Falling Like The Stars || UNDER HEAVY EDITION ||

Eight

"So how was school?" Mum pioneered as she unlocked the car. I climbed inside and sank on the backseat. "Was it awesome? I bet it was."

She continued with her oration, but I wasn't even listening. Something felt so panicky in me. Maybe it was just the medications which troubled my fit because of its lack of consumption. Or it could be the "dark pasts" as he had mentioned.

Or maybe it was him.

I exposed my mask, revealing the tubes. I felt exhausted yet serene. I rolled down the windows and permit the fresh breeze strike at my face. I couldn't feel my palms anymore. Something rang in my head continuously—his heartbeats.

"Blake, are you even listening?" Mum raised her brows at me.

"Yeah...what did you say again?" I jumped back to my consciousness.

"About the woman I met at your school. She has a son being a single mother. We met before you came out and she invited us to her son's birthday next week," Mum sighed pleasingly. "Such a lovely woman."

"I'm not going anywhere," I exhaled loudly.

Mum watched me over the rear mirror, "Why?"

I shrugged, "I've cystic fibrosis?"

"So?"

"Look, Mum, you don't understand how it is to wear tubes in some location crowded with people. They stare at you like you're a ghost."

Nobody whispered a word since that dialogue.

***

"Blake, we're here."

The voice soothed my ears as I initiated my eyes open. I had not a single clue of how I submerged into sleep. This seemed unusual yet more or less, cozy. I guessed it was the breeze that drift me off and possibly the bare nights that passed on without my sleep earlier.

Mum smiled at me rather oddly, unfastening the car door. I descended out of the vehicle, coated with tubes all over me. There stood my White House, just a smaller version. We lived moderately isolated from the rest after determining my circumstance. Nonetheless, I loved the segregation—no one to penetrate your soul through the eyes.

I thud inside the resident, throwing my bag on the couch. I hopped on the cushiony bed and breathed heavily. This was heaven.

Well, it was until the alarm chimed. The siren was a reminder of the meds I needed at that particular moment. Honestly, it was the only thing I hated about this house. I mean, it has got a great view of the city under the starry sky and all, but the alarm buzzing pinched me as if a signal, "Death is near if you don't take the meds."

And believe it or not, I have already planned to die. No more treatments. To be frank, I don't see a point why should I take them. It's useless when you just know you're going to kick the bucket one way or another.

I dropped the clock inside my bedside drawer. Peace. That's when I apprehended the scowling Mum calling us for meal.

I slide down the staircase and crossed into the required room. Josh, my stepdad, and Mum were already in table with Jacob, my older brother and Mariana, Josh's sister.

This was the so-called "family time." One by one, each of us would have to speak about our day and atleast one pleasing fact.

Josh started, "You won't believe what I did today. I waft off to sleep and dreamed about a holiday in Havana. We were sailing a raft and ooh, the tanning air..."

Jacob grasped subsequently, "I found about this new game called Big Jokai and it's just super cool. Thinking to organize a game-meet at Kyle's next month..."

Mariana was the third and soon Mum's turn came.

"I met this woman in Blake's school and she's just so adorable. Single handedly managed to grow her child whose birthday's been edging. She called us for the party but Blake disagreed."

The others silenced down, glaring at me. I stumbled upon a clarified answer, "What?"

Josh sighed, "Blake, you need to enjoy. You do know that you don't even talk nowadays, right?"

"Moreover you might actually find some good guys there," Jacob winked. "What I mean is, why don't you just go with the flow sometimes?"

"You think I'm fascinated into going to some party and enjoy with this disorder in me? Impossible." I clenched my jaws.

Silence.

They looked at Mariana, waiting for her to join the conversation. She was the best delegate awardee in the family. When she spoke, she hit the boldness. She cleared her throat.

"I think we need to talk in private."

***

"It's Dolan, isn't it?"

"Wha—?"

"Don't lie, Blake." Mariana continued, "We all know it's him."

I sighed. It was comparatively useless to waste my time on distracting from this core point. "I'm just afraid..."

"That he might suddenly appear into your life and hurt you."

"Exactly. It's pointless to enjoy."

"Let's face it. There are other guys out there. You might just crash into one and take pleasure in it. Life is too short to be ruthless over the past. Just imagine a handsome better-than-Newman dude bumping onto you and falling in love." She stared at my reaction, "Well, that's all I have to say..."

Mariana dimmed the lights of the bedroom. Before she closed the door, she gazed at me for one last time. "All you need right now is one person who can make you feel understood. So I advise you to think about it and choose your decision to go thoughtfully."

With the darkness immersing in the room as the door was slammed close, I curled up in the blanket, reviving her words.

"There are other guys out there. You might just crash into one and take pleasure in it."

"All you need right now is one person who can make you feel understood."

Then a flashback of the day pictured my mind. A guy bashing onto me. His glare piercing into my soul. A guy who read my mind:

"I'm serious. You can't breathe properly. I'm guessing it's a delay of medicines, or some kind of horror past swinging in your head."

And in that darkened night, I whispered—"Jake."