Unveiling beauty " Ambw"

When life flows

Abena • Nani 2019

" Let's think this through. Don't end it!"

A soft and desperate plea presented itself  in my mind, dragging me from the depths of unconsciousness.

The voice obviously belonged to my Aunt, laced with a familiar panic and grief. My eyes remained shut, but my senses began to slowly reawaken.

Like a languid swimmer surfacing from fathomless depths, I hovered between the world of dreams and wakefulness. I remained motionless, locked within myself, each sense tentatively reaching out to piece together the hazy reality around me. They spoke in hushed whispers, their words an indistinct murmur I could only wish to interrupt but I had no ability to.

In the realm between the unconscious and the conscious, I laid motionless, straining to comprehend the words swirling around me like whispers in the wind. Their conversation was muffled, like they were standing at the end of a long tunnel and it remained that way as my aunt's words would occasionally become clear.

"Please," Aunt's voice trembled, "Just give her a bit more time. Abena's a fighter... she'll pull through. I know she will."

There was a pause and some kind of response. I couldn't make out the words, but the tone was unmistakably firm, absolute. A cold dread began to unfurl in the pit of my stomach. Was I dying?

Another voice, the Doctor's perhaps. "I understand your feelings, ma'am, but we can't just—"

"No! You listen to me," Aunt cut him off, her voice now a growl. "I won't let you give up on her. Not yet."

A silence followed her firm statement, it was obvious she bought me more time. More than anything however I wanted to open my eyes, to reach out and comfort her. But I couldn't. My body refused to cooperate, trapped in its own invisible prison.

My mind spun. How long had it been? Hours? Days? A sense of fear and confusion washed over me as I struggled to piece together the fragments of my memories.

I heard Aunt's muffled sobs, the pained, choked sound cutting through the silence. She was fighting for me, while I lay here, unable to even comfort her or let her know she was right.

For weeks it seemed, the sounds of my Aunt's desperate pleas for my survival stirred something within me. Or maybe it was my time to wake up. I wouldn't know how to explain it. All I knew was that I wanted to see her, Seong-Heon, and my sister...As false as the wish was in that moment I was okay with wishing a miracle I wasn't aware of had occurred.

Summoning all the strength I had left, I fought against the suffocating darkness. Inch by a painstaking inch, I forced my eyelids open. The world around me was a blur of light and shadows, a distorted mess of colors and shapes.

"..." My voice was a broken whisper, the effort to speak immense but I couldn't do much but grunt.

The single sound was all I could muster, the effort leaving me exhausted. I couldn't speak but I made some kind of declaration of my presence, my existence. My vision blurred once again, as if I were underwater, my limbs heavy and unresponsive. Yet, I had broken the surface, if only just.

The room plunged into silence. I could discern all the sharp intake of breath and the shuffle of shoes against the linoleum floor.

"Nani...?" my aunt's voice was tinged with disbelief, a mere thread of sound. "Nani... it's you. Do you remember me? Nani?"

I could only try to nod, but she stopped me shaking her head. " Don't hurt yourself. You are awake and that's enough," she said softly.

The tenderness of her touch against my weary skin made tears brim in my eyes. A flood of emotions rose within me as she spoke out desperately for help. Everything erupted into chaos after that — murmurs of frantic orders overlapping with hurried footsteps across tile flooring. She never stopped calling for me.