Money

  “Sixty five thousand dollars! Where can I find such a hefty sum of money?” I questioned myself while wandering aimlessly in Huntington Hospital. I then slumped onto a wooden bench and my mind went blank for a split second. “Sir, you need to prepare sixty five thousand dollars for your wife’s surgical and medical fees.” That was what the nurse said. “I can’t let Marissa suffer like this. I’ve got to get the money by hook or by crook. But…how?” my mind whispered to me. Again, I went to have a look at Marissa in the ICU ward. Tubes and wires were attached to her from the machines. It was as if she was powered by these machines to keep Death away. She breathed with much effort – as though each breathe may be her last. Seeing her in this devastating situation, tears started to well up in my eyes and soon after, they rolled down my rough cheeks generously. I did not know what to do and so I decided to start work and kept this thought at the back of my mind.

            I drove my taxi out of the hospital and started my work as usual. Millions of questions kept on flooding my mind, making me unable to stay focused on my driving. Then, I spotted a majestic mansion at the corner of my eye. Instantaneously, I drove toward the colossal mansion and stopped right in front of it. I spent some time gazing at the mansion which may have costs more than five million dollars. Even the garage is much bigger than my whole house compound. “How nice if I could’ve such wealth! Then money wouldn’t be a problem to me; sixty five thousand would be nothing!” I thought.

            Suddenly, the wrought-iron gate opened and I saw a girl around her teens, running out of the mansion and hurriedly hopped into my car. “To the Amethyst Residential now,” she ordered tersely. I adjusted the gear and started to head towards the place. I could hear sobbing from behind and it was from the girl. Out of curiosity, I asked her why she cried and she recounted it to me. “My dad disapproves me of having a Max as a boyfriend because he can’t provide me with an opulent life. I think that all business tycoons like Dad are just self-centred!” she expressed her thoughts.

            Immediately, an idea propped up in my mind. Kidnap. I changed the direction that I was heading to, my house which was located in a less developed area where people are few. Upon reaching, she must had felt something amiss and then started screaming frantically. Panic-stricken, I brought my car to a halt and grasped a torch light and thwacked her head. The next thing I knew was she blacked-out. The screaming stopped and lucky thing, her breathing did not. When I reached my house, I glanced around if there is anyone there. It was clear – nobody is around. I carried her into my brush house hurriedly. She was tied up and locked in my store room.

Not long after, my eight-year-old daughter came back from school by her bicycle. I hugged Casey, carried her turned her around like I always did. She chuckled like a baby and seeing that made my worries kept away for a brief period of time. I then realised that Casey was clad in a torn uniform and had many patches of cloths on it. Envisaging her wearing new clothes and Marissa treated from her angina sickness awakened me not to gamble again. I promised to work hard and provide a comfortable life for my family after I had taken the money from the girl’s dad.

The eye of heaven settled down and the bright smiling moon rose high up in the glittering sky. I had called the girl’s dad to prepare eighty thousand dollars in exchange with her daughter and meet at the deserted factory near my house. While Casey was asleep, I carried her to my car and went to the factory. There, I waited anxiously and my legs were fidgeting. Cold sweat wetted my forehead. I was hoping that this whole nightmare would be over soon. I then heard footsteps of a person running. My heart pumped erratically and hands started to shiver. I was afraid but I had no choice but to do so in order to save my wife, to save my family from the doom. There, a man strolled in. He looked very calm and my intuition told me that something is not right. I withdrew a small rusty dagger and rested it on the girl’s shoulder as the girl tried to struggle to free herself. I looked into her miserable eyes that seemed to be pleading for help. I pitied her, but I desperately needed money! The man instantly tossed a duffle bag to the ground. With one hand holding firm to the girl’s arm, I used the other to check the content of the bag. I released the girl and a smile crafted on my face. I rubbed my eyes to check whether I was dreaming because right in front of me are fifty dollar notes stacked up in bundles that sum up to a staggering figure of eighty thousand! “My wife is safe,” I thought.

“Freeze! Put your hands up! Pass the knife to us!” It was the police. I obediently obeyed them and chuck the dagger down. One of the police shoved me to the concrete wall and handcuffed me. My effort went futile. My hopes were shattered into pieces. All I wanted was to save Marissa and start a new life again.

