In six days, every single living cell on planet Earth will be dead.

You have one chance, Mark Fischbach.

*****

I woke up the next morning not feeling the normal grogginess that I usually felt because of a lack of sleep the night before. Instead, I woke up feeling a surge of energy. My name was going to go down in the history books for being the hero that cured cancer. Everyone was going to love and admire me for what I did.
Life was going to be perfect.

"Honey! Wake up! You're going to be late for work and you have to make sure that you say goodbye to Penny before I take her to school!" My wife, Amy, yelled from the living room. I had met her during my sophomore year while I was science major and asked her out almost a year after we met. We dated for three years before I decided to ask her perhaps the most important question you could ever ask someone. Before asking her, I took her to the place where we had first met, which was a cafe just outside our college campus. I told her how she had changed my life and that I loved her before getting down on one knee and pulling the little gray box out of my pocket to reveal a diamond ring that I spent a lot of money on and a lot of time finding the perfect one. Tears filled her eyes as the words, "Will you marry me?" left me. As you could've probably guessed, she said yes.
"Okay, I'm getting up now!" I was surprised that I had woken up later than usual, especially today. I had gotten home from work about ten minutes after my shift had ended. I had gone to bed about twenty minutes after getting home so it wasn't like I had slept in on purpose.
Nonetheless, I got up and started getting changed into my work clothes. As I was putting on my lab coat, I thought about how I had to hide the immense excitement and pride that I felt when I came home last night. I hadn't told anyone that I had cured cancer because I wanted to wait until coming to work this morning before telling everyone what I had just done to change the course of human history forever.

"Oh, good." Amy sighed with relief as I emerged from the bathroom after brushing my teeth, washing my face, and combing my hair. "It's almost time for me to take Penny to school and I was afraid that I was going to have to take her before you said goodbye to her."
"I would never let her go to school without saying goodbye to her." I reassured my beautiful wife as I planted a kiss on her forehead. "Where is she?"
"She's in her room."
"Okay, I'll go say goodbye before I head off."
"Okay." Amy smiled before heading back downstairs. "I'll see you in a little bit then."

"Penny, can I come in sweetie?" I asked my daughter as I knocked on her door.
"Yes." I heard her say from inside her room.
When I opened her door, I saw her place her backpack on her bed before looking over at me with her bright blue eyes. She looked just like her mother and it made me happy that she inherited Amy's appearance rather than my own because Amy was the one who was attractive and not me, even though she's told me numerous times otherwise.
"Daddy, do I really have to go to school?" She asked me in that cute little voice of hers.
"Yes, of course you have to go to school." I was confused as to why she was asking this. Normally, she was excited to go to school because she liked seeing her friends there and she liked her art class so much. "It's Monday. You'll have to wait until Saturday comes before you don't have to go to school."
Penny sighed as she put her backpack over her shoulders. "I guess you're right Daddy."
"Penny, is everything alright?" My confusion turned into concern because my daughter wasn't acting like herself at all.
"Yes, everything's alright." She assured me as she held out her arms towards me. I picked her up and she rested her head on my shoulder as she hugged me tightly. "I'm just tired, that's all."
I got the feeling that Penny was more than just tired but I decided not to press the matter any further because I was already running late enough for work as it is. I carried Penny downstairs to where Amy was waiting for her with her car keys in her hand.
"Go and get into the car Penny. I'll be out there in a second." Amy told Penny as I set Penny down on the ground.
"Okay Mommy." Her blonde hair bounced as she opened the front door and stepped outside before closing it behind her.
I sighed as I looked at Amy. "I'm worried about Penny. She asked me if she had to go to school. You know that she's always excited about going to school. When I asked if everything was alright, she just said that she was tired. I really hope that everyone's being nice to her at school and that everything's going great for her over there."
"Oh Mark, you worry way too much." Amy wrapped her arms around my neck and rested her head on my shoulder like Penny had done when I had picked her up. "I'm sure she's fine. Besides, her school would let us know if anything was wrong."
"Yeah, I suppose that's true." I agreed while letting out a sigh. Maybe Amy was right. Maybe I did worry way too much.
"You better get going." Amy pointed to the stove, which had the time displayed on it. "You're late for work."
"Yeah, I guess I am." I sighed again, surprised that I wasn't freaking out about the fact that I was running late. "I better get going before my boss calls me and yells at me."
I was about to break our hug when she pressed her lips to mine and closed her eyes. I immediately responded to her actions by kissing back and closing my eyes as well. We kissed for a few moments before I needed to pull away in order to draw in a much needed breath.
"I love you." Amy planted a kiss on my cheek a moment after we kissed. "Can you please not stay late tonight? I've been missing spending time with you."
"Yeah, I won't stay late tonight." I promised. I no longer need to stay late at work due to the fact that I completed my life goal of curing cancer.
"Thank you darling." Amy pecked my lips before she started heading towards the front door. "Make sure you get the newspaper before you leave."
"I will." I promised as I gave her a small wave before she closed the door.
I left the house to go to work a few minutes after Amy had left to take Penny to school. As soon as I walked outside, I looked down and saw the daily newspaper laying by my feet. I bent down in order to pick it up and to read it quickly since I was running late for work.

