Well, I've been tossing around this idea in my head for awhile, so I thought I'd post it and see where it goes from here. Any comments would be greatly appreciated since this is kind of a test run for me.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Three years had passed since he had been gone. Three whole years. And she remembered every day. If only she could go back, turn back time to their final days together. She could still picture that last, fateful day, as if it had just happened.

Natalie was sitting at her desk in her room, putting the final touches on the greasy carburetor and various parts that cluttered the surface. Her cell phone began to ring, its tinny sound filing the room. Natalie didn't recognize the number, so she wiped her hands on a clean rag and answered. "Hello?"

"Hi, is this Natalie?" an unfamiliar voice asked.

"Yes, it it. Who is calling?" she asked curiously. The voice on the other end hesitated.

"This is Keith's dad. Could you come down to the hospital?"

"Is something wrong with Keith? I just saw him last night. He didn't look too bad." She thought back to the night before.

"Just come. Please." The urgency in his voice alarmed her.

"I'll be right there," she said, hanging up. Without bothering to clean up, she raced out to her car. She didn't even realize she was speeding until lights flashed in her rearview mirror and sirens drowned out the traffic. "No, no, no!" Natalie cried in frustration, hitting the steering wheel with her first. She fumbled in the dash for her registration and dumped out the contents of her purse for her license. The officer tapped on her window.

"Good morning, miss. Do you know how fast you were going?"

"No, please just give me a ticket and let me go," she pleaded, her voice about 3 octaves higher than normal. The officer's eyebrows shot up.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked, not unkindly. She promptly burst into tears. The officer was now completely bewildered.

"It's my boyfriend. He's dying. I've got to get to the hospital," she half-wailed.

"Calm down, miss," he said calmly. "I need to see your license and registration." She handed the documents to him with shaking hands. He went to his patrol car and returned in a couple minutes, giving her license back. "I'm just giving a warning this time, Miss Anderson. Drive safely and slow down." She nodded woodenly at him before starting her car and pulling into traffic. Several minutes later, precious wasted minutes, she had parked her car and sprinted into the hospital. Natalie pressed the elevator button several times.

"Come on, come on!" she yelled at the panel. Finally, the elevator came, and she impatiently waited for the doors to open. Natalie almost ran down the hall to room 515. It was empty. Her breath caught in her throat and she hastily backpedaled into the hall. Keith's dad sat at the end of the hall, his shoulders slumped. "Mr. Zetterstrom?" she asked tentativel, "where's Keith?" He shook his head slowly. "Where is he? Did they move him?' she repeated. He couldn't speak. "Where did they take him? I want to see him." He gently placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Natalie, listen to me. Keith isn't here."

"Where is he?" she asked, her voice breathless and panicky.

"He…died. This morning. I'm so sorry, Natalie," he said thickly. She felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. No, this couldn't be happening. He must be lying. She had just talked to him yesterday. They had discussed his plans for the weekend after he was sprung from the hospital. The doctor had said that he had a minor case of pneumonia, but he would be released in a few days. She had gotten a carton of his favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream, still waiting in the freezer. There must have been a mistake. He wasn't dead. He couldn't be. "Natalie?" Mr. Zetterstrom broke through her fog of jumbled thoughts. "Are you okay?" He guided her to the corner and pushed her gently into a chair. "Natalie. I'm sorry that this is such a shock to you. I had just stepped out of the room to go for a walk, and he died while I was gone.."

"Did he hurt?" the words burst from her mouth, mixed with a whimper.

"No, honey, the doctor said that he just slipped away."

"He died all alone!" she cried out. "I wasn't there for him, and I should have been. He asked me to stay last night, just to sit with him. I had to go home. I should have stayed. Why didn't I stay?"

"It's going to be okay," he said soothingly.

"How can you say that?" she asked, somewhat angrily. "You lost your only son. There's no one else,"

"Oh, Natalie," he said sympathetically. "It's not easy. It's never been easy. I love my son. He's been the best thing in my life. These last few months have been so hard for me. It tears me in two to know that I couldn't do anything for my son. That he was going to die and I couldn't save him. No, it's not easy. The only comfort I have is that he is no longer in pain."

"I just don't understand," she said in a dazed voice. "I don't understand. Why Keith? Why him? He didn't deserve this."

"Life doesn't often make sense, and in this more than ever."

"I can't believe he's gone. Yesterday, he was teasing me about turning into a grease monkey and being corrupted, all due to his influence. I told him I didn't care," she remembered fondly. "With him I feel alive. Life was gray and dull before I met him. He turned everything into something special. I never thought that this would happen."

"He was very sick. And he didn't want to have any more treatment." His last words sank into her consciousness.

"What? What are you talking about? He told me that he was going to get the treatment and it would hopefully put him in remission. He never said anything about stopping."

"His type of leukemia was actually a very curable type, but he had been through it before. The cancer just kept returning, each time it was a little more aggressive."

"Why did he lie to me?" she sniffed. "Why did he have to hide that from me?"

"He didn't want you to hurt anymore."