Everything that happened went so fast that I was put behind the bars, into the dingy and dank small cell. A few days later, I was called to the office and they broke the bad news to me – my wife had passed away. My heart sank. I should not have gone for gambling that had always made me lose money. I should have kept the money and spend them wisely to provide my family a comfortable life. If I had saved some money, I could have save Marissa from succumbing to her disease. And because of money, I turned myself into a kidnapper. Money caused everything to happen.

I never saw her again after that

“Cheryl! Wake up. It’s time for spring cleaning. I’ll be downstairs waiting for you,” I ordered my daughter while wiping the photo albums that were stored in the storeroom for years untouched. “All right Mum. Let me clean myself up first,” she replied almost immediately. As I was cleaning those photo albums, a piece of picture dropped from one of the photo albums. I picked it up to place it back. At the same time, I had a glance at the picture. My heart jumped a beat. It was she that had changed my life forever. My mind fluttered back to the time when I was a lass.

I had many friends in my school and most importantly I had a loving family. Mum and Dad were the best. They were always ready to help me whenever I need help, support me whenever I was failing and crack jokes to turn my pouts upside down whenever I was sad. The only thing that lacked in our family was money. But I did not really care about that. I knew that I was not born with a silver spoon, and I did not blame my parents for not being able to provide me a comfortable life. Although we lived in a shack, our life was full of beans. School life was fine and I was neither famous nor infamous in my school. Among my group of friends, I was the most animated one. Also, I always tried to make others happy and laugh. Because whenever I saw people that I knew of happy, I would feel the joy as well.

There was a day when I went to school, feeling very down and depressed. When I entered my classroom, all my classmates were staring at me. “Haven’t they seen a person with scratches and slashes?” I asked myself. I got to my seat and the lessons started. During the lessons, I was not concentrating at all – my mind was wandering and my eyes were not focusing on anything. I had lost my soul and the only thing left in me was emptiness. “Janet, here, you can have my textbook,” my best friend bolted me from the blue. She got up from her seat and went to stand at the back of the classroom. I did not know what happened though.

Shortly, it was time for recess. I then headed to the school garden and sat on a bench, alone. “What happened to you?” a voice came from behind and I was certain it was my best friend’s. “How did you get these scars? Are you all right?” she continued and sat right beside me.

“Melissa, why were you and some other classmates standing at the back of the classroom just now?” I asked her, trying to avoid answering her question. She replied, “Oh, our English teacher punished those who did not bring the textbook. You were looking so weak, so I decided to lend my textbook to you and face the punishment instead. Back to our topic, what has happened to you? You aren’t the bubbly Janet that I knew anymore.” I remained silent. She ogled me as she prepared to be my ears.

I heaved a heavy sigh and answered her tersely, “Yesterday, my Mom came.” By her puzzled look on her face, I could tell that she could not comprehend what I was saying. “Yesterday, my biological Mom came. All these while, I didn’t know that I was an adopted child and the worst thing was my adopted parents didn’t even tell me about this. I thought that there weren’t any secrets between us, but I was wrong.” I continued with tears welling up in my eyes.

“Maybe they’d reasons why they kept this secret. Most probably they didn’t want you to face the truth during your childhood because it might affect you, your life. Did you listen to your mother’s explanation?” Melissa tried to console me and asked.

“No, I don’t plan to accept her. My impression of her is she’s an egoistic lady with her dark glasses on who wants me to forgive her. I then stormed into my room and self-inflicted with these scratches and slashes. I just can’t accept the fact that I’m an adopted child,” I poured out my feelings to her and pleaded her to stop making me from recalling this scarred memory. I then proceeded to my classroom and was again lifeless.

From that day onwards, my life and dreams were all shattered into a thousand pieces. Often, some of my schoolmates poked fun of me. My circle of friends shrank and I was always alienating myself from the others. What was available inside me was just sorrow which was tormenting my body and consuming my soul until they were non-existent; my insides were rotting away. Once, I bellowed at Melissa because she was very annoying. Actually, she was just trying to raise my spirits. In return, she was yelled by me. I thought by doing that, I was able to put an end to her effort in helping me out, but she proved me wrong. She was constantly attempting all ways to enliven me no matter how arduous it was. Her effort finally paid off. I found my soul and was back to my cheerful and vivacious mood. Thanks to my best friend, Melissa. Without her, I would have been a living corpse now.

“Mom! Building castles in the air?” my lovely daughter asked and chuckled when she saw me jolted out of my thoughts. “Who’s this in the picture?” she asked, pointing at my biological mother. “She’s my mom. I love her as much as she loves me. Once…” I recited my whole story to her.

