Gasping for breath, with a hand on my left chest, I rushed back home when I received a phone call from my sister. I was on my way to a writing convention, but I had to put it off because of an emergency.
When I reached our front gate, I pushed it hard though it was made of steel, not minding how heavy it was. The surrounding was pitch black, and there were no light in the garden. It was seven in the evening, but even the lights inside our house weren’t lit.
I called my sister, but she didn’t answer, so I groped into the darkness while screaming for her name.
“Calli!”
No answer.
“Calli!” I called again. But still there was no response. Then, I heard someone sniffing, whining desperately. That was when I skedaddled to the entrance door and saw my sister curled on the doorway, crying silently.
“What happened?” I knelt and shook her shoulder. She was shivering.
“Th- the door was locked. Only Matty was inside. But he called me while screaming ‘Help!’ I don’t have a duplicate key.”
“You should’ve called 911. Something might’ve happened. Call them now!” I fumbled through the pockets of my handbag. But as I see from my peripheral view, Calli wasn’t doing anything, so I thought she was too shocked and didn’t have the muscle to even pull her phone out of her pocket.
My hands trembled as I inserted the key in the doorknob and pounded the door while calling for cousin’s name.
When the door finally burst open, darkness greeted me with a smile, seemingly happy with my tensed entrance.
I reached for the switch on the wall to turn on the lights, but my knees buckled when the living room tuned bright.
There, at the couch, sat Matty—not moving!
I sprinted in front of him and felt for his pulse.
No pulse.
I placed my ear on his chest. His heart was beating just fine.
“Hey! Matt! Wake up!” I gently tapped his cheek, so he immediately opened his eyes and screamed…
“It’s a prank!”
I slumped on the carpeted but cold, tiled floor, hurting my butt, when he suddenly got up and burst out laughing.
“What the hell was that for?!”
Calli went in and stood next to me, offering her hand to assist me to stand.
“Relax. It’s just a prank. We’re recording,” she said, and they laughed.
“A prank?! You call that just a prank when you almost give me a heart attack?! You did that just for fun without even thinking I might lose my job because of a fake emergency?!”
I got up and turned my back on them, stomping my way out of the house to go back to the convention I was assigned to attend. I didn’t pay attention to my sibling and cousin’s call while apologizing for what they did.
As soon as both my feet landed on the doormat outside, my phone rang.
“Yes, ma’am. I was on my way there, but—”
My ears went deaf, not hearing the rest of my boss’s scolding. The only words I remembered she said were, “You’re fired!”
My brain just went off like a machine breaking down. All my senses went numb. My eyes blurred with tears. My body turned icy as the ear-splitting words climbed from my ears to my amygdala.
I just lost my job!
The job I freaking worked hard to get!
My knees quivered like I didn’t have bones. I dropped like some soggy noodles.
Calli rushed to me.
“What happened?” For the second time she extended her hand, but I swatted it away.
“I’m jobless now! Leave me alone! It’s all your fault because of that stupid prank!”
“We’re sorry.”
“Sorry? Can that sorry bring my precious job back? Not because you’re laughing doesn’t mean it’s funny! And not because it’s funny doesn’t mean you can make others happy. Are you happy seeing other people suffer because of you?”