NO MORE HERE

Mei pondered about the events that happened as she ate her sandwich. She got up and went into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. She decided not to waste her time and give up her thoughts to go get a good nap. On the way to the room, she bumped into a table nearby. As the books on the table fell on the floor an old photo slipped out from one of the books. She slowly bent down to pick it up. A single tear escaped from her eye as she looked at the picture.

The picture had a lively feeling. A man held a child high up in the air and a lady was sitting on the ground looking at you and waving. It seemed like she was calling someone to join her. Mei stood there not moving.

Xue had come around hearing the sound. She was met with the sight of Mei looking at the picture longingly.

"Mei…"

Despite the call she didn't make a movement.

"I still can't get over it, Xue. It still hurts….. I still see them in my sleep. A year has already flown by but I still am not able to locate Zixin."

"You will find him."

"What should I say to him if he asks where I was? Sometimes thinking about it alone makes it hard to breathe."

She silently listened to her without replying.

Mei went into the room with the photo and laid down in the bed. The photo was captured the day she had went out with her brother Peizhi, sister-in-law Nim and her nephew Zixin. They all went out like any other day just to make beautiful memories. She smiled at the moments they had and the silly jokes that they cracked. They had indeed lived beautifully but now everything was broken. Her brother and sister-in-law were no more in this world and her nephew has gone missing since then. Despite all the efforts to find him, the results always met with a dead end.

She closed her eyes as they grew heavy.

*****

Mei opened her eyes to the heavy chaos. She was standing in the middle of a ER. The people kept running around in their white uniforms. She suddenly looked at the entrance to see herself coming in running drenched in rain. She saw her worried image who was helplessly looking around.

She ran to the desk asking, "Pei… Pei.. Peizhi. He w.. w..as just bought in with a lady Nim. Wh..Where should I go?"

The nurse looked up and replied, "Straight and then to your left."

As she saw her own figure heading to the mentioned direction, she followed her. It didn't take her a while to come across the scenes she had always been disturbed with.

As she walked past these lanes of memories again and again, the pain that comes with it only became more unbearable. There it was. The doctors were rushing around. She could see the doctor doing a CPR on her sister-in-law, desperately trying to revive her. The straight line never returned to confirm life. I saw myself holding both my hands over my mouth as I heard the doctor confirm her time of death. Still trying to stay strong I collected myself and walked over to where my brother was lying.

I saw him gazing at sister-in-law. As if there was no more reason to hold on his condition started to grow worse. I saw myself rush in and hold his hand as if grabbing to the last straw of hope.

"Brother, it's going to be fine. Hmmm. Everything is going to be fine. Just hold on okay."

I could see him smile seeing her disheveled state. She also seemed to have forced a smile on her face to reassure. The hand tightened around her as he signaled her to come closer. She closed in the distance and lent her ear to hear what he has to say.

"Zi…Zixin, i….is out there. F..in..d him and lo..ok a..fter him. A..nd, I am sorry."

The tightly held hand loosened its grip before it started to slide away. The doctors rushed and occupied their position.

"The pulse has dropped" alerted the nurse.

"CPR. CPR" ordered the doctor.

Everything was falling apart. Again.

It seemed like she couldn't hear anything anymore. Everything went voiceless except for his last words that kept ringing in her ears like an echo.

*****

Mei opened her eyes, "Ah.. this time I saw the longer one. Maybe I shouldn't have relaxed so much."

She got up and looked out through the window to find the darkened sky and the bright moon. The silence was disturbed as the sound of the phone rang out loud.

She walked out the room to see Xue pick up her phone.

"Hello. Su Lin?"

Xue turned around hearing a rustle. She was met with Mei's eyes that had turned cold on hearing the name.