Almost Isolated

Chapter 2 - Company

Doctor Mary was calling for her, wailing from the hospital bed surrounded by plastic curtains. Neri told her mom to hold on while she changes into her PPE coveralls or at least, after she get herself a facemask.

Neri froze. She was in a patient hospital gown -!

"Nerisse!!! I can't breathe..." A number of masks had started to fall from above. "...take your pick and help me!"

"... Which one?" She started to panic. It was a variety of masks with different colors - surgical, N95, copper and cloth. "Which one, Doc -?"

"TAKE YOUR PICK!" Her mom's sobbing tone shifted to something deep, into a man's terrified booming voice.

Her dad...

Neri woke up with a start and she remembered her mom as a tough woman. It was her father who worried a lot.

Right now, her father needs them - both her and Nimfa!

She wanted her dad, too. Neri needed his guidance. She won't make it alone by herself.

She was sleeping in one of the three bedrooms on the upper floor. Alone in her late grandparents' house. Her eyes automatically searched for her smartphone. She found it between her pillows with no hint of any message from Nimfa or Jade. It was midnight. She was sixteen hours ahead, considering her time in the Philippines. It was eight in the morning in Seattle; she can make a call to her sister about their father. She noticed the single bar on her cellphone and thought she'll have to charge it first.

Neri pushed her phone beneath her pillow and pulled her blanket to her chin. She decided, she'll wait for Jade to contact her back.

It was still raining. She'd heard from the news that there was a storm; but it was on the far side of the country. The bad weather was because of the low pressure created by the typhoon. Neri closed her eyes as she concentrated on the tapping sound of the droplets on her balcony door, trying to bring her back to sleep. She couldn't. Back then, it would usually work. The rain along with its cool atmosphere had the calming effect. Now... it was just rain. Cold and sad.

"Oh, Dad." Neri's tears came streaming down her cheek then to her pillow. She felt pathetic as she tried to fight the sore in her heart. She ended up sobbing on her blanket.

How she wished, she had her mom's courage and wits.

'Take your pick and help me.' Her father's voice echoed in her mind, haunting her.

What did her dad mean? Was he letting her go?

She shook her head. With Doctor Mary gone, Neri wouldn't know what to do with her life if her dad would leave, too.

There were some movements from behind her bedroom door. Faint but distinct from the sound of rain as if someone was outside. Then it was gone.

Neri gasped but told herself it was nothing. Apparently, her imagination.

She was still isolated in a separate room in the hospital when her mother died. There had been video calls exchanges before Doctor Mary's health deterioration... even with the heart-breaking goodbye. However, like the rest of her family, Neri didn't have the chance to see her mom personally, for the last time. An urn was already waiting for her at home after Neri's recovery. Five days later, her father had convinced her that they go to the Philippines, resigning from her job in the process.

The Coronavirus shook Nomrad. He'd reasoned, they will be a lot safer away from the hospital. San Isidro was the best option. Nimfa already have a family of her own - an American husband and two boys barely of school age. Her father had to let her stay in Seattle. But not Neri.

Neri thought she was following her father's wishes. The truth: She was afraid to make mistakes. She needed his father's advice.

She was supposed to be a mature lady of twenty-seven and a professional who'd work alongside with her mom in a respected hospital for almost three years since her graduation. Still Neri's decisions had always been dependent on her parents' counsel, particularly with Doctor Mary's. Now... she was a bit lost -

The rain had seemed to stop outside as silence filled her ears. Then there was the movement... again.

She swallowed.

It would have been smart for Neri to dash straight to her door and lock it up. Call the police through her phone... or go outside to her balcony and holler for help. But she couldn't move a muscle, too afraid to make a sound.

She sank under her blanket, carefully. Covering her face, her entire body. Praying -

She'd let the darkness engulf her senses.

~oOo~

"Help me..." Her dad's voice was a little different.

Neri was lying somewhere soft and warm. She wanted to respond to him, her chest aching to comfort him. However, she was too scared to open her eyes. She was probably dreaming again... or dead! Murdered in her sleep by that someone outside her door.

She was probably in heaven with her mother and father -

Neri hesitated with the last idea. Her father couldn't be dead yet.

It was three days ago when shelast saw him. Nimfa had dropped them off to Seattle-TacomaInternational Airport. She and their father were supposed to go to the Philippinestogether. Unfortunately, Nomrad's Covid-19 swab test gave a positive result.Instead of boarding the plane, Nimfa had to escort their dad to St. Gregory Medical Hospital. Neriwanted to postpone her flight but Nomrad insisted that she go ahead. That he'llbe alright.

Neri knew he was only trying to be brave for them; she didn't argue for the second time. Another bad decision!

He needs them right now...

Neri needed her father and sister...

"Miss?" His father again with the richer baritone she couldn't recognize. And he called her 'miss'?

Neri's eyelids flew open. The bad weather was finally over as the bright morning light had seeped in between the crack of the balcony door. She realized; she was still in her bed... alive!

Someone made a coughing sound from the left side of her bed. "Miss -?"

It was the same guy Neri saw at the old house. The tall guy with the green, almost brown military uniform. He was sitting on the floor beside her bed, gazing at her cautiously.

The ghost!

Neri screamed at him; her heart pumping so hard; she started to see darkness again.