Andrew This was how it felt like for my family when I was the one fighting for my life. It felt like hell... hell I tell you. My mum was a complete mess. She couldn’t eat a thing for almost a week. We could only get her to drink small amounts of beverages and a few bites of her favorite dishes. The rest of the time, she’d sit in Vincent’s hospital room, mopping at him, since he was brought out of the intensive care unit two weeks ago. Vin wasn’t out of danger yet. He was constantly and closely monitored by the doctors and my mum and dad of course. Sometime last week, he had gone into cardiac arrest and was briefly sent into intensive care again. But up until now, he’d been stable. Dad had to work, but being his hospital, he had the advantage of popping in now and then to see us all. Not that he couldn’t take some time off to stay with us, but because he needed a distraction. Cutting and stitching people’s heads gave him that. You could see, from how loosely his tailored suit hung to
Anne “Vincent!!” I yelled, almost falling off my bed from fright. My mum, sister, Pam, and Joan rushed to me at once. I was confused why they all had smiles and worry at the same time, till I looked around and saw all the hospital room signs. I’d seen myself on the island again, with the armies surrounding me, and Vincent running in slow-mo towards me with the same expressions that led me to turn. In my line of vision stood Fiona who had run out from the trees and had aimed at me, releasing the bullets with a quick, energetic flick of her index finger. I soon saw a body block mine, then a pair of arms wrapped around me before the bullet could reach me. I felt the body jerk towards me as if stunned, then go rigid, while tightening its grip on me. I looked into Vincent’s watery eyes and saw the life, emotions, and color slowly drain from his face as he fell to his knees and then to the floor. It wasn’t the force of his impact that knocked me off, it was the horrible shock of seeing
Anne I stared wild-eyed at my mum as if she pulled off her clothes and started running around naked. “I told the doctor to keep it discreet. I didn’t know how you’d feel about it or what you’d do with the information,” mum said, rubbing her palms together in anxiousness. It was not just about knowing how I’d feel. I knew my mum was disappointed in me. I did the same thing she protected me against. The major reason I was prohibited, banned from getting a boyfriend. “I’m sorry, mum,” I choked out, covering my mouth to suppress my cries. “Shh! It’s okay sweetie,” she said, coming over and wrapping her arms around me. I’d just entered my room after seeing Vincent and had laid on my bed when mum told me she needed to tell me something. Somehow, I knew what she was going to say before she did. I’d felt it that time I was alone in Vincent’s room. Nausea, restlessness, and everything I felt right before that call. I am pregnant. One month pregnant. This meant I was two weeks pregnant
Anne My heart pounded against my chest in excitement as I walked towards Vincent’s room once again, now with high hopes. But deep down I knew that if I wasn’t granted this opportunity, I would have sorted it out myself, maybe in a less practical way, where I’d be escorted out of the hospital by the security. All the same, I knew I wouldn’t leave the hospital without at least having his hand in mine. I couldn’t sleep a wink last night. I was nervous, anxious, and filled with every feeling that’ll keep a 23-year-old pregnant woman awake throughout the night. Dr. Arya told me 7 o’clock, but I was already there by 6:45 am. I was too eager. I’d already brushed my teeth and taken my bath. I took my sister’s makeup stuff and brightened my face. I felt I looked malnourished and horrible with my pale skin and protruding bones, but that’d have to do. I couldn’t possibly grow more skin in a few minutes. I dumped my hospital gown and took one of my sister’s knee length white gowns and slipped
Anne “Who allowed you in here?” Rebecca whispered angrily. She didn’t want to shout because of her son, but I could see her anger alright. She even had tears in her eyes that showed the deepness of her anger and hatred towards me. Scared I clung to Vincent for dear life, silently hoping he’d open his eyes and tell his mom to stop. But I did promise I would fight for us, right? I wasn’t going back on that promise. “No one,” I responded in a shaky voice, trying not to get anybody else in trouble. “What do you mean, no one?” she asked in disbelief, turning to look at the guards who were already inside the room, fidgeting in their suits. I opened my mouth to say that I sneaked in but then I heard, “I let her in,” from the door. When I looked behind the raging woman, I saw Dr. Arya wriggle her way through the two bulky men and enter the room. “What?” Rebecca whispered, transferring her angry darts towards Dr. Arya. “I made her let me in,” I threw in, trying to take the heat off of h
Anne “It’s me, dear, your mother,” Rebecca said in alarm. “I know,” he responded in the same dry, croaky voice. He then shifted his gaze to me in reference. Rebecca looked at me and back at her son in shock. I could hear her mind wheeling. I saw her look at Dr. Arya expectantly, who was still as shocked as we all were. Soon enough, other doctors and nurses started trooping in. “Please step back, Mrs. Sawyer,” Dr. Arya told Rebecca, who obliged and made way for the doctors. I too took some steps back, with no single idea of how to process or act on the recent development. “Just his family members are allowed in here now,” one of the nurses said. Just then, I felt two pairs of hands grab my forearms. I turned my head and saw the two guards. “Please step out now,” Jack said kindly. I shook my head in vigorous rebuttal. “Ma’am… ma’am… please step out,” the nurse urged, coming to stand in front of me. “Please… he would want me here,” I pleaded in tears, trying to peel my arm from
