Fallen

Awake

Once again, relief rushed into me as I heard that he was awake. The nurse shifted him to a hospital room so all of us could meet him. He was amazed to see everyone in the same room. His face lit up with happiness. 

"Oh hey, guys! Didn't expect to see all of you here," he said in a weak voice. I went towards his bed and gave him a warm hug. 

We all talked for a while about all sorts of things. Just for a while, all of our miseries evaporated in the air and once again we were just naive teenagers enjoying ourselves. 

"Guys I have an idea" Cole suddenly shouted 

"What is it?" said Joshua

"We never did the ultimate prank. We need to do it!" Cole said with full excitement

"Um, Cole I'm sure we can't take you to school right now and randomly just call an assembly." Said Kiara

"Yeah, but we don't have to go to school. We could just record all of us dancing to Hips Don't Lie right here and the next time we have an assembly, you can play it." Said Cole, his eyes were brimming with excitement

"Alright let's do it then," I said smiling

Shirley arranged for a camera, I brought a speaker. I started the recording and rushed to join the others. 

Cole said, "Hey everyone. This is the ultimate prank of class 7th. Remember our names for we have done one of the best pranks the school has ever witnessed. And here's to Shakira!" 

Hips don't lie started playing and all of us danced like we didn't give a care in the world. Cole couldn't get up from the bed but he did his best to sway all of us away with his sweet moves. 

I realized that day that all of us were just a bunch of 13-year-olds. We didn't know much about anything. We didn't know the rules of life. We were naive. But what we did know was love. Love for each other. We were each other's family. And family stays by your side no matter what. 

We all promised ourselves to store this memory in a golden locker and revisit it from time to time.

That Saturday evening, we danced like anything. I can recall the smile on each and everyone's faces. Especially Cole's. His voice, his last words, his smile, his sweet look from that particular Saturday evening was etched in my memory. 

Because the same Saturday night, he died.