Blue Seas

'The number you are trying to call is currently not reachable. Please try again later.' "Welp!" I thought, as I took the escalator steps two at a time, phone pressed between my left ear and shoulder, right hand clutching my wallet and EZ Link card and left hand balancing my briefcase and a couple of files from work. "Lilly, please pick up your phone!" As if on cue, my phone rang out shrilly. I backed up against the wall to let the rush hour crowd from the MRT pass me by and transferred the contents of my right hand to my left and answered my phone. "Your'e late," I heard my sister snap on the other end. "I know, I'm sorry!' I pleaded between breaths, "I've almost reached, just...need...to...cross the street," I said resuming my pace with the rest of the crowd, "Ow, these heels are killing me. Is Sandy there yet?" "Of course he is," Lilly snorted, 'We drove here together from work." ...

The caretaker shuffled his feet uneasily, looking at the floor. I sighed and tucked a loose curl behind my left ear. I looked unhappily around the hall. It was dark and dusty as if no one had opened the windows in a very long time. Sunlight hadn't streamed in through the ornate grill pattern. The winds had not whistled through the boarded window slits. "This used to be my house," I said more to myself more than anyone in particular. "Perhaps, memsahib. But this house belongs to them now," he said uncertainly, pointing to the wall behind. I turn around around to the wall. It is lined with framed pictures of laughing children. Young girls and boys, playing and smiling and posing for the camera. In another world, at another time, I would have screamed and thrown a rock at the wall. I would have smashed each and every last framed photograph. I would have shattered the glass and ripped out each and every picture and gouged out the eyes of every last smilin...