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The room is quiet and comforting.
It was the 1st thing that came to mind when Elise opened her eyes. Not long ago she was lying in a white room with the necessary wires connected to her to survive. She was fighting something for a long period and not an ounce of comfort could relieve her of her pain.
Elise was about to close her eye when Anita came in with a mug of sopas and some pills. She put down the mug on the bedside table and opened the window. The afternoon breeze came in. This is the 1st time Elise could feel the wind again. It had been a decade long since she was admitted to the hospital and not a day the white room tortured her of solitude.
“Should I close the window instead, darling?” Anita asked. Anita, Elise’s mother is looking older day by day. She was a fine young maiden when Dario her husband, met her in a dance in the plaza. The latter swept off her feet and they eloped thus Elise came. The pregnancy took something of Anita- her beauty and figure, in her 4th month Dario started sneaking out with the neighbor’s wife. Soon Anita was left with a pregnant belly and gave birth to Elise prematurely.
Elise looked at her mother and declined, “No mama, let it be.” Anita just looked at her daughter and give her a full smile. “Don’t you think it’s a little windy today ma?” she continued.
The mother looked at her daughter with some reassurance, “Indeed.” She then went over to the bedside table, picked up the mug and started scooping some soup, “This soup is really good. I bet you’d like it, darling.” Then urged her daughter to open her mouth.
“Anything but the hospital food Mama.” She replied.
Elise was 3 when she was admitted to the hospital and by then she was on and off, one time her mother was doing some laundry by the riverbank when Miguel – her cousin called her shouting Elise was in severe pain and was vomiting blood. She hurried not minding the clothes she was washing and left it off. She soon found her neighbor carrying Elise mounting the motorcycle and they rushed her to the hospital.
“Don’t you think Papa knows I am discharged, Ma? Elise asked
Anita then looked at her daughter. This is the 1st time her daughter asked about her father. “I don’t know Love, I will tell him if you want. I am sure he would visit you if he heard the news.” She smiled reassuring her daughter of what she was unsure of in her heart. Dario- Elise’s father is serving a lifetime in jail for something she did not want to disclose. That was a long time ago and Anita closed her eyes remembering how dark that time was for her and her daughter.
“Her vomiting stopped and is stable. Once her dextrose is empty, we can discharge her.” the nurse told Anita, it was one of the news she longed to hear from the 3-day stay in the Hospital. She’s starving but the thought of her daughter finally release from the chords and medicine for 3 days is something celebrating than her famine.
“Thank you. I was praying hard last night” she said. She was praying hard to God. She blamed herself for a lot of things, especially that she often left Elise at her cousin’s care to do some errand that supported both of her and Elise. Ever since Dario left, she would go house to house to ask for dirty clothes to wash. They would pay her after her laundry, and she would buy a swak of Bear brand and dried fish for lunch and dinner. Life was hard and Anita believed the hardship would pass if there were clothes to wash. Laundry is something that will not run out eventually until today. It’s been 3 days, and she did not leave Elise in the hospital for days. She was starving and the last time she ate was last night’s ration – a cup of rice, a piece of chicken and papaya, and one langka candy probably for dessert.
