"Sarox," I could hear a familiar voice, "are you okay?"
Yeah, that was definitely someone I know. My consciousness was weak at that moment, so weak that I couldn't bear to open my eyes, but I could hear it. When my senses finally regained enough strength, I opened my eyes and saw Marlene standing over me.
"Are you okay, Sarox," she asked, although I was still feeling a little woozy.
"Wha-what happened," I asked.
"I don't know,you just passed out" she answered.
"What happened?" I kept asking myself that. What was that place, what was that thing? Perhaps it was just a dream. I mean, what kind of place would so dark and mysterious?
I thought about it a long time along the way and when I couldn't think of anything relevant, I finally decided to ignore it.
"Hey, you feel like going to the island tomorrow after school," Marlene asked.
"Sure," I answered immediately.
Marlene had been my best friend ever since we were very young. She and I were both born on Destiny Islands. When I first met her, we were on our first day at school, she was six years old and I was seven. I remember being really nervous when the teacher called for me to come up and introduce myself to my fellow classmates, I almost couldn't say a word so I only said one phrase:
"Hello!"
Marlene, though, you can't say the same about her. She had a brilliant smile and was really confident, or maybe she was just hiding her shy self behind that big smile because she had been as shy as I had been since that day. Her smile on that made her shining brown hair shine as bright as the sun. When I was on my way home, I saw her right beside the school gate bended down as if she was looking for something. I could see sadness emanating from her eyes so I approached to talk to her.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
She looked up to face me, and I could see water in her eyes. The confident smile that morning turned into a sad frown.
"I dropped my pendant. My mom gave it to me."
Marlene had dropped something really important, that I could see. I didn't want her to look sad, just smile as bright as always, but she couldn't do it with sadness getting in the way. I want it to go away. She looked away to find her lost pendant.
"Why don't I help you look for it?"
She looked at me again.
"You will?"
"Of course."
I stirred my eyes at my surroundings. My senses were all focused on my sight, I couldn't hear, couldn't smell, only see. Something blinked for a moment in some bushes about ten feet away from us.
"I'm really lucky to have you for a friend, Sarox," she said.
It kinda surprised me to hear her say that. All I could say back was: "Huh?"
"Hi hi," she giggled, "just kidding you."
"Just kidding", I repeated it in my mind.
No, that won't do.
Of course I am grateful that she is my friend, but… sometimes I wish we were more. I wanted to tell her how I feel, but I just couldn't bring myself to it.
We just walked quietly.
We reached Marlene's home and said our goodbyes. I kept thinking about that place on my way home. It's probably nothing. I mean, anybody could have weird dreams, right?
But I just couldn't let it go.
"I'm home," I called as soon as I came home.
There was a noise of grilling in the kitchen, so I knew that my mom was home.
"Hi, Sarox," she replied from the kitchen. "Did you have a good day?"
I couldn't wait to tell her what happened today.
"Yeah," I answered.
I was about to go into the kitchen to tell her about the blitzball game, but then I saw someone coming out from the living room and my attention was completely changed.
"Dad," I called. Excitement came up my throat.
"Hi, boy," he said.
Excitement and happiness came over me, I could feel how my heart was jumping toward him and I ran forth. He opened his arms just in time for me to crash into his embrace.
"He he he," he laughed loudly.
"You just have to do that everytime you see your old man, huh."
"Oh, come on, dad," I said, "you've been gone for a week. A hug is my way of saying "Welcome home"."
"Sora, can you help me, please" my mom called from the kitchen.
Dad removed his arms around me.
"Okay," he replied and then turned his attention back to me, "we'll talk later."
He went straight into the kitchen to help mom. They have been madly in love with each other since they were kids, several years before I came to be. I was born shortly after they got married and dad started making his delivery business. Unfortunately the job involves a lot of traveling, and he always has to leave town to deliver our villagers' stuff to other towns. Too bad Uncle Riku's left the islands; whenever dad was out on business he would always stop by to play with me, and talk to mom after dinner. He moved away last year without saying where he was going. I still remember my mom and dad's faces when they saw him off. They were smiling, but I could tell that there was at least a small amount of sadness hidden beneath their smiling faces. Uncle Riku had been friends with my parents since they were little kids. Sometimes, I would tell my dad how much I miss him and he would say "I know how you feel". Of course, I got used to him not living here anymore. But I still miss him at times. I don't miss him now though.
"Sarox, dinner ready in fifteen minutes," mom called from the kitchen.
"Okay," I said.
"Hey, Sarox," my dad said, "after dinner, I'll take you on a ball game."
"All right."
I ran up to my room to change my clothes and get ready for dinner.
After the "delicious dinner" – which dad kept saying to mom – he took me out to the garden where we could play balls. We decided to make him the guard of the net, and I was made the shooter.
"Okay, let's see if you have been practicing while I was gone," he said.
I kicked the ball with much strength focused on my foot, aiming for the net. I felt the power give me strength and I was sure that the ball would reach the net. Then, a large powerful hand lifted from below and caught it without as much as benting backward.
"You've gotten better," he said proudly.
"I'm not as good as you, dad," I remarked and it was true. He had always been better than me at sports. Even today.
"Don't be so down. Someday you'll be as good as I am, maybe even better than me. You gotta have faith in yourself, that's how I made it through my years."
What he said struck me with a slim curiosity, and I had ask:
"Dad, you've never really told me much about your journey. Where have you been to?"
"Well, like your mother always says, there are things that you need to discover on your own."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"It means this conversation is over," he said and brushed off into the house.
I could feel the frustration wash over my head.
He never told me anything about his journeys, not once. Well, maybe once, but mom stopped him before he could outmouth a single detail. I was getting ready for bed that night, like always. Dad read me stories about a young boy traveling the universe, searching for what he may not be able to find. That story always appealed to me, as though I could relate to the boy in it. He traveled across the worlds to find what he is lacking. He was lacking closeness, while I was lacking confidence to be strong.
"Dad, why does he lack closeness?" I asked after he stuffed me in bed and finished reading the story.
"Well, you see, traveling the world is a good thing," he began. "But when you travel alone, you enjoy it for a while. It's peaceful and fun. You have nothing but the time of the world in your hand. But then you start to get lonely."
"Why?"
"Because the most beautiful things in the world mean nothing if you don't have someone to share. Your Uncle Riku took that road when he was my age and became incredibly lonely after some time."
"Did he join you afterwards?"
"No, not directly. But we came home together. And we met some really good friends on the way. We even fought…"
"Honey!" mom called.
She was standing right outside my bedroom door, so I supposed she did that with intention.
"Don't you have a delivery tomorrow? You don't wanna look like a slacker when you leave tomorrow, do you?"
Dad didn't look happy, but his face was also made clear to me that he wasn't angry.
"All right, I'll come soon," he answered. This time, his voice lowered. He turned his attention back to me. "All right, go to sleep. You've got school tomorrow."
"Good night, dad," I said.
"Good night."
"Good night, honey," mom said from the hallway.
"Good night, mom."
Dad then shut the light to let the darkness induce me with a temporary slumber. After five minutes in silence, I was carried into the dark.
He was close to telling me, but mom stopped him. We haven't spoken about it since then. I never knew why, and maybe I didn't want to know either. Somehow their in-between mystery gave me a direct warning: that it was not something for me to know. Perhaps I should just let it go, I always thought. But even if I tried to ignore my curiosity, it always got to me. I wanted to know what mom and dad were hiding. "The last thing you'd expect is for your parents to hide things from you," one of my classmates said, when he discovered that his mother was hiding a secret. He was really upset when he found out, wouldn't talk to his mom for days.
I wondered, will I turn out like him too?