped out of the jacket pocket I was wearing, which belonged to Robert, as he had given to me earlier. Before I can regain my balance, Robert swiftly stuffed the paper into his jeans. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as he quickly pushed us to our classroom.
As the year progressed, the school work only piled higher, and the responsibilities as school presidents increased. I became really busy, and I scarcely spend time outside of school. Balancing everything is already more than I can have on my plate, so I had to cancel many of my plans with Robert and Liz. I wanted to create an enjoyable senior year for everyone.
However, as the school president, it comes with a lot of consequences. Many people are jealous of my perfect life; with loving parents, being financially stable, having caring friends, and being the school president, ruling over everyone else. They continuously call me out and verbally attack me. Somehow, Robert finds out about the bullies and stepped out like a knight in shiny armor. He is always the star in my night sky.
“You are my hero, you know that?”  I asked.
One day after school, I was working on my homework like any other day. Suddenly my phone next to me started buzzing like crazy. Looking at the caller, it seems that Robert’s mother was calling me. Unsurely, I picked up my phone and answered it. Even though we had known each other for such a long time, she only calls me in emergencies. 
“Hello. What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I just got a call from the hospital, saying that Robert just fainted because of his cancer,” Robert’s mother explained, urgently.
“What? What… do you mean? What… cancer?” I stammered. With thousands of questions spinning in my head, I couldn’t choose just one to ask.
“Wait, are you saying that he didn’t tell you about his cancer? That was the whole reason he moved back.”
“Oh my God, why did I figure it out sooner?” I mumbled. Everything makes sense now, the fainting and the slip of paper. That must have been a doctor’s appointment.
“Nevermind that, hurry and go to the hospital.”
“Ok.” I agreed as I hurriedly hung up. I grabbed my keys and hopped unto the car.
As I drove, the heavy rain clash against my car and window, obstructing my view until I could only see a few feet before me. As I stared at the road, it was as if looking inside my foggy and confused thoughts. “The rain doesn’t symbolize anything,” I kept trying to convince myself, “it is only a stupid superstition.” I stole a glance at my speedometer and saw that I was way past the speed limit. However, my goody-to-shoe instincts didn’t take over, and the only thought in my head was getting to the hospital as fast as I can to see Robert again.
Once I got to the parking lot, I dashed out of my car and ran toward the hospital. Not bothering to get an umbrella, I was soaked to the skin by the time I got there. My mascara was smeared and my hair was dripping wet, but I still ran to the room Robert’s mother had texted me. By the time I got there, Robert was peacefully asleep, but his face was as pale as a ghost. As I slowly sat in the chair next to his bed, making sure I didn’t wake him, I stared longingly at his face and listened to his rhythmic heartbeat shown on the monitor next to him.  I held his hand tightly, afraid that if I let go, he would slowly slip out of my grasp, and never wake up. For hours, I just sat there, not moving, not talking, until he finally woke up. He sluggishly opened his ocean blue eyes and then focused on me.
“Hey, you look like a mess,” he said weakly.
“Like you can say that,” I whispered back. Just then it was as if he turned the switch to my emotions. My anger started boiling up. “ Why didn’t you tell me you have cancer? We don’t keep secrets from each other! Do you know how worried  I was?” I spatted. Angry tears rolled down my cheeks. Suddenly, the barrier to my tears broke, and I started bawling like a baby. Robert held me close, soothing me with his comforting voice. As I laid there, I can hear his heart beat in a slow, stable tone.
Robert continued his chemotherapy, which gave him a few more months to live. Despite the treatment, his cancer is incurable. The cancerous cell had already spread too far, causing an inevitable death. However, after spending a few days, the hospital decided to discharge him so he could spend the last few weeks of his life with his family and friends. Through this, we decided to spend a day at the amusement park that we used to love so much.
As Saturday slowly approached, I became more excited about our “date”. We had the best time of our life, laughing about random things, and riding crazy roller coasters. For a whole day, we just forgot about our problems and lived normally.
Passing by the ring toss game, Robert stopped and recalled, “Do you remember how you use to cry because you couldn’t get one of those big giant duck prizes?”
“Ya,” I replied, “I love those times.”
“I bet you five bucks that I can get it before you can,” Robert challenged.
“Ya, you’re on,” I declared.
As we played our intense game, the sun began to set behind the horizon. Eventually, Robert won the contest and got both the money and the prize. Unhappily, I march off towards the exit. However, I suddenly heard a big thud. I spun around only to see Robert laying on the ground, not moving. My heart stopped for a second, but then I saw a tiny movement in his arms. Then Robert burst out laughing.
“You should’ve seen your face. It was pure shock,” Robert chortled.
“Hey, now you owe me something,” I snapped.
“Sure, what do you want? Your expression was priceless,” Robert said, still snickering.
“Gimme the giant duck prize,” I commanded, reaching out my hand.
“Ok,” Robert said cheerfully, handing over the stuffed animal.
