LABANO
Her water broke that morning.
My wife, Brooke.
I don't remember much from how we had gotten to the hospital.
But, I remember the smile she had given me before they wheeled her into the labour ward.
"I'll be fine Labano," she had told me.
Those were her last words.
If only I had known.
If only I could go back in time.
I would have never agreed to a child.
I would have never let her keep it.
I would have never let them take her away.
I would have never left her side.
I never knew that was the last time I would see her, alive, breathing.
That was the last time I would see her smile, or ever hear her soft therapeutic laugh.
The nurse had come out of the room about an hour after she had gone in.
Her appearance had stopped my pacing.
I had instantly covered the distance betwen us better with my longer legs.
"Where's my wife? What's going on?" I had demanded.
I checked for her name.
Hilda.
That was the name of the nurse.
It was written on the Navy blue tag hanging from her uniform.
Although I worked at this hospital, I haven't seen her around before.
Probably because I was always cooped up in neaurosurgery, swamped with work.
Mayhap that was the reason.
The nurse made this speak, a sad pleading look sitting in her eyes as if to deter me.
It was as if what she wanted to say was something that would change my life forever.
And it did.
"Mr Pruñonosa, I am sorry. We tried all..."
I didn't hear anything after that.
A loud ringing began in my head as spams instantly took over half of my body all at once.
Thoughts swirled continuously in my head as I was trying to process it all.
My hand moved upwards, towards my ear, to grip the sides of my head.
I pressed hard, but the damn ringing in my skull didn't stop.
It only grew louder.
The nurse's mouth continued to move, forming words I would never understand.
And yet, I heard nothing, except only the sound that was swelling to a climax in my cerebellum.
A doctor came out to join the nurse, one of my colleagues in a blue scrub.
He reached out and placed his hands on my shoulders with a sad look.
I hated that expression.
I, myself, have worn it about a thousands times since I finished medical school.
But, I have never received it.
"Labano."
Suddenly, the ringing stop, altogether.
I stared upwards, unable to move, unable to blink as he began to speak to me.
"Accept my condolences."
And just like that, everything unravelled.
"No! Noooooo!" I bellowed.
The man flinched at the intensity behind the guttural scream that I finally let out.
"No!!! Where's Brooke? She can't die!!"
My heart was pumping blood too fast.
My vision was blurring.
I could tell because the nurse and everything else swam before my eyes.
"Labano," the doctor called out, coming closer to me. "You should sit—"
I flung his hands away from me
"Where. Is. My. Wife?" I demanded. "Where is my baby?!"
I saw the man swallow.
"The baby..." He began.
My heart rate slowed.
I stilled, waiting for him.
"We lost the baby too."
And the rest crashed into static.
I cried out in anguish as the emotions warped around me without mercy.
In the distance, I heard something hitting the floor with a sharp sound.
Then I realized it was my knee.
My fingers curled tightly at my laps, desperately searching for something, anything to hold on to.
I needed something to anchor myself to reality lest I got lost in the chaos.
But, there was nothing.
"No, please," I whispered while my chest began to tighten terribly.
My lungs refused to move and my breaths came out as sharp ragged sounds.
The baby?
That wasn't as important as her—Brooke.
She couldn't die.
She was my world.
Without her, I was nothing.
The reality slammed into me so violently that I almost choked on my own tongue.
I needed to fight.
I couldn't let it end like this.
I looked up, noticing then that the room had blurred into lights and shadows.
Still, it didn't deter me.
"Please, I need her."
My voice broke.
"My wife, I just want my wife back. You can keep the baby, just give me my wife!" I wailed as something crashed inside of me.
My breath hitched.
"Please just give me my wife!" I begged. "Please just give me Brooke."
The flood tears opened and tears poured down from my face to the floor, unceasingly.
I stayed there, crouched, venting my grief to the floor, folding under its weight.
The nurse crouched beside me.
I felt her hands parting my back, but it didn't little to nothing to confort me
Everything had been taken away.
I had lost Brooke.
That was all I knew—as well as the empty space in my arms where she should have been, she and the child.
Now here I was, going to meet Brooke.
Three days was enough to make me realize that I could never leave without her.
At least, I had given her and the child a befitting burial after water cremation.
Whatever happened to my own body was of no importance—at least to me.
The drive to the cliff wasn't long, at least not with the speed I was going at.
My foot snagged on a stone the moment I took a step out of the fucking car.
I cursed out loud as I reached down to pat the offended foot, my toe red in the sandals.
When I looked up, the dark sky stared down at me, as if trying to deter me.
But, I had made up my mind.
Even if I snagged my foot on a gazillion of stones, I would not stop.
I would not look back.
There was nothing to look back on either.
I leaned against the car and slid a pack of cigarettes out from my left pocket.
I lit it and took a drag.
One last cigarette.
One last gesture before I would meet Brooke... And the baby.
Our child.
The one I couldn't meet.
After I took the last drag, I let the cigarette butt drop to the floor, useless now.
I closed my eyes for a moment and imagined Brooke, her smile especially.
Her eyes beckoned me.
I began locomotion.
My legs lifted, propelling my body forward, towards the steep cliff.
Soon, I was at the edge.
I spread my arms, the wind blowing over me and into my petticoat.
It felt dangerous.
But danger never stopped me before.
I mumbled a prayer and opened my eyes, preparing to jump to my paradise.
And then, I heard it.
The faint sound of breathing.
I stilled.
My heart began to pound as I started to look around me.
Was someone here?
Who was?
I heard a small noise, like plastic gliding against metal over and over again.
And my eyes fell on the large metal container laying near the cliff.
Without my permission, my body instantly began to head for the container.
But when I reached for the lid, something gripped me, and my palm halted mid air.
My throat instantly dried up.
I swallowed spittle in order to lubricate it while hoping that I had swallowed the fear beginning to rise too.
Unfortunately, I hadn't because my hand shook terribly as I reached out again.
My blood roared in my ears as I lifted the lid, expecting the worse.
And I got it.
For inside the container were two bodies, dead or half dead, I couldn't tell.
I stood there, unmoving.
But suddenly, a hand shot out of the container, and wrapped around my wrist.
I screamed.
The sound tumbled out if my voice box like that of a girl who was freaked out over the blood from her first menstrual period.
The grip tightened even as my scream died into an agape mouth and ragged breath.
I reached out slowly with shaky hands and began to peel the hands off my skin.
I couldn't help but notice the nails, designed with plastic sea shells and clams.
A lady.
Then, one eyes opened in the dark.
"Help me."