The Bursting Heat (Book 2) ✓

04 - New/old friend

Alice

*23 years ago

"Alice, are you ready?" I heard the voice of my mama from a room near me. We were going on an adventure. Well, my mama called it a walk, but my brother and I knew it wasn't just a walk – it was the discovery of the world. Andy was bigger than me, so he knew more stuff than me, but I wasn't going to let him remind me of it all the time. He wasn't that much bigger.

I took my favorite bag that had some red and yellow flowers reminding me of little cups. My mama told me their name, but it was kind of hard to remember, so I just call them my cup flowers.

"Aaalice?"

"Coming!" I tried to make bigger steps, to be quicker, but my small legs didn't let me... that, of course, didn't stop me from tying. I was focused on my feet when I heard laughs from the house next to us. I forgot the big steps and ran towards the door, curious to see what was happening.

Andy was talking with the boy who lived next to us. They were going together to school and they were friends. They were playing together after school, too. I wanted to play with them, but my mama told me that I was too small. Needed to wait to grow up a little. I didn't know why, I could do everything they were doing, but she won't let me. Still, I wanted to know why they were laughing. I walked to them and saw a smaller boy with them.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"I wike your eyes." He had interesting eyes; they were different colors, and I have never seen someone with different eyes. They were pretty colors, too – green and blue. Very pretty.

"Thanks. I like your bag." I look down to my hands, holding my bag with cup flowers.

"Thanks. I wove cup fwowers."

"Cup flowers?" The boy looked confused between me and my bag. I lifted it higher to show him the flowers.

"Yeah. This is cup fwowers."

"You mean tulips?" It sounds familiar, but I wasn't sure.

"I don't know."

"These are tulips."

"For me, they are cup fwowers."

"I like it... they do look like cups."

"Right?!" I liked this boy. He didn't try to change my name for the flowers like my big brother. "I'm Awi."

"I'm Raphael." Wow, such a long name.

"Wanna pway?"

"Alice, Andrew, we are leaving!" I looked back to my mama that was staying next to our car and was waiting for us. Then look back to the boy...to Wa...Wayael...to, to, to...to Wafi. Yeah, Awi and Wafi. Perfect.

"I have to go."

"Okay."

"You wanna pway water?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Bye, Wafi!" I turned around and ran to the car. I'm happy that I made a new friend. Not just Andy was going to have friends that live next to us. And mine was way cooler than his.

*Present

There were some noises around me that were drilling into my head. I had no idea where they were coming from, but I wanted them to stop. I tried to lift my hand, but something was on my way. I tried to open my eyes, but the lights were too bright. I was getting angry with every second. On the second try, I managed to keep my eyes open. Clean white ceiling. Huh, interesting. I don't remember the ceiling in the house to be this clean. Then, focus on the noises. Not voices, but machines. I looked to the left and saw a big white machine with a monitor. It had some lines on it and an image of a heart that was pulsing in synch with my own.