The Land of Magic

Denial

His little sister had just died. He was there, at the moment of the crash. He had looked at her face, and saw blood everywhere. He had checked for a pulse, but there was none. He watched as her stretcher was moved into the ambulance. He nodded when the doctors asked if he was a relative, then got into the ambulance. He sat outside the emergency room, waiting to see if his sister could be saved. But strangely, he didn't feel sad. Alex felt nothing at all.

A few minutes felt like a few hours to him. Rose came rushing in, crying. She saw Alex sitting on a bench outside the emergency room, and asked him a few questions about the accident and Tiffany. Alex couldn't hear her. She sounded so far away...... All Alex did was nod.

"Don't worry miss, your boy is fine. He is just in a state of shock," said a nurse who was passing by. "But what about my daughter!? Is she alright? Will she be okay!?" Rose asked, nearly shouting. The nurse shook her head. "We don't know, miss. We'll have to wait for the operation to finish to see if we can save your girl's life. You should take a seat, as it will take a while."

Rose nodded, said "Okay," then took a seat beside Alex. She sniffed and wiped away her tears with a tissue. She had tried to talk to Alex, but to no avail. He wasn't responding at all.

Alex felt like a ragged doll. He couldn't feel anything anymore. He tried to feel sad, tried to respond to questions. But he couldn't. But do I even want to, right now? he thought. My sister may be dead. All I'd feel is sadness. But it's not normal if I don't feel sad. So why is it that I.....can't feel anything?

Deep in thought, he just stood up, and walked away. "Where are you going, Alex?" Rose called. He didn't respond. "Stay safe!" Rose shouted, before Alex pushed the door, and exited.

The snow had stopped. There was a light sheet of snow everywhere now. The tow trucks had pulled away the cars, and traffic had resumed. He walked aimlessly for a while, and found himself at the park. He walked around, seeing happy people everywhere. There were kids playing in the snow, couples taking pictures together, people exercising. All these people were happy. Then there's Alex. He sat down on a bench next to a now-frozen fountain. He looked at the water. Only the top was frozen, and the fish inside were still happily swimming around.

He turned back around and watched all the people happily living their lives. He suddenly felt mad. Furious, even. He stood up and shouted, "WHY DID THIS HAPPEN!? WHY NOW, OF ALL TIMES!?" Everyone in the park was now staring at him. But he didn't seem to care. He just stormed off into the direction of his school.

On his way to the dorm, Hamlin saw him, and stopped him. "Alex! What happened? Where is your mother? We were talking about important business, then someone interrupted us, then Rose ran off crying!" he said. Alex tried to reply. "My sister. She...she..." "What is it, boy? Speak up!" Hamlin impatiently interrupted. Bad mistake. "MY SISTER IS DEAD!" shouted Alex. He then ran to his room, crying.

Hamlin stood where he was, trying to make sense of what just happened. Tiffany is dead? How could it be? Just today I saw her walking to class. It isn't possible. He looked at his watch. It was 8 at night. I should go to the hospital, Rose may be there, maybe she'll tell me something about this, he thought. In a state of denial, he set off.

When he set foot outside, he realized how chilly it was. Winter had already begun, but today was colder than usual. He started walking, but somehow felt like something was wrong. He decided to jog instead. However, it wasn't easy going jogging while wearing a suit and tie. After a few steps, he tripped and nearly fell over, but caught himself just in time. "That was a bad decision. I think I'll just fast walk instead," he said aloud.

17 minutes later, he entered the hospital. He went to the reception desk, and asked, "Excuse me, is there a little girl by the name of Tiffany here? Tiffany Samson." The receptionist looked up and said,  "Why yes, she is in the emergency room. Are you her father?" Hamlin blushed, and said, "No, I am just merely her teacher. I'm concerned for her life. May I know which way is the emergency room, please?" The receptionist nodded, then pointed down a hallway. "It's that way. Take a left when you reach the end of the hallway."

When he found Rose, she was staring blankly at the floor. "Hello, Rose. I'm sorry about what happened to your daughter, but may I know what had happened?" Rose looked at him, then started to cry again. "She got into a car accident, and had been in the operation room ever since," she sniffed.

"Hello, Mr Hamlin." came a voice from behind the both of them. They turned around, and saw Sylvie there. "Hello Sylvie, what are you doing here?" Hamlin asked. Sylvie tilted her head to the side. "My little sister is in the operation room. She was with her friend when the crash happened." she replied. Hamlin nodded. "Your sister is Tiffany's friend then? Sorry about what happened to her." Sylvie shook her head. "No, I'm here to find witnesses. There's one thing I know about my father's car, and that it's actually enchanted to avoid any accidents. Which means that this car crash wasn't an accident at all," she said.

It took Hamlin a while, then he realised. "That means...someone was trying to kill your father, sister and Tiffany...on purpose?" he asked. Sylvie nodded. "Yes."