Summer Paradise
Alizarin
I looked at Razel as he placed Teia on the stretcher in a hospital near the orphanage. The nurses immediately worked on her, taking her blood pressure, and doing other procedures that I can't understand.
Razel had a worried and panic look on his face as he rubbed his hands on his face, clenching his fists after looking at his cousin being taken somewhere. Keith was silently crying beside me, her hands shaking as she absentmindedly rubbed her flat stomach.
I couldn't understand what was happening after Razel and Keith suddenly ran inside when minutes passed by and Teia hasn't returned yet. What made me more confused was when Razel was asking what color his eyes were to a wide-eyed Teia. She was shaking and her hands are grasping her hair tightly, looking at her cousin with those unseeing eyes that looked dull.
"What's going on? Can somebody explain what happened just now?" I asked after a few minutes of looking for my voice. I can't seem to process things anymore when the woman that is important to me is taken away on a stretcher, unconscious.
Razel glanced at me, teeth gnashing in fear and frustration. To whom or to what I don't know. He looked at Keith, before glancing back at me. I noticed that Keith only nodded beside me, holding my arm for support when she suddenly sobbed and cried harder.
"I can only tell you little information, because that was all we were allowed to know." He said, taking a seat on the waiting area where we were asked to stay for a while. He then explained to me everything he knew.
I was shocked to know when he told me that his cousin was suffering from PTSD. She tends to see and hear things that always remind her of what happened in the past. Her episode earlier was one of the worst ones she had.
"Why were you asking her questions about colors? Is that connected to her trauma?" He sighed while wrapping his arms around his wife, who was now silently sniffling.
"Yula told us that every time she has an episode, she kept on muttering those colors. Brown, green, yellow, and violet. Said that it reminds her to forget about the distressful events that happened before, and that those colors were a reminder of the positive scenarios that she has encountered." For a moment, his eyebrows furrowed, and he closed his eyes, gripping the bridge of his nose with his fingers.
He sighed in disbelief before speaking again, "Yula also said that whatever happens during her episodes, never mention the colors red, blue, white and black." He shook his head, pain mixing in his features as he glanced back at the door where the nurses rushed his cousin. A look of fear visible in his eyes remembering his cousin saying the word 'black' earlier.
"What's with those colors?" I asked, although at some point, I already knew the answer.
Keith sighed, wiping the tears on her cheeks while stroking her flat stomach with her other hand, "Those were the triggers." She whispered. It was so silent that I almost missed it. "Or at least, that's what we think they are," she added after a few seconds of wiping her tears.
"How long was she...?" I couldn't even finish my question, because I don't want to offend them in any way.
"How long was she like that?" Razel asked, looking at me straight in the eyes. I nodded, avoiding his gaze by looking at my hands that are clasped together as I leaned forward, my elbows on my knees.
"Since five years ago."
I looked at the sleeping Teia on the bed. She looked so peaceful, however a closer look would tell you otherwise. Her face was contorted in fear and sorrow, her forehead creasing a few times before her features finally relaxed.
