The Boy on the Other Side

by Aki_kaze

  The other bed was empty. Diane must have gone out. He took a guess it was around 9 am now considering the sunlight which shone into the room through the white curtains.

  He got up and went into the bathroom. He washed his face trying to freshen himself up. He knew he often had a nightmare, but he didn’t think it would follow him here, disguised at a good dream at first.

  He got dressed, ready for the departure. His aunt returned to the room with breakfast. Strong coffee scent filled the room as soon as she opened the door. It smelled so good but sadly he wasn’t allowed. Instead, he was given bottled fruit juice.

  “Sleep well?” She asked. “I can’t sleep much in an unfamiliar place. Even when moving to the new house, it took me several nights before I could get used to it.”

  “I slept fine.” He left out the nightmare part.

  After breakfast, the two got on the car and left the hostel. Diane intended to take Keith to the warehouse in case the boy found something there he wanted to take along. They said warehouse was located in the same city as Diane’s old house. It took about two hours to reach there.

  She turned on the radio as usual. Keith didn’t play with that sticker anymore. He simply sat in the car and enjoyed the roadside scenery.

  “Tell me anytime if you want to come again. I’ll bring you here myself,” she said as she noticed the sign indicating that they were leaving the city.

  “Okay. Thank you.”

  His gazed lingered on that sign for a while. He wasn’t sure when he’d return to this place. If possible, he would like to visit his parents every year. He found that speaking to them made him feel more at ease. He remembered the old lady back then. He thought he could understand her better now.

  After a long car ride, the two arrived at the warehouse. She parked the car in the parking lot in front of the building. Keith got off, stretched himself, and followed his aunt. Each warehouse was assigned a number. Diane fished out a key from her small purse. She used it to unlock the door of the warehouse no. 33. Keith lent her a hand opening the vertical lift door, revealing swirls of dust in the air inside. Diane moved to turn on the power switch on the wall.

  The lights flickered a few times before completely illuminating the room. There were stacks of box crates, each attached with a paper to tell what was inside, and rows of shelves which held numerous home decorations. They were all arranged orderly.

  “Over there is stuff from your room.” She pointed to the stacks on the other side. “And over there is stuff from your house. Many I have donated, especially clothes.”

  Keith lifted off the box labeled his bedroom onto the floor. Opening it, he reunited with the memory from the past. A turtle doll given to him by his dad as a birthday present. Coloring books he used to collect. A blanket of his childhood, which he had grown so attached to that he couldn’t fall asleep without it, not until he reached 7. His fingers traveled across the texture. He couldn’t recall every detail of his childhood days, but the warmth he felt in his hand was nostalgic, and real. He pulled it out, intending to take it back home.

  He resumed his inspection. He found many of his drawings. One of them was the drawing which every kid must have drawn: family. He smiled slightly before putting it back. He found compact binoculars. His dad bought it for him as a reward for good grades. He remembered carrying it when he went out, acting like he was an explorer. Keith thought of Sam and picked the thing out. The boy was going to show it to him back home.

  After finishing over his box, he went through his parents’. Their stuff was much less than he thought. He found two ring boxes placed together. They once held his parents’ wedding rings. He found his mom’s accessories, which he put back. He held up his dad’s wristwatch. It was too big for him and had stopped working. Still, he put in in his bag. He wanted to wear it. He thought a small fix and adjustment would do. The last thing he picked up was a photo album.

  While Keith was going through his belongings, so was Diane.

  “Look here, Keith,” she showed him a box brimmed with colorful yarns. She muttered to herself, “Perhaps Christmas this year I will knit coats for presents.”

  They spent almost an hour there. The air inside was uncomfortably hot and they were drenched in sweat. After leaving the place, they stopped by a roadside restaurant for lunch. He ordered cola first. The fuzzy refreshment quenched his thirst and cooled him down so well.

  “I think we have got many good things today,” She wore a proud smile on her face.

  Apart from the yarn box, Diane also took a pair of flower vases back.

  Keith thought about his stuff and nodded in agreement. He wanted to be back home soon so that he could show Sam what he’d got. He didn’t know how the other was doing, or what the other was doing. Was he feeling lonely being by himself?

  “Everything okay? We’re having lunch now and we’ll head home soon,” She spoke on the phone, smiling. Her face always brightened up whenever she talked to Hector, even though she always scolded him about feeding the kids with nothing but pizza. “Keith’s also fine. Don’t worry.”

