69 Short Stories

Part 19: The Colour of U (2) 965 words

As I woke up, the sound of a clock ticking filled my ear. I tried to look around, but my neck is secured by some sort of helmet. The ceiling's a BRIGHT shade.

A face popped into my view. It's the girl who lost her sketchbook. Now she's scribbling notes onto a new page.

I'm gonna go and tell the nurse you're awake. Wait here.

I nodded obediently after reading her note.

Few days have passed since I awoke from my coma. This girl, named Lit, has always stayed here and cared for me. It feels weird to have someone accompanying me, it feels so unusual to not have Madame K around.

I can talk, but Lit can't read my lips, so our communication is silent. Lit loves drawing, and she tells me about her life.

I feel bad not to tell her mine in return, but to be honest, there's nothing pleasant to tell.

I learned that Lit is one of those rich girls who get everything others have to live without, dresses, dolls, anything.

But Lit rarely smiles. She says she's not happy. It really confused me for the first few days, as I simply don't understand how can she be sad when she has everything she wants. But as we communicated further, I started to understand her pain as no one ever came looking for her during these days.

Lit can't speak. To be exact, she can but she doesn't like to.

She has six other siblings, with her being the second youngest and the least achieved. Her elder step brothers and sisters have made their own way into accomplished societies, and her younger sister is already performing as a gifted ballerina.

Lit tells me everything, everything about her life.

Two weeks have passed since I awoke from the car crash. But it feels like I've been living my whole life with this short haired girl who can't hear.

I haven't heard anything about Madame K, I wish she just forgot about me. Maybe it's because she can't get through the official way of being my carer to take me from the hospital, or hopefully, she doesn't know which hospital I'm in. That'll be great, in fact, I never wanted to see her face ever again.

But, however, life here isn't carefree. The nurses kept on asking me about my identity, and when I say that my name is Thirteen, they just don't believe me. I know I'm 15 years old, but what does that mean to them? Nothing. I don't know where I live, and I don't think giving out the café's address will be a smart choice. I have no family, well, not any that I know of, at least.

So, really, I don't know how long I can stay at the hospital for. They took off my helmet thing yesterday, and the doctor said that the only problem is my left leg with a broken bone. But after that healed, I have no idea where I should go. 

There's no way I'm going back to the café, I'd rather die.

It took me the whole day to write down my story as Lit insisted on knowing me better.

Lit's fairly new sketchbook is now half filled with my messed up drawings and tilting lines of words.

She remained silent as she flipped through the first few pages. Her eyes fixed onto a drawing of Three as I swallowed. I know Three's pretty, okay?

It took her a long time to finish reading, and she didn't respond immediately. Instead, she just stared at the blank page.

"Lit?" I tapped her shoulder, knowing that she can't hear me.

"We're gonna run," Lit moved her lips. Her voice is hoarse, her first two words were in a weird tune, but they reached my ears explicitly. "We're gonna run. We're getting out of here!"

"Why?" I asked back, gazing at the hospital walls. So clean, so safe.

"It's not safe here, Madame K or whoever, she'll find you sooner or later," Lit frowned, her voice still screeching. "We need to get you out of here."

"Lit!" I protested. "It's not like I have anywhere else to go! Once outside the café, I'm homeless!"

"Even if you're inside the café," Lit's eyes toughened. "You're still homeless."

Her statement froze in place. Damn, she's right.

"Where are we gonna go?" I gave into her plan, writing my question onto her sketchbook.

"Anywhere but here," She answered and started packing away. Her voice is better, it's still a bit hoarse, but the words can come out smoothly. "Somewhere no one knows."

"My father's keeping a watch on us, or me, specifically." She lowered her head as the doctor refused for me to take a walk. "I know that man, I've seen him with Father before. Thirteen, wait for me here. I don't know when will I be back, but I will be back. Leave with me then."

With that, Lit squeezed my hand and left. Blood oozed out as I bit my lips too hard. Why are you leaving me, Lit?

I edged out of bed to follow her, but the very first step sent a massive ache up my body.

Luckily, Lit kept her promise. But not the way I expected.

Lit came prepared in the middle of the night a few days later, she almost gave me a heart attack when the first thing I saw was a close up of her face.

I sat on the back of her bike and held onto her waist dearly as she raced her bike at full speed. I looked up at the sky, there aren't many stars. My hair flew into my face as night breeze brushed my cheeks, but all I felt was freedom.

Freedom.