The Pain we Share || Aki Hayakawa

A Miracle

You closed the door behind you as you exited your mother's hospital room. She had fallen ill over the past few months and hospitalized ever since. Her condition worsened as the days went by, and you had reluctantly come to terms with the fact that her last days were likely to come sooner than you had anticipated.

You made your way to the cafeteria and sat down at the same table you always sat at. It was unusually quiet. You placed your palms over your eyes and embraced the silence, breathing deep breaths to calm yourself down.

Everyday she slips further and further away, and there's nothing I can do about it. You thought to yourself.

"You look like a weirdo, what are you doing?" someone asked, nudging your shoulder. You jumped from the unexpected nudge and opened your eyes to see a green-eyed boy taking a seat across the table.

"Aki" you said relieved. It had been a while since you'd last seen him. His younger brother was in and out of the hospital around the same time your mother was admitted. Aki was the only other kid you would see alone around the hospital, and naturally you became friends throughout his brother's stay. It had been about a month since you last saw him.

"I was just thinking about how nice and quiet it's been without you bothering me around here" you laughed softly. "I'm surprised to see you, is your brother doing alright?".

"You dummy, if he was alright then I wouldn't be here right now. He hasn't been feeling well so my parents thought we'd get him checked out again just in case..." he looked down, and for a moment he looked genuinely worried. "... but if you ask me, he's just being dramatic as always. He just likes attention, he'll be back to normal in no time" he said looking back up to me. "And your mom?". His eyes were sad, and you could tell that he asked already having the answer in mind.

Your breath hitched as you opened your mouth to talk about her condition, there was no way to sugarcoat the situation. "Well... at this point it would take a miracle to have her back to her normal self".

"A miracle huh?" he said quietly. A comfortable silence filled the cafeteria for a few minutes. You looked outside and watched as snow slowly started to trickle down and stick to the ground.

"We should have a snowball fight tomorrow if you're still here" You said meeting his eyes again.

"A snowball fight? There's no way, I hate the cold" he said, sticking his tongue out at you.

"Is that really it? Or are you just scared you'll lose to a girl" you shot back at him.

"No, I just don't want to make you cry even more than you already do. Don't you know i'm one of the best baseball players on my school team?"

You bickered for hours, laughed, and ate snacks, forgetting about the pain that weighed on your hearts.

When the sun set, you realized that you had wasted too much time and had to rush home quickly. Your father had been working all day and you needed to prepare a meal for dinner. You quickly said your goodbyes to Aki, both excited for your snowball fight the next day.

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After collecting your bag from your mother's room, you kissed her on the forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow".

You stepped outside and the brisk air rushed into your lungs, a shiver ran through your spine as the cold weather invaded your body. It was no doubt one of the harshest winters we've had in a while.

"Wait! Y/n!!" someone called from the hospital doors. You turned around and Aki awkwardly ran towards you, trying not to slip on the newly fallen snow.

"I have to catch the train home! What are you doing?" You said, your breath forming a cloud from the condensation.

The dimly lit lamp posts shone down and highlighted his features— his skin was pale and cheeks rosey from the cold. His black hair shined with speckles of snow latched on, and his eyes were strikingly wide with concern.

"Well it turns out I won't be back tomorrow, the doctor said my brother is fine to rest at home. I told you he was just being dramatic" he chuckled. "So we'll have to have our snowball fight another time... but that's besides the point. I wanted to give you this" he said, extending his hand towards yours.

He grabbed your hand, his warmth radiating through your thick gloves. You tried to hide your blushed face from the shock of his gesture.

"Here" he said, placing a small circular golden pendant into your hand

"What's this for?" you said, examining the pendant. It had "Aki" engraved cleanly into the metal.

"You said you needed a miracle for your mom to get better right? This is my lucky necklace... Well I guess part of it, the chain broke..." he said rubbing the back of his head "... this is the luckiest part of it though, since it has my name" he smiled.

"Aki I can't take this, I'm sure you need this!!" you said, gesturing for him to take the pendant back.

"Don't worry about me, you need all the luck you can get" he said, waving your hands away. "Besides... it's a bit weird for me to have my own name on a pendant isn't it? It's not like I'm some dog" he laughed. "I'll get a new one anyways, just keep it with you and I promise it'll bring you good luck, and maybe even a miracle".

He shyly smiled one more time "I'll see you again. But next time no sad stuff, just snacks and snowball fights". With that he started to walk back towards the hospital, waving his hand with his back towards you.

You watched him walk away, remembering his bright green eyes and contagious smile.

Not knowing that shortly after that, things would never be the same for him.