"You have everything you need?"
"Yep"
Mama eyed my violin like its some kind of destructive weapon, I touched her face and gave her a kiss in the forehead.
"Come on mama, you know that I can't live without my instrument."
"Well, I just want you to have some fun without thinking of anything related to music"
I laughed at her as she began to explain her side and when she sees that I'm not going to leave my violin behind she gave up and pouts at me.
"Ma, you're not a teenager anymore to act like that"
Her eyebrows creased and she let out a sign.
"I know, I know. Come on we don't want you to be late for your flight or your father would have a second thought about you leaving. I should not asked him in the first place."
That night when mama asked daddy if I could take a vacation, a breather from my daily life it's the first time my dad looked like he's going to hurt mama because of it. Of course he loves my mom so much but the thought of me having a vacation makes him uncomfortable, I guess. But in the end he just nodded and stormed at their bedroom, mama said that it's not a success but still she pack my things in a hurry and book my flight as soon as possible.
"Cloud would meet you at the airport okay, don't go anywhere "
I nodded and bid my farewell, I even see that she's teary eyed. Mothers tend to be emotional, my mother is a good example of it. Especially, treating me like a ten year old kid.
The flight would take a day so I buckled up my playlist and some movies that I could watch.
When I was about to take a nap that's when the flight attendant asked me if I needed something. I just stared at her, really? What is she doing here? She was also taken aback like she sees some ghost.
"Arri, I'm glad that you're fine"
"Never knew that I would see you here, Sanya"
I mentioned that I don't have any friends as I recalled, but I do have a bestfriend. Sanya is a year older than me, she lives just a block away from me and dreams about being a flight steward cause well their pretty and all. I paused the piece that I'm listening to so that my whole attention is in her.
"Can we talk for a second? "
I nodded, I'm not the type of person who talks a lot but I think that we really need to talk or clear some things.
"You know that I'm really sorry about what happened right? I don't know what to do that time"
"Well, you can asked for help maybe. Instead helping that girl to take my position as a soloist at the music uni"
I'm already a soloist before I even had my degree but having a solo in the music university is something that I dream of, I want to feel that I own this hardship but instead I'm sent at the hospital.
"I'm really sorry"
I looked at her with disgust and left her. The moment I sit back at my seat I played the piece that I'm listening to and try to think about that day. If no one sees me, maybe I could even play my instruments in this day.
Reminiscing the past is one of my thing, you see I have Dilated cardiomyopathy or DMC I inherited it from my grandfather at my mother fathers', this type of illness occurs when your heart muscle is too weak to pump blood efficiently. The muscles stretch and become thinner. This allows the chambers of your heart to expand. Also know as the enlarged heart.
My heart doesn't beat the same as a normal person does. I have a great risk to cardiac arrest but I'm taking a great care of myself. But that day is different, I felt dizzy, my breath became shorter than my normal days, and suddenly I felt weak like I'm too tired. I thought that maybe it's because of my nervousness before going to the stage, but I'm wrong. I started to vomit and have some heart palpitations. I calmed my nerves but it's no use, a girl I think that one is eyeing on becoming the soloist that day sees me. I asked for help but the bitch just looked at me, I don't even remember her name. She then leave the place, in the first place it's my fault. I have this habit on going to secluded places before the concerts or tour starts just to gave time to myself to think.
Sanya arrived the next minute though, I'm relieved to see her but the next thing she did shocked me. She looked at me and started to run away from that place. In an instant I knew that she would not help me. Then everything went black.
For two months I'm under Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome or (UWS), It is a result of a traumatic brain injury such as diffuse, bilateral cerebral cortical degeneration and anoxia, or encephalitis which causes the brain to halt the ability to create thoughts, experience sensation, and remember past events. The cardiac arrest that I got result to this that for the whole two months the only thing that I did is open my eyes, have basic reflexes to actions, and wake up or fall asleep at various intervals. I even had a mechanical assistance just to maintain my heartbeat.
Gladly, I recovered from it cause if I didn't then maybe I can't even stand up on my own. I'm so angry with what happened that afterwards Sanya and I didn't even talk and my family and I got a vacation at Switzerland.
I looked outside the window, I'm just really glad that I'm alive right now.
I want to ask my cousins if they could play the 33 Small Pieces, for String Quartet (1888–89) of Sibelius. I've been eyeing this piece for a long time but I don't know who to asked to play it with. When I was in Harvard there a lot cause we need it though but now thinking back. I should really stick with them so that it would be easy to perform or just play when I wanted to. I'll just ask them to play some specific ones when I got there.
As usual, Cloud is late. Can't blame him, he must be tired from his shifts at the hospital. He's taking his time apparently and the sight of my violin makes my hand itchy to touch it. So instead of playing here, cause I'm embarrassed to make a scene I pulled my earpods from my bag and select the concerto that I want to play last time that I did the solo. If daddy just think before that Sibelius is my first love then I would be happy at this point of time.
I got this habit that I would use my right arm as the fingerboard and of course tapping my left hand into it. I'm getting into the piece when someone snatched one of my earpods. I looked at him, irritated from what he'd done. When I'm getting already at the good part!
"You always got time to practice even mentally don't you?"
"And you always got the nerve to destroy my focus don't you?"
Cloud smirked at me and put his arm in my shoulder.
"Come on, Princess Arri where waiting for you"
I just laughed at his gestures, if someone sees us they instantly think that Cloud is my boyfriend instead of my cousin.
"Why are you late anyway? "
"Overslept "
"You don't have any shifts at the hospital? "
He smirked once again and that irritates me.
"I got another business to attend to, so I quit being a nurse for a while"
I looked at him in confusion and he just looked at me with amusement.
"I'll let you meet my two boss then"
.
.
.
Pieces used:
Violin Concerto in D minor op. 47 Sibelius
https://youtu.be/5gwjkFoBX4Y
[33 Small Pieces], for String Quartet (1888–89) Sibelius
-Allegro in E Minor, js 28
-Allegreto in A Major, js 17 and Piü Lento in F Major, js 149
-Adagio in F Minor, js 14
-Allegreto in B flat Major, Fuga for Martin Wegelius, js 85
https://youtu.be/SSRduatFxOg
En Saga (A Fairy Tale) Sibelius
https://youtu.be/4767gzyJIrc
Articles used:
https://diseasesdic.com/apallic-syndrome-or-unresponsive-wakefulness-syndrome-uws-causes-diagnosis-treatment-and-prognosis/
https://www.healthline.com/health/cardiac-arrest#symptoms
https://www.healthline.com/health/heart-disease/cardiomyopathy#types