“Mom, isn’t this picture taken indoor? Why is Grandma wearing a pair of black spectacles in the picture?” Cheryl questioned me.

“My adopted mother revealed the secret to me after my biological mother visited me in my teens. When I was three, one of my corneas was scratched and damaged. Grandma, who was my biological mother, brought me to the doctor. The doctor stated that my left eye wouldn’t be able to see things clearly anymore. The only way to make me able to see clearly was to do a cornea transplant. At that moment, Grandma didn’t have enough money. So, she decided to borrow money from the loan sharks and donated one of her corneas to me. Grandma couldn’t pay back the debts and she finally made her decision to put me in an adopted family. She then flew to New Zealand to start a new life there. When she came back to visit me when I was a teenager, she wore the dark glasses so that I wouldn’t know one of her eyes couldn’t see things. Mummy was so stupid for not giving her the chance to explain and to forgive her. This is what I regret the most in my whole life,” I explained to her, slowly and clearly.

“What happened to Grandma after that?” she enquired, wanting to know much more.

I replied, “I don’t really know. That day when she visited me, I stomped into my room. She then came to see me in my room. She didn’t talk to me but only uttered the word, “Bye” after a while. She smiled sadly and walked away. I never saw her again after that.”

Time

“It’s the fourth time you’re late again in this month! You may stand at the corridor, your favourite spot.” These words lingered in my mind as I was standing at the corridor feeling humiliated. A group of girls giggled at me when they were heading towards the science laboratory. My face turned apple-red almost immediately.

I then sneaked out of my school and went to a popular spot for spoilt children – the cyber cafe. I knew it was not right to do so, but I just could not stand being looked down by others. Even though Mum would not be glad for my immature actions, I still did it for my pleasure.

The moment I stepped into my house, Mum was there, standing in front of me and her eyes were blazing. She stared sharply at me and then started to nag. “Didn’t I warn you not to play truant again? Why can’t you just obey my simple order? You really disappoint me! Do you think your late father would be happy seeing you behaving like a wild child?” she raised her voice as her tears welled up in her eyes. I could tell that she was really mad at me. “No dinner for you tonight!” her nostrils flared. “Her nostrils are as big as my contact lenses,” I thought and then, sniggered. She stormed out of the house, tears trickling down her rosy cheeks.

I did not feel sorry at all. Maybe it was because I did not feel that I was wrong. The next day, I was late again. Anyway, I did not give a tinker of being time conscious though. “I have plenty of time in my whole life,” I thought. This time, it was different. Instead of going to school, I chose to go to the pub where some of my friends were already there waiting for me. I only took fizzy drinks and not beer or liquor because I would throw-up and feel uncomfortable after drinking it. Some of my friends who were not drunk invited me for an illegal motorcycle racing which was considered ‘legal’ to us. I accepted the challenge. Ken, Albert and I prepared ourselves and started the race soon after. As usual, I turned out last.

My old, faithful, digital watch showed 10 o’clock sharp. I sneaked into school through the hole in the fence behind the school and studied as usual. I had done this for several times and was never caught even once. Most probably it was because my presence was not felt and the same goes to my absence. “Kring…!” the long-awaited school bell rang, indicating the end of school session. Everyone darted towards the main gate and went home in split seconds. I had always questioned myself what was so great about ‘home’. Until now, it still remained a question.

“Nexter! Follow me to the office, please,” the familiar, low, husky voice came from behind. It was the principal. I could tell that something fishy was going on from his tone and it would not be a good one. “Did he know what I had done this morning? Will I be punished? Will I be humiliated again? Or will I be sleeping with the criminals behind the bars?” thousands of questions flooded my poor little brain. My pace began to slow down. I turned around and ran out of the school compound as fast as my legs could carry me. I managed to grasp some of the principal’s massage when I was trying to flee away. But it was unclear. All I heard was ‘don’t run away’ and the word ‘mum’. I did not have any idea about what he was trying to tell but at that spur of the moment, I just knew that I had to run away from him.

