What scares a teenager more than death?
For that I can not give you an answer.
Seeing the cold hands of death take
a loved one brings on more than just fear.
It is chilling. It is numbing. It is eerie.

One day you are full of life,
then a pain in your side
turns into a hospital visit.
That visit turns into another,
and another, and another.

Grandpa, you were given a year to live,
but even that was too much to ask for.
The cancer was relentless, slowly turning you
into a shadow of what you once were.

Nine months later,
I am with you on your deathbed.
The cancer has rendered you unable to speak.
It was like a vacuum, slowly sucking up
every fiber of your being.
You are silent, yet I hear what you would say.
I know you can hear me pleading my final goodbyes
and thanks to you for all the support you gave me.

Several hours later you take your final breath.
A state of grief fills the room like nothing I had ever
experienced before. You are gone.
Hopelessness and worry wells up inside me.
I’ll never speak to my grandfather again.