A Time for Life

Chapter Fourteen

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Alyssa's point of view 

My phone rang a loud chime that echoed in the stillness of the forest atmosphere. Digging in my pocket, I checked the caller ID. When recognizing the number I felt nauseous. It was like the weight of the universe suddenly fell on my shoulders.

With a shaky grip I flipped open my phone and whispered a small "hello?"

"Hello, is this Alyssa Berry?" A woman spoke on the other end of the line, with a somewhat low voice.

Sucking in a breath, preparing myself for the worst I spoke, my voice smaller then usual, "this is she."

There was a slight pause on the other end of the line, a hesitation, "I am very sorry to inform you-." I didn't hear the rest because my body seemed to lose any control it had. The top half of me was like dead weight, and my legs so numb, I collapsed to the ground, one hand still holding the ice cold phone to my ears and the other covered my mouth to stop me from screaming. I felt the hot tears threaten to fall down my face like a waterfall, but I held them in.

"We did everything we could." The woman spoke. Lies. "We are deeply sorry for your tragic loss, Ms Berry." Lies. They couldn't care less. To them she was just another patient of the many they had.

The forest, though midday with the sun shining, was cold. Everything was grey and my vision blurred. My heart was sinking, drowning in a puddle of my tears, though my face was dry.

Not knowing what else to say I whispered a small, "okay... Okay, thank you." When I hung up, my breaths became uneven and everything was hot. I began to sweat and my legs no longer seemed to be working for me. I was finding it difficult to breath, like there was smoke in the air, or water in my lungs. Every breath was as painful as the next, but not breathing only made it worse.

She's dead. She's dead.

My mother has died.

Not knowing what to do I let my numb legs lead the way, slowly, carelessly, making their way out the forest onto the road that led to my house, almost as if we weren't attached. Next thing I remember was hopping in the car not long after, even though the walk from where I was to my car was a minimum of twenty minutes.

My breaths weren't even, and my legs weren't steady, and my mind had taken itself to another land. A land of immobility. Numb pain. Ignoring all this, I drove off, hardly keeping my eyes firm on the road, but letting them see past the street into a world of oblivion.

Somehow, thirty minutes later, I was able to subconsciously lead myself towards Perla's home. My second home. With a sense of nothingness I walked towards the front door, passing her car, reassuring me she was home, and let myself in, half surprised that it wasn't locked. The other half of me didn't seem to care.

As I made my way through the opening entrance of the cold house I realized there was no sound. No Perla talking on the phone, no sound of her heels clicking across the ground. Just a stillness. Not saying a word, I continued walking straight, so I began the curled stairway. After a century I was at the top of the stairs.

I felt like I was floating. Walking on clouds. But in the worst way possible. Like I couldn't get a proper sense of what was around me. I felt light, even though the whole world seemed to be leaning against my shoulders.

I didn't realize I was at Perla's bedroom until I was standing in front of the closed, black door. Not bothering to knock I opened the door.

What I saw on the other side was something I knew I'd never forget. If I thought the world was on my shoulders before, now I felt like the whole universe was tumbling upon me. Everything all at once seemed to turn from worse, to worst.