My Distraction

Chapter Twenty-five

Jack

    It took weeks or maybe even months, but it was worth it. Every single second was worth it. Maybe, if a single second had slipped by the only reason that accounted for my living that lay in between my arms would have been dead.

   I'm so sure I would have joined her in death later on, give it a year later or two. It would only be a matter of time. Sure, I had my sister, Maria and my best friend, Wren, in my life. But, Kara was the reason for it.

      Days turned into weeks and weeks into months as I waited for some good report on Kara's health. No one could ever imagine the great frustration I felt when I was told she was just stable for about everyday I called the hospital on the days I couldn't squeeze out some time to see Kara.

    I wanted her to be more than stable. The staffs at the hospital couldn't understand that and could not even help Kara in her condition and then, the worst happened, they referred us to another hospital.

    My life turned into a total mess after two more referrals. None of the three hospitals I had been to could help Kara. My light was dwindling, and it was doing so at a fast rate. I didn't need to be told.

  I saw real fear in the eyes of the people that were unlucky enough to behold me with their eyes in my abnormal state. My only hope rested in the next hospital we were referred to. I begged the heavens for them to be able to help Kara. I knew I wouldn't be able to take another referral.

    I thought myself lucky when the fourth hospital we were referred to could help us. Or maybe, the referrer of the third hospital should consider himself  lucky. If the fourth hospital we were reffered to couldn't help us, I knew nothing would have stopped me from going back there to referer of the third hospital and then, for sure I would have punched him square in the face.

    For about a half year I sat through it all with Maria and Wren by my side as Kara lay on the hospital bed in coma, her face paler than April's when she too laid on a hospital bed.

   Even if I tried to, I would never forget the time Kara first fell ill in my arms. We had only known each other for about a year, and her sudden gasping for  breath scared the shit out of me. I didn't know she was suffering from a condition.

How could I?

    She never told me anything about it. She was dying, and I could feel it, my instinct knew it. And, it was the same way I felt when she landed with a thud on the floor and started struggling for her life. Only this time it was my fault which only made it worse. Guilt clawed at me that day worse than I could ever imagine, I can almost remember how terrible it felt.

   I felt horrible as the nurses ran about frantically when Kara was more than ready to give up. The machines all around her, that she depended on to live had all went hysterical, their beeping noises unfamiliar to the smooth steady ones I was used too. The nurses pushed about, a throng nearly forming around Kara. It shook me to my core, I had never seen a human being in a worse condition than she was. But, the miracle was that, she fought through.

My Life.

    I even saved Kara's name as that on my cell phone. Obviously trying to get my attention, she is calling me, causing me to jilt a little. It was something close to normal for us, she would give me a call, ending it before I get to answer it and then, we get to texting each other . She is the only one who dares to call me on my cell phone, her reason being that she's my girlfriend.

'Who owns that bag?' I see immediately, a message from Kara, not interested in waiting for me to text her first as was our routine.

'What bag?'

I text back looking to and fro for the bag she's talking about. Kara didn't bring any bag from her home to mine when she decided to stay over for a couple of days after being discharged from the hospital. I doubt if Kara even owns a bag, save for one of those ones she uses for travelling. She has never been the girlie type.

'Don't bother looking for it around here.' She sends to me. 'I saw it beneath your couch.'

'Which of them?' I reply with a question to her.

'You know, the one with the coffee stain on it.' Her fingers move typing faster than any I've seen on her cellphone.

Well, except for April's.

That girl must be a social media freak!

She types like she owns the reflexes of a cheetah in one piece.

I chuckle at the thought.

'What's so funny?' My cell vibrates with a message.

'Nothing, just a funny thought. ' I reply the smile on my face disappearing immediately.

I'm not lying, right?

I am actually thinking about a funny thought. Maybe, not one that Kara might approve. But, it is still a funny thought.

'Oh, you mean how that stain got on your couch?' She sends a text to me shifting a little to see my face. I force a smile as I see her smiling too.

Well, that wasn't was I was thinking.

"That was funny." She concludes shifting back to her former position as I read her lips.

   Soon, she continues on and on about how funny the incident related to the stain on my couch was, and that's how my afternoon goes on, the mysterious bag forgotten.