Family

• Venuka Logeswaran
• Short Story
• 2012

I could hear the obnoxious ticking of the clock, and the intimidating machinery surrounding me. The plain white walls told stories of broken hearts and wished upon dreams that were never to be seen again. As my eyes began to focus clearer, and get used to the dark hospital strip lights, I found one imperfection; a small chip in paint on the ceiling above the stiff, scratchy hospital bed. As I looked to my right, I saw doctors pacing back and forth.

All this scenery made me think, “How did I get here in the first place?” I searched around for answers, but knew it was hidden deep down within me.

I felt a tingling in my hand and I turned around clumsily on the pale white sheets. It was coming to me now; I was sent here because most knew me as mental; I never talked to anyone before in real life. I liked to observe very carefully the things that lay in my environment. I never actually expressed myself to anyone; only thoughts. What my thoughts now were,were to escape away from this dreadful place at once!

The doctor again; he has come to check up on me. He lays his coat at the rear of my bed.

I lay back down pretending to be asleep. He touches my hand. I shriek; he writes every single reaction that I have down. Something about the physician strikes me as odd. He has a chubby face, an oversized nose, a puny mouth and two very wide looking eyes. It is his eyes which amaze me. They remind me of some cunning animal, such as a fox, waiting to capture its prey.

“...Venuka?”

The doctor had been talking to me.

I look up. I can clearly make out the picture of three figures standing alongside him. It is hard to tell, but I recognise the familiar faces; the faces of something long lost and almost forgotten- family!

I am stunned when I am certain that I am seeing right! I give a shocked yelp and then I say my first word in a long time- “FAMILY!”

All faces stared at me astounded. Mother’s eyes are filled with tears! ”Darling!” she comes running up to me. She hugs me, and I, without even realising, say a few more words, “Mother, I thought you’d never come back for me again!” She hugs me again tightly and cries, “The treatment has worked!” I fling back from my mother shocked.

The heads standing in front of me all nod in chorus. I cry tears of happiness realising the true reason I was sent here! Who would have thought that after all these years my family were still there for me?

I looked over at the physician. I cried, “Thank you!” For once, the definition of those sinister eyes was revealed.

Who would have knew that for a person who couldn’t talk in ages, that family would be the answer? Well, I certainly know now!