Andrew “What did you do?!” This was one of those times my dad allowed his emotions bare. He was downright furious with my mum. We just found out that mum had ordered the security to send Anne and her family out of the hospital, then banned them from entering the premises. “I did what I had to do. I can’t let a mere child send both my sons to the hospital! I gave birth to them… she didn’t. Why does she have to make them fight for lives she never created?!” “You are way out of line, woman. This is my hospital, and they were under my care! You had no rights!” Dad boomed. “I do! I f**king do! When it comes to my babies, I would raise hell to protect them!” she yelled into his face with eyes wide and dangerous. This was happening in dad’s office, hours after we saw Vincent and were told of his current state. “Maybe you’ve forgotten, but he’s my son as well. He deserves to know about the woman he is in love with,” dad countered. “Over my dead body! You hear me, over my dead body! My
Andrew My mum was at it again. After several talks with the doctors concerning Vincent’s state of health, their diagnosis was that if he constantly sees or hears things that’ll trigger his brain to remember Anne, it was uncertain the impact it’ll have on him. There was a 50 percent chance it wouldn’t affect him negatively. The other 50 might be fatal, leading to him losing touch with reality or going completely brain dead. Whichever the case, they were certain reminding him of Anne would take a toll on his brain and health. Mum wasn’t going to test it. The whole situation only buttressed her hatred for Anne. “I want my son out of the country for a while,” she announced when she came home to personally select some changing clothes for Vincent. Dad and I just finished breakfast when she came and revealed her intentions. After some moments of silence, dad sighed deeply whilst looking down at his empty plates. After some more moments of silence, with mum still standing, waiting for a
Anne I felt a hand slip into my PJs and began walking its magic there. A moan escaped my lips as sensual pressure built in my core. I was lying on our king-sized bed with white sheets and a duvet, in our large bedroom. I’m too sleepy or maybe lazy to describe it. Just take this though, the walls are white. The side tables holding up the bedside lamps are also white but with golden designs along the edges, matching that of the bed frame, which has extra huge golden spirals on the tall headrest just above my pillow. By the corner, a long wooden cabinet that holds several drawers is attached to the wall. On top of the cabinet are different figurines and sculptures, then close to it is a magnificent white dressing table that houses my very few beauty products, and an equally magnificent mirror with the same golden design on its edges. There are two walk-in closets on opposite sides of the room. One is for Vincent and the other, mine. A second door closer to my closet lead to the bathroo
Vincent The heavens grumbled like an old giant before I began feeling splatters of droplets on me. I glanced up at the skies and smiled. It was as if it knew how I felt inside. It was a thunderous feeling. I sped past cars on Andrew’s bike, squinting to see clearly as the rain had begun pouring with reckless abandon. How didn’t I see it? How could one be so close, yet so far away?! I felt what I felt, but I just couldn’t see what I was supposed to see, simply because of amnesia. Now it’s all coming back to me! Like a waterfall crashing against the oceans, my memories came flooding in. “I’m coming, Anne. Just wait, okay? I’m coming,” I breathed, maneuvering through the impending hold-up that the rain caused. ‘Slow down you dumb-a**’ my mind warned. I listened to it and went slower till I was off the traffic and onto the small road leading to Anny’s. My heart pounded against my chest as I neared her apartment. The gate that’d had been there when I rented the place for her was un
Vincent Arya made it sound like I had the best of times with her. She may be right because the feelings I had for her couldn’t have been created by mere moments. We must have gone through thick and thin for me to have realized what I had and cherish it. Arya made me to almost desire to stay back and savage the little I could from all we had left. I couldn’t. Because I was hurt. I lost my memory. I couldn’t remember any of my time with her, or even her face, yet I couldn’t get myself to make love to any other woman. She had all the knowledge. She knew all the bits and pieces of our trials and tribulations, but the moment I step out of the picture, she finds solace in the arms of my brother. Now, she has a baby for him. I couldn’t live with that. Her love for me didn’t nearly match the way I felt for her. I couldn’t fight when she’d already given up a year ago. Why didn’t she come after me? Why didn’t she make plans to make me remember slowly? She only comfortably devised plans
