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THE MISSED CALL

THE MISSED CALL 

  Lizzy was shocked when she heard Mary mumbling some words into thin air. She thought Mary was experiencing mental imbalance until she noticed drops of tears fall from her eyes as she lay on her side of the bed they shared. Mary has been restless since yesternight. She kept turning and turning on her bed without saying a word except for low moans. She has refused to say anything to Lizzy who has questioned her severally on different occasions.

  It all started when Mary returned from the hospital three days ago holding a brown envelope. She tossed the envelope on the table and went into the bathroom. The way she threw the envelope made it drop on Lizzy’s feet. Lizzy bent and picked it up.

  “What?”, Lizzy exclaimed as she read the contents of the laboratory test result in her hands. Hearing Lizzy's voice, Mary came out of the bathroom with her wet face and a towel hanging from her shoulder. She was confused on seeing Lizzy holding the laboratory test results in her hand. Not knowing what to do, she tried to distract her from reading the contents. “She must have read it by now”, Mary thought as she moved closer to Lizzy her eyes on the laboratory results in Lizzy's hands.

  “What is it? Have you been crying?”, Lizzy asked Mary as she moved closer to Lizzy carefully avoiding her gaze. Mary only sniffed her nose and carefully collected the laboratory test results from her.

  Mary became a victim of circumstance due to her refusal to listen to advice concerning Dave's lifestyle. When Mary met Dave, she felt she had found happiness. Nothing anyone says to her makes sense except for the belief that Dave was the best thing that has ever happened to her. Their relationship kept carrying on due to the insistence of Mary and the amount of love she believed she had for him.

  As days dragged on, Mary began keeping late nights. If she gets scolded by her parents, she just grumble and go to her room without feeling remorseful for her actions. Since Mary started dating Dave, her lifestyle got influenced by him. Her parents did not approve of him yet Mary continued going out with him secretly until she got the consequences of her actions.

  “I hope you know what you're doing?”, Lizzy asked Mary one night she returned home smelling of alcohol and marijuana. She barged into their room murmuring in low tones. She planned on sneaking into her’s and Lizzy's room without their parents noticing but luck ran out on her. Lizzy who was already lying on bed after asking her the question turned from her sleeping position and looked at her scornfully when Mary finished speaking with Dave on the phone.

  “The results says you are pregnant, isn't it?”, Lizzy asked Mary. Mary burst into fresh tears as the question ranged in her head. From the moment she received the test results that proved she was pregnant, she has been trying to reach Dave on the phone to inform him but all to no avail. When she was unable to, she started blaming herself for the missed call that changed her fate. If only she picked the call from Lizzy the night she was at Dave’s house perhaps she wouldn't have ended up pregnant and confused; maybe her fate wouldn't have been determined.


- Amy King

Writer/Storyteller/Creator, Fiction in a Flash 








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