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"No," I said, my body trembling with strong emotions when I replied to my brother.

"Of course not. I am not going to leave."

I was not going to die.

Another three days passed, and the tension in the house slowly dissipated. My parents stopped looking at me every ten minutes. Mom still checked up on me every hour, but when she popped her head through the door, she no longer expected me to be lying unconscious on the floor or the bed.

She expected me to be playing some video games or watching TV.

After I got sick, Mom became a stay-home mom. She usually busied herself to take care of me. Now that she no longer had to do that, she felt oddly bored. Both of us were.

Once Mom managed to stop running around, we started spending a lot of time doing things together. Watching TV, cooking, and even cleaning the house.

She was initially terrified when I told her I wanted to go with her to buy groceries. She seemed to be expecting me to fall to my death once I climbed the first staircase or something. Thankfully that did not happen.

When Mid-September arrived, my parents had something wonderful planned for me.

After dinner, as always the four of us relaxed in the living room while watching some evening program. Mom and Dad exchanged knowing glances and then Mom nudged Dad. Dad took out a big white envelope and handed it to me.

"Here, Danny. Take a look."

"What is this?" I asked, but they would not tell me anything. I ripped the envelope open and found a stack of papers inside.

The front page was a letter, titled "Admission Letter".

I looked up in confusion at my adoptive parents, who had so many difficulties keeping the smiles away from their faces.

"Go on, read it," Mom encouraged me. She and Dad looked so nervous.

"Dear Daniel,

With great pleasure we inform you that you have been accepted as a student at St. Louis Academy, Grade 9. The school year already started in August, but we believe that you will be able to catch up easily when given full support..."

I was unable to continue reading because my eyes became blurry from tears.

I used to visit St. Louis Academy before I started getting sick and had to quit school. I still remember how hard I cried back then when I realized that I was not going to go back. It was almost as if I was trapped inside an hourglass with the golden sand slowly running down and burying me.

I had no escape route.

I was only able to look up and watch as my life slowly ran out. No matter how much I cried and begged, time would not stop for me. It would only stop once I was dead.

"Danny...?"

Mom was rubbing at my hair carefully.

"Everything alright, Danny?"

What followed was a fountain of tears.

I scrambled to my feet and hugged anyone I could reach. My mom, my dad, Jaden. I almost strangled Jaden when I hugged his neck while hugging my mom\'s waist at the same time. He yapped loudly and smacked me hard a few times before I let him go.

It was such a blessing, nothing less than that. I could not stop saying thank you. Thank you, God, thank you, Mom, thank you, Dad, thank you Jaden. Mom and Dad were also in tears. Jaden, the little devil, was prattling next to me, telling me that school sucked and that I should have been happy that I was out of school. I listened to his speech but I could not care less.

I grinned from ear to ear.

If school sucked, then I happily agreed to be part of it. Hello, school! Let me be part of your sucky community!

Now, remember I said that I had been out of school for a while?

When I left school, I just started the 8th grade at St. Louis Academy. That meant that I should actually be going back to the 8th grade instead of the 9th grade. I would be the oldest kid in the 8th grade, and Mom was not having any of that. She did not want me to have to explain to the younger kids about my illness. That would have been a blow to a teenage boy\'s self-esteem.

My beloved mom thus marched to the principal office to negotiate my situation.

The principal was thankfully a wonderful individual. She still remembered me as a bright kid with a weak institution who had to drop out of school due to illness. She felt so sorry for me back then. When Mom told her that I miraculously recovered, the principal was more than happy to hear how she could help.

After a lengthy discussion, the principal agreed to let me go to 9th grade directly, but I had to take supplementary lessons and all exams of the 8th grade. It was only fair. Mom agreed. I of course agreed. Now that I was able to go back to school, I was ready to study until my eyes popped out.

"So when do I start?" I asked excitedly.

"Which exams do I have to write first? Can we get some books so I can study?"

Mom and Dad laughed.

"Easy there, tiger. You will start school next Monday. Why don\'t we get you some clothes and schoolbooks tomorrow? Then you can spend the time to read through the 8th-grade material to prepare for the exams."

"Yes, Mom! When are we going???"

Mom wiped some traces of tears at the end of her eyes. "My God, I never expected Danny to be so energetic."

I was tempted to turn a somersault just so they knew how energetic I was, but I did not want to risk it.

Early the next morning, after Dad and Jaden left the house, I pestered Mom to go downtown and buy me clothes and school supplies.

"I get it, Danny. I get it. Give me some time okay..." Mom was never good without a morning coffee. After she had her second cup, she was finally lucid enough to take a bath and get ready to go out.

I had not been to town for ages. I was excited about everything. Dogs looked extra cute. People looked extra beautiful. The buildings were extra tall!

Mom snickered when she saw me acting like a villager who just entered a big city.

"Gosh, Danny. You are making me feel so guilty. From now on we will spend every weekend downtown, okay?" Mom ruffled my hair with a lot of love.

"Really, Mom?" I could hardly believe my ears.

"Why would I lie to you?" She laughed

St. Louis Academy did not require the students to wear specific uniforms. Students were allowed to wear whatever they wanted as long as they adhered to the school\'s dress codes.

"You have grown a lot, Danny," Mom said with a frown when my old size no longer fit. For the record, my pajamas were always loose so she did not notice whether I had grown or not.

"Then again you are only fourteen. It is normal," she said with a shrug. In the past year, I had grown taller, and my limbs had also grown longer.

"What a strapping young man!" the shopkeeper smiled when she saw us.

"My son is starting school next week," Mom announced proudly.

"Awwww! He will definitely be the new heartthrob at school!" the shopkeeper cooed.

I could feel my cheeks burning. What heartthrob? I was already glad if I could be a good student and pass my exams with flying colors!

Mom let me try a lot of shirts and pants and asked me the same questions over and over again.

"Danny, how is this one?"

"This one looks good on you. Do you like it? Is it uncomfortable?"

"Do you like this shade of blue? Do you want a more mature tone?"

I never had to shop for so many clothes at once so eventually, I got lost in the color and style. Mom eventually stopped asking for my opinions and discussed with the shopkeeper instead.

After I was done trying a lot of clothes at once, I sat on a bench while the two ladies, as in my mom and the shopkeeper, were discussing the clothes that suit me most with a lot of passion.

Next to me, a few other children were also sitting and waiting for their mothers to be done with the purchase. They were all playing on their phones. And then it dawned on me. I did not have a phone, but did I not have a tablet?

I vaguely remembered playing on a tablet when I was hospitalized...

No, wait. I had been having that tablet for a while now. After I stopped going to school, I played games on the tablet every day.

Where was my tablet?