Forever in Sixteen Days

Day Thirteen

It was 3 in the morning when I felt a sick feeling in my stomach.

If I'm gonna throw up too, it's better that it comes now. It can't come on my graduation day. It's better if it comes now, I told myself.

I looked at my sister.

"I think I'm gonna throw up too."

"Don't say that, you might-

I threw up.

I don't know if it's the food, the water, or something else. But one thing is for sure, it's something that all of us ate.

Mom threw up first, followed by my sisters, then me.

It was the first time that this happened to us. We were taken straight to the hospital.

I think I got dehydrated. Because the last thing that I remember was me getting so dizzy. I couldn't o[en my eyes. If I did, my vision would go in circles.

It sucked.

I woke up, lying in a hospital bed. We were confined. Mom, my sisters, and I. Thank God Dad was not that affected. He could take it. His medications could take it.

I felt so sorry for my little sister. It was her graduation day and she wasn't able to come because of what happened.

We almost had no sleep. Our stomachs were bothering us all the time. It really sucked.

"I'd go home to get some of your things. Any requests?" Dad asked.

I requested for my phone, and a book. Mom made a list of the things that we needed. Lucky for us, the hospital was not that far from our home.

Dad came back, the things with him. I got my phone and my book.

My phone vibrated. I got was a message from Xenna.

It read: Lynn, what happened to your sister? Why wasn't she present on her graduation day?

I replied: We're at the hospital right now. Mom, my sisters, and I. All of us were vomiting last night, and we don't know why.

Her: What? Vomiting? All of you? Why? Lynn, I am so worried.

Since Day Six, I felt so distant from Xenna. I felt like our friendship was falling apart, this time for real. Seeing her messages changed the way I felt towards her.

I felt Xenna's concern. I felt that she was telling the truth, she was really worried.

I guess my best friend still cares for me, after all. Maybe she's just unaware of how I was feeling whenever the group was around. I should follow Warren's advice. I should talk to Xenna. To clear things out, to fix the gap, to save our friendship.

I replied: We were dehydrated because of that unknown substance, I think. They will run tests on us to know what caused our vomiting.

Her: I hope you get well soon, Lynn. Graduation's just around the corner.

Yeah. It's Day Thirteen already.

Me: Thank you Xenna.

Every once in a while, nurses would come to take our blood pressure, temperature, and check on how we were doing. Our doctor finally arrived and she told us that we must have taken contaminated food and water. She assured us that it's not a big deal, and we could be discharged tomorrow.

"Just have a soft diet for now, okay? And you might want to change the water that you drink."

"Thanks, Doc."

The doctor left, but someone else came. A teacher.

"Hey, baby girl, what happened? You missed your graduation."

They always call my little sister baby girl. She looked younger than she really was.

What the teacher did next was recreate the graduation ceremony of my sister. She mimicked the sounds, she gave the medals and certificates, and I could feel that my sister was very touched.

I am one lucky girl. Thank God we could be discharged tomorrow.  I could attend my graduation.

What happened to us made me realize one thing: There are more people who care for us than we think.

Xenna cares for me. I'm her best friend, she's my best friend, and that would never change.

I won't leave her. My heart had chosen to stay in this friendship.

Wait.

Why do I have a feeling that this is the something that would changed how my heart saw things?

This might be the something. And I'm glad that it happened before the sixteenth day.

Things were getting better.

As I held the book that Dad brought, I smiled as a thought crossed my mind.

Sometimes, bad things happen for us to appreciate the good ones.

I knew that everything's gonna be alright.