CHAPTER 31: The Camping

EREVELL’s P.O.V.

After finding out that I escaped from her earlier, Mom didn’t say anything about it up until now. She’s not talking to me, and neither do I. I tried to remind myself that she will talk to me pretty much sooner or later, for I know that Mom doesn’t like the idea of me spending my last and remaining days on Earth while receiving a cold treatment from her. But I couldn’t contain myself anymore. I wanted to hear her voice. I wanted her to talk to me now.

“Mom...” I trailed off as my voice cracked up. “I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean to hurt you like that. I’m really sorry...” I sobbed like a child.

She looked at me with a worried expression plastered upon her face. She then gave me a light hug, that eventually eased the unbearable pain and guilt in my chest.

“That’s fine... It’s alright, Erevell. Now help me pack your things up. We are leaving this place,” she stated.

“Mom?” I asked her. “W-why?”

She sighed, before looking at me intently in the eye.

“We are going to do what the doctor said earlier. You should enjoy yourself. We will leave right in this instance and you will decide where you wanted to spend the rest of your life...” Her voice cracked up.

“M-Mom...” I uttered. “Are you serious?”

She looked at me, before sitting beside my bed. She caressed my hair, before wiping her tears away. My eyes started to get blurry, as I get emotional after hearing her words. She’s letting me decide... So maybe she finally accepted it herself.

“I’m sorry, sweetie. I’m sorry if I couldn’t do anything to save you... Just this once, let me make you happy...”

“You always make me happy, Mom,” I assured her. “And... Thank you, thank you so much for giving me a chance to spend the rest of my life the way I wanted to... I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too.”

We hug each other, before crying endlessly. After the drama, the two of us decided to be tough, starting to pack our things up to do everything that I want... For the last time.

“So... Where do you want to go?” she asked me.

“Home... I wanted to spend my last and remaining days on our previous house...”

“In the same village as Gabriel’s?” she asked, smiling at me mischievously.

She nodded, and I wanted to jump up and down for she’d just allowed me to spent more time with Gabriel. Living in the same village as him, it wouldn’t be too difficult for the both of us to see each other every time that we wanted to.

“Then we should head home now,” Mom stated, grabbing our stuff.

That night, we traveled way back home. As we arrived in the same village, the street was already quiet. Our house is dirty, but it was still the same. It’s still standing proud and tough after all these years.

The first thing that Mom and I did was to clean our home. As we set everything aside, she let me take a rest, for tomorrow, I’m going to surprise my bestfriend. I’m going to tell him that we are finally home. I’m sure he will be glad to know about it.

Before I finally went to sleep, I took a loose leaf of paper from one of my notebooks before writing sometime into it. My own bucket list. List of things that I wanted to complete and experienced before I... Before the inevitable thing happen. Thankfully, I finished the list before I completely went into a slumber of deep sleep.

The next morning, I fetch Gabriel using my old bicycle. As I arrived in their front door, I knock several times, trying to get his attention. As the door swing open, I finally saw his stunned but still handsome face. He was bombarded by surprise, I guess.

“Erevell? Hey! What are you doing in here?” he asked curiously.

“We are finally home!” I squealed out of excitement.

“Really? You and your Mom will stay in the same village as we are right now?” he asked those series of questions, sounding very pleased and excited at the same time.

“Yeah! We aren’t leaving anymore!”

After hearing those words, Gabriel pulled me in for a tight hug, before lifting me up from the ground as he started spinning me around. I feel dizzy, though I enjoyed the moment. He’s very happy, and I hope that I could seal this perfect smile on his face forever. I wish I could bring this memory of us to wherever place that I’m going to be after I passed away.

“That’s so good to hear! Finally, we could spent more time together. I mean, my Dad granted me to leave work for the mean time...”

“Great!” I exclaimed, excited.

“So, what should we do?” he asked.

“Let us stroll around the village. I mean, we could do anything that we saw.”

“Sure, sure. Come...”

He took my hand, and my breathing got heavy as I feel his touch. I may not be able to say it right in front of his face, but I hope he could feel it... That I love him so much. Not just a friend, but more than that.

Gabriel and I roam around our village, doing some random things before we passed through the bookstore. There, in front of the entrance, I saw a poster announcing about a camping. It’s in the nearby hill just beside our village. An idea suddenly popped into my mind, as I nudged Gabriel to get his attention.

“Yes?” He looked at my direction. I pointed the poster, and his brows furrowed in confusion. “A two days camping?” he asked.

“Yeah. You know what, I always wanted to experienced camping in the woods. And besides, that place is just near our village.”

He chuckled, before looking at me like I was some kind of a lunatic.

“Don’t you think we are too old for doing this kind of things?”

I frowned, before stomping away from his direction. Well he could say that, for he doesn’t even know that I’ve only got some few more weeks or even days to live.

“Hey!” I heard his footsteps behind me, before he pulled my arm to make me stop. “Are you mad at me?”

“Nope,” was my short response.

“Now I’m sure that you are. Fine, fine. Let’s join in that camping...”

“Really?” My eyes widen in disbelief, before I jumped onto him to give him a tight hug. “Thank you, Gab! I really appreciate this one!”

“You’re welcome.” He chuckled.

And so we got home to prepared ourselves for the two days camping starting tomorrow and the next day. Of course I still have to ask Mom about it but I’m sure that she’s going to let me go specially that I’m with my bestfriend.

Gabriel walked me home, before we bid our farewells to each other. That night, I haven’t got much sleep for I am excited for the camping. I already told Mom about it, and she approved it just like what I’d expected.

The next day, with all the things that I needed ready inside of my backpack, Gabriel fetch me up from our house so that we can walk together to the bus that will going to bring us to the campsite. As we arrived in the meeting place, the people in there are staring at us like we are some kind of a freak. Maybe because of the fact that most of them are children and are in their teenage years, while Gabriel and I... We are the only adults who joined in this camping.

“I told you we would look weird in here,” he whispered into my ears, trying to suppress his laughter of embarrassment.

“Weird? I think that is my speciality.”

He laughed, before we got inside of the bus. The trip was a good two hours or so, but thankfully, it wasn’t that boring for Gabriel is with me.

“Sleepy?” he asked as he noticed that my eyes were getting heavy by each second.

“Slightly.”

“You can sleep on my shoulder. I wouldn’t get mad, I swear,” he stated, making me laughed.

“Sure. Thank you.”

I smiled at him, before I felt his hands on my cheeks. Slowly, he put my head on his shoulder. I sighed, inhaling his comforting scent. I felt him moved a little bit closer, resting his head onto mine. And with a contentment in our hearts, we both fell asleep.