Anne The knock on the door made me jerk and involuntarily drop the scissors outside the bathtub. Andrew couldn’t have been back so early, and definitely won’t be knocking gently. Pamela wouldn’t too. Who could be knocking? My dead heart arose and, like a diver, dipped into the pit of my stomach as the thought of Vincent being the one at the door entered my head. It couldn’t be, could it? He should be in the airport now if he wasn’t on the plane already. I didn’t really care to check the time since Andrew left. Is It possible that Andrew had talked Vincent out of leaving? That’ll be if he saw him on time. I didn’t want to ignite my hope only to watch it explode in my face yet again. I’d wanted to wait a bit to see if the caller would go away, but then the knocking would wake Lucia, who’d begin crying and wake my mother. That thought made me hurriedly step out of the bathtub. My legs were wobbly from all the fear and trepidation of what I’d decided to do. I gingerly put one foot i
Anne I carefully carried sleeping Lucia and placed her on the duplicate cot in my mum’s room. I slowly and noiselessly stepped back and out of a room, throwing a glance at my mum, who was snoring lightly on her bed. I then switched off the light and shut the door behind me. Finally, the time has come. I made sure I locked all the doors for the night before heading to my room. Pamela had come earlier and suggested staying with me till Andrew comes or calls. Andrew must have called her to come. Well, I refused all her persistence and almost got angry at her stubbornness. She’d grudgingly accepted to leave. In my room, I took out a pen and scribbled down a few thoughts of mine. I hadn’t time to write a full epistle because I was hurting badly. If I did have the time, I would have written long notes to every one of the people I know who would be hurt by my actions. I’d wanted to live for Lucia, but seeing her face, eyes and long hair reminded me so much of him. One would think that wo
Vincent “We need to talk, Arya,” I said, watching her enter the parlor. She stretched her mouth into a thin line, nodding her head in agreement. “We’re finally having the talk,” she said, removing her jacket and dropping it on the couch alongside her bag. “Alright, I’m ready,” she said, after sitting down on the couch opposite mine. Silence engulfed us for minutes. It was as if we both knew where all this was headed. “Arya, I’m sorry,” I began. “I thought I could do it, but I can’t. It would be a total mess marrying me in this state. You guys were right, I’ve not healed entirely, and I shouldn’t have come back here…” I had my eyes on her the entire time, gauging her reaction. She simply looked back at me without a flinch. “Arya, let’s call off the wedding,” I conferred. She didn’t respond or divulge any emotion that showed how she felt about what I said. After what felt like ages, she inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, then cleared her throat. “It’s sad. Honestly, I prayed it w
Andrew My brother has been ignoring me ever since I took him to see Anne a day ago. I don’t know what he was thinking, but for him to be acting this way, his thoughts weren’t in our favor. Anne had gone there to meet with him that same day while I’d gone straight to the studio. I was going to call Anne and ask how it transpired, but we finished so late at night and I was so exhausted that I passed out immediately my head touched my pillow back at our family house. The next day, I called Anne, but she didn’t answer. I called Vincent, but he, too, ignored my calls. So, after my recording session, I’d gone to Vincent’s but when I saw my mum’s car parked in front of the house, I made a U-turn and headed for Anne’s apartment instead. It was a sunny afternoon. I got there and met her coiled up on her bed, crying her eyes out once again. Racheal and Pam were there trying to make her eat her food. “You’ll make Rachael miss her doctor’s appointment, Anne,” Pam had warned. That was the only
Vincent Mum had threatened to take Anne’s baby away from her. She’d told me how she'd contacted her lawyers and had every paperwork done so that once Arya and I leave, the real work starts. “No, mum,” I’d refused. “Son, that our grandchild there. She cannot live in the slums,” she’d argued. “I’ve been there, mum. It’s not a slum, and Andrew is more than capable of caring for that child,” I countered. I was hurting real bad. I felt like I was drowning… it was overwhelming. Having these massive conflicting emotions, then having to stick up for what I believed was right, was slowly killing me. “Son, she has to pay for what she’d done to us! She cannot go scot-free. My husband and I, for over a year, have had no meaningful conversation because of her. He’d gone rigid around me,” she said in tears. “He’d not touched me for over a year because of that witch, Vincent,” she divulged bitterly. “She created a rift between your brother and yourself in the past, now, a much bigger one by hav
Vincent ‘Anne.’ I guess that’s her real name. It actually rang a bell. I remember pronouncing that name, and it must have meant so much to me because whenever I called it out, which I was doing often since that time with Arya in the kitchen, I felt a cacophony of emotions attack me. There was peace, followed by fear, then agitation, trepidation, fury, and what have you? It was strange. Her name held so much power, yet I couldn’t still remember. It was frustrating! “Have you booked the tickets, Vin?” mum asked from where she sat on the couch. She’d come around right after Arya left the house. Arya has been giving me the silent treatment ever since I mistakenly called her the name that tormented my subconscious, the day before. “Yes, mum,” I replied grudgingly from the dining table where I was getting some reading done. “Have you heard from dad?” I asked. “No, hun, but don’t you worry, he would be available for the wedding. I just received his clothes from his tailor. We’ll be tr