Upon reaching my house, I kept on figuring out what my principal had wanted to tell me about Mum. She came to school to check on me? I hope not. As I was in deep thoughts, I saw a group of people surrounding something. An accident had occurred. I had a glimpse to see who the not-so-fortunate one was. I did not put on my contact lenses on that day, so all I could see was a lady which was hit by a car when she was heading to her son’s school. “Poor lady. She might have wanted to check on her son,” the thought came across my mind. I turned away and continued walking. My heart then skipped a beat. My intuition told me that something was not right. I turned around and peered at the victim, trying hard to identify her as her body was covered with blood. It was her! Mum! “No!” I cried out hysterically. I threw my body towards Mum and hugged her closely. I sank my head in her tummy like what I did ten years ago. Beside her was a packet of my favourite spaghetti made by Mum. There was a note written, “Son, here’s your favourite spaghetti. Sorry for not letting you have dinner last night. I have bought you a Swatch watch that you’ve always wanted. Please be more time conscious next time. Come back earlier today. We’ll have lunch at home. Love, Mum.” Emotions that had long bottled up in me gushed out in a sea of tears.

She was rushed to the ICU. After a long wait, the doctor came out and reported in a sombre tone, “Your mum is in a stable condition.” I sighed, feeling much relieved. “But we are unable to save her legs anymore. Both her legs have to be amputated. I’m sorry.” he continued. I remained silence. My heart thudded heavily. I was still in a state of shock.

Since then, I had turned over a new leaf. I took care of Mum full of patience and I loved her as much as she loved me. I was also the top student in my school. Mum was very proud to have a child like me. But life was not perfect to me. Time. How wonderful it is if it could be rewound.

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Why can't i post any blogs!? C'mon...

Exam Fever!!!

Exam's comin..But not to worry too much. It's jz pmr, d small challange for us, d form 3 students. My preparation was juz simple n short. a week be4, i had just started my revision. haha.. But i think a can do it with much less effort. All in all, I jz hope for d best in my results. The same goes to my friends, buddies.. Good luck everyone!! :)

Love knows no bounds...

My cell phone alarm jolted me from a series of kaleidoscopic dreams. It showed 6.00 a.m. sharp. I sprang out of my bed with a smile on my face as I was extremely excited to go to my new school after the long and mundane year-end holidays. Mum transferred me there as the school had a better reputation than the previous one and because of another personal reason. I dressed up and made sure that I looked neat and tidy. Right after that, I darted to the dining hall to have my breakfast which was prepared by Mum. It was my favourite cappuccino cheese cake with a cup of creamy, smooth cappuccino. Since it was appetising, I savoured my breakfast, relishing every bite and sip.

“Mum, I’m very excited! I hope I can meet a lot of new friends,” I told Mum as she was driving me to school. She said nothing and just flashed a sweet smile to me. She dropped me right in front of the school gate. “See you, Mum!” I exclaimed as I hurried into the school. It looked very alien to me. I stepped into the school compound not being aware of a big stone just right in front of me. Clumsily, I tripped and was on my knees. All my books which I had bought a fortnight ago were strewn on the floor. All heads turned towards me. I could feel blood rushing to my face. It immediately turned cherry red and tears welled up in my eyes as I was too embarrassed. “Are you all right?” A deep, husky voice came from behind. A tall, handsome school prefect came from nowhere and helped me pick up all my books. I just couldn’t take my eyes off him. He had a pair of beautiful hazel eyes, a charming smile and everything a girl adored. “Here, take them. Be more careful next time,” he said, flashing a smile to me. I just kept quiet, bent my head down and took the books. “Thanks. I’ll be more careful next time,” I replied, blushing. “By the way, are you new here? If I am not mistaken, I have never seen you in this school before,” he continued. “Yes,” I came out with a laconic reply. If not for Dad, Mum would not take such a drastic decision to separate me from my buddies in school. Dad was the main cause of our broken family. How could he hurt Mum and leave for another woman? What had happened to their marriage vow? “Till death to us part.” I wondered if this was called true love. “I’m Daniel. Nice to meet you. Oops, it’s almost time. I’ll have to go now. See you,” he said warmly as he scurried away.

I then headed for my classroom without anyone’s guidance as I had explored the whole school during the school holidays. Form 4 A was my class. I did not know that there was a surprise in store for me. The moment I entered my class, I saw someone looking very familiar, it was Daniel. Phew... It was quite a relief. I had been worrying for days about being a dorky freshie without a friend. I felt quite at home with him there. Our relationship began to blossom and soon, we became bosom buddies. The bad news was I did not have many friends in the school. Maybe it was because most of the girls were envious with me befriending Daniel, the most sought after student in school. He was always there for me, ready to help me whenever I needed him. He could turn my pout upside down when I was very sad. If I was too stressed up, he would crack a joke and make me burst into laughter or bring me to a park and poured all our feelings out. He was the only person I could rely on.

