Hidden Paradise

Oh my gosh..that's a shocker

The sound of someone breathing hard woke me up. My head felt dizzy as I realized I fell asleep on the floor. Slowly, I turn my body around to see Amaris, her hand was over her mouth as her eyes were shut close and tears ran down her face.

“Hey” I tried to softly approach her, wrapping her around my arms as I comfort her. “What’s wrong?” I caressed her hair and removed her hand; she cries more into my chest for a few more minutes before finally taking a deep breath and wiping the tears off her face.

The sight of her being like this hit a spot in my heart. Because knowing Amaris, she BARELY cries. The last time she probably cried like this was when she was overwhelmed about the school works back when we were 14.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I sat down next to her. “I had a nightmare…” she pulls her legs unto her chest and hugs them tight “A…nightmare?” That seemed…odd?

Amaris avoided my eye contact and looked the other way. She probably thinks that I think it was stupid for her to cry because of a nightmare- which is true, but that’s beside the point.

I mean, why would she cry THIS hard because of a mere nightmare? “Well…what was it about?” I try to understand her and continued to caress her back and her long hair. “It…it was” Amaris sits up straight and takes a deep breath in before continuing “It was about my father” her voice was low and she pouted after saying that.

Amaris’…father? Honestly, even though we’ve been friends since we were 2, I’ve never heard of her father. “What…what was it about?” she looks at me innocently, before her eyes drop down. Like, in disappointment.

“Nothing…I don’t really want to talk about it, sorry” she mumbles and I nod my head. Maybe it was actually a nightmare since she saw him and I understand “It’s alright.”

Silence filled the small gap between us so I tried to make small talks “Hey-…”

“It’s just that…” she interrupts “I miss him? But also, I don’t…? I don’t know…” her voice started to c***k as she hugs herself tighter “I don’t know how to feel and I don’t know what to do…and it sucks” she wipes the tears that were constantly dripping down her face.

“It sucks not knowing what to do…I hate it” she tries to not to cry, but failed. “Why do I even miss him? Hell, I only miss the memories we had” I pulled her hands down and grabbed her face so she could look at me.

“Listen, it’s alright to feel that way, alright? It’s fine not knowing what to do or how to feel. Because these things will naturally come to us. It’s fine if you miss him but don’t want him back, it’s part of maturing. And you’re doing great! Amazing, even” I wiped the tears off her face as she looks at me like a baby needing their mom.

Amaris pulls me into a hug and she cries harder, letting everything out. After she calmed down a while, we both lie down unto the bed.

“Wait…” her head perks up “Didn’t I fell asleep on the main deck?” she looks at me as my lips turn into a line. “Well, uh yeah. You did, but! Alex and Oliver carried you guys here and with the help of Haruki, he bought you to the bed” she looked confused as she slightly tilts her head and her eyes wander around. “Haruki carried me to the bed?” I nod my head while she does the same and sinks back into the mattress.

Of course, she wouldn’t ask about how the brothers carried her here from the main deck… “Do you wanna go up for some fresh air?” she hesitates for a moment before nodding her head.

“Come on” I pulled her up as we got unto the main deck. The air was cold to the skin though, it was a bit disappointing that the sun was behind the clouds too. “Let’s go get something to eat” she nods her head once again before I led her to the kitchen. I picked up an apple as she sits behind the counter.

Carefully, I sliced the apple and removed the seeds-I wasn’t going to get my self killed with apple seeds. Not after watching that one video where it says 20 of these seeds could kill you!

of course, I washed it before cutting- and gave her some. Amaris immediately took a bite but still looked down. Her eye bugs were clear along with the puggy eyes that were from crying, her posture wasn’t straight and her hair was a bit frizzy. A bit unusual for the perfect Amaris…she honestly looks worst compared to when she wakes up.

“You feeling better?” she looks up to me and slowly nods her head. “That’s good, Alex is on the far-left side of the main deck, by the way. I think he’s behind the dining area”

“Is it…alright for me to go see him?” according to her eyes, she was definitely feeling better as they seemed to light up compared to the earlier one. “Sure, I was a bit hungry anyways” I admitted before she waves to me and walks towards Alex.