Cancer Cured!

The heading of today's newspaper was written in big, bold letters so that it would be the first thing that people looking at when they opened the newspaper. I had to read the heading a second time to make sure that I was reading it correctly because I couldn't believe that someone had found out that I cured cancer because I hadn't told anyone, not even my own wife. I began reading the article.

Yesterday, scientist and super genius Mark Fischbach cured cancer just last night. The twenty-seven year old spent the last three years staying extremely late after his shifts working on finding the cure to the devastating disease. All that hard work and dedication has finally paid off for Mark.

The cure, which works by destroying harmful cells in the human body and is currently unnamed, could be used to destroy other harmful cells, says Jim, who has been Mark's boss ever since Mark started working for his company. Jim says that he discovered Mark found the cure after coming into work today and seeing the cure in the young scientist's lab. Jim says the currently unnamed cure will be applied through the form of gas and will become commercially available very soon.

There was a picture of me working in my lab on the left side of the article. After looking at the picture, I read the article again because I couldn't believe that I was on the front cover of the newspaper. Never once did I think that I would make it there.
You're going to regret this decision.
The words that my mother had said to me the day I had received my degree to become a scientist suddenly replayed in my head. To this day, I still don't understand why she said this and why if she had cared so much about me switching from Engineering to science, why she didn't say anything sooner than she did.
The day after I graduated, Mom stopped talking to me. She didn't even show up to my wedding, even though I invited her. I gave up trying to talk to her about a year or so after I graduated and I haven't made any attempts since.
Perhaps now that I've cured cancer, she'll actually talk to me again and tell me that she was wrong to think that I would regret my decision to become a scientist rather than an Engineer.

*****

"Well, if it isn't the fucking savior."
I got out of my car and heard the all too familiar voice of John Pilgrim, someone I've worked with the entire time I've worked at Jim's company. John had always been jealous of me from the very beginning. It always grinded his gears how I stayed late almost every single night trying to find the cure for cancer and now that I've actually discovered it, I knew that his jealousy of me would only increase.
"Hello to you too John." I smiled and couldn't help but laugh at the comment he just made.
"I can't believe you actually did it Fischbach." John ran a hand through his brown hair and placed a cigarette in his mouth before lighting it. "I always thought that you were out of your goddamn mind whenever you'd insist on staying late to find the cure. I was wrong to think that because you aren't out of your goddamn mind. You're a goddamn genius."
I was quite a bit taken aback by John's comment. This was the first time he had been nice to me in a very, very long time. "T-thanks John."
"No problem Mark." He gave me a light pat on my back as he blew smoke from his mouth. "I owe ya one if my smoking habit ever gives me cancer."
"Yeah." I forced myself to laugh before walking past him and walking inside of the building where I've worked tirelessly for three years.

When I walked inside, a bunch of my coworkers were all standing next to each other. My boss, Jim, was at the front of the line and he had the biggest smile on his face I've ever seen. Next to my coworkers was a chart that showed the growth of our company. The red line zig-zagged before ending by going straight up. Above the chart, there was a yellow banner that read, "Well Done!" in big black letters.
"Congratulations Mark!" Jim came up to me and patted both of my shoulders all while keeping the big smile on his face. "This is a huge step for not just you, but our company as well. I am so proud to say that you are a member of our company. Keep up the hard work. Take it easy today though. You deserve it. It's been a pleasure working with you these past three years." He held out his hand to me.
"Thank you so much Jim." I took his hand in mine and he shook it for a few moments before letting go of it. "I feel extremely honored hearing you say these things. I promise you that curing cancer is only a stepping stone of what's to come in my future."
"I look forward to seeing what you do." Jim gave me one final smile before walking off in the direction of his office. I took that as my cue to get started for the day and began heading to my lab, hearing "Good job" and "I didn't think it could be done." from my coworkers as I was making my way there.

