What the hell happened!?

Mayumi screamed inside her head. She was currently driving through the highway, crazily dodging different kinds of vehicles. The way she handles her car makes someone feel like they were almost at the brink of falling off a cliff.

The distance betwewn her car and the other vehicles was so small when she ran past through them. If someone was sitting beside her on the driver's seat, that person would definitely see faint sparks outside the window and wouldn't help the urge to grab anything for dear life.

Even so, she did not forget to maintain her speed to an acceptable level. She didn't want to get chased by traffic enforcers and get a bad public record.

When the red light lit she could not help but chew on her lower lip trying to reign in her emotions. Her frantic nerves keeps on making her hands tremble in anticipation of when the traffic light changed. Her mind was muddled with fear, confusion and questions.

Why is this happening? I thought that everything was fine, like how we usually do. We were just talking yesterday, he said that he was ok. He said that he was feeling fine after all the talk that we did. But why? Why did this happen?

She could not help the building frustration that she felt while waiting. Hitting the driving wheel repeatedly, she audibly screamed and cursed inside her car.

Once she saw the lights turned green, she immediately stepped on the accelerator and begin to terrorize other drivers with her crazy way of driving. One can even hear their complaints on her for seeking death.

It took a couple of minutes before she arrived at the hospital. She begun to run through the hallways despite the warning of the medical personnel. She couldn't care less. All she was thinking was to find her best friend's family immediately and to check his current condition.

When she took a right turn she saw her best friend's mother opening the door. Surprise and sorrow was written all over her face.

"Tita[1], how is Jerome? What did the doctor say? Why did he suddenly end up in the hospital?"

Jerome's mother grimaced, "Don't worry, his life is not in danger. He's just sleeping but we don't know when he'll wake up."

"It's only temporary, right? He'll be able to wake up soon, correct?", my voice started to tremble as I tried to get reassurance.

The woman could not bear to look me anymore, as she started to cry and broke down. Her reaction left me breathless. I remained standing still, staring at her with a dumbfounded expression. I felt suffocated.

It can't be.

This is not real.

Someone, please wake me up from this nightmare.

I silently screamed inside my head. Pleading for someone to help me while my vision slowly started to be engulfed by darkness. For the first time in my life, I experienced how it feels like to lost consciousness due to intense unstable emotions.

When I finally came into, the doctor explained in full detail Jerome's circumstances. If he did not wake up within three months, the chances of him waking up after would be close to nil.

We've waited patiently for his return. Days becomes weeks. Weeks becomes months. But until the final day of the three months limit, he never showed any sign of waking up.

All of us were devastated, at first we could not accept the fact that he would never wake up.

It's been two years since that day. A lot had happened but everyone managed to cope up.

I always visited Jerome's apartment and tried to maintain everything he has on that place. I had this wishful thinking of him returning one day.

Whenever I visit, I always took the time to reminisce all the precious memories we shared. I tried to recall all the details of when and where a certain item was bought.

This time, my eyes lingered on an extremely intricately decorated sword. Yes, it was blunt. However, when one see it from a distance, that person may have been deceived by it's appearance and thought that it was real.

This was one of the two props that we bought on a Cosplay convention.

I remembered him spouting nonsense when he first playfully wield it.

"If I suddenly die one day, I want you to include it on my coffin and place it before my corpse, like how the ancient kings were buried."

I ruthlessly hit him in the head for being stupid, using his death as a joke.

Why?

Why does happy memories make one cry when reminiscing a loved one?

Silent tears kept pouring out of my eyes yet a bitter smile can faintly seen in my face.

It still hurts. This feeling is like a bitter sweet chocolate. I like chocolate but I can barely tolerate the bitterness.

When I calmed down, I remember that Jerome has the other weapon that we've brought. It was a black scythe that shared an intricate symbol just like the sword.

My fingers slowly traced the engraved symbols running through its blade. It fascinating to look at bearing three different colors of the star and the carved shape of the sun raise.

I took the scythe with me on the bed while resting comfortably on the soft mattress.

When I'm alone it makes me think that sometimes, I felt tired of living in the real world. I don't want to live anymore. But I'm too coward to commit suicide and it's painful. I prefer dying in my sleep. Sleeping for a very long time is more acceptable than self committed death.

I sighed heavily, "What am I thinking? If I died, what will happen to my family? I can't just leave them like that. I don't want to see them suffer. I'm the only person they can count on."

I always knew that these thoughts were my shackles, weighing me down, restraining me from living my dream and achieving my goals. But what can I do than to bear with it until I can finally free myself from all the things that are holding me back.

If only there's a temporary escape from this reality. Even if it is not permanent, I will gladly take a step forward and grab it.

"If only it exist. ", she closed eyes and started to dozed off. "However, it is merely but a wishful dream."

The next time she opened her eyes, a different scenery great her sleepy form. She could not help cursing inside her head and roam her eyes looking for something familiar that could calm her frantic heart.

Her breath hitched, when she saw a familiar face. He was smiling at her with his warm eyes and friendly demeanor. He was awake and lively, far from the last time she saw him sleeping with different kinds of apparatus to keep him alive.

Her emotions were running rampant. She couldn't stand it anymore. She immediately stood up and run towards him with watery eyes and desperate expression.

The man noticed her actions and readied himself to welcome him in his arms. What he didn't expect is that the moment she jumped to his direction, she would give him a round house kick.

"You stupid bastard!"