Chapter 15

 I was bracing for impact, closing my eyes tightly before I had to witness my demise. As I closed my eyes, I suddenly heard a loud crash in the whaling screams of the creatures. I slowly opened my eyes to see several of the beasts impaled by a giant branch, I was shocked, and before I knew it, I heard yelling behind me. I swiftly turned around and saw Daiki, Cephas, Aella, and Brier running toward me, Aella quickly made his way to the front of the creatures and tripped their feet before they could see him. Cephas quickly reached me, "Come on!! We gotta go!", he said while rapidly trying to get me on my feet. I collapsed and exhaled a loud grunt as soon as I got up, I was in no position to walk, let alone run. As I struggled to move I could hear Daiki roaring in the distance and Brier extending vine whips from her hands to defend against them. "Aella! I need your help here!", Cephas yelled while applying unpleasant pressure on my leg. Aella arrived as soon as his name was called, "What do you need?", Aella said with a slightly panicked expression but tried to stay calm which was unsettling at the least. "Can you quickly run back to the lake and grab a cloth and sticky sap from my bag?", Cephas said. "Got it.", Aella said without another word, zooming off as soon as possible, he suddenly came back a second later with the materials Cephas asked for. "Thank you, I'm going to need you to hold his leg still..", Cephas said while preparing the cloth. As Aella held my leg down, Cephas wrapped my leg tightly to apply even pressure to the wound. I grunted as the wounds sent a screaming pain throughout my body, eventually my body couldn't take the excruciating pain, and everything went black. 

 I woke up in a memory, my hands were smaller than before, I looked around and saw my mom and dad standing next to each other waving toward me. I could feel the tears in my eyes filling up, making it harder to keep a straight face, I immediately ran towards them, giving them the biggest hug I have given in what seemed like forever. I slowly felt my father's arms wrap around me as his voice began to whimper, and his words shattered my smile. "I'm so sorry Aden…", my father said in between his tears. I quickly looked up at him and his bright smile was now filled with overwhelming sorrow. The room around us was dark and I looked around for my mother only to be haunted once again by her weak body lying in bed. The terrible sickness my mother had took a massive toll on her body, leaving her skin as pale as a ghost, her sunken cheeks and skinny physique were a horrifying sight. I ran over to her, grabbing her hand, tears filling my eyes again which were once out of happiness but are now out of pain. As my mother looked at me, her raspy weak voice sent shivers down my spine. "Hey.. my big beautiful boy..~", my mother said while gently holding my hands. "Mama… Don't go.. Please..", I said while tightening my grip. "It's going to be ok… I'll always be here for you.. Everyone has their time, and mine is almost over..", she said while trying to stay strong for both me and my father. "Promise me something Aden…", she said as I directed my gaze to hers. "When I'm gone.. Promise me you'll take care of your father.. Be on your best behavior for him.. Please..", my mother said while her voice was slowly breaking. I paused for a moment and looked at my father, he tried to look strong for me but in his eyes, I could tell he was falling apart as I was. I looked back at my mother and nodded in agreement, "I promise mama..". She smiled and slowly sat up to hug me, she hugged me with all her strength, and my father walked over and hugged us all with his tight grip. The next morning me and my father slept next to my mother and awoke to her dull eyes staring at the ceiling, lying completely limp. I shook her lightly as her cold body had no response, my father woke up and tried to shake her awake as well, however, it was to no avail, she was gone. 

 The following years after her death were hard, my father and I mourned for years. My father remained strong and almost unfazed by her death, overtime I started to build resentment towards him for I was still grieving and he seemed to have already moved on. This resentment made it difficult to uphold the promise I made to my mother before she died. When I was 12 years old, approximately 2 years after my mother's death, my father was getting ready for a special occasion. "Where are you going?", I asked him while getting myself a sandwich. "Oh, I am going to meet a co-worker, I won't be home till late so help yourself to some pizza in the microwave", he said while putting on his nice jacket. "You're going on a date", I said while taking a bite out of my sandwich. "What? No No, it's not a date, it's just work stuff", my father said with a bit of a confused look. "You're outfit says it's a date", I said, "Oh my gosh it is a date-", my father said with a bit of frustration on his face. He looked at me with a serious expression, "Look I'll cancel and we can talk about it all night, lets sit and talk-", he said and I quickly interrupted him, "Dear God No-", I said while getting up to get a drink from the fridge. My father sat at the table letting out a slight sigh, "Are you sure you're ok with it..?", my father said. I paused for a moment, "Yeah, I'm sure", I said while drinking milk. "Ok..", he said was slight relief, "Well, I should get going, like I said, there is leftover pizza in the microwave if you need it. "Ok Dad, have fun you two~", I said with a slight mocking tone. "Ok~ Call me if you need me", he said, "I won't", I said while putting my glass in the dishwasher. Looking back at this moment, I know what I said hurt him as he froze while heading out the door, he continued out the door and I stood there while finishing my sandwich. I wish I could go back and apologize for being a pain in the ass and for resenting him for not realizing that he was also still grieving under his strong facade.