Anhedonia

To My Best Friend's House

The wind blew through the house with a powerful passion, scattering old documents as if they were the leaves of fall and banging the doors as if they were its chaotic drum beat. Jerry watched the papers as it fell on the floor slowly and without a sound.

Another blew of the wind but much stronger than the previous one, now hitting his skin. He tightened his hold on the jar, afraid that it might slip from his hands.

"I can't believe this shit." He mumbled as his tears started running down again. He pulled the jar on his chest and broke down for God knows how many times after Hannah died.

It's been almost a month since Hannah died on the day they were expecting. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and it's already in stage four when the doctor found out. He told Jerry about it and of course, he was mad furious, especially when the doctor said that she only has one month left.

It's so sudden that Jerry's life fell apart, it's like his world stopped spinning from its axis and all he could do that time was to cry and cry until his eyes stings and throat becomes dry.

Hannah cried too when Jerry told her, she confined herself into her room and Jerry couldn't do anything but to look after Jeremy. Until one day, Hannah stepped out of the room, wearing a wide smile and a different aura after she found out she only has one month to live.

Jerry still tried his best, asking opinion from the other best doctors in the city but they would only say the same thing.

"You should be ready."

And the day before Hannah died, he promised he would take care of Jeremy. So he did, but Hannah's last wish is to take home Jeremy where he was born and cremate her body so she would always be with them whenever they go.

A month passes by and no one in Hannah's family has any idea that she's already dead. And Jerry didn't know how he would tell Hannah's father about what happened to his daughter. But he needs to.

The door slowly creaked open, little head slowly peeking at the ajar. "Hey.." He called.

"Hey, you ready?" Jerry asked after he wiped his tears immediately and stood up, smiling and trying his best as much as he could muster.

"Yeah. You think this will be fine?" Jeremy asked, showing Jerry his outfit.

"You look handsome." Jerry gave him a thumbs up.

"Did you cry again?" Jeremy asked when he saw Jerry's puffy eyes.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it." Jerry admitted with a sad smile on his lips.

"Mom said that you need to be strong and don't cry a lot because I'll be needing a man that would stay strong for me."

"And I am that man, I'm just sad that we need to leave this place."

"It's okay, we can still go back here whenever we want, right?" Jeremy tilted his head cutely, as if waiting for Jerry's affirmation about what he said.

"Of course, we will." Jerry smiled, extending his arm to Jeremy and the latter smiled back toothily reaching for Jerry's hand as they left the room.

The taxi is already outside the house, Jerry puts everything in the trunk then guides Jeremy inside. He looked back at the house for the last time, scanning it whole as he let out a shaky breath.

"Bye for now." He mumbled under his breath before getting inside the taxi.

It took them 1 hour before they arrived at the airport because of the heavy traffic jam at the congregation of the road but thankfully, they left their house two hours before their flight so there's no need for them to rush inside.

"Is he bad?" Jeremy asked, looking up to Jerry with fear in his eyes.

"No, he's nice."

"Isn't he mad at mom?"

"He's not, he was just worried about Mommy that's why they had a misunderstanding." Jerry smiled at the kid.

Jeremy has been asking him a lot about his grandfather. Four years of not being able to meet him is enough to make the kid scared about meeting his grandfather for the first time.

The day before Hannah died, she wrote a letter for Jerry and for his father. Then a note telling that Jeremy needs to meet his grandfather and a lot more that Jerry promised that he will do all of it. So now, they are heading back to South Korea in order for Mr. Tucker to see his grandson.

After almost 12 hours in the air, the pilot finally announced that they are about to land in Incheon airport so they need to wear their seatbelt, then welcoming them to the country and wishing them a good day since it's already 6 in the morning.

Jerry turned to his side and watched the kid's peaceful sleep. He stroked Jeremy's face softly but still awakened the kid. Jeremy sat straight and looked up to Jerry, rubbing his eyes with his cute little knuckles.

"Did we arrive?" He asked.

"We're about to land, now wear this." Jerry said as he put the thick coat around the kid's body and buckles his seatbelt. It was almost Christmas so it's really cold in South Korea, so the temperature will surely drop below negative 10 degrees.

"Is it really cold here?"

"Yes." Jerry replied.

"Why is it cold here?"

