Behind this door was my bedroom. The place I once slept and studied. I can still remember it clearly the day I moved into this small city in mountain area. As I walked into the room, I stopped at a small window facing the green and blue mountains. I look outside and I remember something that happened 5 years ago, something that changed my life forever. This is the place where I learned the meaning of life, the feelings of being accepted, loved and appreciated. I can still remember everything like it was just yesterday. Everything started with this small window.
Five years ago, my family and I moved here because of my mother’s health. The polluted air in the previous city where we lived was not good for my mother, so we moved in here, a small town full of farms, Meranti trees grew up high and other trees around it. “Dad, where is my room?” I asked my father once we unloaded our luggage. “It is upstairs. Your room is the first room from the left.” My father answered while holding my mother’s hand. My mother’s face was pale. I hoped our decision of coming here would not be a worthless effort.
“Wow!” That was the first thing that came into my mind when I set foot into my room. This room would be my room from that day onward. After I looked around my room, my eyes stopped at a tiny window. “Let’s see what I can see.” I looked out from the window and what I saw was a fantastic view of nature. The clear sky, the blue mountain, the green forest, the farm, everything, it felt like I had become closer to the nature. It was so beautiful I feel like I am in a dream but I snapped out from it as I saw a house, a big house or maybe a mansion in the middle of the woods. Actually, I saw it on my way here earlier. It was so big no one could miss it.
“Danny! Come downstairs now, I have prepared some snack for us.”
“Ok mum, I’ll be there in a minute; I want to shut the window first.”I rushed downstairs and went to the balcony. My mother had prepared sandwiches and tea for us.
“What took you long to come downstairs Danny? Have you gotten old already?”
“Shut up, Dianna!” My sister was always trying to get on my nerve. Sometimes I wondered, are we even twins when our personalities differ from each other?
“Oh stop it, Dianna. Don’t pick a fight with your brother, Danny don’t raise your voice on your big sister like that.” My mother, always tried to be the conciliator between the two of us. “Ok, mum.” as always, I said it at the same exact time with my sister. “Aw, look at that, simultaneously. See u kids are twins after all” my mother said while laughing. She always said that she adored twins but she never imagined she would have twins too.
After having the snack, I went upstairs again to unpack my luggage. It was really tiring. I spent 3 hours to sort things out in my bedroom and I was quite impressed of myself.
“Mhm, you have done great young man. I never thought you would be able to sort the items in this room nicely. All spick and span. ” My mother appeared at the doorway of my room. Looking around with a gentle smile on her face. I would be lying if I said I did not feel proud when my mum said that. “You don’t want to come downstairs and eat Danny? I have prepared dinner. How about you go and tell your sister to come to the dining room. She is still in her room.”
I went to my Dianna’s room and peeked inside. “Di, mum has prepared dinner, let’s go downstairs” I said. I seem to have startled her and she turned around to look at me, “Gosh, can’t you at least knock before you come in? Come here, see this.” I walked towards her and looked at the direction she was pointing at. It was the mansion. She was pointing towards a room at the mansion. “Can I borrow your telescope?” I somewhat knew what was my sister going to do. “Let’s go downstairs. Mum and dad are waiting for us”
“That took a lot of time, what were you both doing making us wait so long?” Dad asked as we walked into the dining room.
“Danny, take care of your mum and sister while I’m gone, ok? I won’t be back until next holiday.” Dad said in the morning before he went back to our previous house. He still need to stay there because of work.
“Ok dad, have a safe trip. Goodbye.” Dad drove his car down the hill. I went back to my room and prepare for school. I wondered what kind of school I would be attending.
Before that, I remembered the mansion. I went to get my telescope and used it to get a closer view. There it is. The room Dianna pointed at yesterday. There was a boy in the room, seems to be around my age. I felt like a stalker and normally a stalker stalk a girl and I’m stalking a guy!
Kringgggg! The school bell rang. My sister and I were instructed to join the assembly in the morning.
“Students, today we got new friend joining our class. He just moved here. You can introduce yourself now“
“Nice to meet you, my name is Daniel bin Aarif. I’ve been living in Australia since the day I was born. I moved here three days ago due to my mother’s health” I walked to my seat and the classes went smoothly except the awkwardness I felt without Dianna at my side. She was put in the other class. “You can speak well considering you are from foreign country. Hello, my name is Lee.” A Chinese boy approached me before I went home.
