Escape Project.docx

Escape +j Seven days. I’m going to die in seven days. I can’t really accept it but what can I do? God hates me that much. I’ve been suffering from this disease for two years, maybe this is the way God loves me. I feel like a burden to my parents. I am a mistake. ● ● ● Jennie decides to take a walk in the park and buy ice cream. After waiting for a while, her order is finally served. She pays for the ice cream. When she turns around from the cashier, she doen’t realize that there is someone in front of her. The result is she bumps the person and drops her ice cream. “Oh no! My ice cream” She squealed. “Oh God! I’m so sorry. Let me buy you another one” The boy offers. “No, it’s okay. I’ll just go home” She replies. “I don’t take no as an answer. So, stay and let me buy another ice cream” The boy smiles. “Ugh, fine” Jennie says, while heading to one of the seats outside. The boy chuckles. The ice cream is served and the boy takes it with him. The boy sits in front of Jennie. “Here’s your ice cream” The boy says. “Thanks” She says, coldly. “By the way, what’s your name? My name’s Lucas” The boy smiles. “Why do you want to know?” She asks, uninterested to answer his question. “I thought it would be nice to be friends with you” He answers honestly. “Huh? Really? You want to be friends with me? Wow. That’s the first time someone has ever said that to me” She says. “Don’t you like, go to school and have friends?” He asks confusedly. “I don’t go to school” She answers. “Oh wow! So you’re homeschooling or something like that?” He asks. “Yeah, you can say that” Jennie says while rolling her eyes.

For the next two hours, they talk about each other’s life, just like friends do. Jennie becomes more open to Lucas. Eventually, they become closer. It’s like they have known each other for years. She tells him about her disease and the days she has left before she dies. She tells him about how she feels unworthy for her parents. Lucas feels bad for her. He wants to make Jennie happy. He wants to make her feel appreciated. “Jennie, this is so unfair for you. I’m so sorry” Lucas says, pulling Jennie into a hug. She doesn’t resist his hug and just fall right into his arms. They enjoy the sunset outside the ice cream parlour while holding each other. It may be strange to hold each other when you just met that person a moment ago, but for them it’s like they are meant for each other. ● ● ● The next day, Lucas goes to visit Jennie’s house. He’s looking for her house. He’s been circling around the suburbs for 15 minutes and still, he hasn’t found her house. He gives up and finally calls Jennie through phone. After talking to her, he finally finds her house. He knocks the door, nervous to meet her again. After waiting, someone finally opens the door. “Oh hey, Jennie. Would you like to go out with me?” He asks. “Where are we going?” She asks. “I don’t know but we can think about it later” He answers. “Okay, let me grab my coat real quick” She says. After she gets the coat, Lucas starts up the car. On their way, they talk alot. Laughing at their own jokes, even though it’s not funny. But still, Jennie really appreciates Lucas for making her laugh. They arrive at a beach. The sun is already half way set. It is such a beautiful view. It’s been a long time since last time Jennie visited a beach. “Wow! Oh my God! Look at the sun! It’s so beautiful!” She says. Lucas just chuckles when he sees Jennie acting like a 5-year-old.

“Hey, Lucas! Come here!” She says, while splashing water into Lucas’s direction. “Jennie! My clothes are wet!” Lucas yells. Jennie just laughs it off and sticks her tongue out to Lucas. And then she runs away from him.

“Ugh, I swear this girl!” Lucas mumbles to himself and tries to catch Jennie. “No! Help!” Jennie shouts as if she is scared. After chasing her for a while, Lucas eventually gets Jennie and drowns her to the waves.

“Gotcha!” He says. “NO!” Jennie yells. Lucas laughs so much, his stomach hurts. “Great, now we’re wet. What are we going to do now?” Jennie asks sarcastically. “How about we stay here and watch the stars?” Lucas offers. Hearing that, Jennie’s expression softens. “Oh, ok then” She agrees.

They lay down on the sand. Jennie’s head is placed on top of Lucas’ shoulder. He brings her close to his chest, making her warm. “You know, Jennie? I’ve never had someone like you,” He breathes in, “It may sound cheesy but I’m serious. Nobody wants me,” He breathes out.

