From Afar

eighteen

        "Did you ever get to see the stars at night?" I asked the day after we met. We were both out of our houses. Since we were just neighbors, grandma allowed me to hang out with him for a while. I was also glad that his mom allowed him to.

        He smiled. It had only been a day but I was getting to his smile already. It was contagious, to be honest. "I've seen it before I became blind. The way how each stars twinkle around the moon and how it would disappear when there's rain coming. There's only one thing I wish I would have seen, though," he stopped and the look on his face became a little sad.

        "What is it?"

        "Just... you know, those shooting stars. I've been wanting to see those since I was a kid but it never came during those times I still have my sight."

        "What happened?" I asked. I couldn't help but wonder how did you become blind.

        He smiled a sad smile. "You wouldn't want to know why," was all he said.

        "Try me."

        There was a moment of silence that built between the two of us. I watched him intently, trying to get some emotion tohis face but there's none.

        "I had a brain tumor."

        When he blurted those five words, my mouth hung open. Surprised was not even the word I could use to describe how shocked I was.

        "I was fifteen when they found out. Last year, before my seventeenth birthday, they said that the tumor was gone but it somehow damaged my eyes. I didn't really ask for anymore explanation. I knew that something would happen to me so I came prepare."

        How cruel life could be sometimes?

        "And to tell you, I was already ready for death to arrive." My hand shut to my mouth when he said those. I never heard someone said how ready they were for death. Heck, no one would even want to talk about their death. But he was so open about it. Like it's the only thing that he could think of right at that moment.

        I didn't know what was happening, but I found myself pulled him towards me and gave him a hug. I think that was the only thing I could offer at that moment. Words were not enough to express my concern to him. I just wished I met him earlier before all of this.

        He hugged me back and we were just there under the moonlight, not thinking of who might see us. It seemed like right at that moment, at that time...

        We became one.