Feraline

Prologue (It’s long so I don’t expect most of you to read it)

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 | mini-story | 6 Comments

The car was making Faye sick. She didn’t like the smell of the burrito that her younger brother Cameron was eating. She didn’t like the heat in the car despite the air-conditioning. Faye and her family lived in Miami Beach so heat wasn’t really a problem for Faye, but she hated the rancid hot air of the car.

Her mother was driving, whistling cheerfully. She was the one who kept insisting that they go visit Faye’s grandmother, who lived in a huge ranch in Montana, this summer. They couldn’t afford the plane tickets for everyone, so they were driving. It would take 45 hot sticky smelly hours of non-stop driving. They were on the 34^th hour now. Faye knew because she was keeping count.

Faye didn’t even know the name of the ranch. The name wasn’t on the map. To her six-year-old mind, that meant the place didn’t exist.

They had been driving all night and day. She hated being crammed in the back seat of their SUV with her four brothers. She hated that her youngest brother Angus, who usually smells so nice now smelled like baby poop. Her mother kept changing him but he still smelt like poop. And before this, she never really noticed that he screams so much.

Faye’s stomach grumbled noisily and she tasted something vile in her throat.

“Mommy!”

“You feeling ill again honey?” Her mother called from the drivers seat. Fayee nodded her head, her mouth twisted from trying not to vomit on the smell of burrito and baby poop.

Fayee’s mother stopped the car, despite the protests from her half-asleep father. Her brother Kyle, who had been peacefully snoozing a minute ago jolted awake.

“Faye feeling ill again?” He asked groggily. Kyle was 10 and the oldest in the family. He takes that to mean he’s the man of the house, and thus needs to take care of everyone else. It was actually very sweet when it’s not annoying.

“We wont be a minute. Jonathan, watch the kids!”

Faye’s mum nudged her father on the head before getting out. He mumbled something but didn’t open his eyes. He had been driving all the night before, letting her mum rest and now it was his turn to sleep.

Faye stumbled out of the car and knelt down on all fours at the edge of the gravel, trying not to vomit. There was a metal sign a little further away from her that said ROUTE 99. She stared at it and swallowed something big that was threatening to come out of her throat.

“You okay Faye?” Kyle ambled out of car and put a hand on her head. Fayee looked at him and tried to smile. Her mother was back at the car, trying to calm down Angus. He had been sleeping, but was now awake and screaming.

“I don’t feel too good, but I think I’m ok” Faye told him. She swallowed loudly again and tried to count cars. There were six cars coming towards them. She could see a big blue one, and a really fast red one.

And then for reason at all, all the hairs at the back of her neck stood still.

She shivered.

“Fayee, you sure you’re okay?” Kyle asked again. She looked at him and shivered again, despite the fact that sweat was beaded on her forehead.

“Maybe I caught a flu or something” She whispered. She looked at the ground again and then at the metal road sign next to her. ROUTE 99. Her arms erupted in gooseflesh.

She shivered and turned the other way and caught sight of the cars again. They were close enough that she could tell that the blue one was a big Van. She shivered, and suddenly, someone who’s voice sounded remarkably similar to her own was speaking in her ear

“They’ll reach us in exactly four minutes Faye…”

Faye frowned, looking around, wondering where the voice came from. She squinted at the Van again.

“3 minutes and 45 seconds now Faye!” The voice whispered again in a frightened voice.

Her entire body was convulsing now, her muscles jerking as though in some terrible pain. Something wet tickled down her face, from her nose. Faye quickly rubbed at it with her hands and saw blood. Her eyes widened at the redness she saw. And then, every nerve, every fiber in her body began screaming at her.

‘RUN FAYE, RUN!’

She hesitated for a split second. Her heart was exploding in her throat and adrenaline dominated her veins. She hardly understood anything, any of this at that moment. All she knew was she had to RUN!

Faye jumped to her feet and sprinted across the desert.

“Hey!” She heard Kyle exclaim from behind her. She thought she heard her mother screaming her name. She didn’t care. She had to run. She had to RUN. She couldn’t stop running until she reached…

Her eyes focused on a spot a few kilometers away where a large bunch of boulders were scattered on the ground. As soon as she saw the biggest boulder she knew it was SAFE. Her heart raced harder and she ran even faster than before.

“3 minutes and 5 seconds”

Something was going to happen; something that her entire body and that voice knew was BAD!

“Faye, stop, FAYE!” She heard Kyle’s voice from somewhere close behind her. But she couldn’t stop.

“1 minute and 35 seconds Faye. We need to hurry. We need to run faster. One minute and 30 seconds Faye!”