"Because of the Siberian high pressure." He explained though he doubted that Jeremy would understand it. But on the other hand, he's not getting tired of answering Jeremy's questions because he somehow enjoys how fascinated the kid is to learn a lot of things at his age.

They both stood up when the plane finally stopped. Jerry took their bags and held Jeremy's hand as they walked out together. Jerry didn't inform anyone of their arrival because he's planning to take the kid to Mr. Tucker, so he really wasn't expecting someone else to wait for them.

As they exited the airport, Jerry hailed a taxi and told the driver of Mr. Tucker's address. He missed a lot of things in the country, especially his best friend. But he needed to fulfill Hannah's wishes first before showing up to his best friend's house. He lost his contact with them the day he left and for sure, everyone is mad at him.

The taxi stopped in front of a three storey house, with the letter on his pocket, the jar he was holding and Jeremy on his other hand, they made their way to the door and rang the doorbell.

The door opened and Mr. Tucker was surprised to see Jerry. "What a surprise!" Mr. Tucker exclaimed happily to see him but the latter just smiled at him sadly. "What's wrong?" Mr. Tucker asked when he saw Jerry's sad emotion in his features and not even showing a bit excitement, then his gaze went down to Jeremy then back to Jerry and now he's confused.

Jerry let go of Jeremy so he could take the letter from his pocket and hand it to Mr. Tucker, although confused, the old man still took it and read it. Then he suddenly started crying, he got down on his knees and cried loudly, screaming his heart's out, then he grabbed Jeremy carefully, hugging the kid so tight as if his life depended on it.

"M-my princess is gone." Mr. Tucker said between his tears, still holding the kid who's now crying with his grandfather.

Jeremy is one hell of a tough kid. When Hannah died on that bench, he just sat next to her body and hugged his mom tightly, he cried of course, who wouldn't? But that's it, Jerry cried the most and there was Jeremy always consoling him wherein it was Jerry who needed to stay strong for the kid.

Jerry handed Mr. Tucker a glass of water after his cries subsided. Then he sat across from him.

"Thank y-you." Mr. Tucker started. "Thank you for taking care of her while she's with you."

"I just did what I had to do." Jerry offered him a small smile.

Mr. Tucker turned to the kid, stroking his hair soothingly and kissed his head from time to time. "He really looked like Hannah."

"Thank you and now I know where mom took her beautiful face features." Jeremy smiled toothily which made Mr. Tucker start crying again. Jeremy panicked and he looked at Jerry, the latter just nodded his head with a wry smile on his lips, as if telling the kid that it's okay and it's not his fault why his grandfather is crying again.

"Oh God, I'm so dumb to let her go that night." Mr. Tucker wailed.

"It's okay, Hannah told me how much she regretted running away from home and she also told me how much she loves you and how sorry she was for disappointing you." Jerry said, which made Mr. Tucker cry grew louder and louder.

Jerry waited patiently until the old man stopped crying. He helped him to go to bed and excused himself after, telling him that he needed to go somewhere and he would bring Jeremy with him so Mr. Tucker could take a rest and they will be back later this evening.

"Where are we going?" Jeremy asked when they got inside the taxi.

"To my best friend's house." Jerry replied.

"To Uncle Liam?"

"Aunt Hayley is my best friend but well yeah, it was also Uncle Liam's house." Jerry shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh I thought Uncle Liam is your best friend because you keep talking about him."

"He became my second best friend after he married your aunt Hayley." Jerry chuckled and if he could remember, this is the first time he let out a laugh after Hannah died.

"Okay then, I just hope that they will be nice to me."

"They will love you just like how much me and mommy loves you. They are nice." Jerry assured the kid, kissing the top of his head.

The taxi stopped in front of the mansion, Jerry paid the driver and they both got out of the car. The guard standing at the guard house saw Jerry and he was surprised to see him, he quickly opened the gate so the two could enter.

"It was nice to see you again, Sir." The guard greeted Jerry and he returned it with a smile. The two walked to the main door and pressed the doorbell.

"Honey, can you please get the door?" Hayley shouted from the kitchen.

"Ugh, what is Daddy doing upstairs?!" Akisha groaned as she stood up from the sofa and she paused the movie she was watching before walking towards the door.

"Hi?" Jerry greeted as soon as Akisha opened the door for them. She dropped the remote she was holding and rubbed her eyes with her knuckles violently just to make sure she's not dreaming. "You grew up so beautiful, princess."

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