Chapter 2
977 Words
Anna was pacing back and forth at the hospital emergency lobby. She was waiting anxiously while doctors were trying to save Lila. She lost a lot of blood and the prognosis was not very good.
Code blue. Code blue. Emergency room one. The loudspeaker suddenly called out.
Anna’s head jerked-up. That’s Lila!
Fear gripped her heart that very instant. She ran back to the emergency ward.
She has been asked out earlier against her protestations. She will not be chased away this time.
The emergency ward was a complete mayhem. No one paid Anna any attention when she walked-in.
A doctor was pumping Lila’s chest, stimulating her small body to respond, while barking orders to the rest of the crew. They all moved and worked in synch to get Lila out of the fog.
Anna watched, mesmerized. Her racing heart blocking her throat, restricting her from breathing.
Amid the commotion, Anna sensed another pair of eyes….. watching every move with interest.
A man in black, was standing opposite her, a few feet away from Lila’s bed. She remembered seeing him before. Then it hit her.
He was the reaper of Lila’s father!
And he was intently looking at Lila… seemingly, waiting.
Nooooooo….. Anna inwardly shouted. He can’t have her yet.
She was in anguish.
Without thinking, Anna walked purposely towards him.
She was a few steps away when Damien sensed her.
He looked-up, startled. A woman was looking directly at him.
But, it can’t be! No one can see him… or at least no human, living being can.
He looked into her eyes and that’s when he saw them.
Her eyes were glowing. Lights encircled the woman’s irises forming a halo.
Recognition was instant.
Damien froze.
Anna stopped in front of Damien. Her bright haloed eyes searching his face. Damien felt, rather than see, that she was distressed. Tears were pooling in her eyes, ready to fall.
She blinked and the dam broke. Tears fell freely down her red cheeks. The golden flecks in her irises sparked as her tears reflected the lights surrounding them.
Those eyes. How could he forget?
It was many years ago.
They have the same anguished look back then, and flashed just the same.
Just like now, she was staring at him intently then.
Damien remembered staring back at her…. Well, to a smaller version of her, that is.
He also remembered wanting to comfort her but doesn’t know how. She was about to lose someone she loved and there was nothing he could do to ease her pain.
He vividly recalled the little girl trying to walk towards him but her mother pulled her back. They talked in hushed tones. Her mama was explaining something but she was pushing back, and kept glancing at him.
After sometime, he heard her stutter “I promise…. I promise mama,” in between sobs.
Those eyes haunted him for a long time. They still do. Every time he carry out a task, he unconsciously looked for those eyes.
Maybe, just maybe, he can see them again. Then immediately regretted it, knowing the implication.
And now, Damien was staring back to those same eyes.
Is she the same girl? No, she can’t be.
It seemed only yesterday she saw them last. But that familiar tickle in the pit of his stomach told him otherwise.
Damien saw her stretch her hand-out… as if to touch him.
What is she doing?
He nearly stepped back out of her reach but remembered she couldn’t possibly touch him. No one can. No living, human being can.
Anna looked intently into his eyes determined not to look away.
His irises were as dark as oil. She saw herself reflected in them.
He was looking back, sizing her up. They gave her the sensation of getting swallowed, and she was afraid that if she stayed looking in them too long that she will be swallowed and there will be no way out.
She shuddered.
Yet, despite their dark cold pit, she strangely felt calmed and comforted.
She bravely touched his bare hand. His hand was stone cold at her first touch and she nearly flinched but she willed herself not to let go.
Her touch shocked Damien. He stood still, unable to move.
How could a mere human touch him?
His heart, which he has never even felt beat before, started to race and a warm sensation started to spread over his being.
Confused, Damien was unable to free himself from this unfamiliar sensation… nor does he want to.
“Please, let her be. She’s so young…. Please don’t take her this time,” she pleaded.
Her soft voice caressed his ears as her warm hand remained touching his.
Behind them, the commotion abated, and the beeping sound of the heart monitor as Lila’s breathing stabilized, was a welcoming sound.
“Welcome back little girl, you did very well,” the doctor, who was previously administering CPR, commended.
“That was a close call,” someone said.
The emergency team clapped each other’s backs as they started preparing to transfer Lila to a different room.
Anna heard the happy remarks and quickly withdrew her hand and ran to Lila’s side.
The detachment brought Damien back to present. In a daze, he suddenly felt bereft and lost.
Anna looked back, wanting to thank the Grim Reaper, but he was gone.
She looked at Lila, now breathing steadily. She quietly uttered, “I’m sorry mama, I did not keep my promise…. but I’m sure you would understand.”
- Writer