Jennie stares at his eyes. They are green. They are beautiful. It feels like her soul is sucked out from her body. They are almost magic-like. “My mom always told me that I am a burden to her,” He says whilst trying not to tear up, “That I am a mistake” He says, sniffing.

“Lucas, You are not a burden nor a mistake. You are important” Jennie says, while running her fingers through his hair. “I should be the one who feels that way. I am just a body filled with virus,” She says, “I am going to leave this world in a while” She smiles painfully. “No, Jennie. Don’t say that. Nobody should feel like that” He caresses her face. “Jennie, how about we go on an adventure? We’re escaping death,

THE SKY is the finish line, HEAVEN is the end, You’ll sleep, You’ll die, Because you’re exhausted from your journey, Because life has given up on you, Because you reached your destination. Would you like that?” Lucas says, smiling even though his hearts aches. “Yes, take me with you. Take me, please” Jennie says while pulling Lucas closer. She cries, she doesn’t even know why. The emotion is too just much for her. She never feels so much before. They spend the night talking about their fears about life. They enjoy each other’s company. Jennie falls asleep. Lucas has to carry her to his car and drive her home. He smiles whe he sees her sleeping face. It’s so peaceful. He can’t imagine this face he’s staring, is carrying so many problems. ● ● ● Jennie wakes up the next morning, already in her bed. She goes downstairs to grab breakfast. “Good morning, sweetie” Her mom greets her. “Oh hey, Mom” She greets back. “Who’s that boy from last night? Is that your boyfriend?” Her mom asks cheekily. Jennie glares at her mom. “Mom! I’m not ready for that yet! And I just met him, so it’s impossible” She says. “Oh, honey, I was just joking. But, if he’s really your boyfriend, I don’t mind though” Her mom says cheekily, again. “Mom! Stop it!” Jennie feels her cheeks getting hotter. She grabs a loaf of bread and peanut butter spread, and she goes upstairs again. She closes her bedroom door. Two days had passed, now I have five more days before I leave, She thinks. When she spread the peanut butter on her bread, she

feels a loud ‘bang’ in her head. She lets go of the bread and screams in pain. “MOM! HELP!” She screams. Her mom immediately goes to her room, “Honey, what’s wrong?” She asks worrily, while holding her. “Ugh! My head! It hurts, Mom” Jennie screams in agony. “Oh God! Wait here for a while, honey. Let me call the ambulance” Her mom sprints to get her phone and calls the ambulance. They arrive at the hospital. Jennie is in the ICU room. Her body is full with medical wires attached to machines to monitor her. She’s half awake. While outside, her mom and the doctor are having a talk about her condition. “Her virus spreads faster than we thought. And we don’t have the cure. We can only give her medicine to lessen the pain it causes” The doctor explains to Jennie’s mom. Jennie’s mom is already crying even before the doctor explains, and hearing this is not helping at all. “How many days does she has left?” She asks. “Approximately two days” The doctor says, half-heartedly. “Thank you, Doc” Jennie’s mom thank the doctor. The doctor just nods and leaves her. Jennie’s mom enters the room. She sits beside the bed. She reaches Jennie’s hand and caresses it. “Jennie, I love you so much, okay? Don’t you forget that” She cries out. “Mom, what’s wrong?” Jennie asks, still not fully awake. “I’m sorry but you only have two days left” She says, holding her hand tighter. Jennie is speechless, she doesn’t know how to react. Seven days are already short amount of time. Now two days? “You know, Mom? I’m completely fine with it. This is my fate. I couldn’t change it even if I want to” Jennie says, tears starts to form in her eyes. “Honey, I love you so much” Her mom says and hugs her for a long time. “Mom, can you call Lucas to come here?” Jennie asks. “Of course. Let me call him” She says while holding out her phone to call Lucas. After waiting for 15 minutes, Lucas comes into the room, panting hard. His face is really worried after Jennie’s mom told him that they are in the hospital. He immediately goes to Jennie’s bed to hug her. “What happened?” He asks, his face still shows emotion of worry. “I don’t know, I was about to eat bread and suddenly my head felt like it was hit by something really heavy” Jennie answers.

