Beyond the Horizon

by Ace Campillo

  ‘Well, my parents have always fostered the idea of openness.’ She was suddenly in deep thought. She paused and started tapping her pen on her paper.

  ‘How many words do you need to write?’

  ‘It’s 500 words.’

  I took her essay paper, and I had a bit of a read of what she already wrote. I thought that she had the basics laid out. She just needed to elaborate on her main idea, which was the idea of being open to one another.

  ‘You seem to be stuck on something? Can you tell me which part of the essay you find difficult?’

  ‘I know what our family values are, but I don’t know what else to write about.’

  ‘Why do you want to be open to your parents? And why do your parents want you to do that?

  ‘Well, I personally want to be an honest person. May it be with my parents or with someone else, I don't want to be a pretentious person. However, with my family, it makes us feel that we are connected in a way. I like that my parents would give me advice just about anything. I never once heard them judge me. They would just sit with me and hear me out and would occasionally tell me what they will do if they were in my shoes. I guess it brings loyalty and respect for one another.’

  ‘That's great, Erin.’ I nodded as I quickly added, ‘that's something that you would want to expound on your essay. You can elaborate on the things that you’ve shared to me.’

  Her face suddenly had an enlightened expression, and she thanked me for helping me out on her essay.

  ‘I really thought that I would not be able to finish it this morning. Thank you so much for your help.’

  ‘The pleasure is all mine. You already have the idea. You just need some guidance on how to put it on your essay. You also just need to be consistent with the tenses of your paragraph, so it's uniform.’

  ‘I’ll take note of it. Thanks again.’

  We stayed a bit longer, and I thought of asking her out to have dinner or perhaps to watch a movie. But I was too scared to make the first move. I was afraid that I might get turned down. I was mustering all the courage when she suddenly asked, ‘have you watched the last Avengers movie?’

  ‘No, I haven't,’ I replied.

  ‘Me too.’ She looked at me and spoke, ‘I wanted to watch it with my friends, but all of them had plans this weekend.’

  ‘That’s a shame.’ I had a look at my calendar to see what’s happening this Saturday, and I saw that I was free. I looked at her and said, ‘we can watch it together if you don’t mind.’

  ‘Yeah, sure; that would be awesome.’

  We exchanged contact details and talked for a bit more before we decided to head to our classrooms. I decided to go to my locker first, where I saw another mini love letter. I was surprised that I had another one. It meant that they did not come from Erin because we were together this morning. Although I already had the idea. It'd be too ambitious to assume that someone would actually go that far for someone ordinary like me. For all I know, it could be a sick joke from someone who hated me. I was immersed in my thoughts when someone suddenly tapped me on the shoulder. I suddenly had a jump scare moment because of that.

  ‘You don’t have to act that scared.’ Andre laughingly said.

  ‘Well, you could have said something before you tapped me.’ I glared at him.

  ‘I’m sorry your Highness,’ he said as he jokingly bowed down before continuing, ‘so, how’s your time with your girlfriend?’

  ‘I-I,’ I heavily stuttered before I was able to compose a proper sentence structure.

  ‘She is not my girlfriend, obviously, but you never know.’ I smiled from ear to ear and blushed. I coughed and tried to regain my composure and quickly added, ‘I invited her to watch a movie with me this Saturday. Are you not proud of your best friend?’ I thought I saw Andre’s face had a sad and serious look. However, I looked away, and as I gazed back at him, he had his normal happy face again.

  ‘I guess I'll be on the sidelines from now on?’ He laughed, but there was a hint of sadness in his eyes.

  ‘Don't be silly, man.’ I walked closer to him and gently punched him on the arms as I added, ‘our time together will still be ours; nothing will change. Also, I don't even know yet what'll happen between Erin and me.’ I laughed.

  ‘I doubt that. Let’s just say that your time will now be allotted more to your new-found love. I’m happy for you and will always be supportive.’ He said.

