The Deathbed Tapes: His Final Encore

On the live broadcast of America's highestrated latenight talk show, Hayes rested his hand casually on the waist of his new blonde supermodel flame.

A year ago, when he was dead broke, I dumped him. Now, he's a Grammywinning superstar with the world at his feet.

The talk show host leaned forward, playfully asking if he had any regrets left in life after taking home the golden gramophone.

A sharp scoff escaped his lips. "I just want to know one thing.

How pathetic is her life after dumping me?" The host shifted in his seat. "She had a very hard time." The tension left Hayes's shoulders. The corner of his mouth ticked up. "Good.

Then I can rest easy." "But before Wren died, she left you a vintage DV tape." The smirk vanished from his face.

On those vintage DV tapes was the recording of every single day and night of my journey toward death after I left him.

Chapter 1 "Died?" Hayes's hand stiffened against Celeste's waist. He scoffed. "Is this some kind of sick ratings stunt?" The host slowly shook his head.

The massive screen behind them flickered to life. My face appeared, grinning wide. "Hey everyone. I'm Wren, and today, I'm officially single! Huh?

You're asking if it hurts to dump a hot, fiercely loyal golden retriever with limitless potential?" In the video, a girl with a freshly shaved head was busy sorting through a pile of wigs.

She glanced at the lens, her lips curving up. "Nope. Letting him see me like this? That would be the real tragedy. Hey, why are you shaking?

You're ruining the shot." I reached out, steadying Riley's trembling hands around the camera. Riley choked back a sob. "I don't want to do this. I'm going to cry my eyes out.

I'm done." "No backing out now. We had a deal.

You promised to record every single day before I die." Riley's voice cracked. "Can't I take it back?" "Absolutely not." I crossed my arms. "My grand finale has to be perfect.

I'm not trusting this to anyone else." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. I grabbed the hem of her shirt, giving it a gentle tug. "Come on, Riley.

You're the only family I have left in this world." A loud sniffle echoed from behind the camera. "Fine. Fine, I'm rolling…" [ Goodbye World.

April 17, 2023, 9:34 AM—Take It All ] It had been years since I set foot on my old family property. Riley trailed behind me, phone held high.

I gripped Boomer's leash, walking down the dirt path splitting the overgrown fields. A dry chuckle came from behind the lens. "No wonder Hayes just posted a song on his feed.

It's because you took Boomer." I glanced over my shoulder. "What song? I blocked his number right after the breakup." "Some oldschool country rock track.

The lyrics are all about an exgirlfriend driving off in his pickup truck and taking his dog." Riley and I locked eyes.

I let out a snort, shaking my head. "You can take the keys, drive away in that beatup Chevy, but you have to leave my old hound.

That's my bottom line…" Riley wiped a tear from her eye, laughing. "He didn't want anything else, just the dog.

And you walked out with nothing but the dog!" Our laughter drifted across the open fields. Slowly, the sound fractured, melting into quiet, suppressed sobs. [ Goodbye World.

April 17, 2023, 10:08 AM—Do Dogs Know When You're Leaving? ] The rusted hinges groaned as I shoved the old wooden door open, waving away a thick layer of cobwebs. "I'm telling you, ever since Hayes and I left for college out East, we rarely came back here.

After my parents passed, Hayes and I took Boomer to the city. This is his first time back." The camera angle flipped. Now I was holding the lens, spinning around. "Hey, hey!

Wren here, bringing you along for an immersive deepclean of the old cabin!" Riley stood in the background, a faded apron tied around her waist, gripping a broom.

She scowled at the lens. "I'm the one doing all the work! Your highness!" "Hey, I'm a sick patient.

Cut me some slack." After messing around for a bit, I stumbled out of the kitchen, covered in a thin layer of dust and soot.

Riley stomped over, face dark, and snatched the spatula right out of my hand. "I told you to stay out of the kitchen! You know you can't cook to save your life.

Go sit down!" A coughing fit hit my chest. I waved her off, collapsing into a faded armchair with a grin.

Chapter 2 The second Riley disappeared into the kitchen, the smile slid off my face. I propped my phone against the table, my chest heaving as I gasped for air.

My hands shook as I took several deep draws from my portable oxygen tank. Only then did I turn back to the camera with a forced grin. "Sorry about that.

My lungs have been acting up more often lately… Cough!" "But seriously, I'm actually a great cook. For real.

Watch me storm the kitchen!" I grabbed my phone, but something warm and furry pressed against my foot. I tilted the camera down.

