Chapter FOUR: Say It Out!
"Where are we going?" I asked the girl, trailing after her bike.
"You wouldn't mind if we just walked there would you?" she asked me.
"No, walking would be good…"
"Okay, I'll just drop off my bike by my place and then, we're ready to…"
She stopped in front of an apartment, the apartment where she said she'll be staying in…
"You live here?" I goggled at her.
"Yeah, don't tell me you live here too…"
"Well, guess what? I do live here…"
We both ended up laughing…
"This is such a great start!" she smiled at me. "I think I'm going to love this place…"
"Yeah, me too…" I replied, looking at her closely.
"Come on, show me your room!" she dragged me after she chained her bike.
"Okay, slow down…"
I took her to upstairs to my room…
"Wow! You're my neighbor?" she wondered out loud. "Cool…"
"Come on; let's go…"I said locking up my room. "Where are you supposed to take me, anyway?"
"Just come with me and ask no more…"
The next thing I knew she was running and dragging me at the same time. We took a few twists and turns. We kept running on as fast as our feet can take us. We finally got there…
"I thought we were going to walk…" I complained, completely breathless.
"Why complain now?" she giggled. "Take a look around! Isn't it beautiful?"
She took me to a beach. She took me along the shores of Destiny Islands...
"Come on…" Naminé ran around the place, her blonde hair blowing with the calm sea breeze. She looked so happy.
"Fine then, I'm IT!" I yelled, running after her.
"What're you saying? Too fast for you?" she teased me. I ran even faster, slowly putting some more speed until finally…
"Gotcha!" I held her in my arms and she stopped running. She just laughed.
"Whatever!" She leaned on me for a moment then she softly pushed me away. She sat down on the warm sand.
"Roxas?"
"Hmmm…?"
"Seat with me…"
I sat down with her. She was looking far out the sky. I was playing with the sand, grabbing a handful and letting it fall between my fingers. She told me about the accident. She started to tell me her story…
"Kairi was so cute, Roxas. She was just jumping in that boat saying; fish, fish, fish! She's so innocent. She's a year younger than me. She was too young, why did she have to die like that? She drowned, Roxas all because of me. I didn't know how to swim yet but I jumped in right after her. If I didn't jump in then Kairi and dad would have been alive today. It's all my fault. I could still remember what mom looked like when she was traumatized by the incident. We stayed in the rehab for almost a year. It felt so hopeless inside. Every time I tried to come near mom, she would go berserk and start screaming. Most of the time she would hurt me and say; YOU STUPID GIRL! You killed your sister and your dad. I wish you died instead of them…"
"How could she say that to her own daughter?" I thought to myself.
"Then, there was also a time when she pushed me all around the room. I kept hitting the walls the beds. There was blood everywhere. Luckily, the doctors and nurses came crashing in the room, separating her from me. I insisted to stay in the same room as her. I wanted to take care of her despite her condition…"
"She was only four years old. So brave of her…" I wondered silently.
"Slowly but fortunately, she got back to her own self. Mother insisted that we stay in Hollow Bastion. So we did. We stayed there for almost ten years. My school life wasn't that great. I was depressed since the accident. I was always teased and mocked by other kids. They called me a freak. They said that I killed my sister on purpose. To them I was nothing but crap. I tried to defend myself but it was useless. They just threw bits of paper, even books at me. I came home every afternoon, trying to tell my mom about my little problem but all she says is; Honey, don't forget to put bandages. She didn't know anything about my suffering, Roxas."
"Why? Why is it supposed to be that way? She doesn't deserve that!" I was just silent, listening to her, she was crying.
"Until one day, I snapped. I lost control of my life. My depression took over me. I skipped my meals most of the time. I lost my studies. I was all alone. She refused to accept what I am now. A failure…Instead of trying to help me, she was blind, numb and I can't believe I am saying this but she is so stupid."
"Okay, I think that was too much…"
"We moved here because she thinks it might help me with my little problem. I hope it will. She gave me space, space to move on and forget my past, move on to a better tomorrow…"
I moved my gaze to her. She was still crying, her tears fell on her pale cheeks from her shimmering blue eyes.
"I'm so sorry for crying all over you like this…" she said to me, wiping her tears, clumsily.
"Here, use this." I offered her my handkerchief.
"Awww…Thanks a lot!" She wiped her tears away.
"Feel better, Naminé?" I asked her.
"Yeah, thanks to you!" Naminé gave me back my handkerchief
but I refused to have it back…
"Oh, you want me to have it? She asked curiously. "You want me to clean this for you?"
"No, I want you to have it. That's my favorite handkerchief. If I'm not around, you can cry on it, okay?" I let go of my words with sincere. "I'll try my best to be there for you…"
"You'll just try to do that?" she faked a frown.
"Well, fine." I said. "Let me rephrase that. I'll always be there for you…"
She laughed…
"You're so corny, you know that?"
"At least I made you laugh, Namie." I pulled her for a hug. She thanked me for being a friend to her.
"Roxas, from this day until eternity, will you be my best friend, the one whom I can always run to, someone I can trust, someone I will always care for, and someone I'll be there for?"
It was my turn to laugh…
"I do, Naminé…"
"Yay! Mom will be proud of me…I made a new friend!" she proudly said.
"I know she will…" I smiled at her.
We both fell silent again. We watched the waves of the sea roll perfectly back to the shore. The sun was setting. The clouds were feathery and light. My day ended nicely and I know her day did too…
"Roxas, want to come over to my place?"
"Yeah, sure!" I said. "What are you having for dinner?"
"We'll just have to order out!" Naminé said. "What do you want to order?"
"Pizza, and lots of it!" I replied to her with a hungry stare.
"Okay, I'll take care of it but, you'll get the drinks!"
"Deal. Oh by the way, gotta shower first." Then, I whispered; "Too much sand in my pants…"
She must have been thinking;"Weirdo!"
After separating ways, I took off to some store and bought two huge bottles of fizzy drinks, a bottle of hot sauce, and some garlic butter. I went home and took a shower. I picked out a white shirt and a pair of shorts. Now, I was standing in front of her door, knocking…
"Coming!" said the girl in a blue shirt. She opened the door for me.
"Hey!" I said to her. "Got the pizza? I got the drinks!"
She let me inside and closed the door behind me.
"Yeah, pizza's here!" Naminé pointed out on the table. There were three boxes of pizzas, all large in size.
"BIG! Let's eat!" I grabbed a box and opened it. She took out huge glasses and filled both with drinks.
"I wonder what's on t.v.?" she wondered out loud. We sat on the carpeted floor, watching t.v., eating all the pizzas we could handle. I also found out that she loves eating her pizza with hot sauce and a few spreads of garlic butter. I couldn't handle that. Well, anyway, we stayed up late until 1:00 a.m. Before saying good-night, we agreed to see our school and ask for the books we needed.
I'm glad I met someone like her. I'm grateful I met her sooner. I slowly helped her up. Slowly she was filled with hope and life again. I hope this goes on…I hope she'll recover from her past…
Author's Note: To those who have already read my first story; Waiting in Line, I thank you so much for your time. To those who started reading this story; Mirror, Thank you so much too… I'm sorry if I took a long time to update this, I just had a few life problems but they'll be alright…I try my best to continue to update this as soon as possible…To those who haven't/won't read my creations, I'm begging you guys, please read them…your comments are important to me too! There are four stories to come in the future…I hope you'd enjoy them too…