  ‘You okay bro?’ I don’t know why he was a bit emotional. I had to make sure that he was alright.

  ‘Duh! Of course, I’m just saying that I’m always here for you.’ He smiled.

  ‘Thanks. I may not see you this weekend, I’ll be watching the last Avengers movie with her this Saturday.’

  ‘But I thought,’ He suddenly had an annoyed expression, but he shook it off and said, ‘don’t mind me, it’s all good.’

  ‘Are you sure you’re alright?’ I flashed a concerned look, but I did not understand why he was acting this way.

  ‘What are you talking about? I am alright, don't be silly.’ He gave a reassuring smile and diverted the topic by asking, ‘Were you able to figure out is she was the one who's behind the daily cheesy love letters?’ He laughed.

  ‘I didn’t ask her, but I figured that it can’t be her since we were together earlier this morning and look—’ I showed him the letter and quickly added, ‘—I still received a letter.’

  ‘So, the mystery continues. Although, it probably won’t matter anymore since you already have your Erin.’ He chuckled. I’m relieved that he’s back to his old self.

  ‘LOL. Maybe…’ I rolled my eyes.

  We went inside the classroom as the annoying bell finally rang. And as I expected, it was yet again a dreary day. What made a difference though was the fact that Erin became an addition to our lunch table. She was well-received by my friends, and I did not hear any objections from Andre. I assumed that he had no problem with it. We continued to see each other every day from morning until the end of our table tennis practice in the afternoon.

  Then came the day of our first date…

  ‘Have you waited for a long time?’ She enquired as she arrived in front of the cinema where I was standing.

  ‘No, no,’ I waved my hands and spoke further, ‘you're actually just in time. I somehow managed to get her earlier, which is a rare happening, but yeah.’ I laughed.

  ‘I’m sorry if I’m late.’ She flashed an apologetic look.

  ‘As I said—’ I walked closer to her, gently poked her nose and quickly added, ‘you’re not late. Shall we go inside?’

  She blushed and smiled at my actions. She turned to her side to hide it, but she knew that she was terribly failing.

  ‘Yeah, sure.’ She mumbled. I giggled at what she was doing, and I said, ‘you’re too cute.’ She just looked at me and gave me a sheepish smile. I thought that if there’s a chance for me to ever have a relationship, this would be it, and I couldn’t afford to fail this. I kind of liked her. I just hoped that the feeling was mutual, or it would end up as a disaster, and it could be embarrassing for both of us.

  ‘Where are you going?’ She asked and looked at me, curiously.

  ‘We’re lining up for the movie, aren’t we?’ I responded.

  ‘Are we not supposed to buy our tickets first?’

  ‘I’ve already done that earlier.’

  ‘Oh, thanks. How much do I owe you?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Why? I have to pay for my tickets, though.’

  ‘It’s all good. It’s my treat.’

  ‘But Jeremy—’

  ‘It’s alright. I don’t ever want my girl to pay for dates.’ I realised what I said and let out a nervous laugh. I turned to her without properly looking her in the eyes and said, ‘I-I m-meant in general.’ I heavily stuttered that added more to my humiliation. I did not make any sense. She smiled at me without giving any sign of pending rejection, that’s a positive thing. She calmly held my arm and replied, ‘I know
what you mean. Thank you.’ Was this a date then? I could not hastily draw a conclusion. We hadn’t known each other for a long time, but I was also a firm believer that you didn’t need the courtship to be too long to know that you’re meant for each other. I had seen people who were dating for a long time but ended up breaking up in their 7th or even 10th year in the relationship or even those that we're finally married. I thought it's about building the relationship from the very start. It's not about having it when the foundation was already laid out, I reckoned that it's putting all the layers together early in the relationship. But at the same time, who was I to say those things. I never had a girlfriend before. I was new to all these things; the information I got from watching movies and reading books might be different from the real world. I internally laughed.

  ‘Have you always been a fan of Marvel?’ She asked.