Boomer was lying there, his eyelids drooping. "Hungry, boy?" I held out a piece of sausage. He nudged it with his nose but didn't eat.

He just stayed there, his head heavy on my foot. "Come on, Boomer. I need to go check on Riley. Move it." He didn't budge. "What's wrong?

Why are you so clingy today?" I ran my fingers through his dry, matted fur. "I get it. You're getting old, aren't you? Too lazy to move?" "Fine.

I'll stay with you a little longer." I leaned back against the sofa. "I won't have many more chances to be with you anyway." Boomer let out a low, mournful whimper. [ Goodbye World.

April 17, 2023, 11:21 AM—Is a house still a home when it's empty? ] I woke up on the sofa to find Riley kneeling at my feet.

She heard me stir and looked up, her face soaked with tears. "Wren… I heard that dogs can sense when their owners are about to leave.

They go ahead to the next life to wait for them. Is that true?" My hand jerked, nearly dropping the phone. I reached out for Boomer. Cold. No breath.

He had stayed by my side, waiting for me to fall asleep before quietly slipping away. My laugh felt more like a sob. "What are you talking about? Boomer was ten years old.

It was just his time." The camera cut to me standing by a fresh mound of dirt on the back hill. I smiled, pulling my hand back from the grave. "Don't go back there.

There won't be anyone left soon anyway. Just wait for me. We'll find Mom and Dad and start a real home again." The lens wobbled as Riley sobbed behind the camera.

I looked up, pointing at the lens with a grin. "What are you doing? You're ruining the shot." Riley's crying intensified. "You!

How can you say that!" I chuckled and waved her over. "Look at you. Come on, let's go home and eat that food you made." "Wren!

If you keep acting like this, I'm never talking to you again!" I stepped forward, slinging an arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry. Your girl Wren is invincible.

Cancer?" "Watch me kick its ass! Hahahahaha!" [ Goodbye World. April 18, 2023, 8:27 AM—Sometimes I forget I'm a patient ] "Wren!

Wren, open the door!" Riley was pounding on the door like a maniac. The phone was propped up nearby, but she hadn't had time to adjust the angle.

All I could see was the bottom half of her body. Inside the room, I was screaming at the top of my lungs. "Get out! I told you to get out!

Leave me alone!!" Then came the sound of violent retching. Chapter 3 Riley's voice cracked from the other side of the door. "Wren, I'm kicking this down! What the hell is going on?

Let me see you!" "Get out! Leave me alone!" My screams ripped through the screen, raw and tearing at my throat. Riley slammed her shoulder into the wood.

The old hinges gave way with a sharp crack. Inside, I was hunched over the trash can. My knees slammed into the floorboards. Cold sweat and bile plastered my pale face.

A pathetic, shivering mess. Nothing like the girl who was laughing and singing just yesterday. I dragged my head up, my eyes burning. "Riley…" "Wren." She dropped to her knees.

Ignoring the stench and the filth, she pulled me hard against her chest. My shaking hands gripped her shirt.

I buried my chin in her shoulder, my tears soaking right through the fabric. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled…" "But I wake up in this fog.

I think I'm still the old Wren… And then I stare at the ceiling." "Just staring. And it hits me. I'm sick… I'm so sick, Riley…" The words broke apart in my throat.

Riley crushed me tighter, burying her face in my neck. "I know. It's okay, Wren. You're going to make it through this." "You have to… Because you're… You're Wren." [ Goodbye World.

April 21, 2024, 4:34 PM—Sometimes forgetting is a mercy to the dead ] I was slumped against Riley's shoulder.

Under my rolledup sleeves, my arms were a canvas of black and purple bruises. My voice sounded like crushed gravel. "What do I do, Riley?

At this rate, there's not going to be an inch of skin left for the IV needles. It burns." "Oh, now you feel it?

Where was this energy when you were up all night fighting the Ticketmaster queue?" I pouted. "I have to see my ex's first stadium tour after blowing up, don't I?" "It's been forever.

Gotta see if his vocals actually improved." Riley went quiet. After a long beat, she nudged me. "You said you dumped him because you didn't want to drag him down.

If he still has feelings for you, would you go to him for help?" "Hell no." I didn't even blink. "But he makes millions off a single track now.

He could afford your treatments without breaking a sweat." "Still no! And don't you dare breathe a word to him, either!" "But, look at yourself…" I planted my hands on my hips.

The IV needle left a sickening green bruise on the back of my hand. "I'm doing just fine." "Besides, I kicked him to the curb when he was dead broke.

