Family x Forgiving x Talent

I didn't even have any time to react when a little ball of energy came rushing towards me. It was my little brother, who literally crashed with me, instantly gripping my hospital gown while sobbing on my chest. I couldn't help but smile warmly, in spite of the pain I felt because of the sudden impact. I just patted his head with as much love as I could. Then I heard another sob and another head was placed on my chest, this one wrapping me into a hug.

"You know big sis, if you do that, people will think I'm the older one"

I don't even know from where I got the energy to pull a joke in that situation, but seeing her like that just made me want to do it. Still, this was a serious moment to me. While I was in a coma I had decided to let go of my inhibitions towards certain things, and one of those was saying what I thought out loud. No more holding back my feelings or my thoughts. And there were a few things that I had to say right now, so things would be easier later on.

First I asked my sister to let go of me for a while, and as she looked at me with worry and fear, I gave her a warm smile, reassuring her that everything was fine. The same thing I did with my little brother, who just sat beside me while still grabbing on to my gown with one hand.

"First of all, I already know everything that has been happening thanks to the Doctor"

As I said those words, a look of relief appeared on their faces, while one of anger made its way through mine.

"Mom, dad, I want you to know that, as a son, I feel disappointed. Not only did you two neglect me, but you also put up excuses as lame as me not complaining. Hence the situation, I had to be hit by a truck for you two to worry about me."

My dad looked like he wanted to say something, but held it back and just put on an expression of regret. My mom just began weeping while saying she was sorry, but I honestly didn't care right now. At least they were sorry, so I could still forgive them.

"And you" I said as I looked at my sister "You could've at least talked to me, instead of going straight to mom and dad. Still... thank you"

Now that the bad things were over, I wanted to say the one thing that I never told my family and that I never showed.

"With that over... I love you guys"

*

Alexis and Cameron, my sister and brother respectively, were sitting beside me in the car while my parents sat in the front. It was currently the next week and I had already been given the ok to leave, so I was going back home. After that talk, I had a one on one conversation with each member of my family. My mom said she felt extremely sorry and pretty much begged me to forgive her, but I just gave her a hug and told her to just treat me like my siblings from then onwards. My dad was a tough man, but he still shed a tear, even if his face was as serious as always as he asked me to forgive him. He also got a hug.

My siblings were the contrary to them. Alexis cried too, but she was hugging me and kept saying that, had she known better, she would've talked to me more. I just hugged her and kept patting her head. She was extremely sad and had huge bags under her eyes, which showed how much it had affected her. Cameron... you can say he just began asking a torrent of questions, from how being in a coma felt to the how I woke up. What else could I expect from a five years old? He still wetted his bed sometimes!

'Home... I never thought of it like that, huh?' was what I thought as both my siblings slept while using me as a pillow. I shouldn't even be able to leave the hospital, but after a week of recovery and tests, the Doctor was impressed with how fast my body had gotten back to top shape. According to him, I had even earned a bit of muscle and lost fat. Had I known better, I would've called bullshit and blame plot armour, but I guess my body was just that resilient.

Back to my thoughts, I decided to use this time in the car to talk with my System.

'Hey, isn't there something like a gift pack or something, System?'

[Not a Gift pack, but a one-time-only scan for hidden Talents. Does the user wish for the scan to be realized? There will be nothing but a weird feeling, akin to a chill.]

As my biggest worry, which was the possible pain that could come with this "scan", was pre-emptively denied by the System, I allowed it to simply go through with it.

[Initializing Hidden Talents Scan...

1%

2%

3%...

100%

Talent Found! <Singing (Rookie)>]

I was sure if anyone were to look at my face right now, they would see my eyes being as round as the moon. Never in my entire life would I, who used to think of myself as an unnecessary average guy, have thought that I was talented in singing. The initial shock soon changed into excitement. That talent would help me become more popular and it was something that I enjoyed.

There had always been two things that I would resort to when I was feeling down or angry. Nature and Music. Music would help me lift my mood or heal my wounds. Nature made me feel relaxed and took away my anger. Knowing I was talented in singing made me feel happy, because I could help others heal their own wounds.

"Alan, could you please wake you sister up? We're already home"

I suddenly heard my father say to me. I was glad he didn't treat me like I was made of glass and actually talked to me like nothing had ever happened. Had they kept on treating me like I was bound to leave any moment would've been annoying. I much preferred the way they actually treated me now. Just like my siblings.

Doing as he asked, I decided to wake my sister up. As a good brother, I had to either tease or annoy her. As such, I decided to do both. I used my index and thumb to pinch her nose and began talking in her ear.

"Hey, wake up"

As I had expected, she pretended to not hear me. Her brows did scrunch up slightly, which meant she was holding her breath. I wouldn't actually cause her any harm, so I kept my play a bit more. This time, I whispered. Don't want mom and dad to think weird stuff, right?

"Wake up or I'm going to kiss you, Alexis"

No reaction. She was starting to get pale, even slightly blue. I even went as far as getting my face closer to her and breathe deeply so she would feel it, but she persisted. In the end, I let go of her nose and looked at her weirdly. When she opened her eyes, she was pouting and had a weird look on her face. I instantly told myself I was still high on medicine or something, because I could swear her eyes were telling me to kiss her.

Deciding to ignore Alexis' weird behaviour, I got out of the car with Cameron in my arms. The little kid had put on some weight since the last time I had carried him.

'He WAS a baby back then, though'

I then went into the house with my family. I knew very little of how things would change later on. I didn't know about the things I would discover and be told about. But one thing would always remain the same. From this point onwards, I couldn't help but feel excitement at the simple fact of being alive.