One week later Vincent I shot through the traffic, dodging vehicles and people and jumping over obstacles in my way. My mind was reeling; my heart pounding against my ribs. It was hardly from this mad dash but the thought of my brother. Thoughts of our childhood days kept flashing in my head. Flashes of him running towards me with his little arms spread out and a huge smile on his face after I fought off bullies that were pestering him. Flashes of me pushing him on a swing while he giggled in delight. Flashes of him hiding behind my back after stealing a cookie from the kitchen. Tears welled up in my eyes. I gritted my teeth due to the painful clench in my heart. Looking ahead, I could see the crowd gathered around the accident. Police cars and two ambulances were already at the scene, moving people away to get to the victims. On reaching there, I pushed roughly against people to get to my brother, earning myself angry grunts from people. Their voices were like distant echoes

Anne “Anny, please eat something. You’re going to harm yourself,” Pamela urged worriedly. She was sitting on my bed with a tray of food on her lap. “Anny, please!!!” I sighed weakly, then slowly rose from the bed. With a sad smile on my face, I extended my hand and carried the tray on Pamela’s lap, then began taking tiny bites from what could have been a delicious food if not for my foul mood. It’s been five days. Five whole days since my unpleasant surprises. First was Andrew’s accident, then breaking up with Vincent. I was a total wreck. A huge bag of debris I was. The guy I’d grown to love and cherish was fighting for his life, while the man I was in love with decided to cut ties with me. All through the night, I had cried my eyes out. I kept asking my ceiling when Andrew got back, and why he got into an accident on his bike. He was supposed to come back the next day, wasn’t he? Was he coming to surprise me that day? Was that why Vincent decided to end things? Did he blame me fo

Anne “Did you fire that lady,“ I asked Vincent in incredulity. He didn’t respond. He just stared at my head. “Why would you do that?” I had passed the reception area on my way to Andrew’s room when I noticed a different face behind the counter. At first, I had thought they had shifts or something like that but when I saw Jack, the security man flirtatiously introducing himself to the lady, I knew instantly that she was new. I was sad. It’s likely the lady got fired or left cause of me. I didn’t like that idea at all. I was going to confront Vincent whenever I saw him. Fortunately, as I came out of the elevator, I saw him stepping out of Andrew’s room. Yea, I was pretty nervous but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. “Do you enjoy being treated like crap?” was his response to my question. “Excuse me?” “Well do you?” “No,” I answered. “Good,” he said calmly then moved past me. “That doesn’t explain why she was fired. She was only following orders,” I said after his retreating

Anne It was as if the closer he got, the darker my surrounding became. I shot my eyes up and darted it around the table, with the hope of finding an empty chair aside from the one beside me. It was to no avail. The feeling that encased me when he slid in beside me wasn’t a bad one per se, it’s just that it was something I was trying really hard to suppress and forgo. His woody scent engulfed me, spiraling me down memory lane, right down to where he had his arms around me, and his tongue down my throat. I bowed my head trying to conceal my heated face. “Let’s share grace.” ‘Wait, what!’ I exclaimed in my head, shooting my head back up and around the table, just to see hands connecting. It felt like a scene in a movie where multiple doors are banging shut simultaneously, and I needed to get out before the final door closes, locking me in with the looming disaster. In this case, I didn’t make it out because just then, he slowly raised his hand and kept the back of his palm on the tab

Anne I woke up with aches all over my body. My head was pounding dangerously against my skull. The sun streaming through the window was blaring into my eyes making me squint to see clearly. I heard when Pam entered with Andrew last night. They thought I was sleeping and didn’t try to wake me. Although, they chatted loudly for a while before Andrew retired to his room. Pam had made a bit more noise when she was walking all over the place, I guess checking out the room. She then went into the bathroom, had her bath, and joined me on the bed. After an hour of chatting (I could tell with the annoying notification sounds), she dropped her phone, slid her arm around my waist and was off. She hadn’t anything to worry about. She was having fun. That was the intention. I wasn’t. I couldn’t. I just laid there crying my eyes out. I tried to turn away from the sun because I was facing the window, but Pam’s legs hanging over me wouldn’t let me. “Pam. Pam!! Pam!!!,” I called out to her in a r