Right before I was about to go into my lab, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Annie. I waited for her to congratulate me on my achievement of curing cancer.
"We should go out for a drink to celebrate Mark." She gave me a smile as she ran a hand through her medium length red hair. "After all, Jim did tell you to take it easy today."
I was feeling reluctant of her offer, especially since she wasn't wearing her lab coat with her blouse and pencil skirt like she always did when she was working. Instead, she was wearing a knee-length purple dress and she wasn't leaving much up to the imagination when it came to her chest. "John and a couple others are going out as well." She added.
I felt a little bit of relief knowing that it wasn't just going to be Annie and myself going out to get drinks. But I still didn't know if Jim would be okay with me skipping work.
"I can't. I'm allergic to alcohol and there's a pretty big risk in me dying if I drink it." It wasn't a lie either. I discovered my allergy to alcohol when I went to a party in college and drank only a single beer before collapsing on the ground. The last thing I remember about that night was waking up in the hospital with my mom, dad, and brother all standing over my hospital bed. It was at that moment where I realized that I very well could've died and it was at that moment that I vowed to never let another drop of alcohol touch my lips ever again.
A frown fell on Annie's face when I said this. "Well, you don't have to drink. We wouldn't want you to die, obviously. But you can still come and hang out with us."
I sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to let this go. "Would Jim be okay with this?"
Annie laughed. "Mark, you're such a goody-two shoes. Of course Jim would be okay with this. You're on his good side right now. You just changed the world for the greater good. He's not going to be mad if you skip work just for one day."
I sighed again, realizing that it would in fact be pretty nice to see what it was like to skip work. I thought about Annie's offer for a few moments before responding to her. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. Let's get going."

*****

"Are you kidding me right now?" One of my coworkers yelled out of frustration as he was watching football on one of the TVs at the bar. "Do you not know how to pass a fucking ball?"
I chuckled a bit as I looked over at him.
"Man, he's such a nutjob." Annie chuckled as well as she took a sip of the red wine she had ordered. "How can someone care so much about a simple game?"
I shrugged. "I've never understood it either. I haven't cared about sports a single day in my life."
"Neither have I." Annie picked up her wine glass and held it in her hand without taking a sip of her wine. "I never will either."
"Oh my God, it's like I'm watching two five years old fight over a toy!"
"Man, he's really angry." Annie finished off the rest of her wine before setting back down on the table. "He must be drunk."
"That's impressive. We've only been here for fifteen or twenty minutes."
"Actually, it's been ten minutes." Annie gave me a smile as she checked her phone. When she smiled at me, my eyes darted down to her chest, which was almost entirely exposed because of the dress she was wearing. "But it's been a great ten minutes, don't you think?"
"Yeah, it's been nice I suppose." I said awkwardly while scratching the back of my head. "It's weird skipping work. I never skipped class when I was in school, even in college so skipping work is entirely out of character for me."
"But aren't you glad that you did it?" Annie slapped a ten dollar bill down on the table when the bartender brought her another wine. "You get to spend time with your fellow coworkers that doesn't involve anything work-related."
"Yeah." I shrugged a bit. "But it's weird being at a bar and not drinking anything. People don't really do that."
"Hey, you can't control the fact that alcohol will probably kill you if you drink it." Annie shrugged as well and placed her right leg over her left knee and I noticed that she was wearing silver heels and that her toenails were painted the same silver color that her heels were. "I wouldn't want you to die. You're nice to be around."
"Thanks." I smiled a bit as she took quite a big drink of her wine. "You know, today's been fun."
"You say that as if the day's been over." Annie put her glass back down on the table. "The day's just getting started. We've only been here for thirteen minutes."
"You've been counting?" I asked her while raising an eyebrow.
"Of course I have." Annie said as if me questioning why she was counting how long we've been chatting at the bar for was something strange. "I treasure every single second that I get to spend with you."
"Oh, uh, that's very nice of you." I tried sounding like I was accepting her compliment, even though what she had just said weird me out quite a bit.
Annie giggled as she finished off another glass of wine. "Now, tell me all about the cure for cancer that you found. Don't you dare leave out a single detail." She leaned towards me and rested her arm on the table before placing a hand on the side of her face. "I want to hear all about it." She was now so close to me that her nearly exposed chest was almost brushing up against me. I swear, it was like she wanted me to stare at them. Didn't girls usually get pissed if you stared at your chest?
I decided to try and brush off the fact that Annie was just a little bit too close for comfort. After all, she had already drank two wines and from what I've heard at work, her alcohol tolerance was extremely low. If that was the case, it was more than likely that she was drunk out of her mind right now.
"Well, you see, it all started when I started studying to become a scientist in college..."

