Wishing For A Tomorrow

Preface-The play of fate and the woman in red

Fate had a weird way of circling back over paths that were meant to cross..
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January, 2002

Bangkok Hospital, Children nursery

The wailing sound of the baby was earth shattering in the corridor. It's as if the sound was increasing and breaking the silence of the otherwise calm environment of the kid nursery where the very reputable hospital place the kids who are sick after birth or in need of more hospital care before they can be handed to their parents.

The nurse who was on duty then was looking at the kid with worry filled eyes. The baby was just three days old. Healthy, not sick when born but it was just after that when the trouble began. The child keep wailing. Tears streaming down big doe innocent eyes making the parents heart shatter with hurt. The doctors have tried everything. Checked the baby thoroughly. There was no sign of sickness or hurt. But still the baby keep wailing. It is normal. But not if the wailing keeps going on for three days straight.

They had to put the three days old baby into the deep care system for the time being. Because all the tears and wailing seems to drown his energy little by little. And it can be dangerous for a newborn.

Mr. Arthur and Mrs. Karen Suppasit knew it fully. And their heart was breaking with every passing second. Only they know how much prayer they did to get this child. And now after years of trying their dreams were all coming true only for fate to step in like this.

"It's ok Karen. Control yourself. It's normal for newborn." Arthur Suppasit consoled her crying wife who was looking at her child through the window separating the baby from them.

"My ba...baby, Arthur. My baby is in pain. Do something.  I..." Tears stream down her face as she turn towards her husband. "I am his mother and still I feel like a failure. I can't even stop my own baby from crying. Maybe I don't deserve to be a mother."

Arthur's brows were pulled together in concern yet he remained strong. Not trying to let his inner turmoil show. It was breaking him too. But he had to be strong now. For his wife, his child, he has to be strong. "You are gonna be one of the best mother out there, do you hear me?" He cupped the woman's cheek. "This is just a simple hardship we have to go through together. The doctor said he will be ok, didn't he?" His fingers wiped her tears away slowly but in the meantime trying to hold his own tears back.

She nodded a little, doubt not going away from her mind as she let her husband take her away from there. But not before taking another look at the baby who was crying, his hands thrashing upwards as if looking for something. Someone.

And that particular sight made a smile appear on the woman's face who seems to be analyzing the situation with curious eyes from the corner of the hallway. The nursery was empty that time. For some unknown reason, there was no sight of the nurse who always seems to be there.

With slow step she went near the cradle. Her red gown seeming to be a complete misfit for the hospital environment. One of her fingers slowly caressed the baby's cheek. Taking notice of the wailing sound increasing again and again. It made her smile again but this time the smile was draped with pain, with old tales and unfinished story's that only she knew.

"So much time passed yet..." She bend down kissing the baby's temple, "Yet you seems to bear the pain even now when you don't even know what pain is. How Tragic." A chuckle passed through her lips that instantly turned into a frown when she picked up the baby in her arms. 

"You are still waiting, aren't you?"

The baby only seems to cry louder and this seems to put tears into the unknown woman's eyes too. "Centuries passed my Prince. And still the pain remains the same for you." She put the baby down slowly into the cradle. "I shouldn't worry but I can't help it. You have always been naïve when comes to him." Her eyes seems to turn more sad hearing the now little sniffs of the baby. It seems like it has finally tired himself enough to fell asleep."