Holding a hand (extended)

This is the story of a girl who has made her last request to read a touching story.

My name is Benjamin and I'm just your regular student studying in college and working as a ghostwriter in a small publishing company. Well, I haven't really been living decently at all since I'm just eating fast food and instant noodles. So I thought stuff like this might happen because of my lifestyle but this..
This is absurd.
I didn't really die to anything of the sort but direction my life was going was absurd. To start things off was my unpopularity with girls, losing my money to scams, items not dropping down vending machines and unluckiness were the very things that are able to define my life. But today, it might not really have been an unlucky but an unfortunate event.
I received a letter meant for someone else today, being a kind person and respecting the contents of the letter, I went to the return address written on the letter to personally return the later.
“Um.. Hello. I received this letter in my letterbox today, I think you might have accidentally sent this to the wrong address.” I informed, giving my best first impression of myself to the person opening the door.
“Hey kid, you mind helping?” He asked, completely ignoring the letter.
“Sure, but I might not be of help.” I replied.
“Thanks, sorry about this and the letter.” He apologized.
Bringing me into his house, I only assumed that he needed some help with the home appliances but my guess didn't hit it's target.
“Hey, can you talk to my daughter?” He asked.
“I don't mind, but why?” I replied, asking why he would ask such a question.
Telling me more about his daughter as he brought me to her room. Carrie Woods, a nine year old girl who lost both her parents at the age of two and die to not haven't any relatives she was sent to the orphanage until she was six years old when Frank Woods adopted her. She has been spending her whole life in her room since she has a fragile heart because of this, her time left to live might not be long.
“Idiot!” She insulted.
“Huh?” I gasped, popping a vein.
“I wonder why you would say something like that.” I scoffed, her for her insult.
“It's because you're treating me like a child, idiot.” Carrie informed, passing me the salt.
“Hahaha… A child is a child…” I frowned, forcing a smile.
“Hmph, I know much more about the world than world than you.” Carrie bragged,
“I personally read and memorize all the contents of the books in here!” She added, looking down on me.
“But Carrie, there are wonderful things in this world that are not in books.” I informed, trying to act cool and to change the topic.
“Can you answer all the legal codes this country has?” Carrie questioned,
“Explain every type of chemical reaction in detail and their respective products.” She asked, lowering her expectations.
Unable to answer her questions, I gave up and apologized to her before explaining the situation to her. With no ability to change her state the only thing I could ask her before she had to go was what her last request was.
“As you can see, I love books..” Carrie said.
“I want to read a story that can touch my heart with family as it's theme.” Carrie informed, stating her last request.
“It's just a job suited for me! I'll give you a tear jerking story by tomorrow!” I bragged, having confidence in my ghostwriting skills.
The next day when I came back to give her the story I made overnight, upon receiving my draft she barely took an hour to finish reading it. Before I could ask what she thought of it, she executed it by ripping it apart.
“Not good at all.” Carrie informed, shrugging her shoulders.
“I took you a little too lightly. Next, I'll really show you the skills of a pro.”
Again, when I returned to give her another draft, she executed my draft again by throwing it on the bin.
After continuing her killing spree on my drafts continuously for a week, she finally stopped killing my drafts and started to talk about her thoughts about it.
“I think this is well made.” Carrie commented, putting my draft away.
Finally getting an answer from her was like a once in a lifetime thing, when I was enjoying my time being happy from getting a reply from her, she killed it off again with her cold words.
“But it's not good enough.” She informed.
“How…?” I asked, getting nervous.
“I think a good text is made by mixing various different styles of writing but, your story is missing one vital thing.” Carrie explained while pointing out my mistake.
“That is?” I asked.
“There are no words from yourself.” She replied, frowning at me.
Taking what she said into my head, I immediately got lost in thought when I left her room. There's nothing left in my head, nowhere left to find inspiration and no energy left to write anything for her. Staying deep in my thoughts, I couldn't think up anything to write but only an idea to convey my emotions to her.
“Here you are.” Carrie greeted.
“You better move my heart today.” She chuckled, expecting me to give her my story
“No, I didn't write one today.” I informed, taking a seat next to her.
“Huh? Why not!?” She questioned.
“Hey, just listen.” I said.
After taking a deep breath, I did what I planned yesterday night, to convey my emotions to her.
