Blooming Spring

By Siyana Stefkova Zhelezarova (VIIIb)

A lovely story that grabbed our hearts! It earned its publishing at the May’2021 short story competition titled ‘Awakening’!

I saw the same figure, standing under exactly the same tree that I seemed to remember very well… But how? Where did such a memory pop up from? I had never been to that place before. And the silhouette… Who could that be? He was looking right through me, as if diving into my naked, innocent eyes, while slowly coming closer and closer. Finally, with a soft smile, he spoke. Bloom. Open your eyes.

The alarm went off, forcing me to slightly open my eyes and quickly squeeze them shut again.

I wanted to remember what my dream was about. I started to rub my pale hand against my forehead as I was thinking… and thinking… Nothing came to mind, but a blurry, undefinable picture. My sleepy soul couldn’t bear to put up with this any longer. It had been happening every single day, for an uncertain amount of time in my life.

I looked out the window as I huffed. The sun was brighter and happier than before. The flowers in my garden had a sip of breeze spread their beautiful scent in the air. I turned on the lights in the living room and saw my parents had left for work already – perhaps a few hours ago. I saw they had made tea for me and I poured myself a cup. While I was preparing my breakfast, I turned the tiny TV on and I saw a place. With vast meadows. They looked so calm and relaxing. I found them to be somehow similar to something I had seen… But where? All I could think of was the blooming spring, knocking on my window. No, I mean literally knocking – I could hear it! I looked out the window and saw Natsuki – my only close friend who was also my neighbor and my classmate. His face always reminded me that the world is full of warmness and happiness. He looked eager to tell me something.

“Hey! Guess what I have got!” he smiled brightly and thrusted two pieces of paper into of my face, making me flinch.
“If you step back a little bit, maybe I will be able to see.” I rumbled, pushing his hand away. “Tickets for a festival?”
“Yeah! Everyone from our town will be there! You have to come with me, since you are my dearest friend!” He was bouncing up and down, his hands clutching the windowpane.

I sighed and opened the door, and looked g straight into his eyes. “Look, I haven’t been feeling like myself lately. I don’t know what has gotten into me and I don’t want to ruin your day.”

He grabbed my shoulders and looked at me, his eyes glowing with pure honesty: “You are the one that makes my day! And that is why you need to have some fun.”
I looked at him, uncertain how to reply. His statement had made me very happy.
“Please!” he continued. “You know you are my special friend, please come with me!”
He kept begging me to go with him, until I gave up.
“All right then, I’ll think about it. Now, let’s go to school,” I scoffed. Then I grabbed my bag, quickly swallowed the sandwich I had prepared, and closed the door behind us.
“See! I knew you’d come!” he smiled proudly and ran out in front of me. My lips curved into a smile as I rolled my eyes, shaking my head and walking behind him.

Five hours later, we were on our way to the festival.

“Classes were fun, don’t you think, Yumi?” Natsuki said, putting his backpack over his right shoulder as he came closer to me.
“Guess so… Wasn’t really paying attention.” I looked down, playing with a rock between my feet.
“Yes, it was obvious. That’s why I asked. You kept looking out the window, dreaming about something… At least tell me what it was,” he pouted, seeming upset and causing another shake of my head, this time with a ‘tut-tut-tut’ sound escaping my lips. “The teacher even thought you were sleeping with your eyes open. I am beginning to worry about you.”
“Is that so?” I yawned the question, covering my mouth with my hand. “It’s just the dream I’ve told you about. So what time is the festival?”
“It’s right away, actually! We have to hurry and leave our bags.”

We rushed forward, as if running for our lives. In no time, we were there. The meadows looked so magnificent – they somehow kept drawing my eyes to them. With all the colorful decorations, it was like nothing I had ever seen in my entire life.

We went down the stone stairs and stopped in front of the guard.
“Tickets, please,” he murmured.
Natsuki nodded happily and put a hand into his pocket, but… They were gone! He fumbled a little longer. Nothing. Not even in the back pockets. Nor in his jacket. He looked at me, his face terrified, pale and scared.
“I’ve lost our tickets, sir! I can swear I bought them yesterday! Don’t you remember me?”

“Just give up!” I grabbed his shoulder and looked down, dragging him after me.
“But… no! The festival… “, he started. I roughly interrupted him:
“See that high cliff? We can watch everything from up there. Let’s go.”

