Hear No Evil

I picked up the phone, unsure whether to give Anna a call. It had been sometime since we talked and I wondered whether if she still remembered me. Ring... Ring... 'Perhaps the number Hua Min gave me was wrong', I thought to myself. Still, I decided to give it another try. I has tried to call Anna earlier this evening, but her old number was no longer in use. Hua Min knew her new number, but it was after much pestering that she finally gave it to me. Before she did, she made me promise to keep it confidential.

'Anna wanted it kept that way,' she claimed. 'Anna? Confidential? Doesn't sound like the social butterfly I once knew', I thought to myself. I had thought of giving Anna a call after a dream that evening. It was a strange dream of my childhood friend, Anna. We were meeting under the old rain tree in the schoolyard again. 'Yvonne, I am leaving.' 'Leaving? Going home?' 'Yes.' Her eyes were filled with sadness. 'Why so sad?' 'No. I'm going to a faraway place.' The sad look in her eyes touched me to the depths of my heart. I reached for her hand to comfort her, but snatched my hand back when the skin I touched was icy cold. 'Why?' before she could answer, Anna began to fade. Slowly, I could see through Anna as she grew more and more transparent, as if she was disappearing, particle by particle.

I reached out to grab hold of Anna, but my hand merely passed through thin air. 'Anna!' 'Bye, Yvonne...' The space that Anna once sat at was empty. An overwhelming sense of loos hit me. I began to cry. And as I did, I began to rock to and fro, like how a mother would console a crying baby. I rocked faster and harder, my body shaking with sobs. I could no longer control the savage rocking. No matter how hard I resisted, I could not stop... 'Yvonne! Wake up!' The voice came through a thick mist. I woke up suddenly. My mother was standing there, shaking me, telling me to wake up and prepare for dinner. I could feel something hot and wet flowing down my cheeks. There were fresh tears in my eyes. A deep sense of misgiving was within me. I decided to give Anna a call. Someone picked up the phone on the second try.

'Hello.' 'Hello? Can I speak to Anna, please?' I asked the person on the other line politely. There was a moment of silence. 'Hello? Anna please?' I asked again. 'Yes, this is she.' 'Oh, my! I'm glad I've finally got you. You don't remember me, do you?' 'No.' Her voice was low. 'It's me! Yvonne. Remember? Your buddy from primary school? The one with long hair and bug teeth?' 'Yes, I remember now.' She sounded reluctant to acknowledge that. 'What do you want?' 'Are you alright? Am I calling at a bad time? I don't mind calling you back again.' 'It's alright. How are you getting on?' Anna warmed a little, but continued in her low weak voice. We talked for a quite a while. Throughout the conversation, she sounded wan and weak. I felt a bit uneasy to her voice like that. It was an interesting conversation, and we caught up with one another.

She asked me this question suddenly. 'Did you know that one of your friends was admitted into hospital?' 'What?! Who? When?' I asked, not waiting for the first answer. 'Not long ago. She's still there. Why don't you go down and see her? I heard she was in quite a bad shape.' Then she stopped. I heard sounds of sobbing from the background. 'Anna, are you alright? By the way, who's this person?' Just go down to General Hospital, war 511.' With that, she hung up abruptly. Hua Min not know anything when I called her. When I called Anna's number again, no one picked up the phone this time. There were a lot of familiar faces outside the ward. It appeared that the whole class was there.

'Hey Yvonne! Hua Min! How did you know? We tried to contact you but no one knew your numbers,' Lifang said. 'What happened? Anna told me last night that someone was warded.' 'Yvonne, don't joke. She's in such a bad condition, and you can still make jokes like this,' Lifang frowned, as she pulled me aside. 'Who is?' 'Anna.' I looked at Lifang in confusion. 'But I really did talk to Anna over the phone last night,' I insisted. Just then, Anna's parent came out of the room. They were sobbing grievously. 'What happened, auntie? Uncle?' Hua Min went up to them. 'She's... she's... dead!' Anna's mother wailed, confirming my worst fears. everyone there was stunned by the news. Dimly, I heard Anna's father say, 'Anna slipped into a come last evening, She was down with an extremely bad case of flu for the last week. The doctor said it was complications.'

I could not speak. Staring at the two grief stricken parents, I was wondering who it was I talked to last night.