I went to the market the other day to get things I needed to make soup. That day, I wasn’t feeling my best. I woke up feeling heavy and my energy low. I just wanted to make something that would settle me from the inside out.
So there’s this woman I usually buy from. It’s been like three years since I’ve known her so we had grown familiar with each other. She gave me good prices, sometimes took my list from me and helped me get the other things she didn’t sell, and we used to exchange small talk. I was willing to get most of what I needed from her but that day, her stall was closed.
I sat there for a moment, hoping maybe she was just running late. Then I began to look around for someone else to buy from, at least someone I could trust enough. That was when another seller approached me. Unprovoked, she said it.
“She died last night.”
Just like that.
No euphemism whatsoever or even hearer warning if there’s anything like that. She went on to explain how the woman had gone to bed and simply didn’t wake up. I just stood there, with my vision blurred, trying to process it.
The market suddenly didn’t feel the same. The noise, the movement, and whatever else that was happening around me all blurred into something distant. What was meant to be a small errand became something really heavy. I hadn’t prepared for such news but it was delivered to me anyway and it stayed with me for the rest of the day, unsettling everything.
And then, as if that wasn’t enough, later that day, my sister came home with another piece of news. She said a family friend, a lawyer we know, had just lost her 19-year-old son. Nineteen!
I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t even try to form a proper response. The only thing that came out of my mouth was, “Oh Lord, not more news.” Because sometimes, it’s not just the news itself, it’s the accumulation. The fear it instills in me about the unpredictability of my own life.
One after the other. Loss upon loss. Stories that remind you how fragile life is, how unpredictable, how quickly everything can change without notice. And in moments like that, you don’t want updates or details. You just want it to stop for a while. Because the heart can only carry so much at once.
My response to the freewriters daily prompt