“Oh God, how could this happen to you?” He says while running his fingers through her hair. “And you know what?,” She says, Lucas gives her ‘i-don’t-knowso-tell-me’ look, “I only have 2 days left” She smiles painfully. Jennie makes Lucas speechless. He just looks at her with a pleading look, while mumbling “Please tell me this is all a joke”. “Jennie, how about our adventure? We haven’t even started it yet” He says. “We’ll continue it when you and I are in the afterlife, okay?” She says. “No, don’t do this to me. You can’t leave me all alone here in this world” Lucas is crying really hard, making this so hard for Jennie to stay positive. “Lucas, you’ll find another person that’ll treat you better than me. That’ll stay with you in a long time unlike me” She smiles. “No, Jennie, no” Lucas cries out, holding Jennie’s hand. “How about this? I only have two days left. How about we go and buy ice cream tomorrow? I’ll talk to the doctor to let me go” Jennie offers. “Are you sure you can do that?” Lucas asks. “I can do anything when I’m with you” Jennie smiles. “Okay?” Jennie asks. “Okay.” Lucas replies. ● ● ● The next day, Jennie is already ready for Lucas to take her out. She hears a knock on the hospital room door. “Come in” She says. Lucas comes in and flashes a smile to Jennie. He is holding something and hides it behind his back. “What do you have there behind you?” Jennie asks curiously. “Here’s for you” He hands her a beautiful bouquet of flowers. The bouquet is filled with colorful wildflowers. “Oh God! Wow! Lucas, it’s so beautiful. Thank you so much” Jennie says. “Yeah, sure, no problem. Now let’s go” Lucas says. Jennie puts the bouquer on the table beside the bed. “Let’s go!” She says cheerfully, while grabbing Lucas’ hand. Lucas just chuckles. It’s as if Jennie forgets that she’s going to die in a day. She become more cheerful. And it makes Lucas heart jumps uncontrollably. They arrive at the same ice cream parlour when they first met. Lucas orders the same ice cream that he and Jennie ordered. Jennie’s waiting outside. Lucas comes

outside while holding two ice creams. “Here’s your ice cream” Lucas gives the ice cream to Jennie. “Thanks” Jennie says. They’re enjoying their ice creams in silence. Not that awkward silence, but the comfortable silence. “Are you scared?” Lucas asks out of blue. “Of what?” Jennie asks confusedly. “Are you scared of dying?” Lucas asks. “Actaully, yes. It’s kinda scary. At first I was scared, but after I met you I know everything’s going to be fine” Jennie answers. Lucas feels in awe. “Without you, I wouldn’t be able to be okay and act as if there’s nothing wrong. I would’ve been so depressed without you. But, you. You make me feel so much different from who I was,” She takes a breath, “I feel more happy now. And that’s all thanks to you. I’m so grateful you came into my life” She says, almost tearing up. “Promise me one thing, Lucas” She says, reaching out to Lucas’ right hand. “What?” Lucas asks. “Promise me you’ll live well without me. Promise me you’ll find someone who can love you. Promise me that you won’t remember me too much when I’m gone. Promise me those, Lucas” Jennie says. “Jennie, don’t. Don’t do this to me” Lucas looks at Jennie’s eyes with a pleading look. “Please, just promise me, Lucas” Jennie says. “Fine, I promise you” Lucas says while linking his pinky finger with Jennie’s. “Where do you wanna go tonight? Since tonight is your last night” Lucas asks. “How about we go to the beach?” Jennie offers. “Okay then” Lucas agrees. They enjoy the blue sky and go around the park to spend the afternoon. It’s now almost 5 p.m and they decide to go to the beach. “Wow, the view of the sunset never makes me bored, it’s so breath-taking” Jennie says, as soon as they arrive at the beach. “But not as breath-taking as you” Lucas says jokingly. “Lucas, stop it. You’re so cheesy” Jennie nudges Lucas’ shoulder and he pretends that it hurts. They enjoy the sunset together queitly. It’s so peaceful. The only sounds that can be heard are the waves crashing down and birds flying around. It’s now already night. The stars look so beautiful and blinding.

