Everyone who was left seemed to board the next plane with a hint of caution, except for Fayez and Lila. They were one of the last few to make it down the aisle, not caring their indifference earned them two cramped seats in the far back of the plane.

            Nothing mattered anymore.

            Halfway through departure, Fayez once again succumbed to another bout of sleep, making Lila wonder if he was simply an undiagnosed narcoleptic. But she had no time to mull over science when his head slid down the back of his seat and landed an inch above her shoulder.

            They slept for about two hours of the flight, until a bout of turbulence shook them awake. They exchanged a couple rounds of dark humor, joking that maybe they wouldn't escape death a second time. Lila laughed a little half-heartedly, at least having some hope for the future.

            The future had already wrapped itself around Fayez's neck, every inch the plane moved forward seeming to pull the rope of fate tighter and tighter.

            Fayez tugged at the collar of his T-shirt. "Planes usually aren't this hot, are they?"

            Lila noticed the goosebumps peppering the exposed bits of her arms. "I think you're feeling things."

            "I'm feeling a lot of things," he breathed, sliding his hand down to his heart. "Definitely tachycardic."

            "Can you put that in stupid-person terms?"

            Instead of a verbal response, he grabbed her hand and flattened it over his chest. Her breath hitched in her throat as she felt the strong thudding below her fingertips, now in sync with her own erratic heartbeat. She looked down at his large hand dwarfing her own, his thumb ever so gently circling her skin.

            "I think... I think you're having an anxiety attack."

            "And I think—" He paused to suck in a breath and heave a shuddery exhale. "I th-think you're helping."

            Knowing they were essentially alone this far back on a half-empty flight, she leaned over the armrest until her head landed in the middle of his chest, giving his shaking body the lightest squeeze.

            "I'm sorry," she whispered, resting her cheek on his heart. "My dad is sick, too."

            He traced circles over her back for a moment before his hand flattened against her jacket. "I did everything, you know? He was diagnosed with leukemia my freshman year of college. Once he began treatment, I started taking up all the back-end work at the restaurant between classes. Drove my three younger siblings back from school or to soccer practice when my mother was drowning with work. Sat for hours by his bedside doing chemistry problems or watching re-runs of his favorite sitcoms." His hand started to glide up and down her back, slumping her body farther against his own. "Two summers ago, I even donated my bone marrow. But it didn't work. It didn't work, and now... Now he has days left to live, Lila."

            She wished she could've whispered a million apologies, but she had a sense he didn't want to hear them. "What scares you the most?"

            "Becoming my father."

            "You mean...getting cancer?"

            He shook his head. "His role in life." His hand stopped moving for a moment as he mulled over his thoughts. "Med school was the first time in my life I finally felt free. Even with all the stress, it felt like I was finally doing something... Something for me."

            For me. Lila wasn't sure when the last time she'd done something for herself had been. Every choice she made in life was to either spite her mother or please her father. But unlike Fayez, she'd had many choices. She'd just made some terrible ones, like thinking three-thousand miles of distance wouldn't come back to haunt her one day.

            She glanced up, tracing the single tear dragging down his cheek with her eyes. "What if... What if he somehow lives, Fayez?"

            "Then I also still die."