Her Life He Wrote

 A DIFFERENT WOMAN opens the steel door. She has been banging it for minutes like a captive being chased by her perpetrator. The unresponsiveness of the person inside extremely upsets her. Every solid blow of her fist against the silver metal trumps on the wild cries and shrill screams of the deranged patients cared for by the hospital.  Although it irks to think that Kagan wouldn’t even let her in, she puts the crazy thought aside. Even if she knocks down this steel barrier, he wouldn’t care about it, rather he'd only curl up in fright. When she sets foot into the office, his broad back welcomes her as she finds Kagan standing before the window. The wrinkles in his asylum gown are visible as if he had been pressed.  

  "K-KACHINA?"   My eyes narrowed down as we settled offshore. Deciphering the facial features of the stranger, I wanted to make sure it was Kachina who rescued me.   For if it indeed was her, she had come to not disappoint me. Perhaps, lying to me that she could not make it was all along part of plans. What she really meant was to surprise me, and she did.   The moonlight glowed overhead while I collapsed on the sand, catching my breath. I smiled despite the attempt of wanting to become a shipwreck myself.   I oathed to ridicule the stars, laugh at them till I shed no tears because they were wrong to have made fun of my misery.   Right in the middle of the ocean, a good soul redeemed me. Someone lifted me up from my burdens. Someone still wanted me to live.   The woman also sunk beside me. I stared at her while she gasped for air. Water dripped