"Help!Hurry!"
Those words echoed in my ears with alarm.
'Who are they screaming for?'
Footsteps in panic were too audible, and I couldn't even discern whose step was whose. Stiletto heels clanked while sneakers screeched on the shiny basketball court floor.
As the commotion intensified, the surrounding air tightened. I couldn't breathe. It was suffocating.
'Why is everyone running towards me?'
My eyelids were so heavy, that I struggled to open my droopy eyes until the desolate blackness greeted me.
"Did you see what happened to our son?" my dad hissed at my mom, Demi. "This happens when he insists on doing what he wants."
"Ron, he wants to be a varsity player. I don't see anything wrong with it. Besides, he can maintain his grades and secure his slot in the honor list."
Dad filled his chest with air, then exhaled annoyingly. "He has a pair of weak lungs. His immune system is not that strong. Look at how skinny he is." He ran his thumbs through his already messy hair. "I'm a doctor. I know what I'm saying."
Dad left us because of an emergency in the hospital. When the door clicked close, I opened my eyes.
"Nixon!" Mom hugged me tightly. My 'weak' lungs, according to Dad, almost burst. "Good thing you're awake now."
"I have been awake since both of you came. And I heard everything."
"I'm sorry, dear. Your Dad is a little insensitive sometimes. Anyway, so tell me. What happened to you at the court?"
"The usual, Mom." I looked out the window, trying to figure out how to explain everything. Mom gave me a concerned look. "I saw a dove before seeing the ghost of a male student wearing our school basketball uniform."
"You always pass out whenever you see a ghost. This makes me more worried. Your active sixth sense isn't good for you."
We remained silent. I had been like this since I was five or six years old, but I learned to live with it.
Seeing a white dove is no longer strange to me. Because whenever they appeared, it was either someone was about to die, or someone had already died.
Time flew faster than a blink; it was almost graduation. I hadn't played for our team since I was hospitalized. I abide by my father's rule despite being heartbroken. But he wasn't just done yet, as he was about to give me another blow of his 'I-am-the-boss' personality.
"You're taking a medicine course in college. I'm a doctor, so must be a doctor, too," Dad said during our dinner after the graduation ceremony.
I felt a punch in the gut when he said that.
"But Dad, I want to be a writer." My utensils clinked when I purposely dropped them to protest.
"There's no bright future to being a writer. Being a doctor is more stable, plus you will also help those people in need. What problem do you have with it?"
I clenched my fist.
Dad always had the power to decide. And I hate it!
He always made me feel I was incapable of making decisions myself.
I didn't argue with him. As if I had a choice. As if I would win.
**
I enrolled in the course Dad wanted me to take.
They decided that I should live in a dormitory inside our university. This was the best decision they had ever made on my behalf.
Finally!
Somehow I could be independent, away from my parents' noses.
Living in the dorm had been like freedom for me. I could do things I was passionate about. Until I met Jake.
Meeting him was a blessing in disguise.
He was my new roommate, a journalism student.
One day we were only talking about how interesting his course was, and how I really loved to be a writer. The next semester, I found myself shifting to his course, without the intention of telling my parents.
Three years quickly passed by. And during those years, I managed to keep my secret from my parents. But one day, my guilt almost got me.
Mom called to ask me to go home to see Dad who was then getting worse because of his medical condition. So, I did. I went home to see my father.
**
"Doc Nixon," Dad said. His voice came almost like a whisper. It was hoarse as if he was running out of breath. "How's my soon-to-be-doctor?"
I choked on my guilt while scanning my father's gaunt face. His cheeks were sunken. His zygomatic bones became prominent. The cancer had taken away his vibrance, making his skin wither, not with old age but with agony.
"I'm okay Dad," I said, still giving him the dog despite the pinch of guilt.
"Sounds great! Soon, I will have a doctor. Right, Doc Nixon?" He smiled. His eyes were still as bright as his smile even though life had begun to get dull for him.
"Yes, Dad. So, you better recuperate soon. I'll take care of you." I held back my tears. My conscience poking my liar's heart.
I stayed with my parents for a week and took care of my father. I was quite pleased with the result because he was somehow getting better when I went back to campus.
Everything seemed fine when I returned until a week passed.
Jake invited me to a night, but I insisted on staying. I was not a fan of crowded places.
It was midnight, but I couldn't sleep. The temperature in the room dropped. The atmosphere was eerie and heavy. Despite being alone, my body reacted to an unfamiliar presence with me. My skin crawled as the icy air penetrated my every pore.
Then the door swung open!
"You're still awake?"
It was Jake.
"You scared me!" My eyes caught the swinging little cage in his hand. "Don't ever come near me! Where did you get that?"
He released a drunken hiccup.
"This?" He lifted the cage with a white dove inside. "An old man gave this to me. He asked me to give it to you."
The sight of the dove scared me. For so long, I hadn't seen it until that night.
"Keep it if you want. I won't take that."
Jake shook his head and placed the cage next to his bed.
The next day, I received a devastating call from my mom. She asked me to go home.
**
"Your dad was looking forward to your graduation," Mom said. "He was so excited that you are thriving as a medical student. He was very proud when you were looking after him. ' He's my son! He will soon become like me. I am proud of him!' He would always say that." She sobbed, so I hugged her.
I badly wanted to tell her the truth, but a lump of sorrow blocked my throat. It hindered me from even uttering a word.
I burst into tears seeing my dad inside his coffin. Just as I thought he was getting better, he passed away.
He died without knowing the truth about me. He died without me telling him how much I felt sorry for what I had done. I love him so much, but I lied to him! I loathed myself for lying to him!
I stayed until Dad was buried and went back to the dorm.
Since I returned, I didn't attend my classes. I sulked in my room for days and weeks. Blaming myself for what happened to Dad. I detested myself for being a big liar!
"How long will you be like this?" Jake asked. "Your mom's here. She's going to bring you home. I'm coming with you."
"I'm sorry, Mom." My tears welled and flowed nonstop. "I lied to you and Dad. I shifted to journalism. I didn't want to be a doctor."
"Hush, now. I already know about it. Your Dad knows about it."
I was stunned!
"He did?"
Mom nodded.
"We have been waiting for you to tell us the truth, but you keep selling us the dog. Even so, your dad was still happy that you dared to follow your dream... your heart. And for that, he was proud."
I cried my heart out until I couldn't cry anymore.
Mom smiled at me. "At first, he was sad that you won't become a doctor. But he eventually accepted the truth as long as it makes you happy."
**
After I talked to Mom, I went to Dad's room.
There, I felt a familiar presence.
I sat on his bed and hugged his pillow.
"I'm so sorry, Dad. I miss you so much! I wish I could tell you the truth."
The wind blew the curtains of the open balcony. And I was appalled to see the white dove that Jake was giving me last time. I couldn't go wrong. It was the same dove in the cage in our dorm. But how did it get here?
The dove flew to the bed and sat beside me until a human figure formed on the spot where it sat.
It was Dad!
"Don't cry now, Nixon. I'm not mad at you. I will never be." He smiled. His face was as bright as the beaming sun outside. The gaunt face of sickness was already gone. It was as if he became the healthier version of himself when he was still alive. "I'm proud of you, so don't stop reaching for your dream. You're almost there. Make me prouder by graduating, okay?"
I felt his icy hug till it faded, along with his apparition.
"I promise to make you proud, Dad. I love you."
NOTE:
All photos are created/ edited using AI and Canva.