Tremors

Chapter 1

With each passing second, Tia could feel fear mixing in with frustration and much to her dismay, it was rising exponentially. It's funny how human bodies mimic the state of mind. Tia's feet were anxiously tapping the floor, showcasing the pandemonium of her mind.

    This didn't go unnoticed by her friend- Rupert and he asked, " You okay, T ?"

     She wanted to smile and brush it off as she had met her friend after a long time but she couldn't. They met at their usual spot, a local restaurant that they've been going to since teenage days. Tia thought that it would be a great way to distract herself but much to her dismay, the familiar surrounding wasn't provided her the comfort.

She thought of discussing it with Rupert
but then, decided against it. What was she supposed to even tell? That she and her sister had a fight and since past two weeks they aren't on talking terms but lately, she's having a strong gut feeling of things not being right because their fight has never extended this long. She had always been the one to reach out first and initiate the conversation but this hadn't been the case this time. For the time she decided to text first after a week of their fight but no response. How childish would it look?

       Shw constantly kept checking her phone every 10 seconds to see any messages from her sister but unfortunately, didn't find anything. Rupert shot him a look of concern and thought of asking once again but Tia spoke, "Dude, I'm sorry. My boss is pinging me, it's urgent. "

     Tia knew that her friend wasn't buying it but she was in no mood of giving explanations and she was thankful that Rupert didn't press on the matter. Instead, he smiled and nodded his head in understanding.

    In no time, she was in her car, driving towards her sister's house, all the while, praying that nothing has gone wrong. The entire ride was a haze and her mind kept drifting to the previous conversation she had with Daisy.

" Come on, Daisy! Can't you let go off your issues with mom for my sake. Huh?"

"T, you're my sister and I pray you get every happiness of this world but I'm sorry, I can't be the part of your wedding. Trust me, it's for the best."

   It irked her more and she tried once again, "Sam will be so upset over this. He wants a perfect wedding and he deserves one. "

She tried her level best to convince her yet nothing worked and at the end, her frustration riled up and she said, " Gosh! You're impossible! I wish you were the one who committed suicide, not... "
The beep sound came before she could complete his sentence.

How she wished he could go back in time and stop herself from saying that. The worst part was that she didn't call her again to apologize because..because? She could not figure out, maybe because Daisy was never the one to take words seriously. But now that she thought in retrospect, it really was the worst thing ever to be said to a family member. She was already dealing with strained relationship with their mom and she didn't do any good by throwing those words at her which she didn't even mean.

The signal turned green and she somehow controlled her emotional turmoil to drive. Anxiety was soaring up through her veins with each passing minute and therefore, she accelerated her car. It wasn't an easy ride but she somehow made it and without wasting a second, she got down from the car, not even caring to lock it and banged on her front door with desperation. She wasn't very religious  but God, was she praying hard! All she wished was to see her little Daisy and apologize to her profusely but with each passing second, her hopes were diminishing.

     Five minutes had passed and she had tried everything from ringing the doorbell, fisting on the door, calling out her name yet, no response. She was about to call out her name one more time when she heard someone say from behind- " Is everything okay?"

    She turned around to see an elderly couple who then, introduced themselves. They were Daisy's neighbor who lived on the opposite side of the street. Tia didn't know how much to reveal to these strangers but she was in a desperate situation and any help would do at the moment. After smiling at them awkwardly, she said, " Hello."

She briefly explained them about her relationship with Daisy and her being upset with him, omitting the greater details. However, the woman figured out that there was more to the situation. She and Daisy got along well and she had mentioned about her elder sister. She recognized the girl from one of the pictures Daisy had shown her. So, that confirmed that  she wasn't lying and she thought of helping her,

"There's a glass window, I mean if you want, we can break it. "

    Tia immediately jumped on the advice and went to break the window panes. She had zero care in the world  about her bleeding palm that got injured instead, she rushed in looking around desperately for her sister. Behind her, Daisy's neighbors accompanied after initial hesitation.

     And what a tragic sight held a show for her! Absolute numb. Her little sister was on the ground, motionless, her face devoid of colour. The girl who used to sit on her laps, wiggling her pigtails, wasn't there anymore. She was dead. Daisy was 'DEAD' and yet, these two words looked too alien to go in the same sentence.

    Tia's body slid down from the room's wall till the ground and screams of astonishment, pain, grief, guilt and loss followed by. Her mind was not in a state to register anything meanwhile the neighbors recovered from the shock and called 911.

        Even after fifteen minutes, it was difficult for the couple to manage Tia who was sobbing uncontrollably. They urged her to call her parents or any relative. Tia somehow managed to fetch her phone from her jacket. She dialed on 'MOMMY' from the call log and waited for her mother to pick it up.

       After two rings, her mom picked up the call, "Hello?"

     Hearing her mom's familiar voice, Tia started crying even more, "Mom, Daisy is no more."

   There was a pause of few seconds and all she heard was her mom saying, "Oh!"