Open-Hearted

I got up super early today, in preparation for Sam's birthday. I wouldn't let myself forget, though Sam only talked about it once or twice.
   When he knocked, I immediately opened the door and gave him a huge hug, shocking him.
   "Happy birthday, Sam!!" I yelled, nearly squeezing him to death. I let go, and Sam coughed trying to breathe.
   "S-sorry.. I got a bit excited.." I said slightly embarrassed.
   "It's alright." He chuckled. "Let's head over to Seb's place, he's got something to show me apparently."
   I helped Sam off the porch since his crutches were hard to use, and I locked the door. We passed the bus stop once again.
   "Happy birthday, Sam!" Abigail and Sebastian harmonized. They gave him a group hug.
   "I've got somewhere cool to visit." Sebastian said, leading the way past his house. "It might be a bit tough for you, Sam, but it's worth it."
   Sebastian lead us through a path up the side of the mountain. I had to help Sam balance himself on the steep portions.

   When we reached the top of the mountain, Abigail laid out a picnic blanket and we all sat together. She brought out sandwiches and bottled sodas for us to drink, Sam obviously getting a Joja Cola.
   The baby blue sky behind fluffy white clouds felt comforting and added a special feeling to today.
   "So, what are you hoping for most Sam?" Abigail asked.
   "What do you mean?" Sam questioned, taking a bite of his sandwich.
   "What gift are you hoping to receive the most?" Abigail asked again.
   "Oh.. that's kind of um, a secret.." Sam responded, blushing.
   Sebastian and Sam must've communicated through facial expressions, since Sam elbowed Sebastian in the side as Sebastian cracked up.

   After finishing our meal, we cleaned up and left our stuff on the blanket. We walked up the mountain a bit more to a point where we could see all of Pelican town. We sat near the edge and looked over the town.
   "It looks so small from up here.." I pointed out, watching little tiny people merge across the town. I recognized a few, like Marnie and Pierre.
   "Hey look, it's Vincent!" Sam pointed at his little tiny brother, who was super hard to spot.
   It felt like I was on top of the world up here. The breeze blew my wavy black hair out of my face and the clouds covered the sun providing us with shade.

   Abigail handed me a piece of yellow paper and a pencil. "What's this for?" I asked.
   "抖阴社区 something that you wish to come true. Then fold it up, throw it, and watch it flutter down. My mom used to take me up here to do this all the time." Abigail responded, focusing on writing her letters neatly. "It won't come true if you share it."
   I thought for a moment. I didn't really have any hopes that I knew of. I noticed Sam already folding his blue paper. What do I want to happen most.. I thought.
   After processing it, I wrote down; I want to find love. I folded my paper. I watched Sam throw his, so I threw mine too. We watched them flip and glide their way down to the bottom of the hill.
   I looked up at Sam. I could see the sky's reflection in his eyes as he watched the clouds pass by. I looked with him. It felt nice and peaceful as the breeze lay still.
   "Hey, that cloud looks like a duck!" I exclaimed, pointing up at the sky.
   Sebastian chuckled. "They all look the same to me."
   "That one looks like a fish." Abigail pointed out.
   "And that one's a.. a heart." Sam noticed, smiling at the fluffy white heart in the sky.
   "The moment is getting to Sam's head again." Sebastian joked, getting up. Sam gave him a dirty look which I thought was too cute to intimidate anyone.

   Walking back to the blanket, I noticed Sam using his foot more. His checkup with Harvey was tomorrow, and that would determine if he still needed to stay off of it or if he was healed.
   We gathered and packed up our belongings, including the blanket. Slowly but surely, we made our way back down the mountain. Sam struggled with the crutches.
   We reached the bottom of the mountain and said goodbye to Abigail and Sebastian. Sam and I headed over to the river outside his house.

   We put our stuff by the bush and sat at the edge of the river. The water was moving quite fast.
   "Having a good day so far?" I asked Sam.
   "Yeah, I enjoyed looking over Pelican Town. It made me feel big and powerful." He responded, tossing a stone into the river.
   "Glad to hear." I said. I reached behind me and dig through my bag, grabbing out a box wrapped in red wrapping paper.
   I handed it to Sam. "Happy birthday from me to you."
   "Oh Liv, you didn't have to!" He smiled and accepted the gift. He carefully opened the wrapping paper and set the scraps next to him.
   He lifted the lid of the box open. On top, there was a letter. He took it out and set the box aside, making sure not to rip the paper as he unfolded it.
   He read the letter. It was quite long, as I put a lot of meaning into it. I looked up at him. He smiled at the letter, then his eyes started tearing up. He finished reading it and looked at me. A tear ran down his cheek.
   I've never seen Sam cry before, and I did not expect a simple letter to make him cry like that. He pulled me into a hug.
   "Thank you, Liv.. thank you.." Sam whispered to me. He pulled away from the hug and folded the letter neatly, wiping his eyes.
   Sam pulled a t-shirt out of the box. It was dark grey and had a red guitar embroidered on the pocket.
   "This is sweet!" He said, holding it up to him for size. He reached into the box and pulled out a wooden guitar pick.
   He looked at it for a moment, turning it over in his hands. It had a palm tree carved into it.
   "I ordered that straight from Hawaii, it's hand made with palm tree wood. I thought you could add to your collection." I said, looking at it.
   "You're so thoughtful, I love it!" Sam exclaimed, giving me another hug. His eyes were still red from crying tears of happiness.

   Sam walked me home again, guiding me through the darkness. The sun was nearly set and it was quite late.
   I unlocked my door and stepped inside, turning around to say bye to Sam.
   "See you tomorrow, Sam. Happy birthday!" I waved to him.
   "See ya, Liv. Thanks again for the gift, I really appreciate it." He said, smiling at me. I watched him waddle off on his crutches.
   Something changed today, and I couldn't understand what it was. I felt different, and everything seemed more enjoyable.