My Short Story

To Mother

I saw a smile from a woman, the sincere smile from a woman that loved me very much. Then, I cried and hugged her. I apologized to her. She asked me to stop crying. She promised me not to go anywhere. She promised me to be there when I need her.  She asked me to be calm and she held my hand for a while. Then two women who wore white clothes pushed my bed. They would take me to a room. My mother hugged me once more before two other women that wore green clothes and green head caps, like shower cap, pushed my bed into a room. It was a white cold room.  I can saw the light of the lamp over my head. The women asked me to be calm and two men came. One of them injected me. I started feeling sleepy. I slept.

***

I was in front of my house. I saw me, myself, a girl with a bright smile. She got ready to go. I could see that she brought two briefcases.  “Is it a dream?” “Yes of course, it is a dream.” “I was in the cold room before and now I can see myself a year ago.” I answer my own question. I saw myself in 2011.

 I was getting ready to go to Bandung. I was a seventeen-year-old girl when I went to Bandung. I was an ordinary girl who came from Yogyakarta. My mother named me Annisa. It was a short name that meant a woman. My friend always called me Nisa. I don’t have any brothers or sisters. I only lived with my mother. I was very happy because I could leave Yogyakarta. No, I meant, I was very happy because I could leave my mother. Actually, I wanted to live separately from my mother because our relationship isn’t too good. Now, one of my dreams came true.

My mother, with her frozen expression, said, “take care honey, don’t forget to call me my sweet Nisa.” “Okay, I will call you. There was a paused. If you are not always busy I will call you mom.” My mother felt guilty. I could saw it from her eyes. Her frozen brown eyes changed to sad eyes. “Don’t cry Mom,” I said to my mother. “Don’t be too sad, we met rarely, don’t we? So, there is no problem if I leave you alone in Yogyakarta.” “Yes, you are right sweetie, take care don’t forget to call me,” she tried to smile. However I know that she was very sad. She let me go and saw my car disappear.

***

I was under the mangoes tree, in front of my house, saw the black car went away from my house. The seventeen-year-old Nisa was in that car. I ran to catch that car. Surprisingly, when I thought about the black car, I moved into that car. I sat beside the girl with a bright smile who wore a yellow t-shirt. I could see her texting some messages but he couldn’t see me.

Now, the environment changed. I wasn’t in the car anymore. I was in the yard seeing a girl that I know very much looked sad. She is me. She stared at a girl that went away from her. The girl looked very happy. I remembered at that time Kisi, my best friend in the college, left me alone when I wanted to tell her a story. She became busier since she had a boyfriend. I felt lonely.

Kisi was my best friend. She wasn’t only a friend for me but also a mother. At the first, I was very happy because I thought Kisi could replace a figure of a mother. However, I knew that I couldn’t always depend on Kisi. She had her own life. I knew that a friend couldn’t replace a family. Now, I missed my lovely mother so bad.

I was surprised hearing someone cried near me. “Who is crying?” asked I to myself. I realized that now I wasn’t in the yard anymore. “Where is it?” “Oh I know this room!” I answer my own question. This was my room in Bandung. I could see the blue wall, the color that I loved very much. I saw a photograph on my table. In that photograph Kisi and I laughed. We looked very happy. Suddenly, I heard the sound of the crying become louder and I looked for the sound.

I saw a seventeen-year-old Nisa in the corner of the room. See sat holding her knees. She stared at the paper near the photograph. It was the laboratory check up result that showed that she suffered brain tumor. At that time, she decided to call her mother and told her about this condition. I remembered, my mother and I could only cry at that time.  My mother decided to go to Bandung on the next day.

Now, I wasn’t in my room in Bandung anymore. The environment had changed. I saw myself held my mom’s hands. I cried and apologized to her. It was the time before I was operated. In front of the operation room I could see my mother. “I’m sorry mom, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I repeated those words as many as I could. Suddenly, everything became dark, I could hear a woman called my name, “Nisa ,Nisa, Nisa.”

I wake up from my long dream and saw the face of my mother. I was very happy and hugged her.  I’m so sorry mom, I’m…. My mother stopped my words. “Don’t tell about those words anymore sweetie,” she smiled. My mother told me that the operation was successful. I showed that there was a strange expression on my mother’s face. However, I didn’t want to ask about that. I said that I want to take a rest and asked my mother to eat. Suddenly the doctor came to check my condition.

***

Nisa had already changed and she showed that she loved me very much. Seven days, after the operation she asked me to slept near her and she told me about her dream when she was being operated. She said, “I am very lucky to have you as a mother, Mom.” I cried, “me too Nisa, I’m very lucky to have you….” “Don’t cry Mom, I want to sleep,” she interrupted. She slept. I could see the smile on her face. When I held Nisa’s hands, I was shocked. She was very cold. I cried and call her name, “Nisa! Wake up sweetie, Wake up!"