birthday

chapter 6: awake

A few months passed, day by day. The doctors were unsure whether to continue with the treatment, as there were no signs that Blaze was waking up. The brothers lost all hope by then, mourning in sorrow and guilt.

If only….

If only they heard Blaze out.

If only they recognised the signs.

If only they were patient with him.

If only Ais had been there.

They were sure, if Ais had been there on that fateful day, he wouldn’t have run away. He wouldn’t have gotten hit by a car, he wouldn’t be in a coma. But it was too late for Blaze. Even Tok Aba was losing hope.

But…. Ais.

He refused to believe Blaze would die. He refused to talk to them. Each passing day, he would grow colder and colder. He would sneak out at night, never listen to them, and never eat dinner with them.

He spent most of the time by Blaze’s side, praying and just hoping and hoping he would wake up. The brothers tried to make it up to him, but would always be answered with sneers and outbursts of anger.

They were on thin ice. One wrong move and Ais would snap. The household grew cold and silent, no one wanted to disturb Ais and risk irritating him. Ais was usually mature, but now he was overcome by grief and anger.

And all of that was shoved onto the brothers.

———————

Ais came back home, a smile plastered on his face. It looked genuine. And, Ais wouldn’t fake a smile. These days he’d simply glare at them and storm to his room. Not today, though.

“Hey, Air!” Taufan chirped excitedly, noticing his grin. Air’s smile disappeared completely. “What.” he snapped, storming upstairs. Taufan’s face crumpled into a look of hurt.

“Nevermind..” he muttered, but Ais was already in his room. “What happened?” Duri asked curiously, followed by Solar and Gempa.  Taufan sighed. “Air looked all happy-like just now but when I tried to talk to him he was really mean.” He explained gloomily.

Gempa embraced him a hug. “It’s not your fault.” He assured Taufan.

Deja Vu.

”it’s ok! I’m fine,” Taufan replied with a bright grin. Although the perfect smile seemed off. “It’s probably something to do with Blaze. Like, they told him Api will probably wake up soon.” Solar thought aloud, then suddenly stiffened.

“What if….. Api woke up?!” Solar asked. As the others started shaking their heads, Halilintar spoke up from the couch. He had been silent the entire time. “Solar’s right for once. And ONLY this once. It could be true, since Air probably wouldn’t tell us if Api woke up.” he reasoned.

”Yeah, he blames us for Api’s coma. But I guess we do deserve it.” Solar added, quickly covering up the look of shame on his face. “Should we ask him?” Gempa asked cautiously.

Duri and Taufan shook their heads simultaneously. “No, we have the hospital’s number right here!” Taufan announced happily, all his  previous sadness and guilt vanishing. Duri dialed the number, then asked, “Hi! It’s Blaze’s brothers here, room 305? Is he awake? Really?! Yes?! Wait. Can we see him? Yay!” Duri squealed happily.

“We can come before they close! Won’t Blaze be excited to see us?!” Duri asked excitedly, but only Taufan nodded his head in agreement. “I don’t know, the last thing he thought was probably that we hated him.” Solar lied hesitantly. He knew that Api probably didn’t think that, but he did not actually want to see him.