If Only You Knew - Story Pt. 5

Continued from If Only You Knew - Story Pt. 1, Story Pt. 2, Story Pt. 3 and Story Pt. 4

   The next day, both Jeremy and Mandy got the shock of their life when Lily suddenly appeared at his college. She was waiting outside his class when Jeremy greeted her.

"Lily? What are you doing here?"

"Is that you, Jeremy? You've changed a lot! Err...got some time to spare? I really need to talk to you. Just tell me the time and the place."

"Well, sure...let's see.. can you meet me at Joylife afterwards, 5 o'clock?"

   Lily agreed. After she left, Mandy looked agitated. "Jeremy..." She appeared hesitant.

"What?"

"Can you go see her next Monday? I w-...I want to go to the park with you this evening."

"Can't we go tomorrow? I'm sure what she wants to tell me is important, Mandy. She looked serious."

"Maybe she just wants to hang out. She'll understand. I really want to go to the park today. Please..."

   Jeremy was torn between Mandy and Lily. But Mandy just wanted to go to the park, which they can do anytime, so he decided that he would meet Lily. "I'm sorry, Mandy. How could we know that it isn't a serious matter if I don't go? I'll go to the park with you first thing tomorrow morning, okay? Tomorrow's Friday, and I don't have any classes."

   Mandy was not satisfied. However, the professor came in at that moment and she had to go out. The next time Jeremy saw her, she was on that tree branch again, looking mournfully at him. Maybe she was sad because I can't spend time with her today, he thought.

   After his class ended, Jeremy waited for Mandy but she did not appear. He then gave her another 15 minutes, but it was getting late and he figured that she was sulking and didn't want to join him. Thus he went alone to the fastfood joint. Lily was already there.

"Hi, Jeremy."

"Hi, sorry to keep you waiting. I waited for Mandy but she didn't show up."

"Mandy?"

"Yes, my friend."

"Oh, I see..."

   Looking a bit confused at first, Lily then grew serious. "I came to see you about my friend. She-" Lily stopped mid-sentence when Jeremy suddenly got up and rushed out of the restaurant. Her eyes followed him and saw that he was talking to somebody. It had started to rain and the large glass window blurred. She squinted her eyes, trying to see the person he was talking to. Who is it? She thought.

   Jeremy, in fact, had seen Mandy standing outside looking at them. She had tears in her eyes. That's why he rushed out and confronted her.

"Mandy! Why didn't you come in? And...you're crying."

   Mandy lifted up her face to look at him, traces of tears glistened on her cheeks. "Is it because I won't go to the park?" Jeremy asked, but she just kept silent. Then as she turned away, she said, "Go on. Meet her. We'll talk when you get back."

"Are you sure?"

   Mandy again did not answer. She just walked away slowly, and Jeremy knew that it would be useless to try to stop her. Besides, she already told him to go ahead, so he thought it would be better if he talk to Lily first. Knowing how stubborn Mandy was, she probably would end up pushing him into the restaurant herself if he kept on talking to her. So he went back inside. Lily had already ordered a Coke for him.

"Thanks. It's my favorite drink."

"I know."

   Jeremy looked at Lily. "How?" She smiled half-heartedly. "That's what I'm going to tell you." She took a long breath.

"I had a friend who had a really huge crush on you since high school. Her name's Amanda Maxson. She's the one who told me about your favorite drink..."

   Jeremy laughed. "I had a secret admirer? I can't believe it! Is that all? You were pretty serious about this." Lily remained uptight and continued her story.

"We, me and you, often bumped into each other before and Amanda was with me most of the time. I saw her getting excited every time. I saw her face turned red, walking awkwardly hoping that you notice her yet was too shy to get closer. Tidied up her hair, conscious of her appearance, writing it all into her diary...in short, I saw her efforts concerning you. But sadly, you seemed to never notice her. That foolish girl never had the courage to confess."

   Jeremy just sat there, not knowing what to say.

"Four months ago, I learned why. She got brain tumor."

   At this, his head jerked up. Tears had welled up in Lily's eyes. "She never told me. Only after her condition got worse did she asked to see me. We talked a lot and our parents agreed to let me stay with her these last few months. She mentioned your name frequently but sadly, she refused when I volunteered to get you."

   Lily took out a paper bag from under the table. "I hope you'll accept this, as a remembrance of her. I think it's a real pity that you didn't get the chance to know her, Jeremy." Jeremy was speechless. He took the bag and opened it. There was a framed picture of Amanda, and a small notebook. After a few minutes, he cleared his throat and closed the bag.