“Look at the stars, Lucas. It reminds me of you” Jennie says while pointing to the stars. “Why?” Lucas asks. “Because you light me up at my darkest hours” Jennie says. “I don’t know if I’m supposed to be in awe or laugh, because that was so cheesy” Lucas chuckles. “Lucas! I was serious!” Jennie looks at Lucas with that ‘ican’t-believe-you’ look. The boy just continues to laugh. They lay down on the sand while looking at the stars, enjoying the view. “Jennie, when you’re gone, you’ll be one of them,” Lucas says while pointing at the stars,“And I bet you’ll shine the brightest among all of them” Lucas says. Jennie is so speechless right now. She doesn’t know how to react to that. “And Lucas, I promise that I’ll shine the brightest just for you. Only you” Jennie says. Lucas strokes Jennie’s hair lovingly. “I’ll keep the promise of yours” Lucas smiles. “Maybe it’s too early to say this, but I love you, Lucas” Jennie confesses. “Jennie, no. It’s not too early. I love you too” Lucas says. They enjoy the rest of the night and decide to go back to the hospital. ● ● ● The morning Jennie wakes up, she immediately grabs the pencil and paper that were placed on top of the table beside her bed. She writes something. She writes on a paper and folds it, then she places them on the table again. Lucas comes into Jennie’s room. He looks gloomier than usual. Well, of course, who wouldn’t be sad when their lover is about to die? He greets her and her Mom. He sits beside her bed. He just looks at her, almost doesn’t believe that this girl he’s staring at is going to die in no time. They don’t say anything to each other and just enjoy each other’s presence. Lucas climbs on top of the bed and sits beside her on the bed. He puts his arm around Jennie and strokes her hair. And the time has come. Her head feels like it’s being stabbed by millions of tiny needles. Lucas feels so guilty because he can’t do anything to make the pain go

away. The doctors come into the room but they couldn’t do anything either. There’s nothing that can help Jennie. She has to go through this and it’ll be over. Forever. Jennie holds Lucas’ hand so tight. She’s crying while holding the pain that spreads to all of her body. Lucas is crying too. It’s such a painful view to see your lovedone suffering and you can’t do anything about it. Lucas whispers, “Be strong, Jennie. You’ll get through this”. Jennie just nods frantically while tears are streaming down her cheek, she can’t voice out the words she wants to say to Lucas. She forms her mouth to say something. “I love you” She struggles to say. Her voice is so soft, it’s almost unheard. “I love you too” Lucas screams to her while holding her hand so tight. She smiles when hears Lucas’ ‘i love you’. She takes a deep breath and exhales it. When she exhales, the grip of her hand loosens. And just like that, Jennie exhales her last breath. Lucas almost doesn’t believe that Jennie just passes away. He screams. He doesn’t want to believe this. “Jennie! Jennie! Don’t! Please wake up!” Lucas shakes her body. He lets go of her body and suddenly his knees become wobbly. He falls to ground, kneeling. He screams and at that moment he knows, Jennie has gone. Forever. Jennie’s mom walks up to him and hugs him. “Just let her go. It’ll be easier for you and her” Jennie’s mom says, while caressing his hair. Lucas cries in the hug. He feels empty. There’s something missing from him. After a moment, Lucas is already calm. He looks around the room. He looks at the flower bouquet that he gave her. The flowers are already withered. Beside it, he sees piece of paper. One of them has ‘Lucas’ written in front of it. He opens it.

“Dear Lucas, Hello, this is me. If you’re reading this, it means I’m already dead. Here, I want to say the things that I didn’t get to say when I’m still you. I want to thank you for changing my point of view towards life. You completely changed me into a better person in a matter of days. I couldn’t be more grateful for your existence. I’m so happy that I bumped into you in that ice cream parlour that day. From the

beginning I know you meant something more than a stranger to me. I feel so grateful for the days you’ve spent with me. I can’t thank you enough. Words can’t describe how much I treasure you. Remember to keep your promise, okay? And I will also keep my promise. I’ll shine the brightest only for you. If you’re sad, just find me on the night sky and look for the brightest star. I’ll always be with you. I will always love you. Good bye, Lucas. Love, Jennie”

Lucas is once again, left speechless by Jennie. He already cries so much. But inside, he feels relieved. Jennie doesn’t have suffer anymore now. I will look up to you in the sky, Jennie , he thinks. He looks up to the bright blue sky, imagining Jennie’s happy face. He smiles. He leaves the hospital with a relieved heart.

Let’s continue our adventure in the afterlife, Jennie.