"Is my wife alright...?"
"I'm afraid not, Mr. Deone. We can save one of them only... your daughter or your wife."
"What?! No! I can't! I don't't want to do that..."
The two adult male voices faded in the mind of the young boy, rather, the child - he was only three years old - who was standing in front of the two men, trying to comprehend what they were saying.
One of the men, tall and muscular, kept glancing at a door with his brown eyes - which were sparkling with tears - trying to get a glimpse of the woman, his wife, who was inside of the operating room.
This brown-haired and bearded man was the little child's father. The child looked at his father with a worried expression. "Dad?" He asked, but was given no attention.
The child then looked at the other man, dressed in a white coat with a surgical mask hanging from one of his ear and some sort of cap - a shower cap? - on his head. The little one could figure out with his small and young mind that the latter had to be a doctor.
But that was about all the kid could understand.
He heard a few confusing and new words like "abortion" from time to time but he didn't understand the situation. He just couldn't. And his father, who seemed to be confused and stressed himself, refused to give his son any answer or attention.
His mind solely dwelled on the condition of the love of his life and the new life that they had created. The bearded man grabbed his head in his hands; a million thoughts about his wife - her short blond hair, her piercing blue eyes - went through his head all at once.
Finally, the man had muttered something to the doctor. But suddenly, everything started to fall apart; the voices started to get distorted... the sounds around them had faded... the vision, a blur of lights and faces, hurtful to the eyes. But it didn't seem to bother anyone except the young child. A strong, hellish buzz filled his head as he held it in both hands.
Then he woke up.
*****
Gasping for air, Alex shot up from his bed, sitting up straight, and huffed. It had been a nightmare. But it was no ordinary nightmare for he'd had it everyday in his life of seventeen years. One would think that he should've been used to the terrible vision he had during his sleep considering how long and how many times he'd had it. But to him, it was still fresh, like an open wound - freshly stitched but cut over and over just to be stitched again.
However, he was used to being left with that feeling after waking up. Part of that feeling was relief - it hadn't been happening in real life, it was a one time thing only - and the other part being a mix of negative emotions.
That once young child, now teenager, knew well how to deal with the aftermath; he followed just a motto, his motto - get up and move on. Though he hadn't been successful in doing so, he tried, at least. So he touched the floor with his feet and dragged himself to the bathroom to get fresh.
The teenager glanced at himself in the mirror, while brushing his teeth. It was dirty, shattered at the corner, and foggy but he still managed to distinguish a pair of blue eyes and golden hair, ruffled and cut unevenly - for he had cut it himself as he always did - which he combed afterwards, giving it a neat, slicked back look. If it hadn't been because of the dark circles and visible exhaustion in his face, the teenager would've looked quite young... and handsome. Enough to even shock himself as he hadn't seen himself like that for years.
But the teenager didn't have the time to care for himself or to do something about his insomnia as he had all the responsibility on him. Or well, he had time, even after when he came back home from his work - a job which was unspoken of - but, simply, he didn't have the energy to do something about his situation. Whenever he had time he would try to utilize it keep his sister's stomach full.
In fact, his day would start with such as well. He had already woken up and done some chores before his sister - while still having an empty stomach - and the next thing for him was to cook breakfast. After that, he would peacefully wake his sister.
*****
"No, anak. You must wake up."
"Five... minutes... more..."
Hearing this for the umpteenth time, Lillie Dayanara Macodi Lindo got restless. She clutched the blanket and pulled it off of her son, who had already started snoring again.
"No!" He shrieked, his eyes still closed - they were bloodshot - and curled up. "Give me my blanket!"
Lillie sighed. The Filipino beauty hadn't wanted to wake her son this way. She knew it was very annoying for him but he would never leave her a choice. "Anak, you can't sleep all day. You need to wake up and be productive, John."
John lied on his back, crossing his arms and pursing his lips. "What's the point when I'm grounded anyway?"
Lillie had given up. "Fine. I'll give you ten more minutes, but no more than that. Do you understand, John Eric Huston?"
John's head perked up slightly; he hadn't liked it whenever she called him with his full name. But he understood that this was a serious moment for Lillie as she called him with his full name like she used to when she was serious.
The teen said "Fine by me." And turned to his side, closing his eyes. When he seemed to be asleep the Filipino beauty left her son's room. Then he finally opened his eyes. He had lost his sleepiness for long but his mother just wouldn't go away. Why wasn't she leaving him alone? Well, she finally had and that was good.
The brown haired teen sat up on his bed and ran a hand on his face. "I'm fuckin' tired." He mumbled to himself. Tired wasn't the proper word to address what he felt. He, like most teens his age, had been depressed. He was at that stage of his life and he was not fucking having it.
John noticed some liquid rolling down his left cheek. He wiped it immediately; he was no crybaby, no, not him. So he wouldn't cry nor sob. Not even a drop. After all, he had something called "ego" and he felt belittled by himself when he felt the hot tears. His sadness was nothing compared to actual depression, so he had thought.
"Anak! Are you awake yet?" A melodious voice was heard from the other side of the door. Mom.