Either she has a crush on him, want to annoy him for entertainment, or have questions for him. That’s the only things that could possibly happen.

I let out a sigh when I saw her gone and sliced another apple. “Hey” a beautiful girl with a cheerful voice smiled at me “Hey Diana” I reciprocated her smile as she got into the kitchen. “Are there anymore apples?” I nod my head and pointed at the cabinet “There’s a basket full of them under over there”

“Thanks” she opens the cabinet and takes the full basket out “Do you need help with those?” Diana turns to me and shakes her head, “it’s fine, I’ll be making some juice so I can manage. The view’s getting worse out there plus, Elena said there was a chance we could see the Apoy’s islands” the last sentence woke up some curiosity in me. “Alright then, call me if you need anything.” She nods her head and waves me goodbye.

She was right, the view AND the weather was looking worst. Carefully, I lean unto the edge of the boat and looked at the water. I saw my reflection for the first time ever since I came to Paraiso. It’s good to see my beautiful face again.

Another sigh came out from me, I have such a pretty face yet…I’m still alone without any partner. I sat unto one of those hammocks on the main deck. Amaris said her father visited her dreams…if I actually think about it, I’ve heard about him once.

Back at school when our teacher asked us about what our favorite memories were from our parents. I could recall Amaris mentioning that she loves her father because he would always hang out with her and play every game she would suggest. I honestly thought that was so sweet of him- considering I never met my biological father.

Other than that, I don’t think I know who the guy is. Then again, Amaris’ family life is quite complicated and something she doesn’t like to talk about. Another sigh came out from me, there wasn’t anything else better to do and nothing unusual happened.

I turn to look at my right, the weather seemed like it was about to rain. There were dark clouds on the sky already but…they seemed to go into one direction. The clouds were moving faster than usual and gathered in one place…is there going to be a typhoon?

What if there was a typhoon? Quickly, I sat up and turned to look at Elena. Surely, she would have noticed, right? Her expression quickly feel down…maybe a storm?

AND THERE IT WAS! The clouds were gathered above a castle or a palace…maybe? Honestly, I don’t know the difference between the two…The place was painted with dark ash grey with slight hints of blue and red around it.

Is it one of Apoy’s island maybe…? “Athena” Marie waves her hand towards me, her head was out in the main deck but most of her body stayed on the trapdoor. “Yeah?” she gestures me to come close.

“What is it?” I leaned down “Do you wanna go play with us? We’re going to ask questions about each other. Thought you might want to join”

“Sure” I mean, it’s not like there was something I could do, right? Might as well get to know my teammates for this mission. “Guys, Athena’s here” we all sat down in one circle with an empty glass bottle on the middle.

“Hey” Diana greeted me as soon as I sat down next to her “Both Jason and Oliver are sleeping and Alex and Amaris are talking about stuff I don’t understand” I nod my head as Marie started to spin the bottle.

The tip ended up to a dark girl who had an afro bun. “Oh…okay…uhm, where do I start?”

“Well, let’s start with names, age, planet, then color and then likes and dislike plus hobbies-…”

“Let’s stop by likes and dislikes…we want to include everyone here” Chelsea interrupts her while Marie cheerfully nods.

“oh…okay” the girl takes a deep breath “Hi my name is Lily, I’m 15 years old from the planet Lyka and have the color yellow ay my Yelo…my likes are flowers and fresh air and my dislikes are unclean places…” her lips slowly turned into a line and she looks at us.

“Hi Lily” we all said in unison “How about we introduce ourselves after one another instead?” Hope suggested while everyone agrees again. There were a total of 9 minor kids here out of 15, the rest of them seemed to live more than 50 years here already.

“Hi my name is Haruki, I’m 17 years old from planet Go-ichi and I have the color blue as my Yelo” he was the last one. We were all waiting for him to say something else and even Chelsea nudges him “Oh…I don’t really have anything I like or dislike in particular.” Haruki shrugs his shoulder before taking a sip of the juice Diana made.

While introducing ourselves, the boat would sway side by side