AWAKENING

Hey you guys... this is a personal -a really one- experiment -I'd like to call it like that... I hope you all enjoy this short story... It was a hard, itchy and tough work... I never thought that writing and re-writing was that hard... but finally this is my product and, of course you can let me know your opinions... bye guys....


Awakening
By Rogelio Herrera Marin

Carol Stanford is an outstanding college student; she is twenty three and has never been in love. She is well known for her curly hair, easygoing personality and beautiful gray-blue eyes. Not as attractive as she would like, and as clever as to be number one in her class; she clearly has a point, and beauty matters don't puzzle her mind.

The moment I met her, she took my breath away. She looked so fragile, so tender, her childish face and mumbling movements hypnotized me, as an elder magician in ancient times. But this is Carol’s story. My feelings have never been known, and they will remain so.

“14th August 2008. A cold morning, yellow and brown covers the whole landscape; a sense of lifeless is all over around. I miss my family. Not in the mood to go to classes” Carol wrote in her diary. She woke up early, washed her hair and took a bath. She brushed her teeth and went out of her room. No breakfast, only a cup of coffee. No-one saw her going out. Brenda, her roommate wasn’t there; she spent the night out, probably with her new boyfriend.

Carol walked for ten minutes, got to the train station, bought her ticket and waited for her train. Express line number thirteen. Two minutes later a loudspeaker announced that her train was delayed. She didn’t mind it. After a few seconds she realized that she was the only person in that wagon. She took a look her watch, six thirty in the morning. She felt overwhelmed. Carol was the kind of person that never showed her emotions, not even to herself. Then, two guys and an old lady walked down the stairs, and she sort of felt a relief.

Waiting in that place, she looked herself as a “regular” person, which made Carol feel sad. She flashbacked her childhood, a non-special – kind of tragic- one; her working mother was usually too busy to catch up with the upbringing of a kid. An alcoholic father and a, fourteen-year-old, drug-addict brother made her run away from home when she was sixteen. She moved in with an aunt, her mother little’s sister, who lived with her husband and a son, in a middle-class neighborhood in New Jersey. Her aunt knew very closely Carol’s situation, so she didn’t have a problem to welcome her niece home.

Six forty five a train passed by and made her came back to that moment. The old lady took that train. While passing near Carol, she smiled at her exactly like a grandmother would to her grandchild, with certain love and care that no-one else could. Carol felt a warm feeling in her chest, and smiled back to the old lady. She never met her grandmother. Her mother told her that she was too little to remind her; she died of a stroke when she was eighty five. Carol was three. Her father told her that his mother died when he was eleven.

At this moment, it was almost seven; she looked at her watch again and played a little with its bottoms. The place was now crowded with people and it was difficult to breath; Carol hadn’t realized when all those people arrived. Just five more minutes, and her train should be here, she started to feel impatient.

She closed her eyes and watched herself some years in the future, sitting on a comfortable chair, drinking a nice cup of coffee in the company of her beloved. No problems at all. She smiled at her two children – a boy and a girl – who played with their dog, a golden retriever, a gift for Christmas. Carol, saw a beautiful household, full of joy and love.

-“Excuse me,” a man touched her arm and woke her up abruptly from her dream. -“What time is it?” the man asked Carol pointing at her watch. - “It's five past seven”. She answered. The man thanked her and continued his way. Carol felt upset about that scene. She just hated being asked by strangers.

Carol thought about Brenda – her roommate – she was so open-minded and so calm that almost nothing could disturb her; she would have loved to see her this morning. Carol laughed. Her mobile rang, it was an unknown number. She answered; wrong number.

The loudspeaker announced the arrival of Carol’s train. She wondered if she would be on time to Mrs. Bearing’s class. It was seven and ten, the train takes forty five minutes to get to the nearest station, from that point on, Carol must walk for ten minutes to get to the campus, but the class starts at eight o’clock. While she was thinking about that, the train stopped. The doors opened, some people went out and Carol finally gets in.

Nine minutes later, Carol feels confused, her mouth was dry and her sight blurry, her entire world went upside down. She fainted in the train. People ran to help her but it was too late. Carol was unconscious, no breathing at all.

A beeping sound starts to fill the air, beep, beep, beep… that is the sound Carol listens to, darkness becomelightness, clarity and brightness. Carol wakes up; her alarm was ringing all over her room. It is August the 14th 2008, five thirty in the morning. “A cold morning, yellow and brown covers the whole landscape; a sense of lifeless is all over around. I miss my family. Not in the mood to go to classes” Carol writes in her diary.