End of the Bucket List
Grace was going to die, and soon. She needed to set things right before she kicked the bucket. Picking up her notebook, she flipped through the pages of all her final wishes. Page one, swim with dolphins. There’s a little picture in the corner of her and her best friend, Robert, doing just that. She flipped through every page, looking at the wish and then the corresponding picture of Rob and her fulfilling that wish. As she turned to the second to last page, she stared at the hard and unforgiving words. No matter how much Grace didn’t want to do this, she had to. She owed it to him.
“Hey, Grace!” Robert called. “So, what crazy adventure are you gonna drag me on today?”
“None.” Grace replied as she stepped into Robert’s house.
“Oh? So are you finally going to tell me about your feelings instead of distracting me with dolphins and candy?”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“YAHOOOOOOO-OUCH! WHY’D YOU PUNCH ME?”
Sitting down on his comfy couch, she laughed. “Cause you’re being a goof.”
“Alright.” Robert surrendered, knowing that winning a fight with her was impossible. Sitting down next to Grace, he traced her hard gaze to the picture she was staring at. “You like that picture of Kate and us? Her mom gave it to me during the funeral. Why didn’t you come to that, anyways?”
She looked away. “I couldn’t deal with it.” She swore to herself she wouldn’t lie to him anymore, but that wasn’t technically a lie. Robert just sighed and grabbed her hand.
“It’s okay, Grace, I’m gonna find the person who did that to her and…” He trailed off.
She grimaced. “Okay, Robert.” His grasp on her hand tightened.
“I’m gonna aveng-” He started.
“I need you to do something for me.” Grace interrupted.
“Uh… What?” He shifted nervously.
“Please hold this.” She shoved a sealed letter into his hands. As he started to open it, she put her hands on top of his to stop him. “And don’t open it until tomorrow morning.”
“Okay?”
Grace smiled as she pulled out her camera. “Hold up the letter for the camera!” After the picture was taken, she made her way to the door.
“Will you explain the pictures to me in the letter?” Robert quietly asked, staring at the letter as if it was an impossible puzzle.
“Yes.” She said, before shutting the door.
—-
That night Grace fulfilled her last wish as well as one of Robert’s wishes.
That night, Grace had killed herself.
And, as Robert learned the next morning, she had avenged Kate’s murder in doing so.
