Collections of short breaths.

Dream Us A Dream.

           "Ariel," I overhear him call my sister, "You are better than your sister. I have told you several times, always be the first to achieve anything and everything before her."

        Staring at my younger sister, who happens to be a pilot, a well-known one for that matter. She sits across from him with her legs crossed, back straight, lips bright with a maroon color, yet her eyes dull with stress. Her skin looks as old as that of a lady in her 40's. After a while, she clears her throat in a high terrible note, nods at his words, before sipping a dark coffee with a calming scent of ment. Putting the coffee down, she makes a face at the bitterness and strong taste diving down her throat.

     "Nefertiti," a distant voice calls me. "Nefertiti."

      "Ariel," Father continues in a malevolent, harsh voice, "your mother will be holding a board conference meeting tomorrow. While your sister is away, it is important for you to use this opportunity to lure her to your side" Clearing his throat he continues, "you are more business-oriented compare to your sister."

       "Nefertiti," a distant voice calls me. "Nefertiti." The voice becomes clearer. 

     "Nefertiti!" An ache washes over my head to the very tail of my spinal cord. Raising my head slowly, I look up to find my roommate staring at me with confuse eyes.

    "Oh Lord, Nefertiti. Are you okay?" she asks in a worried voice.
    "Yes, I think."
     "You think? It has been 25 minutes now since you passed out," she yells.
Bring!
    "I believe that's your phone," my roommate says as she hovers over my head to get a glimpse of the news.
         There is a board meeting this evening. NO, you are NOT allowed to MISS this meeting.
       Frowning her eyebrows, my roommate she says in a defeated tone "Guess, we won't be having a night out." I nod in acknowledgment of her words.
       Outside, the air feels moist drained of any pleasant oxygen molecules then drowned in a pig's stomach.

  Getting into my car, I turn the keys. Schllllllik, a sound of a metal falling. Ignoring the sound, I close my car door. 

    The bridge signaling an entrance to Boston appears in sight. Sitting up, I sigh, seeing a hold up stretching for miles and miles. "I won't be going anywhere soon with this," I whisper audible. Cutting off from the highway, I turn towards the town that backs the bridge.
    Breathing in, a filthy, off-color taste makes its presence known in my mouth. Rolling down my window, a scent that seems almost scentless fills my nostril. My head suddenly feels heavy and deprive of any oxygen. "It must be a manure from those zounderkite' gardens," I tell myself as I stare at the tiny, fragile, dried-up, and rather malnourished gardens at the left-hand roadside, with pure disgust . Grabbing the steering wheel tightly, I focus my energy on driving out of this allergies hell. I need to be there before the meeting! A drop of rain falls on my head, but there is not a single cloud in sight. Suddenly, rays of color appear on my windshield. I can not see. Taking a deep breath, I place my weigh heavily on the the brake , only to notice there was nothing there. God, what is going on? A bridge comes in view. Faster the acceleration of my car increases from 80 mph to 100 mph to 160mph. Closer and closer the bridge came. High and high my voice pitch increases. Tighter and tighter I hold onto the steering wheel. Placing my right hand on the gear lever, I push it back. Friction!, where are you? A bump, another bump. My car grows wings, higher it went, just like a roller coaster it loses its wings and heads for hell. Air rushes down my throat. The pressure from the atmosphere dance with gravity on my nasal. It hurts so much. Like twins, the clouds and I joins together. We dance to our loss of breath, bleeding nose, blurry vision and silence scream. All that is left to do is to admit that I have had a good ride. A sudden realization hits me. The road to hell should be a wide beautiful road with gold and silver pavement. I knew those humans were lying.

    Whoop. Water rushes into the car. Bubbles. Air. Water. Panicking I scream " Mom!. Grandma!".