*****

"Welcome home, darling." Amy greeted me almost as soon as I walked into the door after "work" had ended. "How was your day today?"
"My day? Oh, it was interesting to say the least." I found myself rubbing the back of my head, which I realized was something that I did whenever I was nervous.
"How so?"
"Well, uh, you see..."
"Mark, are you okay? You're acting a bit weird."
"Me? Weird? Um, maybe it's you that's acting weird." I sat down on the couch and Amy sat down next to me a moment later. "I mean, you're asking all of these unnecessary questions after all."
"Unnecessary questions? I simply just asked how your day was." She raised an eyebrow. "Why would you deem me asking how your day was as an unnecessary question?"
I sighed, knowing that I was blabbering on like a complete and utter idiot. I also knew that I should come out and tell her what I had done today. I felt like I had just come home to my parent's house after sneaking out in the middle of the night only to discover that they were awake and had been waiting for me to come home. "I kinda didn't go to work today."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I skipped." I said this much quieter than I anticipated that I would. "A few coworkers and I went out to the bar. I obviously didn't drink since I'm sitting next to you right now and not dead or dying in the hospital."
Amy sighed. "Was it really that hard to say it, Mark?"
"Wait, you're not mad?"
"No, of course I'm not mad. I know how you are. This is just going to be a one time thing and it's never going to happen again. Besides, you deserved to have a fun day today. You found a way to cure cancer and have changed the course of human history forever."
I felt a blush forming on my face. "Yeah, I suppose that that was something that I did."
Amy laughed and kissed my cheek before standing up. "Come on, Penny's been waiting for you to come upstairs and say goodnight to her."

I walked into my daughter's room right after my wife had entered the room. I looked over at Penny's bed and saw that she had the covers pulled over her and was just staring at the doorway. Looks like she was waiting for me to come in and say goodnight to her, after all.
"Hi sweetie." I gave Penny a smile as I sat down on the edge of her bed. "How was school today?"
"It was awesome!" She cried out happily. "Everyone kept coming up to me and saying how lucky I was to have you as my dad because you found a way to cure cancer! I'm basically a celebrity at school now!"
I couldn't help but chuckle a bit when I heard this. "Is that so? Well, I'm glad that you had a good day. It's time for you to go and get some rest so that you can have an even better day tomorrow."
"Okay Daddy." She smiled. "I'll get some rest."
"You better." I leaned over towards her and planted a kiss on her cheek. "I'll see you in the morning before you go to school and before I head to work, okay?"
"Okay." She continued to smile, even as she closed her eyes.
"I love you Penny." I stood up and wrapped an arm around Amy, who had remained silent the entire time.
"I love you too Daddy."
"Sweet dreams Penny." Amy whispered as she bent down and planted a kiss on Penny's forehead. Funny enough, it was the same spot where I had kissed Penny just a moment before. "I love you."
"I love you too Mommy."
"See you in the morning." Amy and I said at the same time as I went over to the only outlet in Penny's room and plugged in her night light, which was in the shape of a full moon. After doing so, I let Amy walk out of Penny's room before I did so. Once we were both out of our daughter's room, I carefully and quietly closed the door behind us.
"Well, I promised you that I would spend time with you today and I'm going to keep that promise." I wrapped my arms around Amy and slowly moved the two of us back and forth as if we were slow dancing despite no music being played. "What do you want to do? I don't care what we do, as long as I'm with you."
"Damn it, you stole my line." She laughed and rested her head on my shoulder.
"Yes, I did in fact steal your line." I laughed as well because her laugh always made me laugh whenever I heard it. It was just that damn contagious, I guess. "That's exactly what I was going for."
"You jerk." Amy joked as she lightly punched me in the side. "I love saying that to you."
"I know you do." I laughed a little bit. "That's why I said it."
She was silent for a few moments before she responded to me. "Can we go in our bedroom and lay down and cuddle?"
I smiled. "Yeah, that sounds like a great idea."

Once Amy and I were laying down together, I pulled the covers over the two of us while she rested her head on my chest. She always loved doing that because it meant that she was able to listen to my heart beating. When I asked why she liked it so much, she told me that it comforted her and she also told me that she didn't really know why it comforted her.
"I love you." I whispered to her as I ran my fingers through her hair.
"I love you too." She whispered back as she took off her glasses and placed them on top of the bedside table.
"I never get tired of hearing that." I smiled as I also took off my glasses and set them down next to where hers were sitting.
"I never get tired of saying it." She tilted her head upwards and kissed my cheek.
I yawned and smiled a bit after doing so.
"Is somebody tired?" Amy asked me while lightly poking my cheek on the spot she had just kissed it a moment prior.
"Yeah." I said, starting to feel tiredness throughout my entire body as I closed my eyes and rested my head on the pillow.
"Me too." She shifted slightly while she was still laying on my chest. "See you in the morning."