"I guess I better get going. Thanks for telling me about this. I'll keep this with special care."

   Leaving his drink untouched, Jeremy proceeded to pay but Lily stopped him, saying it was her treat. They eventually parted ways outside Joylife.

   On his way home, Jeremy felt totally confused and numb. He never thought that one day he could get involved in a situation like this. He walked as fast as he could, nearly running, as he couldn't wait to reach home and talk to Mandy.

- To Be Continued -

* Sikit-sikit brain tumor lah, leukemia lah, cancer lah, autumn in my heart lah...ye, tau korang mesti bosan kan? Cheit, typical kisah cinta muntah hijau kuning-kuning spageti, ada-ada je penyakit kritikal! *tunduk akur*

Continued in If Only You Knew - Story Pt. 6 (Final)

The Wood : Part 6 (Final)

Continued from The Wood : Part 1, The Wood : Part 2,  The Wood : Part 3,  The Wood : Part 4, and The Wood : Part 5

   Seeing Zoey awake, the worried-looking Jill quickly fetched her a glass of water, and then tried to calm her bewildered friend. She was rambling about eggs, a forest, and what? Cyber? It all made no sense until Zoey got better as days passed by. After two weeks, she had became her normal self once more. Jill, who at first was as confused as Zoey was when she woke up from her coma, had now understood Zoey's initially strange reaction. After being told of the strange dream about the forest,  Jill in turn related to her friend on how her car had smashed into the back of a delivery truck, and it took quite some time to get her out of her crushed vehicle. Zoey shuddered when Jill filled her in on the details of the accident.

   Both of them pondered over Zoey's story after that. To her, the dream seemed so real that she thought she was transported to another place when she came out of coma at the hospital. To Jill, it sounded far-fetched. But she had to agree that whatever it was: a delusion, imagination or maybe a reality existing in another realm, it did sounded lovely and obviously magical. "No wonder you're in coma for so long, Zoey. I supposed you liked it better there."

   Zoey thought about what Jill said. True, she liked the wood better. It was like all discoveries and no worries for her. If she lives there, her life would be simple. But she'd rather have it simple and contented than living in luxury but being unhappy all the time. Then her mind was cut off the matter when Jill thrusted a colorful paper bag into her hands. Zoey reached inside, pulling out, if you would believe it, a small Stryber! "Jill! This is what Stryber looked like!" she exclaimed in delight.

"Stryber, huh? Thought you did mention something about 'cyber'. Merrick bought it for you. He came to visit you everyday, but he's been very busy lately and couldn't come as often."

   Zoey  was smiling broadly. "He did? He bought this? It's like he knew, right?" Jill just smirked, then laughed. "Look at that blissful mushy smile on your face! I suppose you and him possess some kind of mushy couple's telepathic ability or something similarly gross! Hey, hey-" Pretending to call out of the window, Jill shouted, "-hey! Get your feet down on earth this instant! You couldn't fly to heaven in a weak body like that!"

   Zoey chuckled and said, "I was just missing Stryber and here he is, all cute and cuddly..." Which made Jill winked mischeviously.

"You sure it's only Stryber? What about Merrick?"

"Jill- "

 "Okay, okay! ....But hey, didn't you said that in your dream you were supposed to deliver eggs to an old lady? Pffftt...what century were you in? Delivering eggs in baskets...does anybody even do that anymore?"

"Haha. I dunno, Jill. Totally weird. It was Mrs Flag. Or Flaig. Whatever. Why?"

   Jill giggled uncontrollably. "Oh..I remembered now, that truck-...delivery truck-...." Zoey impatiently tugged at her hand and urged her to speak properly. "Stop laughing and tell me!" She herself couldn't help laughing when seeing how comical Jill looked trying to explain.

"...-your car ran into.."

"Yes, well what about it?"

"...-the truck of an...egg selling company...owner, FAIG! What mojo brought that into your coma, girl??"

   Zoey laughed loudly, in fact, she was almost screaming with laughter that the nurse who passed by had rushed into the room, concerned. So that's where the character of Mrs. Faig came from in her dream!

- THE END -

 ~t h a n k s  f o r  y o u r  p a t r o n a g e !  c o m e  a g a i n ! *rings bell.dingdong.*~

P/s: There would be another story coming up...one that is mushy! Prepared to be ewwed and yucked! But if you like mushy love stories (Busted! Yes, you. Don't pretend to look somewhere else.) maybe you'll like it. So damn much that you're gonna puke. =p I'm gagging, yes. BUT! On the plus side, you're getting rid of the toxin in your body, right? RIGHT?

