It"s been 8 months since her parents" hospitalization. Both of them have been fallen into a coma and Valera didn"t know what the cause her parent"s unconsciousness. Valera sits on the waiting room while her aunt, her mother"s sister, consults with the doctor in his office. Previously, she tried to be with her aunt on the doctor"s office to know about her parent"s condition. Unfortunately, the conversation between two adults is so complicated that she asks her aunt about it. She explained some of the important things to her but not all of it.
Valera"s understanding on her aunt"s explanation is that her parents are just asleep because of their work and they need to sleep more to get back up again.
With that in mind, she goes on her daily life without worries.
Every day, after school, Valera visits her parents to talk to them. She"s aware that they can"t hear her since they"re sleeping, but she felt like she needs to chat with them because they"re the only people whom she felt comfortable with.
She mostly talks about what happened in her life, even the tiniest of things. About school, her cla.s.smates, her aunt, and many things that she deemed interesting.
While she talks to them, she laughs at contentment and she always wishes that they could wake up when the time comes.
...
"...And then I tripped down while we playing tag. Look. Here, on my right knee.
But it didn"t hurt, I swear, because you told me that I need to be strong to be a grown up, right?" Valera continued talking with her mom and dad. She tried to be silent, but sincere as possible, given that she is in a hospital.
She proudly said about being strong when, in reality, she tried to hold it in by forcibly closing her mouth while holding her knee, rolling around crying whilst holding her tears. Even so, she showed them her smug face to her parents.
Before she even realized, it is getting dark outside. She checks her clock and it"s already 5:57, way past due her curfew.
"Well, I need to go. If I stay for too long, my aunt will be worried.
Don"t worry, I"m going to brush my teeth and go to bed before 8 O"clock. Oh! And I"m also going to finish my a.s.signment. Today"s cla.s.s is hard."
She carries her bag and walks to the door. Valera looks at her parents" immobile state.
"Bye, Mommy. Bye, Daddy. Take care."
She twists the handle and opens it.
*Beep! Beep!*
Valera heard a sudden rapid beeping noise.
It wasn"t like earlier. The noise earlier is slow and calming, which she indicates that they"re doing fine. Now it is faster and louder than the previous noise.
She looked back.
It came from her father"s bed. The first thing she sees is the monitor, which is changed from green to red. What comes after...
...Is her father"s convulsing body.
Valera stayed still. Her eyes only focused on his body with a look of despair. She opened her mouth a little and her arms had relaxed out of fear. Her legs are trembling for what she has witnessed and tries to let out a single word, but cannot.
As the loud beeps drove her mind insane, she eventually, and finally, screamed.
"DADDY!!!"
Her cries reached on every corner in the hospital. All the nurses and doctors occupying this building heard her and are on full alert.
The available nurses run towards the source of a crying child as fast as they could. When one of the nurses arrived, she saw a little girl begging for her father to calm down.
"Daddy! Please stop! You"re hurting yourself!" She pushes and pulls her father, telling him to stop. The nurse on the door stopped for a second, for she didn"t expect this to happen. She comes back to her senses and approaches to the anguished patient.
"Girl, we"ll take care of this. So if you ple-"
"Daddy! Daddy!" Valera didn"t notice the nurse and continues to ask her father to stop.
The nurse didn"t know what to do. This is the first time she experienced this as a nurse and does not know how to act in this situation. Eventually, the rest of the nurses and doctors after her have arrived.
They ran pa.s.s the distressed nurse and approaches to the patient.
The doctors are doing some procedures to keep the patient alive and one of the nurses forces Valera to get out of the room.
"Daddy!" Valera struggles on the nurses grasp and tries to get out of it but to no avail. The nurse continued to pull her out.
The nurse, who is standing, felt ashamed on what she had done. If she would"ve done something, the situation might get any better. She turned around to close the door.
As she"s closing the door, she watches the girl in sorrow as she sees her father in agony. When the nurse sees this, this is all but painful to watch.
And just that, the nurse closed the door.
It is now 6 O"clock...
Valera didn"t come home that night. She felt weak after her confrontation with her father and, therefore, rests on the waiting room.
Her aunt came to the hospital at around 6:30, concerned about her niece. She checks on her and she saw her on the waiting room.
She approaches to Valera.
"How long have you been here? I"ve been worried sick..." She was supposed to give her a sermon but...
Looking at her niece"s downed face, it looked like there"s a reason why she"s late. She is more worried than ever.
"Ms. Parker?"
The doctor called her with a concerned look. As she looks at the doctor, he signaled her to come over. She is now troubled on what the doctor has to say.
Valera turned her head and looks at her aunt. She can"t make up the words they"re saying. After a period of time, she heard one of the lines that the doctor is saying to her.
"...he won"t be able to make it..."
Her mother"s condition is healthier than her father. The doctors expected that her mother could wake up in a few months or years. As for her father...
Even on his early years, he tends to overwork without a care of his body. He forgets to eat regularly and does not sleep on recommended hours, hence his fragile body.
The doctors presumed that her father cannot last long, so he is the priority between the two. Even so, they can"t help him to escape his cruel fate.
Valera doesn"t know how to react to this. She"s already worn out from before and all she can do is to just lay her body on a cold seat with a pale face.
After her aunt"s confrontation with the doctor, she approaches to her niece.
Valera is out cold due to her weeping. It is already late, so she lifts up her body to her back and walks home.
As they got home, she goes upstairs to Valera"s bedroom.
