New York City

Perfect

I woke up and heard Beethoven playing his fifth symphony from the record player. I look around and see a yellow sticky note on the freezer.

Mom, I think and smile. I go up to the freezer yawning. Unfortunately, the yawn stops midway.

"I've gone to the airport. Coming back at 10:45 am, hon. I know you won't be there, have a nice day."

And that's all it said. Have a nice day? Really? The note had nothing written about Nate. I don't think she had any clue how she was going to accommodate him in my 1BHK flat.

Not like I did either.

I give out a sigh and walk towards the washroom. After I'm done brushing my teeth, I make a cup of coffee for myself. This was a habit that I didn't have earlier. The city could do strange things to you.

Dressing up in the morning is a struggle for me. It always has been. I was out of the house by 8:00 am.

I rushed outside and fell down in the corridor.
I whimpered in pain.

Sarah (she must have heard the loud thump) rushed out of her room.

'Oh my gosh! LIBBY! Are you okay?' Sarah said frantically.

The look on my face must have said enough.

'Okay, okay, okay. Take deep breaths,' Sarah instructed. I did what she asked me to, but I think the instructions were for herself rather than me.

'Remember your ankle rotation exercises? Try doing that,' Sarah said.

I tried and a wave of nausea washed over me. The pain was getting intolerable.

'Um, okay. Wait here. Let me call Matt.'

I vigorously shook my head to tell her not to call Matt and worry him but Sarah's back was turned towards me.

All I managed to do was huff. Somehow I'd lost my ability to speak.

'Yeah, hello?' Sarah said on the phone. 'You there buddy?'

Sarah was silent for a moment and then she cut the phone hastily. She was quiet for a while.

Then she turned a bit too eagerly.

'Okay,' she said,'I'll fix you up myself.'

I found this a little odd since she'd called Matt.

Probably voicemail.

Sarah called the security guard on duty. The poor guy had to gingerly hold my legs up and look away because one, I was wearing a pencil skirt, and two, my ankle may be broken. Sarah took hold of my armpits.

'Well,' Sarah huffed as she half-dragged, half-carried me inside the house, 'you really need to lose weight.'

I suddenly remembered that Sarah was pregnant and wailed out something indecipherable.

Sarah almost dropped me. 'What? Are you hurt? What's happened?'

I shook my head and she plonked me up on the sofa. I took in a sharp breath.

Sarah thanked the watchman and got to work. She fetched a cloth from the laundry (which happened to be my mother's, but never mind) and put some ice in it. She then proceeded to take off my heels. Sarah carefully tied the cloth with ice on my ankle with another cloth.

I heaved a sigh of relief as the coolness soothed the pain.

I managed to mumble, 'Han't jou phrejnant?'

'Did you hurt you head too?' Sarah asked me worriedly. I rolled my eyes and repeated myself.

'Pregnant? Of course I am!' she laughed. 'But I work out, remember? It's alright, the baby won't die because I carried you.'

I grimaced but didn't say anything.

Sarah glanced at the clock and exclaimed. 'It's 9:30!'

Then she looked at my guilty-looking face and changed her poise. 'On the bright side, I don't have to see that bitch in the morning.'

I agreed by nodding my head again.

'Well, there's no point going to work now. I'm going to stay here and take care of you. We'll go over to the hospital later. Wanna watch a movie now?'

I wanted to tell her that my mom and brother would be back soon but I was too tired to. Besides, I would have had to explain why I didn't tell her about my brother and that would take way too much time.

Instead, I gave her a thumbs up.

So now, I was stuck with Sarah, a broken ankle and a mom who's gone to bring a brother who'd been in coma for years. Perfect.