Half a year passed by with full of ups and downs in a wink of an eye. As usual, Mum drove me to school before she went to work. “Bye, Mum! See you, I love you,” I said and kissed her on her thickly powdered cheek. I entered my classroom, with all the spirit to study well to make Mum happy. Little did I know that it was the last time had seen her. Lesson started. After a few minutes, a teacher came to see me and asked me to go to the office. I felt something amiss. My intuition told me that something was not right. My school headmaster told me in a soft tone, trying hard to break the horrifying news... “It’s your mum. She....she met with an accident. She’s gone and will never come back again. I’m sorry, Janice.” I could not believe my ears. My mind was just blank at that very moment as if I was going insane. I felt as if there was a sharp knife piercing my heart. All my hopes were shattered into pieces in just a few seconds. Ironically, there wasn’t a drop of tear falling off from my eyes. Perhaps I was too shocked and shaken by the news.

The next thing I knew, I was lying in a hospital bed. Subconsciously, I saw a silhouette. It was Mum. “Be a good girl, my dear. Work hard in order to achieve your dreams. Never give up on your dreams. I’ll always be supporting you. Always. It’s time for me to go now. Bye, sweetheart.” Mum said and then walked calmly towards the light. I was not sure whether it was my hallucination or Mum coming into my dreams. But I was certain that I could not see Mum anymore. It means that I could not lie on her lap, play with her and share my secrets. Without realising, streaks of tears were flowing generously down my cheeks. I did not even realise that Daniel was just by my side all along until he handed me his handkerchief. He was there, consoling me. He was also my bolster as I hugged him tight, sobbing.

When my tears were dry, he brought me home. I was still very down. Soon, I broke down again. I could see that Daniel was doing all he could to pacify me, but to no avail. He once told me that when it got dark enough, one would be able to see the brightest star. But to me, all I could see was only a piece of pitch-black dull sky. I had given up hope. It was getting late, so I told him to go home as his mum would be worried. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine,” I told him, putting on an artificial smile. But deep inside me, I did not want to live anymore. I saw him to the door and then waved at him. He waved back. I was all alone again and wandered aimlessly. I came to a busy street. Then, I saw some vehicles zooming by. The thought of committing suicide had been haunting me. This time, I could not stand any further. I turned myself towards the busy street. Mustering all my courage, I dashed to the middle of the road with my eyes closed tightly.

My heart pumped erratically. I heard a deafening honk coming from my right. I was sure that it was the end of my short and meaningless life. “Farewell, Daniel. I’m sorry...Mum, I’m coming...”

Tears trickled down my cheeks as I thought of Daniel. Then, I felt a shove from behind and was thrown to the other side of the road and became unconscious. The next thing I knew, I was in a hospital bed again. Bruises were all over my body. I survived? I had a glimpse around me and saw Melissa, my classmate sitting beside me. The first thing which flashed across my mind was to see Daniel. Who saved me? Was it him? Without hesitating, I asked Melissa where Daniel was and waited for her answer impatiently. She responded spontaneously, “Daniel? He’s in the same hospital too. He’s at the ICU ward. But...” I did not want to listen anymore and immediately tottered to my feet and staggered unsteadily all the way to the ICU ward. “Janice, what do you think you are doing? You still can’t leave your bed now. Hey, wait! Listen!” Melissa exclaimed but I just ignored her and continued hobbling. “It was Daniel who had gambled his life just to save me, a girl who did not wish to live anymore. Why did he do that? How is his condition now? Is he going to leave me? He can’t do that and he’ll never do that too! Never!” these were the things and questions which overwhelmed my tiny and confused mind. Again, the same feeling invaded me, I felt excruciating pains. As I was still searching aimlessly for the ward, tears continued to fall. I would not forgive myself if something bad ever happened to him. “Melissa, can you please show me the way to the room?” I asked with a meek tone as I lost my direction, a result of being too nervous.

