Ending to "Days Wait"

My language arts teacher told us to rewrite the ending to this short story we read during class. The short story is called "Day's Wait." In the story, the main character is a 9 year old boy. He comes down stairs and doesn't look good. His father calls a doctor to check if he's sick. The doctor says he just has a fever of 102 and that he will be fine. The little boy thinks he's about to die because he has a temperature of 102 Fahrenheit. The whole story is about how the kid thought he was going to die because a friend of his told him you couldn't live with a temperature of 42 in Celsius. The whole time the kid thinks he's about to die because he didn't realize that the thermometer was in Fahrenheit and not Celsius. He later tells his dad that he thought he was going to die and when his father tells him he's fine the 9 year old is relieved. I start my rewrite of the story right after the doctor tells the boy that he has a 102 temperature.

Ending to “Day’s Wait”

I’m just sitting their looking out of the window when I see my father coming into my room. He turns to me and takes a deep breath before he tells me that the doctors haven’t found a cure for what I have. I stare shell shocked at him hoping that he’s just joking. After a while I realize he’s telling the truth. My last hope of overcoming the disease is gone. Swept right out from under me. I hesitate for a second before I ask him, “How much longer do you think I have until the disease takes over and I die?” My father gives me a sad look and tells me, “I don’t know son. I really wish I could give you the answer.” I stare up at him with eyes full of sorrow. “The hospital doctor said I might live until I’m 13 even if they didn’t find the cure. I’m only 9 years old; I don’t want to die yet,” I say with tears streaming down my face. We are both just starting off into space for awhile. I think of all the happy memories I’ve had. My mind starts to drift of to when Mother was still alive. She died about 5 years ago in a car crash coming back from work. I don’t have many memories of her anymore. The only memory I have of her is when she would sing to me to get me to fall asleep. My dad always told me how proud she would have been of me and how much she loved me. I turn and look at my father. I saw big fat tears slowly rolling down his face. We had both just come to terms that I wouldn’t be around for much longer. The next couple days we just talked and he read me my favorite books. We talked a lot about Mother and he told me stories of when they were younger. Over the next couple of days my fever was starting to increase and I was sleeping for longer time periods. We both knew what was coming soon. I feel bad knowing I’m going to be leaving him alone in this world now that Mother’s dead and I’m almost too. A week later on one of the rare occasions that I was awake I turn to my dad and asked him If I would be going to heaven. He gave me a small smile and told me, “I have no doubt in my mind that you’ll be going to heaven. You might even see your mother up there.” I started to smile at the thought of seeing my mother again. I could feel sleep dragging me into a fog. Before sleep claimed me I turned to my dad and with a small smile still hanging on my lips I whisper, “I love you.” for the very last time. I slowly slip into a deep sleep that I know I won’t be waking up from.