  He didn’t expect he’d also be addressed; his heart swollen with joy.

  “I think I can arrive before dinner. So, no more pizza.” She hung up and put her phone down on the table. “These people. Why did I bother to prepare them fresh food if they’re going to order pizza anyway?”

  Keith tried to hide his smile, saying nothing. Because he, too, would opt for pizza even though he didn’t like it as much as burger.

  The boy found that traveling by car was not as scary as first thought. The bad part of it was that too long a ride would make his body ache. This he realized when getting off the car to buy some snacks. Diane didn’t turn on the radio but instead played the music CD she found in the warehouse. It was the original soundtracks from a film he didn’t know. He could make it out though that it was a romantic one. Diane told him it was a very popular film in her days. It was the first one Hector and she watched together when they started dating, she added.

  “My advice is that when you start dating, you shouldn’t watch a romantic movie together. It makes things… awkward,” she said, “rather a simple one. Romcom is fine. Horror is also fine, but make sure either of you aren’t too scared of it. My ex-date suggested it once. It didn’t turn out well.”

  Keith nodded without saying anything.

  “Are you dating someone?”

  Two things came to his mind. The first was that nobody at school was quite fond of him. He didn’t even have a friend, so a date was a bit too far-fetched.

  The other thing was Sam’s smile.

  “Whoa, whoa. Hold your horse, Keith Derringer. Why are you making that face?” She teased.

  “I’m not dating anyone right now,” he replied, turning away to the window.

  “Take it slow. You don’t need to rush this kind of thing,” she said, “come to me if you need any help. Don’t go to Hector. He’ll give your weird advice.”

  He let out a small laugh, which prompted Diane to laugh as well. The car ride back home was cheerful and merry.

  They stopped by a gas station for restroom once. And, after their 3-hour trip, they arrived home at last. Noon sunlight greeted them after they got off the car, no less intense than where they left. John quickly came to welcome them home, or more precisely, he came to ask them about his souvenir snacks. Diane gave Keith a wink. She knew her son would do something like this and had already bought some for him. She moved to the living room to show her kids what she had got from the warehouse as Keith left for his room.

  His heart beat fast as he turned the doorknob. He knew with absolute certainty who was waiting for him in the room even before entering. A smiley face of a certain blonde greeted him and brought a smile upon Keith’s face.

  “Welcome back.”

  “I’m home.”

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Keith’s Photo Album

  “Welcome back.”

  “I’m home.”

 
Keith wanted to run to hug Sam but knew that it wasn’t possible. He put his backpack down on the desk. He dropped his used clothes in the laundry basket and unpack his stuff. Sam’s eyes trained on him all the time, glistening with interest.

  “I’ll take a shower first. It’s been so hot.”

  “Okie-dokie!” Sam said in a sing-song voice, making the boy smile.

  Keith stood under the shower, cool water streaming down his body. It was one of the most refreshing things to do in a hot day. He hadn’t stopped smiling since he walked into the room. Seeing Sam’s face made his heart swell.

  He’d finished the shower for a while but hadn’t stepped out of the bathroom yet. He still could not revert his facial expression to normal. He looked into the mirror, wondering whose reflection he was seeing.

  “Is everything okay?” Sam’s face emerged from the door. Keith quickly covered his mouth before a scream could leave.

  “What are you doing?” He raised his voice, but not so loud that other people might hear.

  “You took too long. I thought something happened.”

  “I’m fine.” He opened the door and walked through Sam out of the bathroom. It gave him chilling sensation and goosebumps.

  “So, you’re walking right through me like that?” Sam smacked the other boy’s head.

  The hand went through, but Keith could still sense the passing coldness.

  “I didn’t mean to, but you were blocking the way,” he argued, rubbing the back of his head and walking to the closet.

  “Anyway… So, how was it going?” Sam asked gingerly.

  Keith walked back to the bath to hang up his towel. There were so many things he wanted to tell Sam that he didn’t know where to start.

  “Fine.”

  The answer knitted Sam’s eyebrows together. Keith ignored the reaction. He grabbed his backpack and put it down on the bed, pulling out his favorite childhood blanket.

  That instantly piqued the spirit’s interest. He moved to the bed, hovering over in a cross-legged position.

  “It was better than I thought,” Keith continued, “I’m glad I went there.”

  Sam smiled at his word.

