Aurora Borealis

Chapter 32 - Elixir of Art

"Silence, Mom." I shunned her. "I won't want to bring this misunderstanding to an extremity. Please leave, while I still respect you as my mother."

Without saying a word, she stormed out of the room. The footsteps of her heels echoed throughout the hallway until it fades out in silence.

Now I finally understood why my father used to say that arguments aren't that simple to fix whenever I try to come up with simple ways to help them reconcile with each other.

I inclined myself on the hospital bed and wiped those miniature tears that leaked but never escaped in the corners of my eyes. I can feel my very soul being choked by guilt.

A knock interfered after the short moment of contemplation.

"Who's that?"

"Barron."

"I'm not in the mood for a sermon right now."

"Who says there'll be a sermon?"

"Is that so? Come in."

He slid his elbow on the door and shoved his leg inside to open it wide. He has a lot of things to handle in his arms as he barged in. Inilapag niya ang bag ko at ilan pang pagkain na dala niya.

"Want one?" naupo siya sa upuan sa tabi ko at inalok sa 'kin ang isang milk carton.

"I met your mom earlier." panimula niya. I pretended that I'm busy poking the carton with a straw.

"You had an argument?" tanong pa niya at ipinatong ang kaniyang mga binti sa may paanan ng higaan. "She told me that it's my fault that you're rebelling against her. I just apologized even if I don't have an idea that is the case."

"You're unusually talkative today." pagpuna ko sa kaniya. "Have you eaten something bad?"

"Shut it. I'm trying to be empathic here even though I don't know how."

"Sorry. I'm just frustrated with how things turned out. Like, I wanted to take a break." I took a sip on the milk carton. He shrugged his shoulder and took the remote to turn on the television.

"Do you want to know what happened in the game?" pag-iiba niya sa usapan.

"Did we lose?"

"No idea. I wanted to know either."

The TV screen flashed the news segment.

"Oh. Looks like they game's already done." he clicked his tongue in disappointment. "I apologize for making your hopes up-"

He haven't finished what he's saying when the news transitioned into Sports News. I paid no heed with the words that the reporters said. My eyes were fixated on the snippet of the game that they're showing and that moment, my eyebrows arched involuntarily to each other.

"Captain?!" napaubo ako nang muntikan nang pumasok sa ilong ko ang iniinom ko. "What's she doing there? I thought she's not going to show up."

I'm in awe as I watched her singlehandedly dominate Ines and the others. She still acts uncooperative with the team but she's reliable in terms of calling the shots. After I left, they got locked in series of two overtimes as Ines is as tenacious as our Captain.

"W-We...won?" ang nasambit ko na lamang habang tinitigan ang news ticker sa screen.

The game ended with a score of 160-152.

"Look. You're even the best player of the game. Now I get it while Ines keeps on ranting on me about not even being the best player." saad pa ni Baldo habang hinahagod ang balahibo sa kaniyang mga braso.

There's something in me that wants to jump off the bed and scream my lungs out with joy. It leaves me at ease that my efforts were never left in vain.

"Lauren..."

"Lauren."

"Lauren, shtop it! My cheek's going to bleed!"

Noon ko pa lamang napagtantong nakukurot ko na pala ang pisngi niya. Sinamaan niya ako ng tingin habang hinihimas ang kaniyang pisngi.

I've won a lot of basketball matches, but this is one of the games where I feel like I'm totally on cloud nine.

"I hate that I've seen the result. Now I'm really eager to get out of here as soon as possible to play on court." I sighed as I let myself fall on the cradle of my pillow. I took the extra behind me and screamed while plunging it on my face.

"You look silly."

"Can you blame me? It's the first time that I've won against her, although I didn't mean it in a condescending way." I quipped, still not removing the pillow on my face. I even embraced it tighter.

"I wonder where did all of the gloom earlier go." sagot niya. "Aren't you going to talk it to your mom?"

"I don't think talking is going to cut it. She'll listen if she'll hear the words that she wants to hear from me such as to quit basketball."

"You should still try."

I turned to him, "I never knew you're a chismoso. And here I thought that guys doesn't pay attention with gossiping."

"I'm not."

"You do."

"I don't."

"Spencer's ex told him that he should find another woman that suits him. But eventually, that girl only used it as an excuse because another guy from a different varsity asked her out." I spouted while looking at the ceiling.

"Really? That's awful-"

"Gotcha, chismoso." I grinned. "Spencer doesn't have an ex."

"Tsk." he turned the other way while munching on an apple, flustered.

"I now feel better that I pissed you off. Maybe I'll talk to my mom soon." Either way, I won't give up basketball. I felt more alive." I rolled over on my bed to face the curtains that separate me from other patients.

"Baldo, never gave up being an artist either."

"How come that the topic shifted to me?"

"Nothing." I replied. "Don't let your art die on you before you even got the chance to make it immortal. Just don't."