To the Beach

FOURTEEN

Song: Gomenasai- T.A.T.U.

NARRATOR's POV

Ann went to Ivan's crib. "Hey Ann, what brought you here?" he asked. She slapped him.

"That is for fooling me," she said. Then she slapped him again.

"That's for ruining my friendship with James," she added.

"Oh, and yeah. Tricia called me. She said she wasn't in love with James. She just used him to get rid of you. Thanks for ruining our lives for your wrong reason," she said as she walked away. Ivan was stunned. He did not know it was actually like that. He was a fool. He was stupid.

Ann felt okay then. She was ready to face James. She was about to go to his house when her wallet was snatched. "I should get back at home first," she thought after recovering from the scene.

ANN's POV

"Do you have money there? My wallet got snatched" I asked our maid as she opened the door for me.

"I'll take care of it," she replied as she went outside. I, then, noticed mom, sitting on the couch and she was about to get up.

"I'm really disappointed in you, Ann. How could you do that to James? You, in the whole world should be the first one to know that it wasn't good for him. You're such an irresponsible friend," she lectured. I was confused but I knew she was referring to what I did, that I let James wait outside.

"And by the way, it's back," she added. The last line caught my attention. Did I hear it right? Lord, I never thought!

***

I begged my mother to accompany me to the hospital. Outside the room, I saw Lauren and John. They were both crying. I did not know what to feel. I was feeling nervous. I was totally devastated about what I heard. I never thought he would suffer from a leukemia relapse. It had been three years then, since we were declared as survivors. I opened the door and saw his mom, also about to go outside. "I'll leave you two for a while. He's awake. He knows it already," she whispered.

I went near his bed. He was wearing oxygen. He was pale. He was as pale as we used to be when we were kids. I held his hand and I felt him. He was trying his best to hold my hand tight but he just couldn't. I knew he was feeling really weak. About a minute or two, he finally opened his eyes.

"James," I said as I was faking a smile.

"You're here," he said. The moment I heard his feeble voice, I couldn't help but drop a tear. I was pretending to be strong for him, but I was really hurting.

"Yeah," I answered.

"Are you still mad at me?" he was trying his best to speak.

"No. I've talked to Tricia just now. It's all good. About your father-" "Sorry," he cut me off. I couldn't help but really cry after hearing him apologize.

"Sorry too. Sorry James! I'm really really sorry," I cried as I hugged him. I never thought our next meeting would be like that. It was the last thing I wanted to happen.

"Shh," he comforted me as he gently tapped my back.

"Everything's gonna be fine. I'm glad you're back," he said.

***

When James fell asleep, I talked to his family. "How is that even possible? He was so strong!" I said.

"No Ann. He wasn't. These past few weeks he had been sickly. He would get high fever and feel weak. He just had his check up after he collapsed," Lauren explained.