By Then

A girl sits in her classroom waiting to be dismissed for an assembly, but that short wait was never meant to be.

There I sat in the classroom, the front seat closest to the window. The teacher had just ended class early since we were going to be dismissed for a school assembly that would explain a new policy soon. I wasn’t all the excited for it, but at least it would take up class time. Shorter classes are always welcomed.

I sat there at my desk in silence as the classroom buzzed around me, not paying any attention to their carefree conversations. They didn’t concern me. I looked over at the window as a fly bounced endlessly against the glass, creating a soft tapping noise. If it kept that up it would die before it would ever see the outside world again. I turned my attention to the outside instead. A slight breeze shook the leaves of a tall tree but I did not hear them do so, for I was inside, and the tree was outside. No windows were open since it was going to be fall soon, and the weather was becoming cooler.

I began thinking, and for a moment, I zoned out. When I came back to the noisy reality of the bustling classroom, I was still staring out the window, and the fly was gone now. Sighing, I looked over at the clock. It was pointless though, since I didn’t know what time was last time I looked at the clock and I didn’t know when the assembly would start. But…hadn’t it been a long time? Usually, when I zone out, I miss a good chunk of notes or information.

But then again, maybe I didn’t zone out as long as I thought I did. And so, I continued to think. I thought about the world, my interests, my friends, and recent happenings. After what felt like ten minutes, I began to grow confused. We would have definitely been dismissed to go to the assembly by now. Why hadn’t we been dismissed yet? Maybe they were having some technical difficulties that I didn’t know about.

To make sure I didn’t miss anything, I stood up out of my desk, and walked leisurely over to the teacher’s desk where she sat there in silence, grading tests. Her glasses laid half-way down her nose so that it would be easier to look at the papers.

“Mrs. Robin? What time are we being dismissed?” I asked her.

Mrs. Robin’s hand stopped and her writing ceased. She looked up slowly at me with a seemingly unhappy gaze. She said nothing and her hand began moving again. Mrs. Robin got right back to work.

I must have missed something, an announcement of some sort, she isn’t happy with me. But I’d like to know…So, I decided to ask one of my fellow classmates.

When I returned to my desk, I looked to my right and got Matt’s attention.

“Hey, Matt, when are we being dismissed? Was the assembly delayed or something?” Matt stared at me for a moment, expressionless, before shrugging slightly and looking back down at his desk in silence.

I was stumped. Did no one care? Seeing as a lot of people had changed seats to talk to their friends, I was about to stand up when I noticed that the only friend I had in this class was not in her seat. She wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and in her place was some other girl.

Maybe she had to go to the bathroom or was called to the office and I didn’t notice. Oh well then. I heaved a sigh and turned my gaze to the window once more, staring out into the lazy city.

As I did this, the clock hands spun a quick rate for a moment before stopping. I did not see this, of course.

•••

 

“Well Mrs. Harris, her condition hasn’t changed.” Announced the doctor as her wrote something down quickly on a piece of paper attached to his clipboard.

“But doctor! It would have had to change by now! It’s….it’s been two years after all!” Exclaimed Mrs. Harris. She was getting a bit hysterical today from all the stress and worry building up over the years. This was a normal thing doctors had to deal with in these types of situations.

“I’m sorry, but there isn’t anything we can do,” The doctor began with an exhausted sigh as he looked down at the limp form of a girl, “she’s in a coma after all.”

Tears gathered at the corners of the fragile mother’s eyes and she began to weep sorrowfully, her wails filling the hospital and disturbing patients in the rooms nearby. The woman flung herself protectively over the skinny, unmoving body of the comatose patient with wires and other things hooked up to her.

The doctor shook his head and handed his pen to his left hand that already held the clipboard and then raised his right hand to rub his temple. The mother cried on.

 

Yes, I was in a coma.

It turns out that day, I had actually gone into a coma when I zoned out. The teacher had acted quickly and called the office, telling them to call my parents. She had then called an ambulance and my body was quickly taken to the hospital where I was hooked up and laid down on a bed where I would rest for two years with my parents crying over me each night.

My little sister was too young to understand, but sometimes she would tug on mother’s shirt and look up at her with a confused expression and say:

“Mama, where my sister? Where ded she go mama?” My mother would try to act calm and reply in a mature manner, but she would always end up breaking out into tears and so would my little sister, even though she didn’t understand.

 

And as my mother threw herself over my body right now and cried, my weakened heart would beat more slowly. But I didn’t know I was in a coma, in my dreams, I was still sitting in the classroom, waiting for the assembly to start.

And then my heart beat even more slowly, and then it stopped. I died.

 

My parents were devastated, and they cried a lot. Eventually they moved on though, raising my little sister.

As my little sister walked with her mother down the sidewalk to Kindergarten, they passed a pair of siblings, a big sister and a little sister. They were arguing over something silly and my little sister watched them closely, as if she still remembered, that she had a sibling too, even though I was no longer there to grow up with her.

Author's Note

I don't think this is my best work, but I had the idea in my head and once I got towards the middle of this short story I realized I didn't have a few details planned out. This often happens when I'm writing stories, I know how to begin it and how to end it, but I always forget the details in the middle.
The perspective is also kind of confusing, but basically after the three dots in the center it is an after-life perspective.