I opened my eyes to see the roof of my home. The one story house with shattered windows. When I glanced outside I noticed how the jet black sky was speckled with stars tonight. I wiped the sweat off my forehead before getting up and cracking the window open. The chilly night air rushed in from outside, twisting the rough curtains and crawling through my black hair. That night sleep refused to take over my body, leaving me with nothing to do but count the lights twinkling through the darkness.
"Nora!" My head snapped toward the direction of the voice, they landed on a tall and slim figure standing in the doorway of my room,
"Nora, what are you doing still up this late at night?" My sister, Eve asked me. There were cracks in her voice and through the darkness I saw ribbons of water dripping from her eyes.
"I couldn't sleep. Why are you still awake?" My sister didn't answer, she didn't have to, we both knew what happened today, exactly four years ago. I whispered,
"Have you been visiting our parent's grave again?"
******
I opened my eyes yet again, this time I was no longer in my room, my sister was no where to be seen. I was still pinned down in my hospital bed, I was still broken, and my sister was still dead. I glanced down at the hurricane of wires and tubes shooting from my body. They wrapped around my skin in a maze-like way before ending off at a large white machine, beeping along with my heart beat. My body itself felt paralysed, cold and stiff like a corpse.
Instead of my sister, a nurse walked in through the door. There would always be a nurse in my room, hovering over me trying to break the awkward silence. I usually just tuned out their voices, until today.
"Good morning." Her peppy voice rang in my ears. "How are you?" She talked while taking my blood samples, I endured the pricks in silence.
"You sure are quiet." She mumbled,
"Yeah, almost dying can do that to you." I thought in annoyance.
"What's your name anyways?" She asked. When I didn't answer, she looked down at her paperwork and scrolled through it for my name.
"Ah, your names Nora, am I correct?"
I was about to nod, but then stopped. Nora was in fact my name, but it no longer felt right. I didn't feel like the happy, hopeful, and cheery girl Nora was. I just felt like a hollow shell.
"No." I said. The nurse raised an eyebrow.
"Pardon?"
"No my name is not Nora. Nora's broken, she's gone." The nurse nodded like I had gone insane, maybe I had.
"Okay then. What shall I call you?" I glanced up at her before answering.
"Call me Eve."
YOU ARE READING
How to Save a Life (Wattys2016)
Короткий рассказNora Skylark was a happy, joyful young girl who lived in the house down the street. The house that was covered in cobwebs and had shattered windows. She would always find herself counting stars instead of sleeping, and even when her scarred and dama...