She leaped and jumped over some smaller boulders, something she knew she couldn’t really do. Not her, not clumsy Faye. Maybe it was the voice helping her. Faye didn’t really care.

She finally reached the largest boulder. She ducked behind it, resting her head on the hot rock. Sweat was pouring down her body but she didn’t care. Only one word was echoing in her head now, one soothing, and sweet word.

“SAFE! SAFE! SAFE! SAFE! SAFE! SAFE! SAFE!”

“Faye, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Kyle was suddenly there, heaving to find his breath. He had his hands on his knees was looking at her like she was insane. And her heart went crazy!

Kyle wasn’t SAFE! The voice didn’t care much but Faye did.

She didn’t exactly know what she was doing before she did it. She grabbed his ankles and pulled. With a cry, Kyle fell on his back, but before he was done falling, Faye pulled him forward. He landed with a thump next to her and she grabbed the neck of his t-shirt and jerked him into sitting position before he could so much as breath.

“Only ten seconds now!”

They were both covered behind the boulder. Faye never knew she was this strong. Kyle seemed too dazed to speak. He looked at Faye and tried but nothing really came out.

“He’s okay,” The voice assured her. “He’s safe with us”

Tears started leaking out of Faye’s eyes as she thought of her mother, her father, Angus and Cameron.

“5 seconds” The voice said soothingly.

Should she have tried to help them? She buried her face into Kyle’s shoulder.

“There was nothing you could do. Kyle is here. We are safe. Three seconds now. Lets brace ourselves”

She nodded, clenching her eyes shut, crying silently, holding onto Kyle as hard as she could.

And then they heard the explosion.

#1 What I don’t like about some women…

Monday, May 4th, 2009 | Funny | 13 Comments

Breathe

Sunday, April 19th, 2009 | Blog | 3 Comments

It’s been five months since my last requiem. It feels ages longer. What have I been doing?

To be honest, I’ve been watching life speed towards me. I watched as life crashed into me. I watched as life gave me a sheepish smile, dusted itself off and continued on speeding away. I, me and myself had nothing to do with the course of my life and there was nothing I could do to hinder it.

This is not psychobabble bullshit. I had forgotten how to breathe. I remember now. I’m going to breathe again.

Expect more from now onwards

Amen.

Charm

Sunday, November 9th, 2008 | Blog | 6 Comments

‘You’re so charming’ She gushed.
‘Charm is the quality in others that makes us more satisfied with ourselves.’ I told her.
She stared at me blankly.
‘Henri-Frédéric Amiel’ I told her.
She kept staring.
I’m not charming anymore.
Also, she stopped speaking to me.
So much for honesty…

Vote For Change

Sunday, October 26th, 2008 | Blog | 6 Comments

Old Emails

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 | Blog | 3 Comments

I was revisiting the past by reading all my oldest emails. I had no idea that old emails could make me feel so many different emotions. Even when I look back at the worst times, I find that there are good enough memories to make me remember when everything wasn’t so bad… and smile about it.

Important Lesson of the Day :

An email where a person says ‘Call me’ will make you feel an insistent urge call that person again, even if the email is 2 years old!!

Fasting - higher chance of strokes?

Sunday, April 20th, 2008 | Science | 19 Comments

Have you ever wondered whether fasting could be dangerous to your health? Of course you have. Apart from the torture of self-inflicted semi-starvation which usually leaves you weak as a kitten with the social stance of an Indian refused extra baggage, it also seems to be capable of much more serious things too.

 

Just have a look at the below article I read from Sciencedaily

 

“Over one billion Muslims fast worldwide during the month of Ramadan. Other studies have shown that fasting during Ramadan does not affect the rate of arterial stroke. This study looked at cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), a rare type of stroke that most often affects young adults and children and is more common in women.

 

For the study, researchers included all people with CVST strokes admitted to three hospitals in Isfahan, Iran, over a five-year period. Of the 162 people, 33 had strokes while fasting; 129 had strokes during the other months of the year. The average number of strokes during the month of Ramadan was 5.5, compared to 2.0 during the rest of the year. The average age and percentage of men versus women was the same in the two groups.

 

“These results need to be confirmed by other studies, but they should be looked at carefully,” said study author Mohammad Saadatnia, MD, of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. “Coexistence of usual risk factors, such as oral contraceptive and coagulopathic disorders, along with dehydration in patients while prolonged fasting can be the reason for increased susceptibility to CVST. People and their physicians need to be aware of possible complications of prolonged fasting.”

 

This research was presented at the American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Chicago on April 15, 2008.”

 

Whats life without a little risk eh?