Golf Club: Wasteland, story

Celebration pt. 2

I blinked a few times and realized I'm still sitting on a hill. I had a certain plan for this special day, but wasn't sure whether it would be possible to accomplish it. I wanted to decorate our house a little bit, find a small but symbolical gift for Adam, and spend with him as much time as he would like to. This day should belong to us, but most importantly to him, as he's the one who's survived for so long, alone. I still can't believe he's so young, but at the same time so mature for his age. I think he may be ten years old. I've actually never asked him about it. Maybe I should.

I walked down and entered a little forest, if a plain with a few trees could be named like that. I actually missed those safe spaces, as I used to hide in the forests when I was a kid. We used to play with my friends and pretend we were some kind of ninjas. One time I was even a Robin Hood and made myself a bow from sticks and a piece of rope I found near the house. They were throwing stones at me, pretending they were shooting guns. On the one hand that was amazing, as we could totally play with our imagination and the whole world was ours, but on the other hand, when I think about it now, it wasn't really safe, and it must have woken up the aggression within us. People love wars and violence, don't they? What if we were taught as kids not to play such games, but try to survive in a forest and help others for a change? Maybe people's minds would have been different, and they wouldn't have destroyed the Earth so quick...

I shook my head and realized I was standing in front of the remains of the forest and inhaling the polluted air. It wasn't as bad as I have imagined in the past, before coming back here. All of a sudden I felt stuffiness and couldn't draw breath for a few seconds. Next I saw blood on my hand. I sighed. I thought I was getting better, but I was a fool letting myself think so. I will never get better, it will only get worse. I'm not used to living here, I'm not a part of this environment. Adam is. He has been, is, and will be. He is really the chosen one of some kind. That's why I need to do everything to make him realize that. He's a special kid and should be taken care of.

I made a quick list in my head and went ahead to the city, or its remains. It's hard to speak of something as if it was true after all this time, but it's also sad to add 'remains' every time I think about a certain place. Just as if my mind would like to memorize only the good things and not create new memories of the places that are familiar to me.

"Okay, I need leaves, sticks, and rocks for decorations, a gift of some sort, maybe some food to be able to prepare a cake or a dinner... Sounds easy, but may be hard to do."

At this moment amazing thought came to my mind. Giraffe! I can take Adam to the giraffe I've seen while playing golf. She was drinking water from a satellite dish. If we could get close enough, he would be able to touch her, maybe even pet. This single thought has lighten up and enlarged my perspective and at that moment I felt everything was possible.

I came back to the remains of the forest and found some elements to decorate our house. Sadly, I didn't have any bag or backpack to be able to bring all the rocks, sticks, and leaves with me, so I brought only a few of them and put them near our house. Fortunately, Adam was still asleep, so I was able to do this a few times and gather as many materials as I wanted. Next I went into the city, to some old shops in order to find out whether some canned goods were left out there. I've been scratching around for almost twenty minutes and finally I managed to find some beans and pineapples. I went near the stream and caught a fish after ten minutes of waiting. There is almost no fish left, but I'm glad that one has decided to show up.

When I came back, Adam was still asleep, so I started to decorate the house. When I was finishing, he blinked a few times and looked at me, shocked.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Celebration," I replied with a big smile. "Do you like it?"

"Yes, it's nice," he said and smiled too. "But... celebration of what?"

"Our anniversary. It's been a year since we met each other for the first time," I explained.

He widely opened his eyes and mouth in amazement.

"One year? That's a long time!"

"I know, but I can't wait to spend even more time with you."

"Yes, me too," he walked up to me and hugged me. That was one of the nicest things I've felt in my life. The tears started to get in my eyes as he hugged me even stronger.

"Thank you," he said and looked up to see my face. He saw the tears and immediately became sad. "I'm sorry."

"No, please, don't be. Those are happy tears. I'm happy."

"Okay," he replied calmly and nodded.

"Would you like some breakfast?" I asked and showed him all the food I found that morning.

For the whole year I haven't even once seen such shock and dreaminess on his face. He immediately hugged me again, stronger than before.

"Please don't leave me," he said and I felt the tears on my cheeks again.

"I will never do that," I promised, but deep down I knew that was a lie.