Felix wasn’t sure he was feeling well. In fact he hadn’t been feeling well for a long time.
He hoped he would feel well soon. He had been noticing that he was coughing up blood. He was also experiencing chest pain. He hadn’t told his parents yet. In fact. He didn’t even know where his parents were. He was lucky to be alive he thought. He had survived many Isis bombings and assassinations. He knew that his parents could be dead.
The smoke from the guns and the bombs weren’t good for him though. He knew that too much smoke could give lung cancer. Plus, he was experiencing some symptoms of lung cancer. But then again, didn’t everyone in the base cough up blood and have chest pain? In fact, he was actually pretty healthy. He hoped that he would get better by New Year’s Day. Today was 9/12/2023. The war with Isis had raged over 20 years. He just hoped he would recover. He could only hope. Over the course of the next 3 months he recovered quite a lot he thought. He still coughed up blood though. Then, one day at basketball he felt dizzy. His chest hurt so much he collapsed.
He woke up to see the lights of the Red Cross/Red Crescent hospital. The nurses just shook their heads. He knew that he had lung cancer by the looks of their faces. He had also heard that many people in the Red Cross/Red Crescent perished. Then he began the long fight. He gradually progressed and decreased. He had to get 5 shots each day however. Then one day his classmate came in. He told him that if he folded a Bamboo shoot each day and he folded 10000, he would survive his lung cancer.
He began. He knew that he would have to fold 30 each day. Folding 1 was hard work with his cancer and his sickness. He would have to keep this up. For almost a year.
3 months Later.
He was sick. Very sick. Whenever his nurses came in he saw them shaking their heads and sometimes whispering. He knew he was about to die. He had only folded 3000 and he was almost out of energy. He couldn’t believe Isis was actually winning the war. He knew that he would still live if they won the war. He had always wanted to see Isis lose the war. Most of the patients had died already. He had watched their lifeless stiff bodies dangle and be cremated. He had watched more than a kid should watch in a lifetime he thought. The nurse came in and gave him a shot and left without saying anything. He knew that he would die soon.
He began to fold more Bamboo shoots. He also knew that his parents were dead. The nurse had told him the other day. He groaned with irritation. The Bamboo shoot slipped from his hand. He only hoped that he could walk in a month. Over the next few days his condition just became worse.
He couldn’t walk without help and he didn’t have an appetite. He began to see stars and became dizzy.
Then at once something cheered him up the next day. The nurse had told him that Isis had lost a base on their territory. Gradually over the next few days, although he was still declining, he was feeling better. He thought he was living because of the news.
Then it came. Isis had lost. Their commander Abu-y-Tuiop had been killed.
The U.S quickly forced Isis to surrender.
Felix's condition still worsened day by day. He had fought. He had given all of his strength to the cause of war. He had no protection left. He felt dizzy. He saw lights
Finally on the tragic day he saw nurses and other people coming in. He started to hallucinate. He felt the glow of the lights. He stopped thinking. The last thing he saw were the bright lights. Then after a fighting for quite a bit he was dead.
He had folded 5476 bamboo shoots. The remaining 4524 were folded by nurses and other people and classmates.
He was buried in a tomb with the bamboo shoots.
A futuristic retelling of SADAKO AND THE PAPER CRANES (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_and_the_Thousand_Paper_Cranes)
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