     "Nefertiti! hurry up, you're going to be late", grandma calls in a funny Indian-Nigerian accent from the kitchen.
   Running as fast as my little legs could carry me, I scream at the top of my lung, "Coming Grandma!".
   "The soup is done, Nefertiti. The faster you run the bigger your portion will be."
   "Grandma. The Osiris has awakened." I reply back as soon as my little feet step on the kitchen floor.
    Turning towards me Grandma smiles, robbing my cheeks with her cold pale dried thumb, "indeed," she says, " the Osiris has awakened. Now, come home and dream us a dream, Queen Nefertiti."

      Whoop a salty taste welcomes me home.
Deep. Deep. Deep. Deeeep.
    "She may not survive it," a soft voice says. "I know this is hard, but it is better to take her off the life support," a long deadly silence, "Let her rest in peace"
     My left-hand aches, a hard, rough, tube-like surface dives into my thumb capillaries. Relaxing back, I stare at the dark stormy clouds.
    " Her hands," a dry voice says excitedly, "they're moving!"
    "Tha-- it's impossible," came the first voice. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep,"oh my goodness. No! No! Check her heartbeat!"
    "There is no rhythm," a new voice says.
    "That's funny. Her body is getting cold," says the first tiny soft voice. "Transfer her to the emergency room. QUICK! Defibrillate her"
       In weakness, I dream. Dreams of darkness.
       "Goodness. Anybody, What is going on?" yells the dry voice in pain.
      A hand reaches out of the darkness and grabs me. A strong scent of mint comes from the mask on my nose. A warm, tasteless liquid travels down my throat. Relaxing, I fade with it. Farther and farther we fade together back to the womb of my dear mother.
   A cold venomous air hugs my ear, "Good morning, sis!" a whispers, "Don't worry about anything. Dad was right about you. Self-centered human," laughs out loud, she continues "I did not sabotage your car. Dad did. I don't feel sorry at all. Enjoying mom's attention and love down there, Huh? Don't worry it won't last forever. Be like Nefertiti. Act like Nefertiti. Nefertiti will never do that. When will it be Ariel!"
    "Dream us a dream, "I weakly whisper.
    "I know. I know. We dreamt together, But you wore the crown alone," she cries out.
   "He got into your head, didn't he? " I sorrowfully whisper with tears running down my cheeks.
   "He understood my pain!" she screams lowly. Sighing, she kisses my cheeks. Click clack, her shoes echos on the glass floor.
   Taking a deep breath. I close my eyes slowly, one-word dances in my ears, Judas Iscariot. The kiss of Judas, my soul screams in horror. Nooooo!, I scream out with a broken heart. I scream out my soul.
   Closer and closer a shadow comes to my face, it's cold face drenched in tears makes my forehead it's dwelling place. Shivering lips rest on the tip of my nose Drop after drop of open wound wrapped in tears falls on my face.
  "I think it's best we let her sleep forever. Her lungs are badly damaged, there are not enough blood cells in her body to keep up, and her heart is badly scarred. She will not be able to live without a machine. What is the purpose of living when there is nothing to live for? The best we can do is take her off the machine. Let her rest in peace." a tiny voice says.
   The shadow stands up. Slowly, I open my eyes halfway. The shadow is a lady with tears falling from her red pigmented eyes. Covering her mouth with her hand, she heads out with her head down."Night, Nefertiti," she whispers.
  "Night, Mum", my weaken voice replies.
  The doctor pulls closer to the oxygen tank, she squeezes my left hand before covering my face with a moist gray blanket.
  "Wait", mum shouts, "is the oxygen tank still intact?"

  "Not at all," the doctor replies.

  "Check her heartbeat, I heard her voice. She called me. I heard Mum"
  Smiling a weak smile underneath the blanket, I whisper, "Dream us a dream"
  Snuffing, she sings back, "Together we can be different, yet, the same. Just take a deep breath. Dream us a dream. The lion-"
  With that, I take a deep breath. The mystery of life in one breath. The everlasting sound of peace calms my heart. The sharp knife of my short life. Lord, please let her dream happy dreams of me. Step after Step, I walk toward Grandma in my innocence. 

*****~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometime I can't tell the difference between happiness and being myself.