Sincerely apologise for what I am about to tell, this story is not a happy one and believe you me I was there (I think) and felt everything that happened, in person.
Xavier and I have been friends since we were little and after my mother and his father died we became even closer, we were already best friends, but because of that, we were now like brother and sister. My father is a very kind man and let Xavier stay over whenever things were getting tough for him at home even if he didn't know why, since he had a fairly good impression of Xavier's mother. We would go over to their house so frequently that it was like my second home.
Our Childhood
When I was 6 or 7 I went to Xavier's house to have a play date while my parents were at work. The time that I spent over there were some of the best of my life but there were times like this one that made me feel sorry for Xavier who had to live with it. His mother was passed out on the couch while his father was working in the corner of their small, cramped living room. Neither of our parents was very rich and we didn't have everything that we wanted but we had everything that we needed and we didn't think of it as a disadvantage but as a challenge that we needed to overcome to get where we wanted to be in life, and for me, that was a patissier. Xavier, however, didn't really want anything from life but to be happy and to stay by my side.
One afternoon (when we were about 11 or 12) we were exploring the woods at the back of our houses like we always did and collected stuff like mud, sticks, dirt and leaves to help make a cubby house out of the big tree that connected our yards. I was thinking that because Xavier had just had his birthday that this would be a nice surprise for him to get for a present when it was ready. I was painting the floor which we made out of old floorboards that were in the trash and I kind of splashed everything together and it made this beautiful rectangle of colours; orange leaves, brown sticks and bark, green grass, and the occasional pink or orange flower petal. Once I was finished with the floor we had to let it dry but we couldn't have it lying down so we, being the kids we are pushed it up into the wall next to my house. We left it there until the morning.
The Next Day
The morning was like any other except for the fact that my Mum and Dad were standing in awe looking at the plain, bleak back wall. Mind you it was like 5 am so I was going, I don't wanna get up yet but I must see what is happening so, lazily getting up out of bed and slumping around the house I made my way slowly to the back wall and when I got there I did the exact thing that my parents were doing- mouth open, gawking at the most beautiful thing they had seen.
I. Along with the help of Xavier had made the floor for our tree house so beautiful that you wouldn't be able to walk on it. sadly enough because we were so poor at the time we didn't have a camera to take a picture of it but my Mum’s eyes said all that needed to be said.
Half a year later we were in so much debt that we couldn't pay for my Mums medical treatment. Xavier had just lost his Dad the month before so he was being elusive and hard to talk to. One day we got a call from the hospital saying that my Mum had gone into intensive care and didn't have much longer to live. We rushed over to the hospital to find out that my Mum had a chance to be saved but it would be very costly. I started crying because I knew that our family couldn't afford to do anything about it, while my Dad shakily walked and sat in a corner with his shivering hands to his feverish forehead. My Dad was in a State of shock and Mum was thinking over what she wanted to do. I walked into the intensive care unit looking for my Mums room amongst all the patients that were slowly dying. I dreaded the fact that my Mum was going to be next but when I finally found the room I ran in and gave my Mum a great big hug so tight that she had to pry me away because I was strangling her.
As I sat there on the white hospital bed, Mum stroking my unruly hair I heard her softly say, “I will never forget the day that my wonderful daughter made the most amazing thing that I had ever seen in all my life, I wish you so much luck and fortune in the future that you will never have to do what we had to do to get by. Take care of Xavier, my Zaylee. I love you, never give up.”
That was that last thing I ever heard out of my Mums mouth, but that being the case it was the most beautiful and heartwarming thing I ever heard. I sat there, the room suddenly looking so dark and bleak that I didn't believe that my Mum, my cheerful, caring and humble Mum, was no longer there. Sobbing so loudly that all the doctors came running, I grieved for my mothers' death.
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