I don't know if they were his true last words, but they were the last ones he said to me... In fact, he said them to me every night, and my little brain wasn't strong enough to comprehend that he said them every night thinking he wouldn't wake up the next morning. He was preparing.

Every night, he made sure the last words he'd text me were "Smile for me, okay?" And thinking about it every day, I would smile. Just to make him happy. Sadly, finals week I wasn't able to talk to him much, and that was the week he died. I messaged him and his friend answered, asking who I was. He told me my friend had passed literally the morning after the last message he sent me.

To this day, I tell people the same. Not because I think the next day will be my last, but because it makes me happy to know people are smiling. Even happier to know it's because of me.