Chapter 52: Chapter 52

After the storm the days that passed have ever been a dark day. Even if the storm passes, the mark will remain. So is the life and heart of man. After a hard ordeal, it always takes a long time to recover. It all depends on his point of view.

After a big fuss, the issue will spread word of mouth. It’s a very scary issue for those who’ve experienced it, and what makes it so scary is how a small, exaggerated issue can deliver a huge wound. Because compared to the truth people will eat the issue raw and then spread it and exaggerate the story.

Sometimes a truth is not important because the human heart just likes to look for other people’s faults and turn them into weaknesses to judge others. They don’t do it for justice or to do the truth, they just need someone to hate.

But ironically, when the man left, they forgot everything as if nothing had ever happened. Like dew evaporating during the day, gone without a trace. And only the sickest people remember everything and still suffer.

***

The weekend arrived and everyone was enjoying the holidays. When everyone’s on vacation, only Natty and Ruby stay in the hospital. Natty was lying in a hospital bed because her mother forced her to rest there until her leg was completely healed. Ruby, meanwhile, remains in hospital for treatment and chemotherapy.

For over 10 years Ruby spent her life in the hospital and almost everyone who worked at the hospital knew her. Those who knew Ruby knew very well that Ruby was ever bored and wanted to get out of the hospital. She was always locked up in the hospital and did a lot of kinds of treatment. Of course there was a point where she felt very bored and lonely, although she always tried to hide it by putting on a cheerful smile.

Ricky, who knows Ruby very well, never forgets to always visit Ruby on weekends. Today he came with Ruby’s favorite rose. Ruby is always pleased when Ricky visits, her smile is always the widest when she receives flowers from Ricky. Ricky always knew how to make Ruby feel happy and get rid of her saturation.

“Thank you, I’m so glad you came to visit me today...” Ruby said while hugging the roses given by Ricky.

“Why? Are you bored? How about we go where you like? I’ll accompany you wherever you want...” Ricky said while rubbing Ruby’s hair and looking at her.

“Really? Are you going to take me wherever I want?” asked Ruby excitedly.

“Sure, when are you going to have chemo? We’ll leave when you’re done with your treatment,” Ricky replied.

A nurse approached Ruby to pick her up for her routine chemotherapy. Ruby wanted to delay her treatment because she still wanted to talk to Ricky. But Ricky convinced Ruby to go straight to chemotherapy and said he would wait until Ruby was happy with her treatment. Ruby followed Ricky’s words and followed her nurse for chemotherapy.

While waiting for Ruby to undergo her treatment, Ricky waited in the hospital canteen while filling his stomach with snacks. When he arrived at the cafeteria, he saw Ruby’s father eating sandwiches and milk. Ricky approached Ruby’s father and sat in front of him.

They said hello and asked each other for news. They talk without the slightest sense of awkwardness between them. Ruby’s father is pleased because Ricky always visits Ruby every weekend because if it wasn’t for Ricky maybe Ruby would always feel bored and lonely. Ricky asks permission to take Ruby out, and he gets permission for it.

Suddenly, Ruby’s father gets a call to go to the emergency room. Ruby’s father rushed away, and now Ricky is just sitting alone in his chair. Time went on and now more than an hour has passed while Ricky plays games on his phone, watching videos even now he has been wearing earphones and listening to music.

“I’m sorry, it’s made you wait so long...” Ruby said as soon as she approached Ricky and grabbed her by the shoulder.

Ricky took off his earphones and looked at Ruby. He smiled at Ruby’s pale face. Ricky stood up and hugged Ruby, then he rubbed Ruby’s back while saying Ruby was great for struggling with chemotherapy. Ricky knows very well how much Ruby feels sick every time she undergoes chemotherapy. Chemotherapy has always been a fighting place for Ruby because she has to fight the pain she feels all over her body.

“Now I’m going to take you wherever you want to go. Where are you going?” said Ricky, staring at Ruby with his sweet smile.

“There’s one place I’d like to go...” Ruby said with a passionate smile.

True to his promise, Ricky took Ruby to where she wanted to go. Ruby was so overjoyed that her eyes kept staring out the car window while Ricky was driving. Ruby was so pleased that she smiled broadly as she gazed at the street they were passing by.

They traveled up to 3 hours by car. And the place Ruby wanted to visit was a lake near her house before she moved in. Ruby's views shone to see the lake before her eyes. She got out of the car and went to the shore of the lake. And Ricky also ran after Ruby, Ricky looked anxious.

Ricky's anxiety is not without reason, it's because Ruby is so careless and often gets into trouble. The thing that remains in Ricky's memory is the moment he saw Ruby drown in this lake when they were very young. That's why when he looked at Ruby go to the lakeside he pulled her over because of what happened when they were kids. It was traumatic for Ricky.

“Don't get too close to the water...” Said Ricky was worried.

“Take it easy, I'm not a kid anymore,” Ruby said to calm Ricky down with her sweet smile.

“ Why do you want to go here so again? This is where it happened...” Ricky replied in a somber tone.

“Yes, here I once drowned and almost died if only that boy hadn't saved me. But did you know that when I didn't slip, I dropped myself in the water because I wanted to die.” Ruby replied Ricky was very surprised by what he heard.

Ruby also digs back memories of the past and tells her little secret that she has kept. Ever since Ruby was a child, she knew she was born weak, she never left her house, let alone played outside like any other child. At first, she believed her parents, who always said she was just unwell and needed more rest.

But as time went on, she realized there was more to it than that. Indeed though she's only a 7-year-old, she's smart enough to realize that her condition is so bad that she feels so tired that she's just walking a little. She also had to take bitter pills and indeed had to do chemotherapy, which was so sore that she screamed and cried so hard.

Then every night she eavesdrops on her mother and father's conversation, she hears them crying every night. She tried to hold it all back but for the 7-year-old it was very pounded on. And all she did was have a long, exhausting struggle.

Until finally, she was at one point low. The point where she felt very desperate, tired and very down. That day she truly wanted to end it all, so she went to the lake alone and jumped into the water. She really wanted to die, but the deeper she fell and the colder it enveloped her body. Ruby thought she didn’t want to die.

The deeper she falls, the harder she wants to breathe. It was only that she felt like living. She had given up, but when death felt so close, she wanted to run. Wanting to come back to life, Ruby tries to climb back up, but she can’t swim to survive.