Cherry Blossoms of April

The world was dark, and grey. Rain poured from the sky, splattering the sidewalks and mixing with the oil from the cars in the parking lot. Jeremy watched from his room in the hospital, his eyes clouded and his skin paler than a ghost. Or at least what Jeremy believed ghosts were before he met the girl in the forest.

“Jeremy?” a hoarse voice sounded from the room. Jeremy turned to see his foster mother, her face was sunken in and there were bags under her eyes. “Jeremy, can I talk to you?”

Jeremy looked up and nodded.

He sat on his bed and she sat on the chair beside him; he could tell she was nervous. “We think it would best that we gave up our guardianship of you. We’re just not properly equipped to take care of you anymore.”

Jeremy shot up from his bed, his eyes wide and pleading, “What? No! I can’t move, not again; I just got comfortable at school! Please, not again!”

Janet closed her eyes and shook her head, “N… no. Jeremy; me and Richard have to work. We can’t- it’s just not going to work. Don’t worry. The hospital is taking over your custody.”

“What about school?”

Her voice trailed off, then she shook her head and rose from her seat. “I… I’m sorry. We really wise we could but…”

Jeremy turned away, his throat dry, “Do whatever you want; I don’t care.” He hissed, crossing his arms over his chest. He heard his ex-foster mother’s footsteps leave the room.

Moments later a nurse came into the room, “Your mom left these here for you.”

“She’s not my mom!” Jeremy yelled.

---

Days past from there, Jeremy didn’t do much though. He didn’t return to school, but he had a few friends visit him. It wasn’t the same, though. Not the same as Olivia. He stared at the wall, thinking deeply.

He wasn’t getting better, his face was grey and the sparkle had been lost to a cloudy texture over his eyes. His doctor stood at the foot of his bed; tapping his foot slightly. “…and we think that possibly…” he glanced at Jeremy, eyes flashing with annoyance. “Jeremy, are you even listening?”

He turned to face the doctor with a blank face, he didn’t say anything but let his gaze quiver and fall to his lap. It hurt to talk, to breath, to pretty much do anything. He waited a moment and heard the doctor sigh and leave the room.

Jeremy rose from his bed, leaving the warmth and safety of his covers. He dragged his chair from next to his bed to the large window. It went from the floor right up to the ceiling and he saw a clear view of the world.

It had rained every day since he had last seen Olivia… the ghost, spirit, soul… The idea was so hard to swallow; like a hard candy caught in his throat whenever he thought of her he felt like he was going to choke.

As he sat and watched the rain pour into the city, he knew only one thing. He was going to die. He felt it in his bones, or more likely his lungs. The doctors here knew it, they tried to be optimistic and normally Jeremy would be naïve enough to listen. Not today though.

Throughout his whole life the only thing that got him through his hardships and his pain was the knowledge that there was going to be tomorrow. There would be new people to meet, sports to play, places to visit, girls to like… all that was gone; snatched away from him in a gust of wind that came so unexpectedly no meteorologist could predict it. There were no people to meet, no sports his lungs could endure, places to experience, and only one girl; one girl in a cherry tree.

He had to see her; now. He couldn’t bear the thought that the only person who had ever begged him not to leave her would remember him from screaming and running from her grave. He rose from his seat and checked to make sure no doctors were around. He closed his blinds and opened the trunk with his clothes. He changed into a white outfit of a hoodie and sweatpants before sneaking out the door.

When he reached the hospital parking lot, the fresh air hit him like a wave of cold, wet flame. He ran to some bushes behind the cars and felt himself heave. He coughed and spluttered and felt his head spin. No wonder they weren’t letting him out for walks anymore.

Once he picked himself up he started the long trip back to the trails.

---

It was night by the time Jeremy finally reached the clearing where the cherry tree grew. He collapsed in a heap of sopping, coughing mess. He promptly blacked out from exhaustion, despite the pouring rain on his face.

From the tree, tiny olive green eyes appeared from the branches. Olivia crawled from branch to branch of the tree to see who had come upon her clearing now. His skin was pale and his eyes were sunken in; like a corpse. The only thing she recognized was the wet, but still ruffled brown hair.

“Jeremy!” she cried, jumping to the branch nearest him. Her voice made him stir and look up to see her there. “Thank god you’re alive! I thought… I thought you didn’t want to… I thought you didn’t like me anymore.”

Jeremy pulled himself up, soaking wet and covered in mud. “No, no. I still… I mean…” they were at a loss of words for each other. “It’s been exactly a month since we met…” he said, barely able to believe so much had changed in a simple 30 days.

“Really? Time is so meaningless when… when there is so little to do.” Olivia said; her voice so quiet it almost sounded alike a chipmunk.

Jeremy nodded, smiling to himself. Her voice was like music to him, or birds chattering in the wood that surrounded them. For minutes they sat in silence before Olivia spoke again.

“How long?” to a random person, the question would be strange, but Jeremy knew exactly what she meant.

“Not very…” his voice cracked and he tried to warm up his arms a bit, “What’s it like?”

Another vague question to a stranger, but Olivia shook her head and replied, “I don’t know… I mean… It’s hard to describe. One minute I was…” she pointed to the ground were Jeremy stood, “Then next I was here, and unable to leave. Whenever I try to touch the ground I fall through, I… I can only stay here.” She touched the bark of the tree, closing her eyes and thinking, “This; this is my home now.

Silence fell upon them once more and Jeremy looked to his watch, “It’s almost midnight.” The forest hushed, “I don’t want to die there, in that hospital, slowly and in pain like my mother.” He moved closer to her, if he didn’t know any better he’d of said he could smell her breath, sweet as spring flowers. “Let me come with you.”

“How? I don’t….” Jeremy fell to the ground and coughed, making Olivia stop mid-sentence. Blood flashed on the grass and shone with the rain, red as the cherries this tree produced.

He picked himself up, wiping his mouth and wincing, “Olivia, when I left the hospital today I didn’t intend to come back; all I want to do is be with you.”

Olivia felt tears fall down her face as she glowed with a warm feeling she hadn’t experienced before. She leaned from the tree and wished nothing more than to touch him, feel him with hands that didn’t exist. She reached out her hand and Jeremy went to hold it. A miracle happened; as he moved his hand to touch hers he felt a soft skin. Their fingers entwined and their spirits aligned, Olivia jumped from the tree and into his arms. Together their lips met as April met its end. Their spirits joined together and the clearing where they stood glowed with a light more brilliant than the universe had ever seen. The tree bloomed with the radiance and the blossoms fell around them in a circle. Cherries grew from the branches and exploded like miniature fireworks. Together they would never leave each other, and walk the universe as one. And then there was peace.

The rain ran deep with red that night.