John felt sharp pain in his lung six months ago, so he went to hospital to check it out. He was sent to hospital for further observation, and when the doctor visited John, the doctor's face told he that something was wrong, very wrong, totally wrong.
' I am really sorry to say this to you, you, you have some sickness that could not be easily cured. We will try any operations and medicine on you...'
John dropped the cup on his hand. He had not expected so much, a sharp pain and his life was going to be over. After a while, after the doctor had left, he computed what the doctor said. He was unable to believe it. He wanted to check the report by HIMSELF .
When he was in bed, he buried his head under the pillow and sobbed quietly. He had so many things to do, to enjoy. He was just 54 , his eldest son's marriage would be a year later, he so wanted to attend it. He so wanted to look at his grandchildren. And he DIDN'T want to DIE!
Five months later, a nurse found him muttering to himself,' thank you, Frankie. You save me!' John ran to call the nurse, saying that his sickness was cured and yelling that he wanted to leave the hospital. The doctor reluctantly offered him a body check, and was stunned to see that he was completely cured, and let him leave the hospital. Before he left, his roommate had asked him why was he cured, he didn't answer. He would like to keep the secret to himself, or he was told to keep the secret to himself.
The secret was already deep inside his heart.
Four months after he was in the hospital, he told the nurses his wish. He wanted to see his family, his friend, especially Frankie. His parents, who were both 83 at that moment, came here to visit him and talk with him. His wife visited him, too unhappy to have a teardrop. His sons visited him, they held his hand and cried with him. The eldest son even said that he originally wanted to let his son live with him.
There was still one of his friends that hadn't visited him. It was Frankie.
John has known Frankie since they were fifteen. They were in different school at that time, though Frankie always appeared on the playground near John's home. The first time they met was that John was playing football with his friends, while Frankie was sitting on a bench, alone. John then invited him to join them, * even Frankie didn't play it well enough so to compete with them, John accepted him.
Sometimes, John would invite Frankie to have afternoon tea with him, while he paid the money. Frankie rarely talked, it seemed like he was observing people. However, he was an excellent listener, as he never interrupted when others were talking, so John would not mind always buying drinks for Frankie, as long as Frankie listened carefully to what he said.
One night, when it had thunder and heavy rain outside, when he couldn't sleep, the door was opened, and a dark figure came in. John at first feared that it was Death, who was going to take his life. But then the figure put away something, an umbrella, and walked towards him. The figure created a chair out of thin air and sat on it.
John hid his whole body under the mattress, shivering. Then he heard a 'click'. He opened a bit of his eyes and the figure revealed to be Frankie. He could not believe it, Frankie came in his room when it was dark, raining outside.
' Hi, my friend, it has been seven months that I haven't seen you. Sorry to keep you waiting. I am so sorry to hear that you... yeah.' Frankie said.
John didn't listen much,Che just pointed at the closed door, the chair and Frankie. Frankie nodded.
Frankie sighed and spoke again.' I am leaving this Earth too, to another place far away from everyone, becuz I have finished my mission here on Earth.' He stopped, waited for John's reaction.
John gasped and covered his mouth immediately, as Frankie had expected. John spoke softly, with a slight tremble in his voice.' You mean you are not from Earth, you are from another planet?!'
Frankie nodded. He then spoke in a grateful way.' Our planet's council has always wanted to explore another civilization. After they found that there were civilizations on this blue planet, they sent me to communicate and learn things from you. As all the things on Earth were so unfamiliar to me, so I just kept observing. Though observing did help, it didn't help much. Only after you became my friends, I started to understand the true side of you. There are so many feelings that I have to feel, and this is beyond knowledge. It is you who make me feel them.'
He stopped again. A moment of silence dragged by.
' I want to do something to thank you. So I, being an alien, who wanted to help an old friend, would now try the healing on you. ' Then, Frankie put his hand on John's chest and muttered something. John has never had such a wonderful feeling, it was like he was turning younger, and all his sickness has vanished.
Then, Frankie put his hand away and said,' my old friend, don' tell anyone what happened tonight. I trust you.' Then, he stood up and walked for the door.
' Would us meet again?' John asked hopefully.
' Yes... or no, I don't really know.' Then he vanished.
Now, back to the present. John was at his eldest son's home. Although he really looked forward to seeing Frankie again, he now looked forward to seeing his son marriage.
After he and his son have talked for a while, he became deadly serious, and said,' you said that you wanted to let your son live with me, didn't you?' Then his son showed a face like ' oh gosh, I didn't mean it!'