She puts her niece"s worn-out body to her bed, covers her with a blanket, and opens the lamp beside her.
She sits beside her and fondles her niece"s red-crimson hair.
She is very concerned of how she"s going to tell her about her father. She"s worried not only for her father"s condition, but how would Valera react when her most precious someone will suffer.
With the burdens starting to gain all over body, she decided to tell her tomorrow.
She stood up and gave her a good night kiss. She slowly moves towards the door.
"...Is Daddy gonna die?" As she heard her niece said that, her heart sulked. She turned around to rea.s.sure her.
"...no. No, he"ll be okay. Your Daddy is going to be okay." She gives her a smile to comfort her.
"Liar..." And with that, her mood swiftly changed.
"I know, Aunt Marie. Daddy has a weak body, so he can"t recover. Unlike Mommy, he"s hurting in his sleep rather than improving him.
I... I just wanted to make Daddy rest. He has done too much for us and... I don"t want to see him suffer."
Marie felt saddened. In such a young age, she can only watch her father in pain, and she had nothing to do to help him.
She looked down the floor to think of an answer. Before she even thinks, her niece spouted the words that she didn"t deem to consider for her to say.
"I want to make my Daddy sleep, to make him feel better in heaven."
Marie can"t take it anymore. She let out her emotions she contained a while back. She goes to her niece and hugs her, crying. Valera also wants to cry, but she is exhausted to do so.
They stayed like that for half an hour.
...
A month after...
On July 25, 2002; 12:46 in the afternoon...
Dr. Dennis P. Miller has pa.s.sed away, accompanied by his friends, his family, and her daughter in his deathbed.
All of them are in dismay as he died. But just before he died, Valera holds his hand with a gentle smile, hiding her melancholy heart, and uttered her words to him.
"Sleep well, Daddy."
...
Valera woke up.
She rested on the ground a while back ago. She may have pa.s.sed out because of the headache.
She looks around and she still on the dark forest. She stands up and walks straight on one direction, hoping to escape in this dreadful place.
She walked, and walked, and walked...
And the darkness still stayed.
She has not found a speck of light around her and unintentionally moves forward in every direction. Having lost in this endless maze, she ran.
While she ran, she reminisces of her distressing past, making her ambition slowly fade.
She loses all of her five senses and no way or hint of getting out.
And eventually, she tripped.
She has to stand, but she can"t.
She wouldn"t able to move anymore out of fear.
She doesn"t want to be here anymore.
She wants to forget her past.
She wants to get out.
Out of this dreadful abyss.
"I don"t like this place anymore... Mommy... Daddy...
Someone...
Save... me..."
She closes her eyes...
...
...
"...who are you..."
"!" Valera quickly opened her eyes. As she slightly turns her head, she finally saw it.
A light. A way to get out of here.
She stood up once again and runs after the light.
As she sprints towards the light, the memories of her sad past rapidly recalls her. She holds her head and keeps running.
She knows that voice. It"s him. The one she wants to meet, the reason why she"s here in the first place.
The light grows larger and larger and finally...
She has gone out.
She adjusted her eyes to the light, and at last, she has arrived at the portal.
The portal is placed on the center of the lake, where the small island resides. There is also a tree in that island, but different than the trees she saw earlier. Unlike most trees around her, the tree is smaller. Also, the leaves in that tree are pure green, as if that tree ignored the season of fall.
"Who are you? How did you know about this place?"
Suddenly, a little boy appeared in front of her. He didn"t look directly at her, but behind her.
She walked back and turned around.
It"s a small version of her. She sits on a rock, feeling down. The little girl answered the boy.
"I just found it. I ran away from home."
"...Are you lonely?" The boy asks.
But she replied with a silent response.
"..." The boy hesitated for a bit, but just looking at her makes him feel sad. Hoping to cheer her up, the boy said to her,
"Then, you want to play with me?"
The girl is a bit shocked of him. She would expect him to avoid her, but he didn"t.
"I can show you some places around here. You"ll be amazed."
She looked up to see his face. Upon looking at him, the feeling around him resembles that of her father. Just that feeling alone, she"s starting to get interested of him.
"By the way, what"s your name?"
The girl stood up and answers.
"...Valera. Valera Miller."
"Valera...
Then...
My name"s Phillip. Nice to meet you, Valera."
Phillip gives a sweet smile at Valera. After that, the two children faded away.
Valera finally remembered his name. Just his name makes her mind resonate of him over and over again. "Phillip..." She smiles with rea.s.surance.
She looks back at the tree again.
The view before is a spectacle to see. Even if the tree at the center is the odd one out of the other trees around, that peculiar tree is exactly why it is impressive. The water around the small island is so clear that you can almost see the rocks embedded on the floor of the lake.
In this moment, she entirely forgot what she has dealt with inside the dark forest. With him in her mind, the feelings bottled up inside her is enormous than what she previously felt until now.
"Valera!" Out of nowhere, Spirit sprints to her.
"Spirit!"
"How long have you been here? I"ve been worried sick..."
In his sentence, she immediately remembered about what her aunt said in the hospital, then the whole experience of her past.
"..."She went silent.
"Valera?"
She sits on the rock where the child previously sits.
"Let"s rest here, spirit.
This is going to be a long story." Even though it is such a frightening memory, but with Phillip in her mind, she felt like she can accept the past and focus on the present in front of her.
Spirit, feeling confused, approaches to Valera. And the two of them chatted with each other whilst presented this beautiful display in front of them.