  ‘Well,’ I started thinking about how to answer the question. I was not the biggest fan, but I did not want to disappoint her, and so I further added, ‘I did watch some of them, and I do think I have enough knowledge to talk about the topic.’ I felt like I sounded stupid just then.

  ‘As for me, I had always been a fan. I can't say that I've been following since inception, but I've tried to watch and read everything related to it.’ She said with a big smile plastered on her face. I stared at her with a smile.

  ‘You don’t think I’m much of a geek, do you?’ She chuckled.

  ‘No, not at all.’ I slowly shook my head as I maintained eye contact with her.

  We continued to wait until the line started moving, and everyone got overly excited that we could hear people cheering and howling as we entered the cinema. It was jam-packed. We were supposed to watch the night time screening, but Erin said that her parents would only allow her to go to the morning one, so we decided to catch the 09:45am screening time. It was quite understandable, though, because the movie was long. We were already sitting down when I remembered about the food and drinks. Stupid me.

  ‘Erin, I’m sorry. I totally forgot to ask you if you wanted popcorn and a drink.’

  ‘It’s alright. We were both caught up in our conversation. We could go back outside to get some?’

  ‘Don’t worry. I’ll get it for us.’ I got up from our seat as I held a hand in the air before I quickly continued, ‘What do you want?’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Yeah, of course. What do you like me to get you?’

  ‘Well, just a small popcorn and a bottled iced tea. Thank you.’ She was handing me some cash, but I laughed, shook my head and took off.

  It took me a while before I was able to return, and I apologised as I returned to my seat. I handed her the popcorn and iced tea. We settled and waited for the movie to start. And as soon as we started watching, it was indeed a long 3-hour movie. However, it was worth it. I usually could not stand sitting for a long time, but my eyes were glued to the screen. It was a fantastic movie. I also had the person that motivated me, and she's sitting beside me. She rested her head on my shoulder at one point, and I took the opportunity to wrap my arm around her shoulder. I guess it’s a good sign?

  As we finished watching it, we headed outside and discussed how good the movie was. She told me that she would recommend it to her friends. I was watching her beam with utmost happiness. She noticed the silence that she asked me what I was thinking.

  ‘Oh, nothing. I was admiring how happy you are, but that movie was indeed great.’

  ‘It's a good way to end the franchise after all the plenty of interconnected movies, although I think that won't be the last time, we would see those characters in movies.’ She explained.

  ‘Yeah, probably the end of Avengers saga but individual heroes will still have their own movies.’

  ‘That's right.’ She smiled at me and tucked her hair under her ears. She further spoke, ‘I had a good time, Jeremy.’

  ‘I also enjoyed our time together. I just hope that this won’t be the last time?’ I asked.

  ‘Of course. We can go out again sometime.’ She sheepishly replied.

  ‘Really? Does that mean…?’ I did not continue my question, but it can already be implied. I looked at her and waited for her answer. She did not utter a word; instead, she nodded.

  ‘Yes!’ I shouted. I couldn’t hold it in, and she laughed.

  ‘I mean we are not yet there, but I’m not opposed to going out with you,’ she further added.

  ‘That’s fine with me. I also don’t want to rush things,’ I answered.

  ‘Uhmm… Jeremy, I actually have to go ahead. I enjoyed today, but I just need to go with my parents to visit my grandfather, who is celebrating his birthday today.’ She smiled as she further spoke, ‘what are you doing after this?’

  I froze at the realisation that I forgot that I promised Andre to go with him to visit the grave of his parents. Such a terrible friend! I must have been staring blankly for a bit that Erin had asked if I was alright. She held my arm and caressed it.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Her question snapped me back to reality.

  ‘Oooh… yeah, of course. I just remembered something,’ I said as I scratched my head and quickly added, ‘I’m going to probably visit Andre.’ I hid my emotions by smiling.

  ‘How are you getting home?’ I asked her.

  ‘My parents will pick me up outside,’ she answered.

