2n de Batxillera “I can’t breathe” Duna Agustí i Soldevila

258 “I can’t breathe”

Duna Agustí i Soldevila / 2n de Batxillerat LLENGUA ANGLESA_3r PREMI

“You made flowers grow in my lungs, and although they are beautiful, I… I can’t breathe.”

Cryl was carried away by the sound of the waves. His blond hair, disheveled by the wind, was beginning to get wet. His brown eyes were on the horizon, his pupils dilated, and his mind blank. Few things could calm him down, but the mere crash of water against the cliff simply left him dazzled. He had been feeling anxious for a long time, unable to relieve the weight he felt in his heart, he needed to dispel the anxiety that kept him awake, and the sea was the only thing that could do it. From the day he met Apolo, Cryl wasn’t able to think of anything else. Apolo was the pure representation of beauty in men. He had broad shoulders, a narrow waist, a marked abdomen, strong legs, and a face that seemed sculpted by the gods themselves. A refined nose all painted in freckles, well-defined and thick eyebrows, large emerald-green eyes and brown hair scattered in wavy fringes. He appeared in the small village on the island where Cryl lived, and since then the two boys became inseparable. In addition to a beautiful appearance, Apolo was fun, cheerful, positive and had a big heart... They became friends right away. They went to the cliffs, swam, looked at the stars, read together, escaped at night from their respective houses to cycle around the whole island… Cryl thought he had found a best friend for life, until one day in late summer when he looked at Apolo and felt his heart throb rapidly. Cryl’s eyes carefully examined from Apolo’s green eyes to his fleshy lips, and when he noticed, he blushed quickly, and looked away. Apolo didn’t notice anything. It was then that Cryl realized that he didn’t see Apolo as a friend. During the last week of summer, he tried to disseminate the feeling that kept growing deeper and deeper inside his chest, but he couldn’t. Apolo would leave the island in the last week of summer to continue his studies in the city, and Cryl prefe-

rred not to listen to the romantic feelings he felt for the emerald-eyed boy who would leave for the island in a few days. This is how he spent the last week of summer with the boy he had fallen in love with, in a dreadful pain in his chest and a fake smile on his face.

The wind on the cliff became colder and Cryl’s eyes stopped pounding on the horizon, and it was when he realized that Apolo was leaving the next day. He tried to make that thought disappear again and more calmly he got up slowly walking towards his house. Silently and in the darkness, he crossed the house, and as he was about to lie down on the bed, he felt his breath fail. Feeling a sudden difficulty in breathing he tried to sit up in bed, but a strong thrust in his heart made him fall to the ground. It didn’t take long for him to start coughing, covering his mouth with his right hand. Panic gripped the poor boy as he felt a thick liquid in his hand and cautiously got up to turn on the light in the room. When he looked at his hand, a drowned out cry came from his mouth. His hand was full of blood and had petals of a flower. Frightened, he backed away until he collided with his bed where he dropped. His heart ached, and he found it harder and harder to breathe. “Is that how a person who suffers from lovelessness feels?” thought Cryl. Tired, he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes. The next day he didn’t wake up very well. His chest weighed heavily, and he felt as if a bramble was growing around his lungs and heart. He opened his eyes frightened by the feeling of suffocation. He didn’t even have the strength to get out of bed, but when he remembered that it was the day of Apolo’s leaving, he got out of it with tense muscles and an unbearable pain. He didn’t even change his clothes and went the fastest he could to the port of the island. An hour later, the smiling freckled boy appeared. Cryl felt the weight of his heart lighten, and he approached him with a smile. “I have to tell you something.” Apolo said, smiling. Cryl’s heart raced. “Me too,” he replied. “You start, Apolo.” “I’ll be back for Christmas. I don’t plan on leaving you lying on this island for long. You’ve become a very important person, Cryl, like… like my brother. So, will you wait for me?”

260 The choking sensation returned to Cryl and he began to cough. Apolo looked at him worriedly, but the other quickly disguised it. “Sure, I’ll wait for you,” he said, smiling slightly. “What did you have to tell me?” “Oh… I…” Cryl’s pride didn’t let him continue. He clenched his fist hard. “Nothing important. Take care of yourself, okay? And Merry Christmas.”

Apolo let out a confused laugh.

“Why Merry Christmas?” “You know, maybe there’s a storm for the holidays and we can’t see each other, just in case,” he said, shrugging.

The two smiled, and hugged saying goodbye. Apolo boarded the ship and didn’t look back. At the port of the island, Cryl sat down on the old wood with a growing pain in his chest. “Wow, it turns out it is lovelessness.” As he watched the small boat pull away, he brought his fist to his chest and cried in pain. Shortly afterwards, he fell to the ground coughing up blood. Within hours, Cryl’s body was lying dead in a beautiful puddle of blood full of white and red roses. On the other side of the sea, Apollo came down from the boat with a happy smile. He greeted his family and turned to see the sea. -See you at Christmas, Cryl.

“You made flowers grow in my lungs, and although they are beautiful, I… I can’t breathe.”

The Hanahaki Disease is an illness born from unrequited love, where the patient’s throat will fill up with flowers, they will then proceed to throw, and cough up the petals, (sometimes even the flowers). One of the only ways for the disease to ‘disappear’ is if, the said person returns the feeling (it can’t be resolved with friendship, it has to be genuine feelings of love).