The Phone Call

Lee waited for the phone to ring. This was it, the moment of truth Lee had been dying so badly to hear. If Tarnya was well enough to come home.

Lee had been sitting beside the phone in the lounge room with all the lights turned off, balling her fists up in her lap as she waited. She so desperately wanted to dial the number that would pull her out of her misery but she fought against it... and won.

Tarnya was her older sister and had -until recently- been hiding her unsual sickness away from her parents... away from Lee. Lee always knew something was not right and worried daily about Tarnya. She would always detect small changes to the way Tarnya's usual model-like strut would somehow become slow and sluggish. The way Tarnya's hair would be tangled up on top of her head and not her usual sleek, black straight hair down her back. She would look so pale, Lee could swear she would pass for a zombie or a ghost.

Lee would sometimes have the guts to confront Tarnya but Tarnya would just shake her head and manage a decent smile that didn't reach her lips. "I'm fine," She would reply. But Lee wasn't convinced. Tarnya suffered from dizzy spells on a daily basis and Lee swore she saw her coughing up blood once. She was now lying in a hospital bed, unconscious... out of this world.

Lee felt sweat drip off her palms as she released her very tight grip off the arms of the chair. She couldn't help but blame herself as she thought back to all the hurtful, depressing memories of her sister.

What if she doesn't make it? Lee thought frantically. Would people blame me? What if I could've helped -

The phone rang. It surely caught Lee off guard. The world around her froze and started spinning. Could she pick it up? What if it was bad news? Well, 50% chance it could be good news. She fumbled for the phone and cleared her throat as she spoke into it.

"Lee?" It was her mum. She relaxed and her heart returned to a normal, human-like rhythm.

"Get down to the hospital right now!" Her mother urged all of a sudden.

Without anytime to think she slammed the phone down and was sprinting out the door and into the blistering heat of the day. She didn't care, she couldn't, not right now. The hospital was not at all far away and she thanked god for that. She reminded herself to take regular deep breaths and think of nothing but heading in the right direction. People snickered and shouted out things to her as she shoved her way through the crowds but it all faded away instantly.

After 10 minutes of extreme running she took the elevator up to the second floor of the hospital and found Tarnya's room right at the end of the corridor. Gasping and panting, Lee knelt beside Tarnya's bed and observed her face. She was asleep, and as Lee wiped away a strand of hair from her forehead Lee memorised how picture perfect her face looked. For a sick person Tarnya looked too beautiful, too well to look ill.

"She's just sleeping right?" Lee questioned.

"Yes, but we have to go soon. I wanted you to be here just this one last time-" Her mum immediately stopped and corrected herself.

"I wanted you to see her wake up."

They stayed at the hospital for an hour, until the sun went down, before heading back home.

Lee walked like a zombie through the front door and slumped onto the lounge. She replayed back quickly all the years she spent with her sister and mentally stored them away just in case. It wasn't soon after that her eyelids shut and she was in another world.

The next day Lee got up and looked quite cheerful as she headed down bright and early for breakfast. She walked into the kitchen and was about to ask her mum what they were having for brekkie when she witnessed her mother sitting on the floor with her hands covering her face. Loud sobs broke out and she couldn't believe she had slept through it all. Lee stumbled her way to her mother and she looked up with tears streaked down her face.

"We got a phone call Lee..." She choked out.

That was all Lee needed to hear. She kicked the wall and threw things everything.

Her dad was there to guide her back to the living room where they sat down. "Tarnya passed away last night. She just wouldn't wake up."

Lee didn't say anything, instead, she walked over to the phone and pulled out the plug. "Don't ever ring again!" She screamed before sinking to her knees and sobbing Tarnya's name again and again...