Episode2
275 Words
PRESENT DAY:
The sound of the alarm clock fills the room and wakes Zara from sleep. She groaned as she sat up on the bed . It was her 23rd birthday, 3 years after being diagnosed with asthma. Zara had finally gotten used to living with it . She learned to tolerate it even though she didn’t like the pain it came with. Her years have been filled with failed relationships, abandoned dreams and a quiet social life. Still, Zara survived and slowly adapted to the new life.
Before she could go deep into her thoughts, her parents and younger brother rushed in singing and clapping. While she appreciated the effort of being serenaded by her family, that discomfort came up and Zara remembered how much she hated being treated like a child. No matter how she tried to be independent, her parents' fears always stood in her path. Living under her parents came with a lot of pressure and suffocating rules. Every will she had to make decisions for herself and her freedom ended the day she was diagnosed.
“Zara, you have to get ready for your party today,” her mom spoke up after the singing had ended. “ Your father and I planned something small, and we invited a few people.”
Zara nodded obediently because that’s all she could do. The last time she disobeyed ,she was lying in the hospital bed gasping for air and fighting for her life . The memory still lingered in her head. She saw the fear in her parents' eyes and the trauma it put her family through, so she promised to always comply.
- Writer
