The phone call came as she was walking to her 4pm lecture at the Art Department building.
Brick-red leaves crunched beneath the soles of her shoes as she made her way across the street to the entrance. Lily’s heart skipped a few beats when the sound of her phone’s ringtone pierced through the music playing in her earphones; her little brother, Liam, was calling.
“Hi, Liam,” she said, confused about the untimely call.
“Hi, Lily, can you hear me?” His voice was shaky and uncertain.
“Yeah, I can. Why?”
“We need you to come home.”
“I am. I’m coming home in less than two weeks, remember?” she reminded him, smiling at the thought of spending Christmas with her family.
“No, we need you to come home now.”
She panicked and instinctively asked, “What happened? Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. But Louis isn’t. Can you get on a flight tonight?”
“Tonight? Wait, what? What happened to Louis?”
“I don’t know. Mum and Dad are talking to the doctors; they haven’t told me anything.”
“Doctors? Are you in the hospital now?” Lily’s mind reeled.
“Yeah, something happened to Louis, but I don’t know what exactly. All they’re saying is that he is critical.”
“Oh my god …” Lily whispered.
Lily couldn’t focus on her lecture. She sent an endless stream of messages to the family group chat, and both her parents while getting updates from Liam. She also booked her flight home.
Finally, after worrying herself sick, she received a call from her mother as she walked into her dormitory room.
“He’s still critical, they’ve transferred him to ICU, and he’s currently on life support,” came Lily’s mother’s voice through her AirPods.
“Did they say when he would wake up?” Lily asked, her breath laboured as she rushed about her room, packing toiletries and clothes. She had managed to book a flight for 9pm that day.
“Selamat pulang ke tanahair,” announced the captain before they landed. The humid air greeted Lily as she stepped off the plane onto the boarding bridge. Immediately, perspiration formed at the edges of her hairline and the back of her neck.
Once familiar sights and sounds enveloped her in a reluctant embrace. Tuning into conversations around her, she could pick out the common slang and jargon that had become unfamiliar to her over the past few years.
After paying for her ride, Lily made her way to the reception counter and told them her brother’s name. The receptionist proceeded to ask who she was to the patient.
***
“Let’s have a race; whoever finishes their pile of pieces first can have the last ice cream in the fridge,” Louis said as he separated the pieces into three piles.
“Okay! But the loser has to glue the puzzle when we’re done,” Lily added.
“Sure. All right … ready, set, go!”
Three pairs of arms shot out for their respective piles, and the room was deadly silent, the only noise being the pieces shifting.
As the final pieces slipped into place, their mother’s voice sounded from downstairs, “Kids! Dinner!”
“Coming!” Lily, Louis, and Liam answered in unison.
“Well done, soldiers! We did it!” said Lily, turning to give her brothers high fives. All three of them admired the 1,000-piece puzzle of the KLCC building. It was magnificent.
***
The ceilings and walls of Louis’ room were completely covered with photographs, his corkboard filled with layers upon layers of pictures. Each one told a different story.
As Lily made her way through each one, unpinning and untacking them, she began to see this country through the lenses of her brother’s camera and in his mind.
She wove her way through the intricacies of his mind from the details of each photograph, slowly beginning to truly understand the person he had grown into.
There was such precision in every shot; all the angles and colours had been well considered, showcasing the authenticity of what he captured.
The beauty and grace of Malaysia were on full display in this bedroom. It was difficult to grasp how her brother had seen so much more than her.
Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from ‘Tapestry’ by Tiffany Tan. It is part of a series of short stories – What The Future Brings. The book is available at BookXcess for RM31.90.
To give the younger generation an avenue to express themselves, Twentytwo13 has a dedicated space called Young Voices. If you are a young writer (aged 17 and below) and would like your article published on our news website, send your contribution to editor@twentytwo13.my.