  ‘Your parents know that we went out to see a movie?’

  ‘Yeah, I told you that we’re pretty open.’

  ‘That’s cool. I’ll wait until they come.’

  ‘You don’t have to…’

  ‘I have to though; I don’t want your parents to think that you are going out with a prick.’ I chuckled.

  She did not reply, but she flashed a genuine smile. As her parents arrived at the pickup area, I politely greeted them. Now I realised what Erin was saying when she said that she's open to her parents about all her stuff. I thought I was also close to my parents, but I didn't know I would be able to divulge everything to them, especially the more personal ones. They did not even know that I was on a date today. It's not like they're going to control my life. I was also lucky to have them. They had always been so supportive of everything I did growing up. I reckoned that it heavily depended on whether you were the daughter or the son or if you're an only child. I didn't know. I could only guess. I was trying to contain my nervousness, and I thought I did well. I bid them goodbye, and soon as they left, I immediately tried to call Andre. He was not answering his phone. He said he was going to visit his parents, but I didn't know where it was, so I had to call my mother about it that added more to the wait. My mother asked a lot of questions about where I was. She thought that I was with Andre all this time.

  I didn't mean to be rude, but I asked her if we could just discuss it when I return home later. She agreed, but there was a clear angry tone in her voice. She told me where it was, and she also advised me what the fastest route was. I rushed towards there just riding my bike because I realised that it was not that far from where I was. However, when I got there, Andre was nowhere to be found. I tried to find his parents' grave, which was not so difficult. Their tombs were among the few with flowers and lit candles. I knelt down and offered my prayers, and also prayed for Andre that he would always be happy.

  My only question was, where’s Andre?

  Chapter 3

  Losing an important part of a person could be the most devastating thing in his or her life. I had not experienced it myself, but I felt how Andre's heart bled every time he wanted to speak about it. I never once saw him cry, but he did not have to utter a single word for me to know that he was sad. He was a year older than me, but I felt no difference. He would do the same stuff with me and talked about the same topics. He was I thought the best brother I never had. That's why it pained me to think that I failed to remember what day it was today. Dammit! I was tearing up to just imagine what he was going through right now.

  I pedalled my way to the park where we usually
hang out, and alas! I saw him sitting down as he stared into the open. I parked my bicycle and slowly approached him. He must have sensed someone else's presence that he suddenly looked at me. He seemed to be quite surprised, and I was wondering why he had that look on his face. He gave me a weak smile, and there was an unmistakable hint of sadness on his face.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ He looked at me before he returned his gaze to the direction of the sunset.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said.

  ‘What for?’ He asked.

  ‘I did not realise that it's an important day for you, and I effed up.’

  He gestured for me to sit beside him, and the first few minutes were spent in silence. I waited for him to open up about what he was feeling. I wanted to know everything, but I could not just pry on his personal business. I had big respect for him, and I wanted to maintain our good relationship as good friends. I was looking at the beautiful sunset when he let out a big sigh. I looked at him, and he had his eyes closed.

  ‘This day last year, a part of me died when I lost my parents. I cried and blamed myself for the tragedy.’ His lips started quivering, and his voice began to be shaky, but he paused before continuing, ‘but I did not feel totally lonely. I had you and your family who took care of me.’

  I had always seen Andre be a very strong and independent person, but now, I saw the other side of him. I saw how vulnerable he was at that moment, and I could not help but feel sorry for him. However, I couldn't show that emotion. I also needed to be strong for him. I sat there in silence as I occasionally rubbed his back.

  ‘I had so many things planned out for the future, but I could no longer do most of them,’ he quietly said.

  ‘Whatever your plans are, I’m sure that you will still be able to achieve them but not just on the pace that you wanted them.’

  ‘I know, but there are things I wanted to do with my parents that I can no longer do.’ He started to sniffle.

  ‘I don't know how it feels like what you are going through right now, but always remember that you have the rest of our friends and me to help you.’