My way back from school was really peaceful. I ran into the boy I saw this morning through the telescope. “Hello there.” I tried to greet him. “Hello, are you the one just moved in?” he asked and looked at my face. That was when I realized he looked pale. Maybe because my mother used to look like that, it was easy for me to recognize.
“Yeah, even though it is far but we are still neighbors. My name is Daniel. I hope we can be a good friend” I answered, thinking maybe befriending him was not a bad idea.
“Hello Daniel, my name is Khairi. You can call me Khai.” We shook hands and we talked about lots of things until we reached Khai’s house. Khai was generous. I liked him. “It was fun talking to you. Since house is just on your way to school, why don’t we walk together tomorrow?” I can’t possibly reject his offer.
Days passed by without me realizing it. It was already end-of-year holiday. I was expecting my father to come back from Australia. His plane already landed this morning. He should be on his way here right now. Meanwhile, my mother looked better, not much but at least a bit energetic than before. Other than that, not a single thing changed. As for Khai, we have become best friend. We shared everything, we talked about everything. That was how I got to know Khai’s heart problem. Now I know why the first time I saw him, he was pale.
“Mum, I want to visit Khai at his place this evening. You know how Khai lately, he can’t even go walking outside. He must be bored. Can I go accompany him for a while?
“Sure you can. Don’t be back late, dear. It is dangerous wandering around at night and we will be having dinner with father after a while.” My mother said while folding clothes with Dianna. I know she was in cloud nine because her loved husband was going to be home after months of absence.
Upon reaching Khai’s room, Khai was laying on his bed. He seemed weak. “Hey Danny, guess what. My parents will be home tonight. I just got a call from them. Your dad will be here tonight too right?” Khai asked. I nodded. There was not much I can say. Deep in my heart, I felt aggrieved. This is the first time I got a best friend but I don’t think he will be here for much longer. Will I lose him?
“Why are you so quiet, Danny? Are you ok?” Khai’s voice broke the silence.
“No, it was nothing. Sorry. Did you say something?” I can see Khai looked at me curiously. He must have noticed something. “You see, my doctor came yesterday…” he stopped talking. Considering his expression, I knew it was not some good news.
“You are quiet today, not like the talkative Danny I know. Is something wrong? Even though you are talking, it seems you are not paying attention to what I said. Is there something troubling you, Danny?” continuous questions rushing out from Khai’s lips before I left the room. Yeah, I know I was pathetic. My friend was dying and I can’t do anything about it.
The whole night I can’t sleep. I had been thinking, what it feels like to be dying? To know that we have only a bit time left before we die, what will I do? Everybody doesn’t know when or where they will die but as for Khai, he was just going to lie on the bed helplessly trying to gather some courage to comfort himself which was restless wondering if he will open his eyes tomorrow morning or he will fell asleep eternally.
Day by day passed, Khai became weaker and weaker. Every day while I was not at his house, I watched him through my window. He was suffering.
“Danny, you know I love to travel right? For someone like me, who can’t even go out much, being able to travel is a blessing.”
“Yeah I know. We will go travelling together when we finished studying so hurry and get better,” it slipped from my mouth. I looked at Khai, sadness emerged on his face. I can’t bear to watch him like this. “I will become a doctor. I will be a doctor and I will surely save you.” That was the only consolation word I can give to him. Khai only smiled but not the gentle smile he used to give me back when we first met. The smile got pieces of sadness, a fake smile in other word. I can’t ask for more, being able to smile was already an amazing thing to do. If I was at his place, I can’t bring myself to smile.
On that one rainy day, everything changed. The world I once knew full of greenery, has turned colourless. That was when I received word that Khai had gone. My dad once said I man can’t cry but I can’t help but cry. My tears were for my irreplaceable best friend.
“Danny what are you doing in there? Come out we need to go now. We will miss the flight tonight if you are not hurry.” Dianna showed up in front of the door. “He was a great guy.” Dianna said knowing what I am thinking. The days I spent with him, I can never forget. Through this window, I got to know you and through this window, I learnt how important someone’s life is. “Hey Khai, look at me. I am a doctor now.”