“I thought about it in my own way… family.” I said, lowering my head.
“And so I thought.” I added.
“Let's say I lined up a hundred million words… Let's say you were satisfied with that, how much meaning would that hold?” I asked, getting hypothetical.
“In in the end, what can be conveyed with words is only a fleeting emotion, right?” I added.
“I think there's something more important.” I informed.
“Give me your hand.” I said, putting out my hand.
“What?” She asked.
“Hold hands with me.” I informed.
“Take my word for it and just try holding hands.” I informed, giving her a pitiful smile on my face.
“Family.. No, you should be able to understand a lot more than that.” I added.
Slapping away my hand, she was already grinding her teeth in anger, surprising me.
“Don't mess around with me.” She frowned.
“What do you mean, hold hands? In the end you're trying to trick me because I'm a child!” Carrie howled.
“I want to read it in a book. It's not good if it's not a book.” She complained.
She doesn't want to start knowing about the universe other than through books because she's always been reading books. Her whole life revolves around books, no television or comics. Just books.
Since her mom and dad had passed away when she was young, she barely remember their faces and how the behaved around her. Her only wish it's too know how a family was like but I just couldn't seem to convey it to her.
“WHY WON'T YOU GRANT IT!!?” Carrie snapped.
Lowering my head in regret and anger but my actions have seemed to made the situation worse.
“What is this, acting speechless now?” Carrie questioned, getting haughty.
“HEY, TELL ME! DOES A MOM SMELL GOOD!?” Carrie howled, questioning me.
“IS A DAD'S BACK BROAD? HEY!!” She added, howling at me.
“........” I grumbled.
“WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU! SAY IT CLEARLY!” She howled, snapping at me.
Taking a deep breath and staring at into her eyes, I gave a stare capable of decapitating her or staring into her soul. Getting impatient with me she started yelling at me for my answer, I gave her my reply.
“Like I'd know.” My name is Benjamin and I'm just your regular student studying in college and working as a ghostwriter in a small publishing company. Well, I haven't really been living decently at all since I'm just eating fast food and instant noodles. So I thought stuff like this might happen because of my lifestyle but this..
This is absurd.
I didn't really die to anything of the sort but direction my life was going was absurd. To start things off was my unpopularity with girls, losing my money to scams, items not dropping down vending machines and unluckiness were the very things that are able to define my life. But today, it might not really have been an unlucky but an unfortunate event.
I received a letter meant for someone else today, being a kind person and respecting the contents of the letter, I went to the return address written on the letter to personally return the later.
“Um.. Hello. I received this letter in my letterbox today, I think you might have accidentally sent this to the wrong address.” I informed, giving my best first impression of myself to the person opening the door.
“Hey kid, you mind helping?” He asked, completely ignoring the letter.
“Sure, but I might not be of help.” I replied.
“Thanks, sorry about this and the letter.” He apologized.
Bringing me into his house, I only assumed that he needed some help with the home appliances but my guess didn't hit it's target.
“Hey, can you talk to my daughter?” He asked.
“I don't mind, but why?” I replied, asking why he would ask such a question.
Telling me more about his daughter as he brought me to her room. Carrie Woods, a nine year old girl who lost both her parents at the age of two and die to not haven't any relatives she was sent to the orphanage until she was six years old when Frank Woods adopted her. She has been spending her whole life in her room since she has a fragile heart because of this, her time left to live might not be long.
“Idiot!” She insulted.
“Huh?” I gasped, popping a vein.
“I wonder why you would say something like that.” I scoffed, her for her insult.
“It's because you're treating me like a child, idiot.” Carrie informed, passing me the salt.
“Hahaha… A child is a child…” I frowned, forcing a smile.
“Hmph, I know much more about the world than world than you.” Carrie bragged,
“I personally read and memorize all the contents of the books in here!” She added, looking down on me.
“But Carrie, there are wonderful things in this world that are not in books.” I informed, trying to act cool and to change the topic.
“Can you answer all the legal codes this country has?” Carrie questioned,
“Explain every type of chemical reaction in detail and their respective products.” She asked, lowering her expectations.
Unable to answer her questions, I gave up and apologized to her before explaining the situation to her. With no ability to change her state the only thing I could ask her before she had to go was what her last request was.
“As you can see, I love books..” Carrie said.