She stared at me and led the way without saying a word. When we reached the room, I saw a patient lying in the bed, heavily bandaged. “Do you recognise him?” asked Melissa. I stared at the man, trying hard to recall who he was but I just couldn’t. The man grinned at me and I smiled back. “Uncle! Your daughter is not listening to the doctor’s advice,” the very familiar, deep, husky voice came from behind. It sounded much like Daniel. Instantaneously, I spun myself around and saw Daniel standing right behind me, smiling gleefully. Seeing him in perfect shape, I was startled for a moment as I had imagined him lying in the hospital bed, bandaged all over the body like the man over there. I jumped and hugged him real tight and never wanted to let go, “I thought you were...but anyway, I’m so glad that you are all right. I promise not to be that stupid anymore. I promise.” Tears trickled down my cheeks. “Don’t worry. I’m all right. I’ll be with you whenever you need me.

“By the way, your saviour wasn’t me, Janice. It’s him, the man over there. I know you might be a little confused if I tell you this. But you have the right to know this, and you must also know it. He’s your father,” he uttered. It rang a bell and I recalled something which happened long ago. He’s definitely my irresponsible daddy. I loosened my hug and stared at Daniel as he continued his explanation. “When you left your home, a man came in his car, stopping right in front of your house. After that, I went to him and asked whom he wanted to meet. He wanted to meet you and explained everything to me.”

“I brought him to search for you. We looked everywhere, high and low. Finally, our frantic search paid off as we found you. But to our astonishment, you were standing still in the middle of the busy road and we shouted your name aloud. We were quite unlucky, our voices were drowned by the honking and the sounds of the vehicles. I rushed towards you but was stopped by your dad when I took my first step. ‘If something bad ever happens to me, tell Janice that I love her and will always love her,’ he uttered as if those were his last words. In no time, he dashed across the road and reached for you. There was a car heading towards you in a great velocity. I suppose the driver’s vision was blurred by the thick dust from the construction site beside the road. As your dad was in a desperate condition, he decided to risk his life to save you. He leapt and pushed you violently to safety. Death was just separated from you by a fine, thin thread.”

“Your dad managed to escape death. The driver slammed the brake pedal. A deafening screeching sound was heard. The car couldn’t come to a halt and alas, hit your dad. He was thrown quite a distance away from the car. I was frozen and felt that my heart stopped pumping for a second or two. Cold blood ran down my spine causing my goose pimples to appear. I was drenched with cold sweat and then, reached for my cell phone in my pocket to contact the ambulance.”

I stopped Daniel from continuing the terrifying recount. I was indeed confused whether to feel happy or sad. If he had really betrayed mum, then why did he come back? I slowly turned my head and my teary eyes looked at him with the feeling of anger as well as sadness. Daniel propped me closer to dad. “I’m sorry, Janice, for leaving you when you were so young,” he said with a very feeble voice. I turned my head, not wanting to look at him as I was still mad with his betraying action. The day when Dad left Mum remained vividly in my mind, like it had just happened yesterday. “Give him a chance to explain, Janice. Moreover, he’s your dad, the person who gave life to you,” Daniel advised me. I looked at Dad, right into his eyes. “I know that you’ve suffered much. You had to live your life without a dad’s protection, but I’m not hoping that you can forgive me. What I want is you can live happily in this world. I still love Mum as much as I loved her the day before we split. I left her for the other woman because that she threatened me and warned me if I didn’t marry her, she would make you and Mum suffer all the time by all means. I had no other choice but to go with the mean woman,” he told me meekly with tears brimming in his eyes. “I...” “Dad!” I stopped him from continuing and hugged him. I had forgotten my injuries as I was too touched by Dad’s sacrifices. “Dad, why didn’t you tell us this much earlier when it happened? You know, all this while, in my little mind, I thought Dad was not a good man. But today, after your explanation, my impression of you had turned 180 degrees. Dad, you are the greatest man in this world and I will always remember that. I’m sorry, Dad. You are not wrong,” I continued. He breathed with much effort and his breathing was getting heavier and heavier, gasping for air. “Janice, I...I love you, always. Take care...” his said in a very shaky and trembling voice. “No! Don’t leave me, Dad. I love you, too,” I sobbed and kissed Dad on his face. He carved a smile on his haggard looking face and then, slowly closed his eyes with tears rolling down his cheeks.

Then, I felt very dizzy and realised that everything in the hospital was shaking. I felt a tremor. “Was it an earthquake?” I thought. I ran towards Daniel and then hugged him, resting my head against his chest, with my eyes closed. “What’s happening? I’m afraid, afraid to leave you. I love you, Daniel” I whispered. “Don’t worry, I’m here and everything will be over soon. Very soon. And I love you too,” he replied in a very assuring manner.