Before we begin, let me remind you once again that what you’re about to see is a documented film, a re-enactment of my life as early as Darla showed up. I hope you learn something from it and I hope it somehow change any negative perspectives of this disease that you might have. I ask of you to while you’re enjoying this one hour documentary, that you take heed and realize that this is a true life account, and that when this tape is over, my life is still living the nightmare. So, are you comfortable in your seats? If you’re ready, we shall begin. :~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~: 1998, Ebay Town The room was stuffy and dark, not a single ray of light emits any corners of the small room. The windows were shut and the curtains drawn. On a normal day, he would be suffocated by the atmosphere for darkness is one of his greatest enemies. But today, it hardly bothered him at all. He closed his eyes as he heard the distant roar of a speeding car became louder by the second. It came to a sudden halt in front of his house and seconds later, a slam of what he assumed to be the car’s door broke the silence of the night. Everything became quiet again for a while and he focused on the stillness of the night air as he embraced the eeriness of his room. Uncomfortable as it was, he wished to stay there and do absolutely nothing. His mother’s giggles broke the silent ambience of the house again, joint by another raspy giggling. When that ended, he heard a set of footsteps lightly jogging up the stairs. It stopped abruptly in front of his room and he waited for the person to barge in. But instead of that, soft knockings on the door interrupted his thoughts. The pounding at the door matched that in his head. He cringed involuntarily and brought his hand up to his temple and gave it a little massage. “You in there buddy?” He groaned at the roar of his voice. It hurts his ear drums and ringed in his head like some bad song. “No.” He managed a reply. He heard him chuckled at his attempt at joke and then there was a soft ‘click’ followed by the door creaking open. Soft rays of light invaded the dark room and hurt his heavy-laden eyelids. He moaned softly. “Is this how you’re gonna spend the rest of your birthday like?” “I like it this way.” He replied, still refusing to get up. “Sorry bro, ain’t gonna happen.” The young man replied as he flicked the switch and the bedroom light came to life again. He moaned and dug his face deeper into the pillow. “Get up, we’re going for a ride.” He should have known. His friend is one who party all night and still manage to look fresh next morning. Reluctantly, he retreated from the gallows of the pillow and faced his friend for the first time. It hurt his eyes to have the lights on but giving himself time to adjust to the sudden change. When he finally managed to overcome this, he saw his friend standing at the foot of the bed, grinning. A single tattoo on his left arm caught his attention. “Don’t tell me you just got another one!” He croaked. “Like it? It’s my name spelt in Chinese.” He grinned, showing off his new work. “So, that’s how A and J looks like.” He mocked. “Someone’s peachy tonight.” The smile on his friend’s face faded. “Sorry.” He apologize, deciding that he wasn’t in the mood to argue. “S’kay. Anyway, happy birthday.” He threw the small envelope across the bed and landed perfectly on his lap. He eyed the envelope for a second and opened it up. A blue card with the words ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ emblazoned on its’ cover. He read the content. “HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY. YOU’RE ONE YEAR HORNIER, CONGRATS!” He smirked and looked up at his best friend. He was grinning. “AJ Mc Lean, the only heir to the richest couple in Ebay Town and he gave a card for, only his one true best friend’s birthday. Thanks a lot.” “Damn, you’re hard to please.” AJ groaned as he slumped next to him on the bed. “I did the maths. You’re rich, I’m NOT. I deserve at least a bike.” “What was it again that you want? Three wheelers?” AJ joked. “You know what I’m talkin’ about.” He rolled his eyes. “The rest of your present is waiting at the club, if you want, you have you to get your ass out of bed.” He contemplated on the idea. On an ordinary day, the club would be the perfect place to hang out at night. Being in a town with population of only five thousand, there weren’t much place to find entertainment. Most of the teenagers who hang out there were friends from school. But that night, just the mere thoughts of having loud pounding music blaring the entire packed room nauseate him. Not to mention the suffocation he would feel having sweating bodies grinding against him, shoving him and pushing him as they too tried to get