The gear turned, interlaced with another, and another. His eyes traced the inner workings of the machine to the place where the light shone.
Joe was jittery as his blue Ferrari Enzo accelerated at 100km/hr. Had he made the wrong decision telling the facility about Sapheera Sanders' condition?
*****
Lord knows that I have tried so much to get her out of my mind but I just can't. It was like Sapheera had placed a spell on me without even knowing. Whenever she flashed me a look with her azure coloured eyes, my joy knew no bounds. She was a goddess, my goddess. The more I tried getting close to her, the more she kept resisting. Was something wrong with my face? Or was it my breath?.
On one of the nights when she returned home, drunk to stupor, I had to assist her inside her apartment. She was babbling a lot, saying things that didn't make any sense. How would Sapheera, the love of my life, have a brain tumour? It was probably the alcohol talking.
The next morning, I heard a bang on my door, it was Sapheera. Seeing her face first thing in the morning was like a dream come through. If he played his cards right, it would just be a matter of months before they were happily married and he would see her face every morning when he wakes up and every night before he goes to bed. Lord! He was obsessed! Joe was drawn out of his fantasy with another knock on his door.
Joe: Good morning Sapheera. He said, smiling brightly
Sapheera: Good morning Joe
Joe: Would you like to come in for a minute? I could fix you a cup of coffee. I bet it would help with your hangover.
Sapheera: No Joe. I won't be taking much of your time this morning. I bet you have better things to do…..
What could be better than seeing Sapheera at his door early in the morning? Joe's mind wandered.
Sapheera: Did you hear anything I just said Joe?
Joe: Oh, I'm sorry. I was lost for a minute.
Sapheera: I said thank you for helping me yesterday night and that thing I said about having only a year to live, can it be our little secret?.
Joe: That's not a problem. I knew it was the alcohol talking. He smiled
Sapheera: No it wasn't. I actually have a year to live.
I was awestruck. Sapheera had gotta be joking right now. What did she mean by "no it wasn't?". Wait a minute, she wasn't smiling.
Joe: If this is a joke, you've got me real good miss.
Sapheera: I'm not here to debate my health with you Joe, I'm just asking that you keep it between us. No telling to friends, colleagues, no one! Understood?
Joe: un.. understood. He stammered
Sapheera: Thank you.
I watched as she walked away after dropping the bomb she had just dropped. Does this mean that my "happily ever after" was just a fiction of my imagination? I had to do something and that too, very fast.
*****
Six months have passed and I still haven't found a hospital that could help Sapheera. I decided to discuss my situation with Mark, my most trusted colleague. Mark told me about a facility, Psy Meds, where his half brother was at. He suggested that I give them a call. At this point, if Psy Meds couldn't help me, then it was over.
I looked the facility up on the internet and I saw that Psy Meds is a private facility that deals with the brain. Boom! This was it. I had second thoughts about the action I was about to make. Did I have the right to give information about Sapheera's condition to these people? I did it anyway.
I called Psy Meds and told them about Sapheera. I urged them to keep me anonymous and they agreed. I told them the little information I had about Sapheera's condition. About an hour after I ended the phone call, I saw Sapheera drive out in a haste. She must be headed to the facility.
A month after Sapheera was admitted, I received a phone call from the facility. I thought it was the regular calls they gave in respect to Sapheera's progress. The only words I could pick out from the phone call was "Sapheera..danger..hurry". I sprang up from my cushion, grabbed my keys and headed for the road. What have I done!
It was an hour and thirty minutes drive to the facility and I wished my car could go any faster. If anything happened to Sapheera, I would blame myself for life.
After what felt like eternity, I arrived at the facility and I caught sight of some medics putting someone into a body bag. I rushed to the first person I saw wearing a laboratory coat.
Joe: Good day. I'm here in respect to a call I received earlier. Sapheera…Sapheera Sanders! Where is she??
The man led me inside to his office. He had a gloomy look on. I just hope it wasn't what I thought it was.
The man: I'm very sorry to say this sir, but miss Sapheera committed suicide. There was nothing we could do about it.
Joe: No! no! no doctor! You can't tell me that bullshit! There was something you could do about it but you chose not to!
Guilt mixed with anguish were the only emotions I could feel as threw her ashes into the river. The cool breeze blew my hair eastward. Sapheera had no family, nobody to call her own. I had killed her. I killed her! My voice echoed. Now, I can't have her as his wife, nor can I see her face every morning. The guilt gripped him as he swallowed whatever liquid was in his throat. He would live with this guilt for the rest of his life.
| This post is part 2 of a 2-part short story fiction for the dreem-wotw S2 R3 collaboration contest. You can find the first part here. |
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It was really a pleasure doing this with you 
Thank you for reading
With love, wongi✨
