>You turn the key to the front door and open it as you've done so many times the past few months. >It's been a daily routine for so long, that you couldn't imagine how hard it would be to stop when it's time to. >There's nothing bothersome about it. >You love your brother, and would do anything to make sure he is comfortable. >Even if he isn't much of a talker these days. >The living room furniture is starting to get dusty, a testament to how long it has been since they were used by anyone. >It'll have to be cleaned sometime when you have a day off from work. >For now, you'll just have to worry about checking up on Anon. >You remove your winter coat and set it on the rack. >As you make your way up the stairs, you look through all the framed photographs hung on the wall. >Some are of the family get togethers, and one in particular catches your eye. >It often does, it was one of your favorite days. >The last July 4th party. >Anon had hosted it here in his home. >He had to have someone else bring the food, because at that time, he was slowly losing fine motorskills. >But he insisted that everyone come here for it. >He wanted everyone to see him as himself one last time. >The doctors said he didn't have much time with the rate the disease was progressing. >After everyone ate, he prodded you into shooting his little backyard gun one last time. >You were hesitant, but he wanted to share his favorite hobby one last time. >He loved the gun so much. >You could tell by the way he would talk about it so often. >The way he held it as he took you out back. >And admittedly, it was fun to you, too. >You didn't do so great, but Anon had such a proud look. >He must have felt pretty special teaching someone to shoot a gun. >If only he had more time, you would have loved to do it again. >A couple months later, he was unresponsive. >It happened so fast, and it shocked the whole family. >Even your cousins dropped everything when they heard the news and flew out to visit. >It was pitiful, seeing him waste away even faster than before. >The IVs feeding him could only do so much to prevent starvation, and slowly, his body whithered. >You took it upon yourself to visit everyday to make sure he was doing okay. >Dad didn't want you to be the one to find him when he finally passed, but you were firm on it. >The hardest part was watching him turn from an already skinny man to a pale figure resembling a corpse aside from the occassional breath. >You shake the thought from your head and start back up the stairs. >Reaching the door, you mentally prepare yourself for the sight. >Fruitless as it may be, you knock on the door and call out. "Anon, it's me. I'm coming in, okay?" >No response. >You open the door and step inside. >Immediately there is something very wrong. >Anon is gone. >His bed is bare aside from the clutter of hospice machinery meant to monitor his condition and the IV stands that fed him. >In the pile of rustled blankets is a notebook. >You recognize it as Anon's journal that he kept, which you have read on a visit after he went comatose. >The first few pages were readable, but as the entries went on, they become incoherent. >Only one line at the end of each entry could be made out, and even then only barely. >And most of the legible parts seemed to be ravings about the hallucinations he was having. >It hurt to read, knowing that he was slowly losing his mind. >But there's a new entry where there wasn't one before. >You snatch it up and try to read it, but it's just a bunch of scribbles. >At the bottom, only legible after a minute of piecing together what letter the scribbles represented, you made out what it said. >"We going shooting." >Your eyes snap wide open. >He shouldn't have been able to even move, let alone write this. >You check the corner where Anon left his rifle before he became unresponsive. >It was gone. >The panic sets in and you race out the room and down the stairs. >You run out the back door into the freezing cold. >He's there, sitting at his bench. >Unmoving in the slightest. >His hand on his rifle, which is laying down next to his head. >You walk beside him and check. >If only just to make sure. >As you pull out your phone to call your parents, you notice the paper target about seventy feet away. >Even in the condition he was in, he was a better shot than you could ever hope to be. >There's one thought that lets you have comfort in this. >At least he was smiling in the end.