All Men Are Not The Same

Heart-breaking News

Just as Maddox was about to fall asleep on the living room couch, he heard his dad's phone ringing. He forced his heavy eye lids open and he gazed towards the device which kept ringing.

"Hello," answered Mr Howard. "Yes, I'm just back home."

"No, no. Yes. Yes, I got the reports today itself. And the doctor said it is bad news."

Maddox opened his eyes wide as he heard his father's words. He knew he should not listen to someone's phone conversation but this one mattered a lot to him.

"The doc said that she is suffering from Leukemia," Mr Howard said plainly.

Leu-key-mia? What is that? Maddox thought.

"Yes, Leukemia, blood cancer!" Mr Howard exclaimed, his voice as cold as always.

"Leu-key... leu-ke-mia?" Maddox tried to pronounce correctly, his heart thumping. "Cancer?"

Maddox felt an awkward uneasiness running through his veins as he kept repeating the word "cancer" which he knew was a very dangerous disease.

"Yes, the same disease which Elisa suffered from, and it appears that for her too there's no hope," said Mr Howard over the phone.

"Elisa also suffered from Leu-key-mia? Blood cancer?" the horrified ten-year old boy muttered to himself, wondering if he heard right. "Why? Why has she never told me? Why???" he cried.

Mr Howard threw a confused look towards Maddox as he carried on with his phone conversation.

Maybe Elisa did not even know how to pronounce Leu-key-mia. That's why she didn't tell me. Or maybe she didn't even know what Leu-key-mia was. Maybe, just maybe.

All kinds of foolish yet painful thoughts kept running across Maddox's mind. He could not bear the double shock that he got on that horrible night. He came to know that Elisa died of blood cancer. Elisa - his best friend, his sister, his twin sister. She died of blood cancer. She died of Leukemia.

Elisa Howard died, leaving behind her an ocean of memories and an inconsolable heart inside Maddox's chest.

And now, the worse news were that his mother Miranda who was lying at the hospital since more than a month was also suffering from that same deadly disease. Leukemia. And once more, he did not even know about it until he heard his father's conversation.

Maddox felt his world crumbling under the weight of these atrocious news. He wanted to shout and cry aloud. He so wanted to be there with his mother. He wanted to hold her and tell her "I'm here for you, mum. Nothing will happen to you."

But all he could really do was to raise his hands towards the sky and pray. He closed his eyes, letting the tears fall. He prayed for his mother to get well and come back home. He prayed for a miracle to happen.

He did not know that, miracles do happen, but not every time. Not to everyone.