The Wood : Part 5

Continued from The Wood : Part 1, The Wood : Part 2,  The Wood : Part 3 and The Wood : Part 4

   When Stryber suddenly stood upright, fear gripped me. I felt for the knife on the table. But it turned and went out of the house. I saw it sniffed and circled a tree. The tree, which bore odd-looking fruits the size of football, was located on the left side of the house. It was just a small tree and I can easily reached for the fruits. I picked two, curious to know what's inside the coarse brown skin. Maybe Stryber would eat it. Next to it I saw, to my amazement, a biscuit tree! Well, not biscuit, really, more like a tidbits tree. It was really amazing, who had ever seen snacks grow on a tree before? The smooth, soft skin was transparent, almost like a plastic wrapper, which allowed me to see what's inside. It looked heavenly! Egg tarts, chocolates, sweets...my, my, what a feast we're going to have! I picked several of them to put inside the jars I found in one of the kitchen cupboard.

   I tried to hack open the 'football' fruit. One swing of the knife and the skin fell aside to reveal what's inside. Immediately Stryber sprang to my side. I looked and saw that the fruit contained meat! Laughing aloud, I understood then why Stryber was so attracted to it. I put those meat on a plate and then preceeded to open the next one. Shaking my head I muttered, "Will I cease to wonder? Now will there be a salt and sugar tree too?" I tried scouring the kitchen more thoroughly and finally I found them, sealed tightly in containers. 

   Nevertheless, I succeeded in making a satisfying 'bruncher' - breakfast plus lunch plus dinner. I was ravenous! I tucked in like a person who hadn't eaten for ten years!, Later I was lying on the sofa, contented but quite ashamed of the unladylike way I had gobbled up the whole pot. I bet Stryber was ashamed of me too. Hah. He was lying on the rug, satisfied with his dinner. The warm glow of the fireplace and a tired body soon drew me to sleep. I could still hear the music of the forest, accompanying me to slumberland.

   Before long I began to dream. I dreamt that I was in the hospital and my friend Jill was sitting next to my bed. I saw the situation as if I am another person in the room. I inched nearer to get a better look. What a state I was in! Covered in bandages, hooked up to the machine, IV bag...surely I didn't need that? How bad was my condition actually? It was so weird. This is considered a nightmare! I suddenly wanted to be inside that sick body. You know, just to get a taste of how it feels. Is it possible to do that in a dream? What a stupid feeling, who wanted to try feeling sick anyway? But maybe I could tell Stryber all about it during breakfast.

   I seeped, or dissolved, or whatever it is, into the body, and I immediately felt cold. I shuddered and instinctively knew that something wasn't right. I was wriggling inside, trying to find the perfect fit in the body so that I wouldn't be so uncomfortable like this. But then I decided that it was no use and after all, it's a dream and honestly, I was starting to dislike it. I struggled with all my strength to break free again. It was terribly painful, and it struck me that maybe this is how it feels in the sick body. I hate the uneasiness that lurked in every part of it. I felt stiff and hot. I didn't feel belonged. I yearned to be back in the cottage, lying in the coolness of the night. I want to stop this really, really bad nightmare! If only I could wake up. God,  I prayed, I don't want to be stuck in a time, at a place, that is unreal. I can't believe I'm caught in this, I thought. My strength was fading away...

   Just as I was beginning to lose hope, so sure that I was trapped forever...a firm grip on my hand pulled me back to the present. Stryber! My eyes snapped open. I saw Jill bending over me with a panicked look. Then I saw the concerned doctor and the nurse. Nobody else. My strained eyes searched the room, but everything was white and cream under the bright light. I didn't see any black stripes. I couldn't see Stryber and I was not at the cottage. I was not even in the wood. So, it's true...I was really stuck in the dream. Recognizing defeat, and feeling so weak and thoroughly confused, I drifted into sleep, determined to go back to the cottage again if I could 'dream' about it. I swore I would! Surrendering does not necessarily means defeat, right? I would get back to Stryber.

   Alas, I didn't. I was awake once again to find myself still in the same room, the same hospital ward, Jill by my side. I felt betrayed. Jill was in this! In some kind of conspiracy to keep me from the wood. Why? Because I didn't deliver Mrs Faig's eggs? I was going insane. Is there some kind of witchery? What else could have done this?

- To be continued -

Continued in The Wood : Part 6 (Final)