Crawling back the second he hits the billboard charts just to say 'hey, pay my medical bills'—what does that make me?" "In this industry, that behavior makes you a leech, and I refuse to let my obituary read 'washedup gold digger.' Don't worry about it." "I'm Wren!

Cancer? Watch me kick its ass." I pinched my thumb and index finger together, flashing a cocky smirk. Riley stared at me for a long second before letting out a heavy sigh.

I waved her off. "Let's go. Throwing money at this might not even fix it anyway. Might as well blow my remaining cash on having a good time." "Come on, move it.

We still have the amusement park tonight, right? And before that, I found this awesome Texas highway diner…" "Oof!" I slammed facefirst into a solid chest.

I was already stammering out an apology as I stumbled back, my eyes tracking up. My breath hitched.

Riley sucked in a sharp breath beside me. "Hayes?" He was bundled up, half his face buried under a dark mask, but it didn't matter.

You never forget the eyes of someone you used to love. "Wren?" His eyes widened. Then, the muscle in his jaw feathered. His brow crashed down into a hard, unforgiving line.

Chapter 4 I didn't even think. I just turned and ran. The camera feed jolted as Riley bolted right behind me.

A terminal cancer patient, sprinting faster than I ever did when I was healthy. Over my ragged, tearing breaths, a voice roared my name. "Wren!

Do you really hate me that much?!" [ Goodbye World. April 21, 2024, 11:19 PM—Love always seems to hide in the blind spots ] "Yeah. Just one look and I'm gone.

Thanks for this." "Wren, I'm not targeting you. After all, we both dragged ourselves out of that same rundown motel town. But you dumped him.

He almost destroyed himself with pills over it." "He barely crawled out of that hole. Celeste is an Alister now, and she's obsessed with him. The media is eating them up.

Don't go ruin—" I smiled, giving a stiff nod. "I know, Regina. I won't mess with his life.

I just want one last… cough, I just want to see him." "…Fine." After a few more muffled words, I flipped the lens back to my face. "Made it to Regina's place.

The woman glaring holes into the back of my head is Hayes's manager." "She literally bought the apartment directly across the street just to force him to write music.

You can see straight into his condo from these floortoceiling windows." "The second he slacks off, she's calling him.

Haha~ Though he usually keeps the blinds shut, so we probably won't see anything." I kept talking as I panned the camera toward Hayes's new highrise.

The lens pushed past the open blinds. It landed deadcenter on a massive framed photo on his wall. My smile shattered. It was a picture of us.

In the photo, we were wearing a cheap wedding dress and an illfitting suit we rented for twenty bucks from a thrift shop in Vegas, holding up beers and laughing hysterically at the camera.

I remembered teasing him that day. "If you ever actually get famous, you have to marry me for real." I never thought he'd take that joke of a wedding photo and hang it dead center in his multimillion dollar condo.

He walked in. He ripped off his mask and raised a hand, brushing his fingers against the glass over the photo. Then, his hand curled into a tight fist.

He pressed it hard against the frame, leaning all his weight into the wall like his legs gave out. His head dropped. His shoulders shook.

I stood there, holding the camera, pressing my own fist against the cold glass of the floortoceiling window. My teeth ground together to stop my jaw from trembling.

A broken laugh slipped past my lips. "I don't think he'll ever know I was standing right behind him." [ Goodbye World.

May 21, 2024, 10:01 PM—The hardest words to say in this lifetime ended up being 'I love you' ] Light sticks slashed wildly through the dark arena.

Riley was holding the camera, but it wasn't aimed at the stage. It was locked on me as I aggressively waved my glow stick. "Slow down, your highness!

You're going to shake your wig off!" I tugged my dark mask down an inch. "I'm fine! I checked it a hundred times before we left.

Besides, look at my makeup tonight." "Totally flawless, right?

You can't even tell I'm sick." Riley let out a halflaugh, halfchoke. "Your makeup skills have literally never improved." "Pfft.

You just have no taste." I turned my head, dodging the lens. A second later, Hayes's voice echoed through the stadium speakers. "With you, the morning skies crack wide open.

You crashed into my world, and suddenly everything bleeds with color." I clapped my hands, shouting over the noise to Riley. "That vocal transition was insane!

He's lightyears better than he used to be! That's my boy!" Chapter 5 Deafening screams ripped through the arena. "This track is insane!

Celeste literally saved Hayes!" "He was so right to dump her! His creative inspiration has been off the charts since he ditched that toxic bitch Wren!