  “This is the blanket Mom told me I was so attached to when I was a child.” He recounted to Sam the story when he was 4. He was staying over at his friend’s house and his mom forgot to bring him the blanket. He cried so hard his dad must go back home to retrieve it. “I can’t really remember it. When Mom told me about it, it sounded to me so unbelievable. Children are indeed strange creature. Do you have something like this, too?

  The spirit cupped his chin in thought.

  “Nope,” came his reply. “I didn’t have a favorite blanket or a favorite toy I needed to carry around all the time. Only the camera. But that was only when I grew up.”

  Keith felt a bit envious as the other seemed to be more mature than him despite being only 15.

  “But was it that warm?” Sam asked, touching the blanket. Keith’s blue eyes fixed on him, watchful of the other’s expression.

  He doubted spirits could sense anything. But considering Sam’s face, he didn’t think so. Warmth and coolness. Heat and Cold. Sam did no longer possess a body to perceive any of those. He only retained memories. Humans, like Keith, would have forgotten many things from their childhood. He wondered what Sam could remember, what kind of things he remembered.

  “My childhood self must think it was very warm,” Keith said, at last.

  He got off the bed and put the blanket into the laundry basket. He pulled out the watch from his backpack and showed the blonde his binoculars.

  “Did you have these too?” he asked, his voice proud.

  “Wow. I once asked my father to buy them for me. He wouldn’t, asking me what to do with them.”

  Keith lifted the instrument up to Sam’s eye level.

  “What do you see?”

  A smile tugged at the corner of Sam’s mouth, but he said nothing. The only thing the spirit could see within the range was possibly Keith. The boy turned the binoculars towards the window. But the spirit had stopped paying it attention.

  “Is that a photo album?” Sam pointed into the backpack.

  “Yeah.” Keith hadn’t open it yet, so he didn’t know what was inside. Maybe it completely had nothing to do with him.

  He picked the mint green album out of the bag. He turned the first page and there was a baby photo. Keith didn’t know who it was until he noticed his name and age written below. He let out his breath, not realizing that he had been holding it.

  “Your face didn’t change at all.”

  “How can you tell?” he retorted. Even he himself could not tell.

  “Turn the page already,” the spirit urged.

  He complied as he too wanted to know what else the album would offer. He remembered faintly that he’d seen these pictures before. Perhaps Mom used to tell him about them.

  The two spent time on photo viewing. At times Sam would ask him whens, wheres, and whats. Some photos Keith could remember, and some he could not. Some also had his favorite blanket. One thing he noticed was that he was always smiling, which to him was weird. In the past year, his smile was so rare it became countable… It was Sam who brought the smile back.

  “You joined the school play?” Sam asked, pointing at the photo in which Keith was dressed as a tree.

  “Yeah” His voice dragged on, obviously lacking enthusiasm. Keith remembered that in his kindergarten days everyone must participate in the play, including himself. He played as the tree, one of a few roles with no dialogue. He was very pleased with that.

  “What about this?”

  Keith looked at another photo. It was still his 5-year-old version of himself, donned in a fancy outfit. The text below said it was around December.

  “Oh! The parade,” he figured, “Before Christmas, the town I lived in would hold a parade for children. There was also Santa giving out presents.”

  “You believe in Santa Clause?”

  “I did. Until I was 7 or 8. After I learnt that it was Dad who put the present under the Christmas tree, I’d just go tell him what I wanted for that year.”

  Sam burst out laughter.

  “And you?”

  “I believed Santa was just someone with a beard in a red suit,” Sam said, “I had a big family. Lots of cousins. Each year we would go gather at grandpa’s house. And I noticed that one of my relatives always went missing, and Santa Clause would show up instead.”

  He smiled slightly at the spirit’s impressive observation skill which had been developed since his childhood. It lasted even to these days.

  “But I still like Christmas. You know, it’s that time of year when everyone comes together. Enjoying the feast. Giving presents. Toys, snacks, stuffs.”

  “My family didn’t have a grand celebration like that. There was only Mom, Dad, and me,” Keith said, “I know we have relatives, but I didn’t get to see much of them. Even when Diane visited me at the hospital, I still doubted she was Dad’s sister.”

  He said nothing more. If it hadn’t been for Diane, what would have happened to him? Being able to see spirits would have become but a small problem had he been put into an orphanage, waiting for someone to adopt him.