"Well, it hurts now. It hurts more than ever. I can't believe he didn't tell me!" Natalie said through a flood of angry tears. "He got my hopes up and then he had to go a do something like this." Her rage dissipated quickly and sorrow returned. "I can't imagine life without him."

"He wouldn't want you to cry over him. Every time I would get depressed, he'd always crack some joke about how lucky he was to be kicking off early, just so he wouldn't be stuck with paying for my nursing home," he said, a sad smile crossing his face.

"Can I see him?" Natalie straightened up suddenly. It wasn't going to sink in until she saw him and knew.

"I'm sorry, but they…took him away already. He didn't want any sort of service or anything, just a cremation." At his words, the pain hit her again in waves. She wasn't ever going to see him again. There was no way for her to say goodbye. He was gone. Forever. Grief was bitter. She swallowed hard, trying to keep the pain in. If she started to cry, then the tears would never stop. And she didn't want to cry anymore. Ever since she had found out Keith's secret, she had been crying. But now he was at peace. He would never have to feel pain anymore. She straightened up, smoothing her clothes and tucking her blond hair behind her ears.

"Are you handling the arrangements?" she asked.

"Well, there really aren't many things. No service to plan. But…I do need to go through his things, which reminds me," he said, reaching into a bag by his feet. He pulled out a paper-wrapped box, with a bow haphazardly placed on the top. "Keith asked me to give this to you if…" he couldn't finish. "Go ahead, open it."

"Thank you," she said softly, taking the box from him. Natalie slit the paper with her nail, and carefully removed the wrapping, and placed it gently on the chair. Inside the box were four boxes of various sizes. She opened the largest box. A small plastic airplane lay inside.

"What's that?" he asked curiously. Natalie smiled through the tears that poured down her face.

"It's a reminder that there are no limits in life," she explained. "I learned a lot from your son, Mr. Zetterstrom. About life, death, pain."

"He couldn't stop talking about you, Natalie. You were the bright spot in many dark days in his life." He buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking from silent sobs. Natalie sat there, not knowing what to do. She tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder. They sat like that for several minutes until Mr. Zetterstrom had regained his composure. "I'm sorry. It's just been such a long couple of years," he apologized.

"Don't apologize. He's your son."

"The best son I could have ever had," he smiled sadly. "You should open the second box. I know what's in that one." She unwrapped the second one and peeled off several layers of tissue paper, revealing a small crystal angel figurine. "He had me get that for you. Actually, he wanted me to punch a hole in the top so you could hang it from your car rearview mirror. I told him that the angel would probably look nicer with an unblemished head.

"It's beautiful," she breathed, examining the fine details in the etchings. "There's something written on the back. 'True love never dies'." Natalie thought about the words. "If this is true, then why am I still here?"

"He thought the world of you. All this time, we hoped for a miracle to happen, that somehow a cure would come. It never did. But then there was you. You kept him going through all the pain and long days. He thought of you as his guardian angel."

"I'm no angel," she whispered. "A fallen one, maybe,"

"Not to him. To him, you were perfect," he said.

"I don't know why he thought of me so highly,"

"He loved you," Mr. Zetterstrom said simply.

"And I love him still," Natalie said quietly. "Always." She turned back to her package, trying to block out the thoughts that threatened to overwhelm her. The third box was tiny, and she took several seconds to peel the tape off. Inside the box was a single, shiny copper penny. This gift had no prior significance and she was puzzled.

"There's an explanation to go with that," Mr. Zetterstrom said. "Keith was reading a magazine one day, and there was a story about a couple whose son died and he had collected pennies. Soon after, during hard times, the mother would find shiny pennies just lying around. She said they were from her son. Pennies from heaven. And Keith wanted you to get started on your collection early. He told me to warn you to keep your eyes open for pennies because he'd be sending a lot your way. Kind of a reminder, so you wouldn't forget him." Her eyes blurred as she stared at the penny lying in her palm.

"No, I'll never forget him. I promised him I wouldn't."

Natalie was pulled from her memories by a car horn honking in traffic. She looked up from the park bench where she was sitting, her textbook lying unopened beside her. Three years had passed. She was now starting her junior year at the state university, coming close to the deadline to declaring her major. In many ways, her leaving for college had been a blessing, a way to start over. But things hadn't exactly changed. She still thought of him every day. The pain had lessened little over time.

Occasionally, Natalie would look out her dorm window in hopes that his yellow truck would be there, with him in it. But he was never there. She remembered his words telling her that he would always be there for her. Yet, here she was. Alone. If there was one thing that she regretted about all the time she had spent with him, it was that she had never been able to say good-bye. He had left her all alone. People told her that time healed all wounds, that the pain would eventually leave. But it wasn't true. At least not for her. All she had was the memories of her and Keith tucked away deep inside her heart. That and the now-worn penny that hung from a chain around her neck resting close to her heart. Natalie touched the penny and smiled wistfully. She had kept her promise. If only he had kept his. But he was gone, taking her heart with him. "True love never dies," she whispered aloud. "I wish I could believe that were true. If it is, then why are you gone? Why do I have to be here all alone?" There was no answer, just the lonely rustling sound of the wind blowing through the trees.

That's all I've got for now. Thanks for reading!