Chapter 4 - Mother

'Now, my three wishes. If you fulfill my wishes, it will make me very very very happy but if you couldn't, it will not make me sad." She suddenly felt energetic.

"If I do fulfill, will you laugh?" Sai asked.

"What?" She was surprised.

"Will you laugh, like you did just now?" He insisted.

"You want me to laugh. Love?" She said with happy surprise.

"Yes! Like just now or that one time when we accidentally slipped on a muddy slope and got way down in the place you called "Valley". You laughed back then. You never laughed again like that. I like it when you laugh. It is the best sound you ever make. It is the best you ever feel. Tell me. If I fulfill your all three wishes, will you laugh again?" Sai spoke faster.

"Okay! I will." She said amusingly.

"Okay! Tell me your wishes. I will make them come true, no matter what they are and make you laugh again." He was suddenly pumped up.

���Okay! my first wish: Never forget me. Keep me alive in your heart. Hate me, if you want, love me if you want. if you don't miss me, No problem. Just don't forget me. Keep me alive in your heart. You will. Right?" She got a little emotional.

"I will never ever forget you. I promise." He instantly replied.

"I can never forget you, mother, even if I wanted to." He thought.

"Good. My second wish is: Bring the sun to me." Mother coughed heavily.

"Sun? What is sun?" It was proving to be the strangest day of his life.

She started coughing again. This time it was more severe than before. He rubbed her chest as fast as he could. But she kept coughing. It took longest time for the cough to cease. He waited for the answer. She was already asleep. He kept wondering what sun was and how he could bring it to mother. He thought maybe it was in the Land of ghosts. That was the most dangerous place for him. He did not have any way to get answers other than to wait for his mother to wake up.

The explosions had stopped and there were no gases in the air anymore. He thought, he will take mother out after she wakes up. He was wondering about this and that when his mother started coughing again. She coughed more than the last time. After she stopped coughing, she called for him. She was breathing heavily.

"Sai!"

"Yes Mother?" Sai replied with concern and worry for his mother.

"Where were we?" Mother ignored his concern and asked. It seemed like she wanted to finish this concern as soon as possible.

"Third wish Mother." He forgot about sun. She was in pain. He wanted to make her laugh as soon as he could.

"My third wish is: Say "I love you" to me. You never said that. Did you?" Mother said with low voice.

His heart started pounding, like it does when he chases after Lizards.

"Sai?" She inquired. She was still breathing heavily.

"I......." He paused. He hesitated.

"…. Love you Mother!" He said shyly.

"Not like that. Like I say it to you. You never kissed me either. Did you?" She complained.

He hesitated for a moment. Then he bent a little and kissed on her face. A small and quick peck. He guessed it was her nose.

"Not like this. Kiss properly. You can't say I love you to your mother, PROPERLY?" She sighed a little.

He bent down again, and this time gave her a long kiss. This time on lips. He thought she might push him away. She did not.

He broke the kiss.

"Again". She said.

She was crying. He could feel her tears and hear her sobbing. He kissed again. He broke the kiss.

"Again". She said.

She kept crying and made him kiss her repeatedly. He may have kissed her 100 times or even more. Next time, she did not say again.

"I love you." She said and cupped his face in her hands and gave him along kiss on his lips. The first ever. She did it until she lost the energy to hold and fell asleep.

He waited for her to wake up again. He had so many questions about sun, love, hate, death. He wanted to ask, "Now that I have kissed you, Am I a man?". He wanted to fulfill her last remaining wishes and make her laugh. He waited for a long time. Long enough that he got tired of waiting and fell asleep. He woke up again. He did not know how long it has been. He peeked outside to know the location of Brightest star. It was rising from the other side. It had been almost a day since his mother fell asleep. She never slept that long. He got worried. He shook her to wake her up. To his surprise, her warm body was all cold. Very cold. He could not believe. He touched her again to verify. She really was cold.

"What happened?" He wondered.

He quickly started rubbing her chest to bring her warmth. He did everything that he could to make her warm, to wake her up. He gave her a hug, kissed on her face multiple times.

His heart racing and he was feeling uneasy about all this situation.

"Mother."

"Mother."

He called her, rather screamed her name repeatedly but no use. He would get tired of all this, rest a little, think again and start over. This happened multiple times.

The star set down again and rose again.

He came out of shock, eventually. He was smart. He started connecting the dots and he understood what was happening. All the information was leading to one conclusion, but he did not want to accept it. His mother had told him multiple times that she would die. He did not know what death was. But he was sure, it was a horrible thing. What could be more horrible than this; than his mother never waking up.

He stared in the dark towards his mother hoping for some miracle: Hoping she might suddenly wake up with her cough, like she always did but she did not move. He could not feel her anymore. She felt like stone or rock. He touched her face near her nose. She was not breathing. Her chest was not moving up and down, like it always did.

"So! It is death." He murmured and a tear flowed down his cheek.