Bubble Gum Kisses

Kapittel 7

Kapittel 7

Vanessa

Days have passed since we moved back to town, and I was getting accustomed to this place back again. The days were great with the frequent visits from some old neighbors who welcomed us back with delicious gifts, especially Mr. and Mrs. Harbinger who brought us a large pot of gumbo and a basket of newly harvested bell peppers, rambutan lemon, and oranges.

We had lunch with the old couple with the food they brought and some squeezed lemonade. Catching up with them about our respective experiences from 3 years ago was fun. I got to learn that their eldest and second child now had their own families and children while their youngest was still in the middle of finishing their doctorate, which Mr. Harbinger was proud of, being someone with a doctoral degree himself. They were thrilled to meet Zach and tried to teach him to call them "mawmaw" and "pawpaw".

"Mawmaw..." my younger brother pointed at Mrs. Harbinger with his small, chubby index finger. "Pawpaw," he said, and then pointed to Mr. Harbinger.

"What a bright young man!" Mr. Harbinger exclaimed as they clapped their hands in joy. The little man, being the jolly kid he was, became elated when he realized he was being praised.

The harmonious lunch went on and the elderly woman suddenly asked where dad was and said she hadn't seen him since we moved back. Immediately, mom's beaming face went crestfallen. My heart broke seeing her beautiful, smiling face drop into a frown.

"He died," she answered, her voice small, and broken.

The entire room was silent for a while. Awkwardness befell the entire dining room and none of us attempted to speak, the atmosphere had become too thick for us to breathe properly. It was Mrs. Harbinger who broke it with her heartfelt condolences, "It must have been hard. I'm sorry to hear that, dearie. We didn't know."

We proceeded with our lunch with happy faces again, like the question was never asked. It soon ended shortly, and our visitors went back home since they had prior arrangements to attend to.

But as much as how enjoyable my daytimes were, my nighttimes were horrible with all the nightly visits by aching terrors. I was afraid of sleeping since the nightmares would come back but we couldn't control ourselves from closing our eyes when tired then unknowingly slipping away from consciousness and entering slumber. I'd always find myself awake at dawn, and wait until it was around 4 to jog and get things off my mind. It was effective, however, the less that I think about it the worse and more gruesome my nightmares became that I'd fight myself from sleeping.

"Sweetie, are you okay? You don't look so good," mom asked while we were cutting weeds in the front yard. It seemed that my sleeplessness was starting to affect my complexion.

"Yeah. I'm good, mom," I answered her and forced a smile. The truth was, my body was aching all over, especially my eyes that were deadset on closing but I've been fighting them off. I didn't want to sleep. I didn't want to encounter those repetitive nightmares again.

"You sure?" she asked for assurance, her eyes were full of worry. As much as I didn't want to lie to her, seeing me still devastated after what happened might break her, and I didn't want that to happen.

"Yup," I answered, popping the "p". "I'll tell you when something's bothering me." Lies.

"Good." A broad, bright smile stretched on her face. "Just know that I'm always here for you." Same here, mom. Same here. But I'm sorry, there were just things I couldn't tell you.

"I know. Thanks, mom," I replied, the same fake smile still plastered on my face.

I was visited by another one again but these past sleepless nights exhausted me too much that I wasn't in the mood to jog for today. After drinking a glass of water, I went back up to my room where I laid plopped myself harshly on the bed.