“I want to read a story that can touch my heart with family as it's theme.” Carrie informed, stating her last request.
“It's just a job suited for me! I'll give you a tear jerking story by tomorrow!” I bragged, having confidence in my ghostwriting skills.
The next day when I came back to give her the story I made overnight, upon receiving my draft she barely took an hour to finish reading it. Before I could ask what she thought of it, she executed it by ripping it apart.
“Not good at all.” Carrie informed, shrugging her shoulders.
“I took you a little too lightly. Next, I'll really show you the skills of a pro.”
Again, when I returned to give her another draft, she executed my draft again by throwing it on the bin.
After continuing her killing spree on my drafts continuously for a week, she finally stopped killing my drafts and started to talk about her thoughts about it.
“I think this is well made.” Carrie commented, putting my draft away.
Finally getting an answer from her was like a once in a lifetime thing, when I was enjoying my time being happy from getting a reply from her, she killed it off again with her cold words.
“But it's not good enough.” She informed.
“How…?” I asked, getting nervous.
“I think a good text is made by mixing various different styles of writing but, your story is missing one vital thing.” Carrie explained while pointing out my mistake.
“That is?” I asked.
“There are no words from yourself.” She replied, frowning at me.
Taking what she said into my head, I immediately got lost in thought when I left her room. There's nothing left in my head, nowhere left to find inspiration and no energy left to write anything for her. Staying deep in my thoughts, I couldn't think up anything to write but only an idea to convey my emotions to her.
“Here you are.” Carrie greeted.
“You better move my heart today.” She chuckled, expecting me to give her my story
“No, I didn't write one today.” I informed, taking a seat next to her.
“Huh? Why not!?” She questioned.
“Hey, just listen.” I said.
After taking a deep breath, I did what I planned yesterday night, to convey my emotions to her.
“I thought about it in my own way… family.” I said, lowering my head.
“And so I thought.” I added.
“Let's say I lined up a hundred million words… Let's say you were satisfied with that, how much meaning would that hold?” I asked, getting hypothetical.
“In in the end, what can be conveyed with words is only a fleeting emotion, right?” I added.
“I think there's something more important.” I informed.
“Give me your hand.” I said, putting out my hand.
“What?” She asked.
“Hold hands with me.” I informed.
“Take my word for it and just try holding hands.” I informed, giving her a pitiful smile on my face.
“Family.. No, you should be able to understand a lot more than that.” I added.
Slapping away my hand, she was already grinding her teeth in anger, surprising me.
“Don't mess around with me.” She frowned.
“What do you mean, hold hands? In the end you're trying to trick me because I'm a child!” Carrie howled.
“I want to read it in a book. It's not good if it's not a book.” She complained.
She doesn't want to start knowing about the universe other than through books because she's always been reading books. Her whole life revolves around books, no television or comics. Just books.
Since her mom and dad had passed away when she was young, she barely remember their faces and how the behaved around her. Her only wish it's too know how a family was like but I just couldn't seem to convey it to her.
“WHY WON'T YOU GRANT IT!!?” Carrie snapped.
Lowering my head in regret and anger but my actions have seemed to made the situation worse.
“What is this, acting speechless now?” Carrie questioned, getting haughty.
“HEY, TELL ME! DOES A MOM SMELL GOOD!?” Carrie howled, questioning me.
“IS A DAD'S BACK BROAD? HEY!!” She added, howling at me.
“........” I grumbled.
“WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU! SAY IT CLEARLY!” She howled, snapping at me.
Taking a deep breath and staring at into her eyes, I gave a stare capable of decapitating her or staring into her soul. Getting impatient with me she started yelling at me for my answer, I gave her my reply.
“Like I'd know.”
Petrifying her into stone, I stood out of my seat and grabbed my stuff before leaving.
“L-Like I'd know? Hey wait, where are you going?” Carrie asked, starting to feel remorseful.
“I can't do it! It's impossible for me to grant your request.” I complained, giving up on making her last wish come true.
“Why?” She questioned.
“Because I don't even have any family.” I informed with a twisted grin in my face.
“Heck, I don't know if I any to begin with.” I added, taking this topic as some sick joke.
Her eyes had gotten even wider, her stoned figure had turned into diamond, the air around her had started screaming regret and remorse for her selfish last wish.