That gold digger never deserved him anyway!" "Excuse me? What did you just say?" Riley whipped her head around. I lunged to grab her arm, but it was too late.

She shoved my hand away. "What about Wren?" The fan and her group turned their glare on us. "Wren? Just a useless deadweight.

The second she saw he was broke, she bounced." The girl's eyes narrowed. "Wait, don't tell me you're actually defending that slut?" "Who the hell are you calling a slut?!" Riley dropped her phone, lunging forward.

I threw my arms around her waist, dragging her back, forcing a muffled laugh through my mask. "Sorry, so sorry.

My friend's just had a little too much to drink." The fan sneered, raking a disgusted look over me. "At least one of you has a brain.

He literally just dropped a love song for his girl.

Tell that bitch Wren to stay out of his lane." The words barely left her mouth before the arena's massive jumbotron swung, locking onto a woman in the VIP section.

Celeste sat there in haute couture straight off the runway, looking like a true highsociety socialite.

Her untouchable aura clashed with the sea of screaming, frantic fans, radiating a suffocating sense of superiority.

The stadium erupted into a feral roar. "Wifey!!" Up on stage, Hayes paused, dipping his chin in a cool nod toward her. The crowd lost their minds. "They're totally official!

My ship is actually sailing!" The camera lens drifted back to my face. Riley's voice was careful, probing. "Wren…" I snapped out of it, flashing a bright smile. "Huh?

Oh, they look incredible together, don't they?" "Wren, if you have something to say, just say it.

I don't buy for a second that you're completely over him." I let the silence hang for a heavy second before I smiled into the lens. "When you're about to punch your ticket out of this world, you have to let go, even if you don't want to." A blinding white spotlight slashed across my eyes.

My stomach dropped. Did the camera catch me? Down on the stage, Hayes stiffened. His grip on the mic locked up. He whipped his head toward the massive screens.

But the spot where the spotlight hit was already empty. [ Goodbye World.

May 21, 2024, 11:10 PM—Some things are meant for the next life ] I slumped against the cold concrete wall, gasping for air.

Riley had one arm wrapped around me, the other barely keeping the camera steady. "Your highness, you're literally sick.

How are you sprinting like that?" I frantically adjusted the edge of my wig, staring into the lens. "If I didn't run, the whole world would've seen me looking like this.

His fans would crucify me.

He clawed his way through hell to sell out this stadium tour." "Am I supposed to be the one to ruin it for him?" "Wren." The low, gravelly voice hit the back of my neck.

My hands froze on my wig. I yanked my mask higher. Rough fingers snatched the fabric, ripping it straight off my face. My eyes blew wide. I was staring dead into Hayes.

Those distinct eyes bore down on me from above, his dark brows crushing into a lethal line. Riley flinched so hard the camera nearly hit the floor. "Heh.

You haven't even been gone that long, and you look like trash." His fingers clamped around my jaw, forcing my head up.

A vicious sneer curled his lips. "That Wall Street bastard you dumped me for… is this how he takes care of you?" I slapped his hand away, frantically pulling my mask back up.

His sneer grew colder, dripping with contempt. He slammed a step closer.

His massive frame, radiating raw masculinity and expensive cologne, backed me straight into the deadend corner of the wall.

Chapter 6 "I thought he was something special, considering you couldn't even be bothered to say a word to me before you left.

Turns out, he's nothing." "If you want to come to my shows in the future, you can just walk through the front door. I won't laugh at you.

After all, you stopped mattering to me a long time ago." My fingers clamped hard around the elastic straps of my mask.

I dropped my gaze to the concrete. "Yeah." Riley didn't back down. "Really? Stopped mattering?" "Of course.

Actually, I should be thanking you, Wren." My breath hitched. "If it wasn't for you, I never would have realized that Celeste is the love of my life." A sharp smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Thanks for the betrayal." "She didn't!

She actually—" "I get it." I slapped my hand over Riley's mouth, forcing a bright smile. "Wishing you two a lifetime of happiness." His dark brows slammed together.

Riley tried to fight through my grip, but I yanked her arm hard, practically dragging her down the hallway.

Celeste's voice echoed from down the corridor behind us. "Hayes, was that Wren?" His response drifted through the cold draft, muffled but razorsharp. "No.

As far as I'm concerned, she's been dead for a long time." [ Goodbye World. May 25, 2024, 7:28 AM—You walk down this road of life, and before you know it, you're walking alone