MONA-LISA

PART THREE

    It was back at our old house where it all began. I had somehow drifted to it again sitted on my favourite chair as usual, waiting with my eyes shut. The house did not have the appeal it used to possess when we still lived in it - a little bungalow overshadowed by several looming trees that intimidated the entire compound, barring the pelting rays of the damask sunshine from penetrating the coolness and factitious solitude of its constantly shuddering leaves.
    Seeing it now through the mirror of my dreams in its empty and abandoned state, almost haunted by whatever was outside that couldn't come in, made me shudder. It looked all eerie now and almost impossible to believe that Beauty and peace had once lain there burnished. The curtains were thin and dusty, billowing in the faint spectrum of the verdant breeze. The chandelier had once stood with shiny bulbs, glitz and cashew yellow, casting an idyllic radiance over our wooden dining table, but all that was gone. It had become a skeletal triangle of gaping holes moping at the dusty floor. I still sat waiting and at last the expected came.
    The spindly fingers crept across the door open just a crack as usual- reaching for the knob. I kept my eyes tightly shut. A cool wind swept the room in clean circular motions and passed my ears in a brisk wave. It whispered something that made my lids fling open-"mother".

    I jumped out of my sleep. In high anticipation my eyes scathed the room but Nadim was no where near. I needed water. The palpation of my heart grew faster with every breath I took. I needed water more. I was crazy but the medication made me crazier. I tried to stable my senses as I lumbered out of  bed but my thoughts kept bumping into one another. I felt a vibration as I reached out and leaned on my dresser. It must be my phone- damn it! I don't have a phone. The vibration was in my head, riding down every nerve in my body. My whole body was vibrating and so was the dresser and all the stuff on it came cluttering down. I heard it. I heard it rightly. My Monalisa was calling out to me, reaching out to me all these years. There was a louder thud and shatter. I looked down, trepidation making my vision dreary. The huge mirror on the pallid wall was on the floor...part of its shiny splinters were still settling from the clatter.
    The door creaked open. I looked back to meet Nadim's indulging stare. She came in in her soft strides, each step appealing for subtlety.
    Seeing the concern in her eyes broke me down. I thought I had forgotten how to cry, but in the full glare of her delicately approaching figure, I remembered how to allow my pain melt into tears. I was hurting those around me with my grief. I was still trembling but not from the disillusion my dream caused but from the intensity of my tears.
    "I thought....I thought I was getting better,"I cried.
    She clutched me tightly to her lush bossom and let our bottom slump to the bed.
    "You are...."
    "No no no. I'm only getting worse". I held her face up so she could look into my eyes. "I'm crazy. You were always right about it".
    She slipped her face away from my grip. "I am always right and the last thing I'll ever want to do is lie to you, Naomi. You're my only sister and I will always take care of you. We will fight through this or live with it forever. Look at me", she commanded in a tone that made me oblige without thinking. "You will never be alone".
      She always said this but each time she did it emerged with a sort of novelty that made me feel I had never heard it before. There was glory in everything she did and said. I could confide in her.
    "Monalisa called out to me".
    "Again?" She wore an expression that I couldnt read.
    "No, this is not like the other times", I said hurriedly to prevent her from stopping me although I knew she would not. I could tell from her thoughtful face and the firm clasp of her palms." I am sure of it now. It was her. It has always been her".
    Nadim gave a cursory pallid smile.
    "What do I always tell you, my dear?"
    "About Monalisa?"
    "What did I promise you about her?"
    "That I will see her again but only if I sleep well, eat and take all my medication". She nodded slowly but affirmatively. I quickly chipped in," but I've been doing all of that. I have never complained or defaulted like I used to".
     "So....," she started as she stood up and reached for the small blue bottle that I had become so acclimatized to seeing that it looked like a part of me," you will see her again". The pill was just starting to settle in my mouth when she lay me down and covered me in the duvet. "I promise".
    My eyelids were becoming heavy then I heard her sweet voice burst into a calm song. I knew the song so well but I could never bring myself to sing it. It had so much power over me when it was her voice that carried the words. Her voice made it concrete, made me believe the lyrics even though it was my emotions she sang about.
    "Lahlahlahlah, lahlahlahlah, Lah Lah Lah Lah Lah, lah lah lah lah lah lahlah lah lahlah, lah lah lah lahlah lah, lahlah lah lah lah lah (2x) lah lah. Monalisa, Monalisa, sleep by me tonight. The night is cold and darkness has descended. I stay awake all night hoping you will come home (2x)". She was still singing but had stopped cradling my arm. She was at the door, shutting it when she finished saying the last two words of the song that filled me with hopeful longing. "I stay awake all night hoping you will come home, some day".
    My eyes were already shut. Sleep was heavy upon me already. I just lay stilt as a log and allowed the remnant of her voice seeping in from the corridor as she walked away, cradle me to a fitful slumber.