The Girl With Five Watches

19: Her Story

With evening looming around the corner, we decided to feed the giraffes before we decided to have dinner. After paying for some giraffe food out of one of the machines, Sara held the food in her palm and lifted her arm towards the giraffe. The giraffe took notice of the food that Sara was offering and got closer. Little did we know how long the tongue of the animal would be. I'm not kidding when I say it was the largest tongue my eyes had seen. I almost wished I had a ruler on me to measure it. Like a little child, Sara freaked out and got excited. Thankfully, the giraffe was able to eat her food.

"Did you see that?" asked Sara jumping on her feet.

I couldn't help but laugh at her and in turn, she poked my arm. Trying to be calm, I found myself also feeding the giraffe, and Sara didn't hesitate to get a picture of me doing so.

Not long later, we found ourselves in a nearly empty aquarium eating our dinner. We both ordered hamburgers and fries. Yes, it was expensive but good.

"You know, I'm really surprised that the monkey liked you so much," I began looking directly at the fish swimming in front of me. "It's like you're some kind of monkey whisperer."

"Not exactly a monkey whisperer, but there is a story to it," she sighed. "I guess now is the time to tell it." She sighed again.  "I was thirteen visiting my uncle's house on Thanksgiving. My uncle had OCD when it came to knowing what time it was all the time and wore a watch. My uncle had a neighbor who was also my age. You remember Conner?"

Still looking at the fish, my heart began racing knowing that Conner was involved in the story. Did I really want to know what she was about to tell me? "Yeah, I remember Conner."

Well, Conner was my uncle's neighbor and during that Thanksgiving, I met Conner's brother Tony. Right after meeting him, I had this crush on him and I couldn't stop thinking about him. It turned out that Tony and my uncle were good friends. Tony was also obsessed with the time and wore a watch. On the Friday after Thanksgiving, my uncle and Tony went hunting not too far from the house. Tony was a little strange, but I didn't care. I especially didn't care when I saw that he had a pet monkey who liked to sit on the patio chair. Waiting for the two of them to get back from hunting, I sat with the monkey who also wore a watch.

"The monkey wore a watch?" I interrupted. Immediately, I apologized for interrupting and possibly sounding rude. She didn't mind.

Yeah, I know, it's a little weird that a monkey would be wearing a watch, but it did. I even questioned why I would have a crush on someone like Tony. I was just a stupid teenage girl. Anyways, according to Conner the monkey never looked at it, but it seemed to like it. On Saturday, all I wanted to do was kiss Tony's lips. I spent the entire afternoon with him.

"You ever see a monkey smoke?" asked Tony sitting on the bed with Sara sitting next to him.

Tony had never seen a monkey smoke before either, but he wanted to impress Sara. Sneaking into his dad's drawers he was able to find a pack of cigarettes and took one back to his room. Lighting it up, he tried to get his monkey to smoke it. Slowly, the creature looked at the cancerous stick and put in its mouth only to realize that it was a foul taste and threw it across the room. The bottom curtains quickly caught on fire and not before long, a fire was spreading throughout the room. Sara began crying and hyperventilating. Her body was moments away from passing out.

With quick thinking, Tony tried to open the door to escape, but the knob was scorching and he fell to the floor in pain. Sara stood there trying to catch her breath. And by a miracle, the smoke detectors went off waking up Tony's mom. Within moments, she opened the door and screamed for her life. A few curse words towards Tony left her mouth. At this moment, it seemed like this could be an easy escape out of the house. It was only the room that was on fire. Smash! Part of the roof from outside the bedroom fell to the ground only to cause more fire. Snap! Just like that, it would be almost impossible to escape. Tony's mom was smart enough to call 911 and just sat on the floor praying. They all just sat next to the bed where they had a clear and temporary space from the fire. Sara leaned against the bed barely unable to find air to breathe. Her eyes were closed. This was likely her final moment. She could only pray in her mind. Bam! A firefighter had arrived! To Sara's relief, it was her uncle. Her prayers had been answered.

"I'm going to get you all out here!" he stated. "Follow my lead!"

Sara was the first one that her uncle rescued. She was the one that needed to be rescued the most. Her body was barely functional. Swish! Her uncle had to be careful. One wrong move and they'd both be dead. They thankfully made it outside. Sara's overheating body laid on the ground barely conscious. Her uncle gave her his watch to lift her spirits. He rushed back into the house and was able to save the monkey. Only two more to save. Ten minutes had passed. Everyone outside grew concerned. Boom! Part of the house exploded. A few seconds later, there were three more explosions. Nobody left in that house survived that day.

A few tears left the eyes of Sara. "It was one of the hardest days of my life. Conner was the one that suggested that I keep my uncle's watch. And I did. After the bodies were recovered, I saw that Tony and his mom's watch weren't destroyed and I took them. I also took the monkey's watch and decided to buy myself a watch. That's why I wear five watches." She did everything inside of her not to cry so she could finish what she had to say. "Life was hard after that. Within a month, my heart failed because of all the smoke and fire. I was lucky enough to get a second heart and a third heart a year later. I'm blessed enough that my body is responding well to the heart I have now. But who knows how long that'll be?

She took the bottle of pills out of her pocket and I tried to act surprised.

"I know you've seen me take them. It's hard to keep it a secret. But these pills are the very thing that is keeping my body to respond well to my heart. That's why I drink Vitamin Water. Maybe the vitamins are helping keep me alive. I don't know."

WOW! We finally learned something about Sara. We'll learn a lot about Jimmy in the next chapter! Don't forget to comment, vote, and share.

Was Sara smart in letting Tony trying to get a monkey to smoke?

Do you think Sara will ever need another heart?

Are you glad Sara finally shared her story? How do you feel about it?