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| Sunday, 7 August 2005 |
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Short story
The Fatal Mistake She was desperate. She had to find a way to break the news to her family. Yet it was not an easy task. She felt that she had put it off, long enough as it is. Besides, her family had a right to know her situation. So she made up her mind, that however hard it maybe for her, she was going to do it today.
She was tossed to a far corner of the bus and couldn't quite recollect for a while. When she finally came to her senses, she checked herself for any injuries. Except for a few cuts and bruises, she was okay. But then she remembered Kamani. She looked about frantically and found her lying in a pool of blood, a little way off. Hospital Kamani was immediately rushed off to hospital. She accompanied her there. It was evident that Kamani was desperately in need of blood. So knowing that both their blood groups were the same,she was glad to be of some service by being able to donate some blood to her best friend. But she was deprived of having the satisfaction of saving her friend's life. She still remembers the doctor's serious face and his brisk tone as he gravely informed her that she had leukaemia. The green walls and the dazzling white of the hospital corridor, seemed to revolve around her and became a great big green and white blur. The smell of the hospital sickened her. She wasn't sure that she had him correctly. She asked the doctor to repeat himself as she desperately hoped against hope, that she had misunderstood the doctor's words. But her hearing proved to be perfect. She listened with numbness as the doctor repeated himself slowly and carefully as if talking to a child. She was sure, that she was dreaming. She smiled slowly to herself as she waited for the hallucination to end. But the hospital smell, overpowered her and brought her back to reality. She now realised that the doctor had been watching her reaction and now he was studying her face intently. It took a few more minutes for reality to sink in. As the situation slowly dawned on her, the faces of her family and friend's played before her eyes like a frieze. As all these things swirled around her, the hospital smell became stronger than ever. Her stomach lurched and she threw up, right on the hospital carpet. Reality She was jolted to reality, as the bus screeched to a halt. She hastily got down from the bus and made her way, as slowly as possible, towards her house. Gambling for time, she conjured up various ways, to break the horrible news to her family as mildly as she could. But all was in vain. So she chose the short and the straightforward path. She could already smell her mother's cooking. As she turned the lock, she had hoped to go up to her bedroom unnoticed, but as she entered, a huge bunch of people suddenly sprang upon, her screaming 'happy birthday'. 'Oh my God!' she thought as she was smothered with hugs and kisses by everyone. "I forgot my own birthday." Everyone was in high spirits but the enthusiasm did not touch her. She obediently blew out the candles on her birthday cake. Her birthday wish this year was for a quick and a painless death. She excused herself, complaining of a headache and went to her room. She heard the guests leave one by one. She was now anxious to get the leaden weight out of her heart there and now. She emerged out of her room and found her younger brother and sister working their way through the remaining of the birthday cake. She left them to proceed and peeped into the dining room. She was greeted by her mother with a fond kiss on the forehead as she concernedly asked her how her head was doing. They were worried that she was coming down with something and they continued fussing over her for a while. She could not bear it any longer as her eyes were now welling up with tears. So she got up and left the room quite abruptly. As she locked her bedroom door, she could still hear the concerned voices of her parents discussing her health. Concern Is it her concern for them that had prevented her from revealing her awful secret? Or was it sheer cowardice? She had seen and heard enough of how the families of cancer victims suffer. Her uncle too had died from a cancer and she had gone through the terrible, agonizing years of pain and suffering, and the fear of losing him haunted her every waking moment. She had seen it all and gone through it all. She wasn't sure that she wanted her family to experience the same dread and fear. She peeped out once more from her room towards the living room. She could hear squeals of laughter and exclamation coming from there. She felt so desolate and left out. She wondered how they would get on with life once she was gone. A peal of laughter, disturbed her train of thoughts. She felt angry. Angry at her family, for not being as miserable as her, angry at the doctor who informed her that she had leukaemia, angry with Kamani for getting hurt and angry at the truck that crashed into them. Angry She was angry at herself and Kamani for getting on that very bus, but most of all, she was angry with herself. She was angry for being so helpless and cowardly in this situation. She pictured her family now, watching television in the TV lobby, her brother and sister fighting for the remote control and her parents trying to make peace between them. How could she intrude this perfectly happy family by the horrible news of her approaching death? No, she couldn't do that. She wouldn't be so selfish. They don't have to endure years of suffering on her behalf. Once she was gone they would soon forget her. Naturally, they will be quite miserable for a year or so, but after that they would get on with their lives. So why trouble them? It's better than all those years and years of suffering not knowing when the end will arrive. So she made her final resolution. She took out the bottle of sleeping pills, that she kept in her dressing table drawer and emptied it all onto her palm. She gazed at it, for a while and muttered her last good byes to her family and apologised for so sudden a departure. "So many pills" she thought as she remembered how in her childhood, her mother had coaxed her to take her medicine by offering her sweets. She smiles at the thought. She wondered how many sweets her mother would offer to her, for this hand full. She was about to pop the pills in to her mouth as her cell phone rang. She jumped up, startled, scattering all the pills in the process. She muttered a curse under her breath and pondered over the thought of picking it up, since it would be her last phone call, she decided to pick up the phone. Mistake "Hello" "Hello, is this Ms. Rathnayake?" "Yes, who is this?" "This is Dr. Gunathilake, I understand that you were diagnosed with Leukaemia last week?" "Yew I was." "Well I'm very happy to inform you that there had been a slight mistake. Somebody has mixed up your blood sample with your friend's. It turns out that your friend is the Leukaemia patient. I am very sorry for the inconvenience it has caused you. Hello....Are you still there? "Um.....yeah I'm still here." "So once again, I apologize on behalf of the hospital and the staff. This type of clumsy mishaps won't ever occur in the future, I promise you." "Um...yeah, That's great. Thanks for letting me know." Once again her head was swimming. She almost slipped on the pills that lay scattered all over the floor, as she clumsily made her way towards the living room. "My family" she thought with fondness as a wave of love and affection surged within her. "They need me." Once again, the walls revolved around her and she felt faint. But this time, she was not afraid. She was happy. Jayani Chathurika Senanayake, Grade 12, Viharamahadevi Balika Vidyalaya, Kiribathgoda. |
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She remembered that awful day, when she first discovered that she was
suffering from Leukaemia. It was a Wednesday. She and her best friend
Kamani, were off for the day and were travelling home by bus. They never
saw the huge container truck that appeared out of nowhere and barged right
onto the bus. The passengers were thrown off their seats. 