*****
"I'm awake!" The blonde answered, "Seriously."
"Yes, that's why you're facing the wall with your eyes closed. You are seriously awake." The interrogator used his sarcasm, crossing his hands. His voice had a funny glint yet his blue eyes held that piercing and cold gaze at his sister.
The former opened her eyes. She hadn't realized she had sat up facing the wall opposite to the door where she was supposed to face. "Huh?" She mumbled, baffled. Then she turned around, facing her elder brother. "Oops."
Alex couldn't help but mentally smile at the innocence his sister portrayed in doing everything. Even just waking up was something cute and naïve to him, which was how he saw her. As good as that sounds, in other words however, it meant to him that his sister was very incapable of taking care of herself.
"Get fresh." Alex ordered, "Breakfast is ready." And then he left the room, leaving his very sleepy sister now touching the floor with her bare feet.
The young girl bent and shivered; she had only worn a sleeveless top and a panty in the cold weather of February. Not to mention, the girl wasn't nourished properly, due to their financial state. However, she wasn't exactly malnourished either. Her body was in no way petite, rather, it was quite the opposite; she was tall - almost five foot six - and had soft curves that made her body look very well developed already at fourteen.
The girl walked toward the bathroom to freshen up. As she stood in front of the mirror - the same cracked one that Alex stood in front of previously - she undid her bun and braided her waist-lenth hair. She then proceeded to follow her usual routine which included, chronologically, brushing her teeth, showering and changing into a different set of clothes.
As she was about to let the water hit her body, Alex suddenly yelled, addressing his sister, "Barbie!"
This one word had always made Barbie think why that was her name. To her she wasn't pretty enough to be called by the name of a doll. Sure, her blond hair and ocean-like blue eyes - the traits which both she and her brother had acquired from their mother - made her resemble the doll, but there was no way she was that beautiful. It had made her think even more than it should have because her name had been decided by her parents three months before she was born. What on earth were they high on that they named me this?
"Yeah?" Aloud, the girl asked Alex.
"You done yet?"
Barbie sighed and rolled her eyes. "I just stepped into the shower, Alex."
"Well, be quick. The food is already cold."
"As if that'll make it worse." The second it slipped from her mouth, Barbie regretted it. It was true, Alex wasn't the best at cooking and his food was only edible. Even Alex himself gagged one or two times while eating, and agreed that Barbie cooked much better. However he had no intention of letting her do it.
But still, Barbie shouldn't have said it. Obviously, she didn't mean to say it nor hurt Alex's feelings. So she bit her lip. Shit. She mentally cursed as she felt the uncomfortable silence after that statement of hers. The girl knew well Alex was furious. He was hot-headed and that only added to his anger.
Even though, he didn't say anything in response, she could tell easily from his heavy breathing that he was fuming with fury. I didn't mean to...
*****
"Are you going to exercise now?" Asked the about-to-be adult to his sister, who had finished breakfast.
"Yeah," the girl replied, "gotta stay in shape."
Alex stood up from his bed - they had no dining room in the tiny house they lived, so they ate in his room - and took the plates to wash them in the kitchen area. "What's the point," he started before leaving, "if you can't put it to use?" And then he left to go to the kitchen.
Barbie didn't reply to that question, since she knew it would be of no use, and simply let her feet take her out of the house. Her exercising routine had begun.
The girl started by walking in the black leggings and t-shirt she wore to the nearest park. Not really a park, she thought to herself, more like a forest.
It was true; it was more of a forest than a park, which it once used to be. At present, it was just a small grassy field that led to a deep forest. The forest was so deep that there were rumors about dangerous, wild animals living there. Nobody dared to search the truthfulness of the statement and so the park was abandoned. But only she knew that those rumors were mere lies - she had spent large portions of her day in the forest, well enough to know there weren't anything but trees and mud.
After fifteen minutes of walking, the girl had reached her destination. It was as it always had been since she discovered the place; a small field, dusty, followed by the said forest, filled with big and small trees and bushes. And this place, to her, was more home than the "house" she lived in with her brother.
How could it be, anyway? Who would ever call an old, useless house, filthy and disgusting, their home? Definitely not her, no. The house she spent ten years of her life was much better. No, it wasn't comparable to the shit-hole in any way. Besides, she had found the park before moving to that shit-hole.
What did that shit-hole, her so-called "home", had, anyway? Yes, at their financial state, that house gave a roof on their heads, a place to sleep and met the requirements of putting food in their mouths and to Alex it had been enough. Whatever his job was - he'd always avoided anything linked to his job and refused to tell Barbie what it was - it brought in money by the hardwork of Alex. The girl's brother was satisfied as much as he could be.
But Barbie wasn't.
The girl had different desires; a two storey house with separate rooms, that was all. Even a clean house, without any sort of filth was fine. It wasn't much to ask for. But of course she had to push those thoughts away everytime they came. Their financial state wouldn't support such "luxury".
It was at this point that Barbie realized she was drifting away too much. So, without delving any deeper, she continued on with the rest of her routine.
♤♡◇♧
Word Count: 2263