A call came. What a call.
The voice over the other end was familiar. Was it because it was from someone I know, or was the familiarity felt because of the news that was to be told? The voice was solemn, and the message was clear. It is time for immediate action - before all is too late.
We are going home soon.
The drive is about 2-hour long. Two long hours - it could mean many, many things. It could be the wait in the transit terminal for a transit passenger for his next connecting flight. It was the length of my Chem Paper 2.
And now, 2 hours is the amount of uncertainty we have got to endure.
When I think back, just how many times have I seen her after I went to Singapore. Not even ten times a year. How many lines have I spoken to her? I don't even have any idea.
I just want to talk to her without her feeling so strained, without her frail frame shaking with her every attempt in speech. I just want her to breathe normally without feeling burdened. I just want, I just want, the grandmother I saw four years ago, back.
My grandma who ascended and descended the flight of stairs freely. My grandma who always cooks up fantastic dishes for kiddoes during reunion dinner. My grandma who, more often than not, find herself smiling widely at the bunch of grandchildren before her.
It's not fair. Was it not enough, the hardship she's gone through to raise her seven children? Why, do YOU have to impose on her such enduring time in her grand old age? Why, do YOU make her carry the burden of ills with her fragile and frail body? What has she done, to be the one taking the pains.
Do YOU hear me, YOU who claim to have looked after us from heaven. Too many kind and unassuming people around me suffered in undeserving ways.
I now ask of an answer.
