Vincent “Okay, thanks,” I said and ended the call. I just finished booking my flight ticket to Umende, a remote area in the northern part of the country. I had enrolled in another voluntary medical outreach program hosted by a group of big hospitals and NGOs. The aim was to send medical teams, test kits, drugs, food, and other assistance to the surrounding villages affected by the outbreak of the SARS virus. The team from my hospital, after getting vaccine shots and immune boosters left a week ago, their flight tickets and accommodation organized by the alliance. I was supposed to go with them but something tragic came up. The cancer patient of mine who had gone home to spend his last days with his family died a day before our departure. I stayed back to commemorate with the bereaved family while booking my flight for tomorrow. I hadn’t the intention to go at first, because I had my share of sick people in need of urgent medical care. But I wasn’t in the right state of mind to give
Vincent “That was one bumpy ride,” I heard a lady explaining to a friend that came to pick her up from the airport. Her voice sounded familiar. So, so familiar. It made me swerve immediately in her direction. Of course, it wasn’t Anny. It was the lady that held onto me throughout the plane ride. When the pilot announced the nature of the weather and the experience thereafter, the lady had sprung up from her seat and made her way to mine. She had rushed a quick 'pardon me' before sliding into the seat next to me. Her voice was the first thing I noticed. It sounded so much like Anny’s. She was scared. She had told me that one of her worst fears was to die alone in a plane crash. So, whenever she heard such announcements from the pilots, she attaches herself to someone. When the turbulence began, she had grabbed onto my arm and held on for her dear life, irrespective of the seat belts that kept her in place. She had her eyes tightly shut as if she was expecting the worst to happen. H
Vincent I almost jumped out of the car when we pulled in front of the hotel’s lobby. I’ve never been happy to see a hotel. Anything to get me away from those chattering boxes. More of their friends, both Indians and non-Indians were outside waiting to receive them. I took that as an opportunity to slip away. Moreover, I’d already thanked them as soon as we arrived. I went straight to the reception, gave the attendant my details, and was immediately given my hotel pass and room key. I thanked them and was off into the big maze of a hotel, accompanied by the porter. The hotel is a ten-story building that covered a large expanse of land, one of its kind in the little, bubbly town of Umende. It had state-of-the-art features but according to my research on it, it had been erected for ages past and has been renovated to suit the century. We entered the elevator to the tenth floor and went down a hallway filled with artifacts of different shapes and sizes; plant and flower pots that wer
VincentI released her hand and stepped away from her. It wasn’t my intent to grab her like that.“I’m sorry,” I apologized.She hesitated for a while before turning. She still had her hand over her belly where I left it. When she did turn, she had a look on her face. I don’t know if it were that of confusion or embarrassment, or both. Whichever it was, she was, as usual, annoying the crap out of me.“You shouldn’t have done that,” I added, trying to caution her behavior.“I’m so, so sorry,” she began apologetically. “I wasn’t thinking. I just saw you from afar and came running to meet you. I thought you were pretending not to see me because I was right in front of you, yet you didn’t acknowledge my presence. I’m sorry, I must be a pest and a nuisance to you,” she said sadly.‘As a matter of fact, you are,’ I thought.“Don’t go about waving into people’s faces. It’s annoying,” I stated.“So, you’re annoyed?” she asked with a smile.I decided not to say anything more to her. Any word le
VincentStill on my knees, I lifted the little girl and turned her to back me, then placed one arm across her chest for support. With the help of a nurse, I bent her over at the waist to have her upper body parallel to the ground, then with the heels of my hand, I delivered five blows in between her shoulder blades. Next, I made a fist with one hand and positioned it slightly above her navel, then gave her abdomen 6 quick upward thrusts. It was on the 6th thrust that a slimy object fell out of her mouth. She was still unconscious after relieving her throat, so I performed CPR with chest compressions and rescue breath.By now, the whole team had gathered round but were standing a good distance to give us air. They all roared and began clapping when the little girl inhaled deeply and opened her watery eyes. Another nurse came with a clean dry cloth to cover the now crying little girl.I stood up from the muddy floor and allowed the others take over from me. Almost all of me was covered i
Andrew I slipped out of her, breathing roughly as exhaustion washed over me. We’ve been going at it for hours since the night before. “You’re so good. Why didn’t I ever think of having a taste of you?” she asked breathily, panting profusely from our crazy action. “Well, you’ve always seen me as a little boy, when we’re the same age,” I replied impassively from where I lay facing the ceiling, with my palm as a cushion for my head. “I’m older than you, Andrew,” she said, raising one eyebrow at me. “With just a few months,” I replied. “With 6 months, man. Besides, you acted like a kid back then. Throwing tantrums all over the place. Vincent, that time, was wiser and manlier. I couldn’t help falling for him,” she said, matching my position while staring dreamily as if reminiscing the moments with Vincent. “And here we are, banging each other,” I sneered. “What else can I do? He wouldn’t stop thinking about that bitch,” she scorned. “What bitch. Vincent is like a brick. Since you,
VincentI jumped off the bed, landing on my butt as my feet couldn’t make it on time to catch me.“What did I just see?” I asked myself, wide-eyed. It wasn’t a dream. It was too vivid to be one. There were no spirals and different weirds seen, it was just three places in my house back home. The parlor, toilet and my bedroom. I was with Anne. We were together. We kissed. No! We did way more than that!I widened my eyes when I remembered where my mouth had been. Goose pimples rippled throughout my body. I went rigid down there at the thought of my lips on her soft curves. Jeez! What had come over me then? Did I force myself on her? Was that why she left? Whatever happened? I asked ruffling my hair in frustration.“I love you, Vincent.” She said that to me, I could hear it in my head. Was I running mad? Was it all a big dream? Am I still dreaming?I lifted myself from the floor and ran to the bathroom, going straight to the sink and splashing cold water on my face. As I closed my eyes, mo
Vincent The sight that met us as we drove into the ghostly village had us recoiling in shock. This was ground zero. Where the virus resurfaced after its recorded end in 2003. There were more dilapidated buildings, more sick and hungry people with worse symptoms, more decaying dead bodies all over the place. It was really bad. Back at the town, they had imposed a lockdown after the feedback on how deadly the virus had become. It was a wonder why the lockdown was delayed till it got worse. The whole state was at risk of being infected. The number of people that had come in direct contact with the villagers would be massive. When the state had reached out to us, we were told it was just a minor outbreak, but the nature of the virus we came to meet was abysmal. We weren’t even equipped nor protected enough to tackle the deadly virus. That was why the team sorted out volunteers from both the town and outside town. A good number of people converged to help when it got out how severe the