After a few more rides and games, we decided that the Ferris wheel should be our last ride of the day. We hopped onto the cart, both exhausted from the exotic day. This is the first time in many years that I had so much fun. As our cart slowly crawled to the top, the beautiful sunset shone through the window, casting an orangish red shadow on our seat. We both enjoyed the moment of silence.
Finally, I spoke. “If every day could be like this, there wouldn’t be a single regret.”
“Yeah,” Robert said quietly, almost a whisper, still staring at the diminishing sun.
The ride finally came to end, just like our day. Right when we were about to leave the amusement park, Robert collapsed into my arms.
“Haha, it’s not funny anymore,” I mocked, rolling my eyes. When Robert didn’t reply, I started feeling the warmth of his forehead, and how sweaty he was. My mind raced while I stared at him. A moment later, I snapped out of my trance as nearby tourist started shouting for help, seeing Robert’s lifeless body. I hurriedly drew out my phone and called the ambulance. Not long after, the distant siren grew louder, and the paramedics rushed out in their bright red suits to load Robert onto the truck. All that time, I just stood there, surrounded by people rushing and shouting. I replayed the scene over and over in my head, thinking that if I had noticed earlier, I could have gotten him to the hospital before his fever got this much worse. Right when the ambulance was about to leave, I jumped on, and we sped off. The siren rings in my ears, the continuous honking blares, but the only thing I can see is a blurry image of Robert.
At the hospital, it was as if I was back at the amusement park. Nurses and doctors were running around the place and there was chaos everywhere. My usual image of a clam doctor dissipates and is replaced with a frenzy doctor having eye bags as big as pandas. This sent me back to the amusement park, with paramedics and people all in a rush. On the other hand, Robert was sent to a quiet room at the end of the hallway. The intern doctor diagnosed him that his cancer had gotten a lot worse and states that he need immediate surgery. As Robert laid in bed rapidly breathing, again, I held his hand and begged, “Don’t you dare leave me, just hold…” Before I can finish my statement, his hand slipped between mine as the nurse wheeled him into the operating room.
Sitting in the waiting room, I watched the clock tick on, minutes after minutes, hours after hours. Tick tock, tick tock, as the giant pendulum swung back and forth. My dread only became greater, seeing a doctor with a grave expression. He walked to me, pulling off his scrub cap. Looking at me in the eyes, he explained slowly and clearly, “I’m sorry. There were some complications during the surgery and we couldn’t save him.” For the past few hours, I had felt empty and drained, as if someone had sucked all the life from me. Even now, I didn’t feel a thing, no pain, and no shock.
Right before I left, a nurse came up to me.
“Are you Amy, Robert’s friend?” she inquired.
“Yes,” I said, barely audible.
“Before Robert went into surgery, he told me to give this to you if he didn’t survive the surgery,” she recounted. The nurse handed me a locket and an envelope.Without another word, I quietly slipped out of the hospital.
Back at home, I curled up into a ball on the bed and tried to block out all of my emotions. For days, I just laid there, only moving if it was necessary.  By the fourth day of moping around, a quiet knock at my bedroom door shook me awake. The door slowly creaked open as Liz entered the room. She climbed up the bed and curled up next me. She then softly spoke to me, flattening my messy hair at the same time.
“Hey, you okay?” she asked, “wait, that is so stupid of me.” I didn’t reply. “I heard you got a note from Robert. Did you open it yet?”
I shook my head bit by bit.
“Oh,” she answered, and stood up and brought it to me. “Open it,” she demanded.
Finally, I spoke, “No, I’m scared that if I open it he would really be gone.”
Liz climbed back onto the bed and tenderly wrapped my fingers around the envelope. “It’s okay. I will help,” she coaxed. She helped me sit back up, and turned on the light next to the bed. I gently ripped open the envelope and took out the letter.
“Dear Amy,
I’m sorry I can’t be part of your life AMY-more. However, I wish that you would continue to live contently. I want you to face future problems with that radiant smile on your face, but it is still okay to let out your emotions once in awhile. Hold your chin high and walk forward.
You always make me laugh until my stomach hurt. You are dedicated, caring, friendly and an awesome friend. You always put others before yourself and defend the weak. I bet you are the most popular girl in school. :) You have always been there to support me, from childhood till now. I wish you will never change this about you. You are the hero, not me.

I had always loved you, and goodbye.
Sincerely,
Robert”
I took the heart-shaped locket and opened it up. Inside on the left side, there was a picture of the two of us when we were little. He had an arm around my neck, with the both of us smiling like there is no sadness in the world. However the right side, there was an empty space. I printed out the picture we took today at the amusement park and placed it cautiously in the locket. Holding the letter again, big round splotches began to stain the paper. “Still a joker even when he is dying,” I thought to myself, as I realize the stains were my tears. I took the locket, duck prize, and letter, and hugged it close to my chest. “Goodbye,” I whispered back.