The Wish From Heaven | ✓

chapter 25 : a phonecall from dad

17 July, Wednesday

"Why are you staring at me?" I ask, shooting him a weirded-out look.

"I'm not," Edgar replies, rolling his eyes and turning his face away. "You're hallucinating shits." A pause, and then he asks, "D-did you have a good sleep last night?"

"No."

"Figures. Did you complete the syllabus?"

"Barely."

Last night, I talked with Edgar for more than half an hour. After I told him everything excluding the supernatural part, he surprisingly said things that made me feel a lot better. After that, I started studying with full concentration. It took me six hours to complete the remaining chapters, which was an admirable record speed in my case. I could go to bed by 2 am.

Sleep was reluctant to arrive. So I did what July told me to do. I thought. I thought about everything he said in the bathtub. The more I thought, the more I realized new things, and the more confused I got. Some of the things I realized shocked even me, and some of the things I realized made me think 'That can't be it, right?'

It was evident that July didn't tell me everything. He only explained the process and told me a little about himself. Many plot holes remained, and the more I brainstormed past hints to meet the ends, the more I pushed any hope of falling asleep another mile away. However, I did come up with a bunch of theories based on everything July has said.

For example, I think that Dawn had to go through the exact same process as July too. There's no point in asking July about it, since he would probably not know anything. Maybe it doesn't matter so much, because if Dawn is in heaven, he must have succeeded.

It made me realize that not everyone in this world gets the comfort of knowing that their loved one is safe and happy in heaven. I think I am lucky in that prospect. So I have to try my best so that July can reach there too.

"Well, at least you did," Edgar says, putting his head on his arms on the table. It is weird to not hear him add 'nerd' or 'stupid idiot' at the end of every sentence.

"No use. I'm going to fail." My stomach twists at the thought.

"Yeah, right."

"I'm seriously going to fail, Edgar."

"If you do, I will take off my pants and dance to Watch Me Whip in my underwear in front of the whole class."

"You're risking a lot, aren't you?"

"I'm not risking anything, 'cause it won't happen."

It's no use arguing with him, so I don't. I'm just glad we could get things back to normal between us after his outburst that day.

In the end, we didn't have to rat George out. Someone else already did before we could do anything else about it, so George is supposedly gonna stay in a rehab center from now on. That's the best thing for him, and I hope he can get better. It is also a relief that we didn't have to take that responsibility, as both of us might have gotten in trouble with him for that.

Edgar says, "Anyways, you . . . didn't do anything after that, right?"

I shake my head. "But I can't find my compass. It's probably gone under my bed."

"Fuck the compass. Don't ever think of such bullshits again. If you do, I'll kill you."

"Yeah. . . " Thinking back to it now, that was such an idiotic thing to do in my part. I don't even know where these urges rise from. Perhaps it's my need to distract myself from a pain I can't control, through a pain that I can. "Thanks for listening to me last night even though I was so pathetic," I add.