OliviaEzra, Alyssa, and I perched in the waiting area. I wondered if this was the hospital she worked at. But if she worked here, then why was she sitting with us and not on her duty? She probably was employed in some other hospital or a nursing agency. My heart was throbbing. Any of the veins attached to it could explode any moment sending me up there to God. Every time a nurse passed by, my body was ready to jump up to listen to what they had to say. Hopefully, they’d tell us that she’s alright now. And we can go meet her. And probably take her home with us a few hours later. My sight fell over Ezra’s fidgeting fingers. She appeared as anxious as I was. A faint smell of medicine which was continuously lingering around my nose grew stronger. I lay another glance at Ezra. She looked like her name. A nice middle-aged lady with short hair and a fair complexion. Which made me think if she looked like her name in her teens. I don’t know about other people but that is what an Ezra would
NOAHI was only 3 years old when my dad killed my mom. It was more of an accident; he unintentionally left the stove open. The LPG particles kept dashing out through the holes of the stovetop; the moment mom lit up her scented candle, tiny flares transformed into a blaze that grasped the appearance of a galactic fire roaring at the lake before it. Jenny and I were squabbling about who would get the chance to throw the ball for Coco first, as she stood beside me wagging her tail avidly, expecting any one of us to pitch the ball in the air at any moment for her to tail. Dad perceived fumes rushing out of the window of our lake house from hundred yards. He hurriedly sprinted towards the house and unbolted the door, only to discover an inferno that had engulfed the entire residence from inside and was dashing towards the rooftop. Mom was scarcely visible to dad’s sight. He was continuously crying her name at the top of his lungs and strived to breach the barrier of flames a couple of time
NOAH The meal I rustled up was narrowly edible. I placed the melamine plate, holding a gloomy bland fish, on the table before her. “I know it’s barely edible, but this is all that was present; no one lived here for over a long time, so we don’t have any groceries stocked.” “Oh, it’s more than enough. Thank you.” The girl sited on the couch wordlessly, consuming the fish flake by flake, unveiling no expressions. She was stern. Seeing her limp out of the house, I said, “It’s totally okay if you want to stay here until you can walk properly.” “Nah, I’m fine.” “You sure? The weather doesn’t look so appealing.” “I’ll be fine.” A dense layer of dark clouds concealed the sky; as the howling of gales worsened, she gradually diminished into the dark forest. I admired the hefty picture frame right before my eyes. It covered almost entire wall. I skimmed off the accumulated dust particles over dad’s nose. Life is a harsh truth; it abandons you with the last thing you ever
NOAH I took my shoes off and kept them on the porch. Mom's room door was wide open. The bed was empty. She wasn't there. Must've been to the bathroom. I took everything out of the bags and began preparing for breakfast. All of the crockeries were kept just as mom used to set them. But with a thick layer of dust. I spent more than half an hour washing a few dishes. That girl still hadn't come out. As time passed, my suspicion grew stronger that something was wrong. I hit an egg against the edge of the bowl. It was a mess. Reminded me of the time when dad smacked me in the face with an egg. I was eight. Jenny and I were playing Tag. Right when dad threw an egg at a cockroach on the kitchen wall, I ran in. No sane man would do that. Dad was sane. But he was paranoid about insects that could fly. I washed my hands and went to check on that girl. The bathroom door wasn't locked. There was no one inside. "Hey?" She was probably gone. I could see that she was reluctant to stay
NOAH 3 days later Glitter particles glistened on the dark fabric; the pattern was interrupted by a white glimmering sphere; its beams kissed the lake's water into the deepest grey. The scent from Wisterias, running my fingers through the velvety green hair of the land, and Ella’s giggles soothed my soul. Since we got married, Ella and I haven’t left the lake house. We don’t meet people. We only go to the grocery store and nearby places to get the stuff we need. That too together. She doesn’t let me slip out of her sight. “You never tell me about your family,” I said to her. “You are my family.” “Not me. Your parents. And sister,” I insisted. The more she refused to talk about them, the more curious I get. All I know is that she had a sister, who doesn’t talk to her anymore. Doesn’t even live in the same city. And her parents died when she was young. She doesn’t talk about the great times she had with them. Everybody has a good time with their parents. “There’s nothin
Noah The only subject for argument over these past months between us has been my refusal to visit a psychiatrist and Ella forcing me into it. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to ask for. What I needed to get peace. I wasn’t satisfied with my life. Even though I had a reason to. I could just ignore everything. And focus on my family. My wife. My future children. I didn’t know how to tell about my feelings. Feelings about Jenny luring me to meet everyone. But I hated it when she says that. I wanted to forget that I was the reason they died. I remember how she said to me that if mom knew she would be very disappointed. It was a mistake. Just a mistake. That cost me everything. And cost them their lives. I wiped my tears. My head rested on a squashy grey pillow while my eyes gazed out of the glass window at a lonely nightingale perched on a branch of the tree. Its head turned towards me; eyes set on mine. A moment later it cruised through the air scanning the ground below.
NOAH Jenny placed the white tile marked ‘m’ on the cell of the scrabble board, between ‘e’ and ‘a’. “This is not a real word,” I complained. “Yes, it is.” Jenny and I were sitting adjacent to each other on the bean bag in our toy room. A white wooden shelf stood vertical to the teal wall. Jenny fancied a mermaid-themed room while I had my heart set on a football theme, consequently, dad had the workers paint one wall as I wanted and the one opposite to it according to Jenny’s liking. Dad heard us quarreling and came to the room. “Dad Jenny’s cheating. She is losing so she made up some word.” Jenny answered as she got to her feet and wrapped both of her hands around dad’s, “Tasha taught me this word and he doesn’t know it so he’s calling me a cheater.” Dad beamed at her and walked over to the scrabble board. “Oh, honey.” He twinkled. “you’ve got your ‘e’ and ‘i’ misplaced, and there’s an ‘m’ missing over there.” He swapped the places of ‘e’ and ‘i’ tiles with one anot
OLIVIA I opened the door and let the ward boys in. They unbolted the handcuffs, grasped both of Noah’s arms, and took him to Lane’s office through a narrow hallway. I could tell he was in anguish, in extreme agony. Lane is one of the senior psychiatrists at The Montana Mental Health Institution. He is a white bald man, who appears as a beast but has a heart of an angel. No one in this place is capable of controlling the patients in the way he does. I recollect a memory when we had a patient named Arthur Brown. He was huge and menacing. Nobody would dare to go within his reach, this man used to sit beside him when he was not handcuffed. To everyone’s astonishment, Lane would walk out of Arthur’s room alive and untouched. Noah sat in the chair before Lane’s desk, he seemed drowsy. His long grey sleeves reached till his fingers; he was staring at Lane with a piercing glare. “I’m going to spend the next couple of sessions interrogating you about your health and life. Is that okay wi