XI. The Consequence
Alizé’s voice sounded too familiar and soothing for Jeremy as the ringback played. He didn’t know why, but all of a sudden, he felt light and dizzy. A wave of sleepy calmness washed over him as his vision faltered into a dreamy blur. In an instant, a bright, white light exploded in his dimming sight.
Jeremy smiled.
Everything was so beautiful. Everything was so wonderful. Everything was so… peaceful.
Jeremy collapsed on the floor.
The cellphone in his hand made a somersault in the air before its screen surface made contact with the sharp corner of Clifford’s desk.
Cliff’s bulk acted too late to catch the falling body of his friend. He knelt beside the unconscious Jeremy.
“Jeremy?”
Clifford saw that Jeremy wasn’t moving. He violently shook Jeremy to wake him up.
“Jer? Can you hear me?”
The horror on Clifford’s face was indescribable when he realized that Jeremy’s chest is no longer rising or falling. He frantically slapped Jeremy’s face a couple of times.
“C’mon, Jeremy. Wake up!”
Clifford knew too well on how hard he sucked at emergency situations. He felt for pulse, and did not feel any. He tried searching for pulse again, just in case he missed the right spot. Nothing.
Clifford panicked. Trembling, he reached for the telephone on the wall and toppled an upright speaker in the process.
He really can’t recall but he realized that he must have screamed really loud because when he spoke to the 911 representative, his voice sounded hoarse. The operator assured him that an ambulance is on its way.
As a last-ditch effort to save his friend, Clifford performed a CPR on Jeremy. He knew that all of his efforts are going to be futile, but he also knew that there’s no hurt in trying.
And he also knew that Jeremy’s already dead.
Sure, Clifford has performed miracles on computers before – has brought dead computers back to their working condition, has made them blink back to life. But Jeremy was not a computer, and reviving him is way beyond his abilities.
Fighting his tears, Clifford gave one last affectionate tap on Jeremy’s unmoving chest. He picked up The Boss’s broken phone and then surveyed the extensive damage on its formerly smooth surface.
He sighed. “The only link between Heaven and Earth, shattered to pieces,” he muttered. “I guess you’re gonna be fired, Jeremy Sanders.” Clifford took out a fifty from his wallet and placed it on Jeremy’s shirt pocket.
As teardrops fell on the rim of his glasses, he fell down on his knees. For the first time in twenty years, Clifford Crae prayed.
X X X
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INTERFERENCE (A Short Novel)
FantasiaFalsely accused for messing up his boss's cellphone, Jeremy Sanders -- a corporate man -- goes to his old friend, Clifford Crae -- a techno geek -- to try to solve the phone's problem. But the problem is, they can't figure out what the problem is...
