Technically Incorrect (Two)
"Aaron, she's awake already" It was May's voice. It took a while for my eyes to properly adjust to the lights around me.
"Where are my kids?"
"What do you mean? You don't have kids" May looked confused
"I do. Three of them. Where's Eleanor? Is she awake?"
Aaron had walked in at this time and they were now staring at me without uttering a word. I needed answers and I wasn't getting any so I kept at it.
"There was a guy. The girls called him daddy and called me mummy. I ... I ..." I began to stutter.
I was finding it difficult to recall what happened and was starting to feel my head ache at the same time. I felt my head twitch and everywhere became blurred for a while.
"You should not be stressing yourself. You need a lot of rest. Here, drink" Aaron said as he offered me what looked like a cup of coffee.
May looked uneasy, like she hadn't been having enough sleep. Something was bothering her but I couldn't even think straight. I was yet to understand how I came back here and what all these mean.
"Excuse us Kathy, we'll be right back" but I wasn't in the mood to talk so I just watched them leave.
"Do you think ..."
"Keep your voice down May or she'll hear us"
"Okay but do you think she's going to find out" May was trying so hard to stay calm.
She had watched Kathy sleep throughout the night and wondered what she might be going through.
She didn't sign up for this, it wasn't her fault she got picked up.
She knew she couldn't correctly imagine how Kathy would be feeling and it was probably a waste of time but she couldn't help it.
That was only a few hours ago and now there are signs that her worst fears might be around the corner.
"...so what do you suggest we do?" were the words that made May realize Aaron had been talking to her all along.
"I'm sorry, I got lost at some point. You were saying?"
This was not the time to get worked up so Aaron calmly repeated himself.
"I think we should try to keep her awake as much as possible."
"My thoughts exactly." There were more questions in his head though. How would they keep her awake?
"I don't know how we'll do that but we'll find a way" May said as though she had suddenly become a mind reader. They both walked back into the room to find me fast asleep.
Well that's what I made them think. For some weird reasons a voice in my head told me to do that. It said it knew I had questions and if I followed instructions, I'll get all the answers I needed.
Aaron and May began to panic when they saw me sleeping. I could feel it in their voice especially May's. There were sounds here and there, things were falling over.
"Get yourself together May!" Aaron's scream almost shot me out of bed. May couldn't do it. She couldn't get herself together. She burst out in tears.
"I can't do this anymore Aaron."
"Yes you can May. You can and you will! Now get me those..."
"I won't get you anything anymore. I don't want to do this anymore. We can't just take somebody's daughter and try to make her ours. Our baby is gone. It's something you have to learn to live with."
I could no longer close my eyes. The voice had said it was okay to watch and so I did.
I watched Aaron sink into the chair by the door. His frame was that of a dejected man. The smile on his face, the first thing I saw on him, was no longer there. It was as though it was never there.
May was sobbing uncontrollably now. "My Kathy can't just leave me like that. It's not fair."
"I know it's not fair. Life is not fair but it is what it is."
May moved closer to Aaron and sat on the floor beside him.
"You feel so bad about Kathy, I do too. She shouldn't have left for the train station that day. It was all my fault. I should have..."
"No it wasn't your fault. Don't say that."
"It was my fault" May continued "I saw the news late. I should have called to warn her earlier."
"Warn her?" Aaron looked bewildered. "Warn her about what? Nobody knew what those bastards were planning. They caught us all by surprise."
"No they didn't." May shook her head slowly as though the images were replaying in front of her.
"I knew it would happen but I knew it late and I thought I could get home on time before she left for the station. I should have called her."
Tears were beginning to roll down my eyes. It felt like my soul had left to share her body with her soul and I could feel all she was feeling. The tears kept flowing. My tears, May's tears until Aaron saw me.
"She's awake" he tried to whisper in May's ear.
"She's awake" he said again and this time she raised her head to look at me. She must have seen the tears in my eyes because she jumped to her feet immediately and came to my side.
"I'm sorry about your loss" I managed to say. The silence that followed was intense, no one was going to say anything. It was a lot to take in and we all knew that some time to heal was desperately needed.
With time the tears dried up. "You heard everything, now what are your questions?" Aaron finally spoke out.
He must have had to muster all the courage left in him for that statement he made. He knew he had to let me go and he also had to let Kathy go. Kathy was dead and I could never be his Kathy.
"Who am I and how did I get here?" I asked.
Well done! Starting out with a mystery is an excellent way to go, and that was an excellent hook for a last line. I look forward to more!
Hopefully I'll be able to keep up lol.
Thank you 😊