across the room. Those thoughts sent new waves of headaches lashing on his heavy head. “Come on man, I’ve got all these surprises planned, don’t let us down.” “Us?” “Err…I mean, don’t let ME down.” AJ corrected himself. He raised an eyebrow. He knew AJ only too well. He had something huge up his sleeves. “Something tells me I’m gonna regret this.” He got up from the bed slowly. Once the dizziness died down, he head for the drawers. “Trust me bro, you won’t.” AJ said confidently. “That’s the thing, I don’t trust you.” He grinned and picked out a light lime green t-shirt, put it on and grabbed his denim jackets off the chair. He stopped over at the mirror next to the drawer. “Oh man, he’s looking in the mirror. He’s gonna realize there’re a lot he needs to correct and it’s gonna make AJ bored. I’ll wait in the car.” AJ whined and left. He smiled at his best friend’s joke but it quickly disappeared when he saw his reflection. He couldn’t believe at the sight of the young man who was looking back at him. His eyes bore into his sunken eyes and realized that they were one and the same. He reached for the comb sprawled carelessly on the study table and made an attempt to comb his hair. He stopped short and winced when the first brush felt like as if someone had stripped away his scalp and was scraping away at the exposed flesh with a razor. Abandoning the idea of continuing, he brushed his hair through his fingers instead, hoping that the rough look was still the fashion fad. “Happy Birthday Nickolas.” He sighed and took off. (anybody guessed that it was Nick? YOU do? Congratulations!) ***** Nick pushed the automated button and the window to the Mercedes Benz rolled down. He welcome the fresh air that raped his face, robbing away any warmth and replacing it with cold, hard wind. His hair now a bunch of messy blonde flops, his eyelids droop at the sound of the whistling lullaby the wind had flirtatiously whispered in his ears. He let his head fell back to the head seat, secretly thanking his stars for not having AJ bust his stereo system to the fullest. “Guess what’s your birthday present!” AJ almost cried as his eyes stood defiantly ahead, focusing on the stretch of road. It was dark for a night as early as eight. The only source of light was the headlights that stretched out as far as a meter away, where beyond that limit, darkness and the unknown loomed dangerously. “You got me a strip dancer?” Nick asked, faking enthusiasm. “Oh man, why didn’t I think of that?” AJ whined, pretending to sound disappointed. “I wouldn’t expect anything less than that from you J.” Nick smirked. “Ah well, there’s always next year right?” AJ replied positively. “I’m sure there will.” Nick replied, feigning uncertainty. “Of course there will you prick!” AJ laughed as Nick failed to smack the back of his head. In the split second where Nick seemed to forget about his headache and was reaching out playfully to hit his friend, AJ too neglected his concentration on the road, his eyes fully on the hand that was about to smack him. And in that second, they didn’t see the truck that was heading towards them until it was too late. “AJ! Watch out!” Nick screamed. But AJ couldn’t make out the words over the siren of his panic. They saw the light first and wondered why they were suddenly bathed in it. Part of them were thinking that it might not even be real. The truck swerved to avoid them, but the road was too narrow. The siren was drowned out by the sound of breaking glass and bending steel. Lights gave way to darkness. ***** That night, my bestfriend and I got ourselves into a very serious accident. AJ was trapped in his seat and was finally out after a strenuous two hour battle with chains saw against metal. He suffered internal bleeding and a mild concussion. It would take him a long four weeks to recover properly and resume life as normal. Knowing how strong and positive AJ is, I have no doubts about his survival. And so four weeks later, he did. For me, I had a piece of metal rod pierced on the right side of my waist, missing the spinal chord by inches. It was painful, how else could I have describe it. Pure pain that knows no boundaries or limitations. It keeps growing, as if mutating itself in me and spreading sparks of needle pricks to my body that even morphine couldn’t hold down. I lost a lot of blood that night and my life was hanging on a thin line, threatening to snap at any given time. But, through blood transfusion, I survived. Everyone was glad for me, doctors called me a miracle child for my fate was foretold to be facing Mr Death himself. But now, I am beginning to doubt if it was even a miracle that I have lived. For the gift of eternal slumber would be a million times better than what was about to happen to me next.