Unfortunate Circumstances

“Hey! Um- excuse me!”

Nate looked up at the tourist. She was young, but older than he’d ever be.

“Er- sorry, I’m not used to this. Uh… hi.” She stuck a hand out to him, two friends following close behind. He decided to shake.

“I’m… Frankie. What’s… what’s your name?”

“Nate.”

“So, Nate… um… have you ever- did you ever think about maybe doing some voice acting?”

“Maybe… yeah. No, yeah, I have… definitely dreamed of that a few times in my life, but-“

“That’s great! There’s this book, you see… we’re trying to get it adapted into an anime. And your voice- my god- lemme hear it again-“

“Uh…”

“It sounds… exactly l-like how I imagine the main guy. So…” The excited fangirl fiddled with her hair as she breifly looked away. “I apologize for hitting you with this out of the blue, but… wanna work with us?”

Nate looked up at this strange, strange person. The situation didn’t make him sad per say, but it was certainly awkward.

“I… no, I can’t.”

“You… can’t?” Frankie became afraid she’d scared him in her excitement. “If you just don’t want to, that’s completely fine, I’d never pressure anyone, let alone a child, but if there’s some reason you’re not able to-“

“I can’t.” He repeated. The sheer annoyance of this type of situation set in again. It wasn’t often it happened, but when it did…

“…Oh. Sorry. If… if you don’t mind telling me, why not?”

“I’m dying.”

“Huh?” Frankie whimpered. At this point Katie was trying to pull her away, just like her little sister had done to her so many times in the past. “I-Is that a joke….?”

“Nope.”

“Oh. Oh… god. Um…”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“D-don’t say you’re sorry! What- how are you- c-can we help?”

“Nah.” He shook his head. “It’s okay.”

“What’s going on with you?” Tara stepped in. Their interest levels had been raised enough to where the awkwardness no longer mattered.

“Got a… disease... it’s terminal. Decided I’d… try and spend the rest of it here instead of staying cooped up in a bed. Gotta… make the most of things, you know?” He smiled. That usually made his family back home happy. Or cry. It usually made them cry.

Nobody in the group of would-be anime directors could think of anything to say.