My name is Benjamin. Right after birth, I was thrown away in a trash bin with the umbilical cord still attached. I had to continuously move around to different houses or orphanages because they died before I could call them ‘family’. The only family I could call were the ghosts around were the air around me and my father, the god of death.
Later that night, while I was busy slacking around my house, her father came knocking on my door, but this time he brought along a guest with him.
“Sorry, I couldn't do it.” I apologized, opening the door and letting him in.
“It's okay. She's is my wife, Ruby.” He replied, introducing his wife.
After giving them some refreshments and the idea of the situation, Carrie's foster mother, Ruby started interrogating me.
“Are you going to quit?” She questioned.
“Quitting or not it's impossible.” I answered, complaining to her.
“In that case, do you mind lending me some writing paper?” She asked.
“There's no more, I used it all.” I replied,
“What are you going to do?” I questioned.
“I'm going to write a story, of course.” She answered.
“What? There's no way you can do it.” I informed, trying my best not to belittle her or anything.
“Still, I have to do it.” She informed.
“Look, when it comes down to it, she just wants to complain.” I explained.
“Still, I have to do it.” She informed.
“Then, no matter what impossible challenge or how much you would hate it, would you still do that request?” I questioned.
“Of course.” She answered, giving me a straight face full of her resolve.
“Really?” I questioned, confirming what I questioned earlier.
“Yes.” She answered, giving me the same face she had earlier.
“If my last request was to do whatever I want to you, would you fulfil it?” I questioned.
“Of course. If that's what it took to fill your heart.” She answered, smiling at me.
“Why…. Why is there a need to go so far?” I questioned.
“Because it's your last request.” She replied, showing off her relentless resolve.
“Carrie will die in approximately 36 hours from now.” She informed.
“But what can I do?” I questioned, gritting my teeth.
“I can't teach her anything.” I added.
“That's not true.” She informed.
“Apparently she had never opened her heart to anyone before you, but she had her smile shown only to you.” She added.
“She somehow felt it, that you and her were similar and that you would understand her.” She informed, smiling for her adopted daughter.
“If you're not able to grant her last request what happens to her?” She asked.
“As a mother I obviously don't want my child to die not being able to have her last request granted.” She said.
After a long pause of thinking about her .words I made a decision that came naturally to me.
“Can you help me get me some writing paper?” I asked.
“Sure.” She agreed cheerfully.
The next day with only a few hours for her left to live, I barged into her room with the last story I written for her clutching in my arms.
“You look terrible.” She joked, cracking a laugh.
“You too, Carrie.” I laughed, laughing alongside her.
“It's finished. The masterpiece that will surely touch your heart.” I bragged.
“This time I'll specially read it aloud to you.” I continued, with a pathetic smile on my face.
“Yeah, I'll listen.” She beamed.
While reading my story to her she started crying out a river.
“What's up? I'm barely through halfway, is it moving you to tears.” I asked.
“No, that's not it.” She replied.
“Because, you are crying so much…” She informed.
“Haha… Huh, that's weird.” I laughed, wiping away my own tears.
“Was I moved by my own writing…” I continued.
“I'm sorry…” I said.
“I'm sorry… Being like this at your deathbed.” I apologized.
Forcing her hand out to me, she wanted to try out what I wanted to do the day before.
“Let’s hold hands.” She said.
Holding her hand, she began to smile a little brighter. She could feel my emotions, my pain, my happiness and my life through the touch of a hand. It wasn't a fleeting emotion, but it was a scarring emotion.
“It's cold..” She grinned.
“But it's really warm.” She informed, receiving my emotions.
“I'm sorry for being so selfish.” She apologized.
“Thank…… you… big brother….” Carrie thanked, saying her last words.
- June 24, 11:36. Carrie Woods, Dead -
Squeezing her hand in agony and crying harder, I had accomplished her last request, to read a story that can touch her heart.
My name is Benjamin and I'm just your regular student studying in college and working as a ghostwriter in a small publishing company. Right after birth, I was thrown away in a trash bin with the umbilical cord still attached. I had to continuously move around to different houses or orphanages because they died before I could call them ‘family’ but the only person I could call family wasn't my daughter or my sister nor was she from a family who adopted me, she was simply a girl adopted by another family who wanted me to fill in the role of being her older brother.

Author's Note

Ignore grammar problems I'm new