Me-Before-You-by-Jojo-Moyes

‘Yes. Yes, she can. She’s given six months of her life to this family. And a fat
lot of good it’s brought her, judging by the state of things. A fat lot of good it’s
brought this family, with people banging on the door and all the neighbours
thinking we’ve been done for benefit fraud or some such. No, she’s finally got
the chance to make something of herself, and now they want her to go to that
dreadful place in Switzerland and get involved in God knows what. Well, I say
no. No, Louisa.’
‘But she has to go,’ Treena said.
‘No, she doesn’t. She’s done enough. She said herself last night, she’s done
everything she could.’ Mum shook her head. ‘Whatever mess the Traynors are
going to make of their lives going to this … this … whatever they’re going to do
to their own son, I don’t want Louisa involved. I don’t want her ruining her
whole life.’
‘I think I can make my own mind up,’ I said.
‘I’m not sure you can. This is your friend, Louisa. This is a young man with
his whole life ahead of him. You cannot be part of this. I’m … I’m shocked that
you could even consider it.’ Mum’s voice had a new, hard edge. ‘I didn’t bring
you up to help someone end his life! Would you end Granddad’s life? Do you
think we should shove him off to Dignitas too?’
‘Granddad is different.’
‘No, he isn’t. He can’t do what he used to. But his life is precious. Just as
Will’s is precious.’
‘It’s not my decision, Mum. It’s Will’s. The whole point of this is to support
Will.’
‘Support Will? I’ve never heard such rubbish. You are a child, Louisa. You’ve
seen nothing, done nothing. And you have no idea what this is going to do to
you. How in God’s name will you ever be able to sleep at night if you help him
to go through with it? You’d be helping a man to die. Do you really understand
that? You’d be helping Will, that lovely, clever young man, to die.’
‘I’d sleep at night because I trust Will to know what is right for him, and
because what has been the worst thing for him has been losing the ability to
make a single decision, to do a single thing for himself … ’ I looked at my
parents, trying to make them understand. ‘I’m not a child. I love him. I love him,
and I shouldn’t have left him alone, and I can’t bear not being there and not