Komorebi [Complete]

Part 1 - TREE

"This is Taylor," he introduced, coaxing the boy. "We got transferred here due to renovation in the hospital down town."

"Oh so you guys are new?"

"Mmm," the boy seemed to reply.

Prince nodded. "Pretty much."

A growling sound echoed from the boy. Amelia laughed. "I think you should feed him before his stomach devours itself."

"Good idea," Prince replied. "C'mon, let's get you up." Prince propped the boy on the wall. He opened the boy's meal. "Here."

"Mmm."

"You need to eat, come on." Prince put the plate on the boy's lap.

Taylor's nose scrunched up, eyes still closed. "I smell fish."

Prince ignored it. "Eat."

"I smell fish."

"It's salmon."

Taylor shook his head. "Tuna."

"Just eat, please."

"Mmm," Taylor replied.

Amelia watched in curiosity as the Prince handed the boy his spoon and fork. Taylor hovered over a few things, sniffing here and there. He tapped the slab of tuna on his plate.

"This is the tuna?" he asked.

"Mhm," Prince answered.

Taylor moved over to the side of the plate where a mush of potato was located. "...And this?"

"Potato," Amelia said.

"Mmm."

He's weird, Prince mouthed at Amelia.

Is he blind? Amelia mouthed back.

Prince nodded just as Taylor started digging in. He first went slowly, spearing a part of the tuna and taking a spoonful of mashed potato. Amelia observed the boy as he meticulously ate, each element on his plate being equally eaten and mixed—like he memorized where everything is and how much of each was remaining. Amelia was amazed. This was the blind boy she had heard about.

"That's it?" Taylor said, a warm glow spreading through his face, revitalizing his body.

"Still hungry?" Prince asked as he took his plate away.

Taylor shook his head. "Where are we, by the way? And how did I get here?"

Prince chuckled. "In the hospital hallway. Ms. Amelia here was keen enough to find you."

"'Amelia?'" Taylor repeated her name, a dazed tinge in his voice. He frowned, silent.

"That's me," Amelia said.

"So that wasn't a dream?"

"What wasn't?" She asked

"Earlier, I heard you tell me a story."

"Oh that...I was just, you know, bored."

"You read out loud?"

Amelia fidgeted. "No, not always. I just thought—"

"You have a beautiful voice," the boy said. A wide teeth-less smile grew across his face. If there was such a thing as the perfect lip-only smile, the boy's smile would fit the bill perfectly.

Amelia's face grew hot. She had the unusual urge to run away and hide under a rock. It bothered her that she wanted to act this way, but even though it seemed like a foreign, out-of-character idea, a part of her knew what this feeling was.

"Alright, alright, lover boy, let's get back to the room," Prince said, laughing. "We still have to give you a bath."

"Mmm," Taylor muttered, his cheeks flushing red. Something told Amelia that it had something to do with her.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Prince replied as he helped the boy stand up. "Shouldn't have said that in front of the lady, hm?"

"Let's just go," Taylor said, irritated.

The two guys started walking down the hall, but before they could get too far, Amelia saw the boy say something to Prince. Prince turned around, cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled in a British accent, "If you would allow, his highness would like to meet you once more after he has bathed in his royal chambers!"

Taylor grappled with his nurse who was laughing manically. Amelia heard him protest, "You're embarrassing me!" and "You're lucky I'm blind!" In the end, they settled off each other, calling a truce for Taylor couldn't hurt his nurse for he was, as he said, handicapped and Prince couldn't hurt his patient for he was, after all, his patient.

Prince waved good-bye. Amelia waved back, holding back laughter. The two went around a corner, vanishing from her sight.

Smiling to herself, she bent over to grab her books on the ground. As she was collecting the books one by one, Amelia discovered an object under the random balls of cotton that had fallen off the wall. She pushed aside the cotton; it was a ring. Kneeling down, she wondered to herself what it was before picking it up and examining it.

The ring was silver. Its glossy side reflected the light travelling through the hallway windows. The girl wondered what could've happened for this ring to just slip out of a person's finger. Such a thing happened rarely without a person's notice, right?

...Amelia...

She dropped the ring. Amelia looked behind her, but saw no one. She peered through the windows to see if it was just some of the kids playing with her. She found none.

Amelia went back to the ring. She stared at it for a good while before taking it from the polished floor once more.

It was like stepping into a storm.

"Amelia!" she heard a woman yell. "It's all going to be fine, baby! It's all going to be alright!"

The girl threw the ring across the hallway, but it did not stop the voices from coming.

"Oh God help us!"

A crack of thunder ripped through the air, but there was no storm outside the windows.

"Mom!" she heard a girl cry.

Another chorus of thunder.

The girl clutched her head, screaming. Amelia hit the cold floor, her books scattering around her. She felt as if someone was trying to drill a thick shard of glass through her skull. Amelia screamed, kicked and squeezed her head as hard as she can—anything to distract her from the pain and the shattered images that flowed through her mind.

There was thunder, lightning and rain. She saw a bridge being swallowed by the river underneath it. A car was in pieces. Wind swept across the scene like a flurry of sword strikes. A woman hung on the side of the bridge, a hand on the railing with a young girl who, tried as she might, couldn't pull her up. The woman's lips moved, but no words came out. A tear fell out of her eye.

She let go. The girl watched in horror as the woman fell into the monstrous river. She vanished, like a beast devouring her in one gulp.

"Mom!" Amelia cried the same time the little girl did.

It was then when the nurses came; it was then when the pain subsided. The memory she had been given was stolen once more like a fleeting bird. The girl was left confused, anguished and in shock, as if she was given something she would've loved before taking it away shortly after. Gifted and stolen.

Kissed and stabbed.