He started crying when I dragged him up the hill, leaving him under the cherry blossom tree. I was breathing heavily.
“How come we ended up like this?” he inhaled heavily. “How come did we not notice?”
“It’s okay. We can even see the sunset and the shooting stars from here. And I would’ve got bored at the festival and come here anyways, so – no worries.”
I touched the tree, trying to lean on it, so that I could sit down, but all of a sudden my memories flew back into my mind… Every single one. With that boy. Bloom… Bloom… Bloom… Bloom…

“Yumi… Yumi… YUMI!” I heard Natsuki’s voice as he was violently shaking my body, and I immediately opened my eyes.
“Thank god, you are awake!” He said with relief. He made me look up to see a shiny shooting star, and he added, “Let’s go down and sneak into the festival.”
“Wait! It’s not safe down there Natsuki. Don’t go!” I tried to stop him, but he had already started running across the grass. I sighed softly, looking down at the festival and all the people… Happy kids playing around and shouting, grown-ups enjoying the treats and the lights… Then I looked up.

I saw a star. It was getting bigger, and bigger… Until I realized it was a meteor.

“Watch out people!” I screamed loudly at the crowd in the meadows, but nobody heard my cries. I felt tears running down my face. Natsuki… I thought. Then I heard the crash and everything disappeared into darkness.

I woke up, looking over the area around my body. I didn’t have any bruises. What had happened to me? What about the other people? My body was too weak to get up and check. Nevertheless, I tried to get up, but someone’s hand stopped me. I looked around and it was the boy. The same boy. From my dream.

I stepped back and looked at him, scared by what was happening in front of my eyes: “Who are you and what are you doing here?!” I looked at him petrified. I noticed some rosy petals falling from the tree above us.

“Yumi, you are finally free.” He turned his head back to his piece of paper, looking at me with the corner of his eye. He was drawing something.
“Err… Excuse me? How do you know my name? I have never met you before.”
I stood up and looked at the site of the spring festival. It was a meadow covered in white flowers.
“I am Bloom, your guardian angel. It might sound unreal to you, and it really is, in a way. I wanted to save you from what had just happened, and I managed. I’m glad I did that.”
“Wait. You… wanted it?”
“I have known you since we were little. Once you got into an accident and that was when we were allowed to meet.”
“I have seen you before, though… I remember you…”
“From your dreams? Yes, this is another way to see a person and warn them. I have been waiting for you, Yumi.”
“You are my savior?” I smiled as he put the drawing into my pocket, looking at me. His face was so soft and beautiful, just like an angel. His eyes reminded me of somebody dear to me.

“Bloom… What about Natsuki? Where is he? Is he okay?” I then asked.
He smiled a wider smile, when he heard me pronounce his name. “You will understand soon enough… He might be somebody you have never imagined him to be.”
“I have so many questions to ask…“
I felt him move closer and closer… He held my chin as he whispered into my ear the same words. “Bloom. Open your eyes.”

I woke up. I saw the ceiling of the hospital’s room. It was daytime. I looked at the calendar so I could tell the date. It was the year 2036!

This can’t be true… I remember it was 2021… What happened? Why am I here? My thoughts kept racing.

“Where is Bloom?” I looked around the hospital room. It was an ordinary one: white walls, doctor’s equipment and systems. I looked to my right and saw him on the bed next to mine, still asleep.
“Bloom!” I tried to reach out to him but I was stuck in bed with the blood pipe attached to my wrist.

“What happened?” I sat up as I saw the nurse go in. She looked at us both in shock, nearly dropping the papers sorted in her hand. She picked up the phone on the wall and she smiled excitedly. “Doctor Amori? Patients 1005 and 1006. Yes, let me check. Yumi Kamoto and Natsuki Hiroshima. Yes, doctor, I will check up on them.”

No… That was not Natsuki Hirishima… Not my Natsuki. There had to be a mistake…

“So, it’s you who has saved me?” I whispered.
I held his hand softly and looked at him. He had changed a lot. Tremendously.

“What has happened to us?” I turned my head to the nurse and she sat on my bed, gently making herself comfortable.
“You have both been in a comma. For 15 years. And actually, you were among the very few survivors of the Meteor Crash back in 2021.”

“What season is it?” I tried to look out the window beside me, feeling the breeze and the flower scent all over again.

“It’s springtime – blooming spring!”

April, 2021