Bubble Gum Kisses
CHAPTER 19

**Kapittel 19** ***Vanessa***

**Days have passed since we moved back to town, and I was getting accustomed to this place back again.** The days were great with the frequent visits from some old neighbors who welcomed us back with delicious gifts, especially Mr. and Mrs. Harbinger who brought us a large pot of gumbo and a basket of newly harvested bell peppers, rambutan lemon, and oranges.

We had lunch with the old couple with the food they brought and some squeezed lemonade. Catching up with them about our respective experiences from 3 years ago was fun. I got to learn that their eldest and second child now had their own families and children while their youngest was still in the middle of finishing their doctorate, which Mr. Harbinger was proud of, being someone with a doctoral degree himself. They were thrilled to meet Zach and tried to teach him to call them "mawmaw" and "pawpaw".

"Mawmaw..." my younger brother pointed at Mrs. Harbinger with his small, chubby index finger. "Pawpaw," he said, and then pointed to Mr. Harbinger.

"What a bright young man!" Mr. Harbinger exclaimed as they clapped their hands in joy. The little man, being the jolly kid he was, became elated when he realized he was being praised.

The harmonious lunch went on and the elderly woman suddenly asked where dad was and said she hadn't seen him since we moved back. Immediately, mom's beaming face went crestfallen. My heart broke seeing her beautiful, smiling face drop into a frown.

"He died," she answered, her voice small, and broken.

The entire room was silent for a while. Awkwardness befell the entire dining room and none of us attempted to speak, the atmosphere had become too thick for us to breathe properly. It was Mrs. Harbinger who broke it with her heartfelt condolences, "It must have been hard. I'm sorry to hear that, dearie. We didn't know."

We proceeded with our lunch with happy faces again, like the question was never asked. It soon ended shortly, and our visitors went back home since they had prior arrangements to attend to.

But as much as how enjoyable my daytimes were, my nighttimes were horrible with all the nightly visits by aching terrors. I was afraid of sleeping since the nightmares would come back but we couldn't control ourselves from closing our eyes when tired then unknowingly slipping away from consciousness and entering slumber. I'd always replace myself awake at dawn, and wait until it was around 4 to jog and get things off my mind. It was effective, however, the less that I think about it the worse and more gruesome my nightmares became that I'd fight myself from sleeping.

"Sweetie, are you okay? You don't look so good," mom asked while we were cutting weeds in the front yard. It seemed that my sleeplessness was starting to affect my complexion.

"Yeah. I'm good, mom," I answered her and forced a smile. The truth was, my body was aching all over, especially my eyes that were deadset on closing but I've been fighting them off. I didn't want to sleep. I didn't want to encounter those repetitive nightmares again.

"You sure?" she asked for assurance, her eyes were full of worry. As much as I didn't want to lie to her, seeing me still devastated after what happened might break her, and I didn't want that to happen.

"Yup," I answered, popping the "p". "I'll tell you when something's bothering me." Lies.

"Good." A broad, bright smile stretched on her face. "Just know that I'm always here for you." Same here, mom. Same here. But I'm sorry, there were just things I couldn't tell you.

"I know. Thanks, mom," I replied, the same fake smile still plastered on my face.

I was visited by another one again but these past sleepless nights exhausted me too much that I wasn't in the mood to jog for today. After drinking a glass of water, I went back up to my room where I laid plopped myself harshly on the bed. I blankly stared at the lightless ceiling for a good moment and I let out a small giggle before closing my eyes shut and rolling over to the other side of the bed. I groaned feeling the mushiness of the soft pillows and the comforter hugging my body, my weight making me sink into the bed. Ah, I feel like becoming one with the bed. I now desire to become one with this natural latex foam. It was like time was moving real slow and I felt like floating in the sky, laying down on a thick cloud. Nothing was better than this kind o—

"Vanessa!" Dang, mom. Sometimes, it irritated me the fact that she was a morning person, she'd wake us up at 6 and tell us it was already afternoon. I feel like I was drafted into the military because of how early she woke me up and moved out of bed, but of course, I knew the military was harder and way earlier.

I groaned once again and opened one eye, staring at my newly decorated study table blankly when I noticed the small calendar I put there, the date with a red circle on it particularly. Gosh, last night was Sunday right...? Then today must be... Monday

Much to the horror of my realization, I groaned again and pulled the comforter over my head, snuggling on my pillows, the muscles of my body suddenly weakening. It seemed that time wasn't as slow as I had imagined it was. I hadn't realized that today was Monday and not just that, today was my second first day of school. Dang it, I still wasn't ready. I better go back to sleep and maybe go to school tomorrow, if I was in the mood, that was.

I was enjoying a good snuggly-wuggly moment until I heard the door being opened, along with mom's booming voice, echoing in my room. "Vanessa! What are you doing?!" but I ignored her and pulled the comforter closer to my body. I let out a deep breath, closed my eyes, and shifted a bit when a strong force pulled the sheets away from my body, leaving me exposed to the sun's warm rays that made me open my eyes and look at the perpetrator who got my comforter. Mom was glaring at me with disappointment painted on her face, particularly her cognac brown eyes, the eyes that Zach inherited.

"Mooom!" I groaned, sitting up and pouted at her.

"Darling, it's already 6." She sighed and began folding the thick fabric. Her hands and fingers moved swiftly and gracefully and she managed to set it down on the edge of my bed in a split second. "Get up, today's your first day of school too," she added, putting her hands on her hips and leaning her hips down a bit, posing like a mom catching her child stealing cookies in the jar.

"Noooo, I don't like wanna gooo." I slumped my back on the mattress and covered my face with a pillow. Could I go to school tomorrow instead?

"Vanessa," she said my name with a hint of warning in her voice, like what she usually did in situations like taking too long in doing what she asked or like this, when I didn't want to get up from bed. Somehow, it made me kind of happy, it had been a while since she was like this. After dad died, she usually cried and spaced out in the living room, only getting up when it was time to cook food. When I refuse to get up from bed, she only stayed quiet and told me to eat when I was hungry. It seemed that we were slowly getting back to normal, in a different home- that was.

I removed the pillow from my face. "Mom," I pouted, looking at her with puppy eyes. Hah, I am so going to win this.

**

Thank you for reading Bubble Gum Kisses! To keep up with my works, future works, and endless frustrations on Twitter: https://twitter.org/RiosMorpheus**