Lost Souls | Xu Minghao

ten

minghao slowly opened his eyes and got up, he looked around his room and the sunlight from the window made his eyes narrow.

after some photosynthesizing, he tend his eyes infront and stretched his arms, but his brows furrowed when he touched his cheeks, that is wet.

he touched it again and again, and whenever he looks at his palms, there were tears.

he jumped out from his bed and walked straight into his bathroom, and there he has proven that he did cry in his sleep; red puffy eyes, pink tinted cheeks and runny nose.

they say people tend to forget ninety percent of their dreams, but in minghao's case, he remembered everything as if it did happen.

'if my dream earlier was real, then why can't i remember anything?'

he looked down and bit his upper lip.

'the latter part did happen to me, but the beginning? i don't think so.'

he looked up again and pursed his lips.

'but if it did happen, she was there, together with me on the accident, twice.'

he arrived at the park and the first thing he did was to go to his favorite spot, the bench under a big tree with the view of the kids playing around. ever since she told him to be observant by his surroundings, he has come to like it, the sight of people with ecstatic smiles on their faces.

it has been a while since he has been unconsciously waiting for her, he looked around from time to time to look for her but she was nowhere to be found.

it was unusual for him as everytime he comes there, she would already be there waiting for him, and now that she wasn't, he suddenly felt wistful.

'where could she be now?'

'and she was with me on that accident right? she must know something.'

before he could wait for her further, the sun has started to set filling the sky with it's natural deep colors. people got fewer that it became peaceful there. he has decided to just go home and maybe come back tomorrow.

when he got home, he was surprised when he saw both of his parents inside their house, when normally they would get home late.

"minghao, you're home?", his mother went to him and gave him a brief hug.

"why are y—you early?", he looked at his mom and took a glance at his father who is sitting on the couch.

"from now on we'll try to get home earlier so you won't have to feel lonely anymore.", his mother gave him a warm smile and so his dad who is now standing behind his mom.

he wanted to ask why but instead he just returned their smiles.

they we're peacefully eating at their dining table, his parents talking and sometimes asking him and he would just agree to everything they say.

but the thought of asking them about his dream has come to his mind ever since he saw his parents and until now it was still there.

he badly wanted to ask them but was still contemplating. what if they'll find it weird, but what if this is the only chance he'll get?

"mom...dad...", his parents halted from their conversation and looked at their son in confusion.

"uhmmm — i've been meaning to ask this question."

"what is it?", they waited for minghao to continue. he bit his lower lip and prepared himself.

"by any chance... did i got into an accident twice?"

they're faces turned pale the moment minghao spoke, they knew everything, and now that their son is slowly remembering everything, they were afraid that what if their son get traumatized again after gaining back his memories.

but for minghao, none of it matters wether it was real or not. if it did happen then it was alright for him, just by knowing the fact that the said memory contains her, he somehow thought that it was a beautiful memory itself.