Hoping for Rain…
Pier 21 Prompt Response 7: Diagnosis - Fiction
The summer air was filled with music, Karol G and Shakira’s “TQG” was playing. Jasmina suddenly leapt out of bed to the beats of the music not knowing where it was coming from.
“Oh no! It’s exam finals today, I’m gonna miss the bus… I can’t believe that lying cheating Mateo got caught in 4k with Jen B… we all know what the B stands for too… Why does my head hurt?”
She frantically looked for some clean clothes, as her room resembled a crime scene. She had thought about putting a ‘police — do not cross’ tape outside her door. Especially if her Mamá was to stumble across the mess, she would furiously shout, “¡Jasmina! ¡Arregla este desastre!”
Jasmina always believed in hoping for rain, as after rainfall, there would be a rainbow and the sadness would disappear. Whereas cheerless darkness follows sunshine.
Suddenly, she could hear her sister Sofia storming up the stairs screaming like a banshee.
“BRAT!!!! Have you been stealing my makeup again?!”
Jasmina slammed the door shut as Sofia started thumping vigorously at it.
“BRAT! Open the door! Where's my Fenty lip gloss and who said you could wear my new top?”
Jasmina replied sarcastically, as she kicked her sister's top under her bed.
“As if I'd be seen dead wearing your tragic wardrobe disasters, Soledad!”
Sofia hated her first name and shouted back.
“Stop calling me that you BRAT!”
Their father could now be heard shouting from the hallway.
“Mon Dieu ! Mes filles, pourquoi vous disputez-vous maintenant ?”
Jasmina thought how Papa had a passion for dramatising everything, although you would know if he was really angry, he would respond in Arabic.
“Sofia, did you know there's a village somewhere, not so far away, that's missing its idiot? Do you think you should let them know you're safe and sound?”
But Sofia just snarled and left. The song started playing again, getting louder and louder as Jasmina held her head.
“Why does my head hurt?”
As she looked towards the window, she could hear echoes of her Abuelita whispering something.
“Ojos que no ven, corazón que no siente Jasmina.” *
It had been a difficult year for the family as Jasmina’s mother had been battling a life threatening illness and her final results for whether the treatment had been successful were in that same morning as her final exams.
Jasmina arrived home later that day and let herself in quietly, the last thing she wanted was another run in with her sister. As she crept towards the stairs she could hear loud crying, it was her parents. Her father sounded inconsolable as he kept saying, “Pourquoi ? Pourquoi ? Pilar ?”
She had never seen her Papa cry, except when it was tears of joy when France won the football World Cup in 2018. He ceremoniously danced around with her crazy uncles singing “Allez, la France !” The celebrations were never-ending, much to her Mamá’s dismay.
She crept upstairs straight to her room where she found Sofia sitting on her bed also crying, holding the top, she must have found it under the bed.
Jasmina called out to her. Streaks of mascara were streaming down her tear soaked face as she continued to sob uncontrollably. She looked pretty even with a snot face.
“Sofia, is it bad news, is Mamá going to die? Sofia?”
But she could not provoke a response from her sister, not even “Brat!” Sofia then got off the bed still weeping and pushed past Jasmina, who was going to go after her but was distracted by noises coming from something striking the window.
It was Mateo throwing stones at it. Jasmina opened the window and started shouting at him.
“Go away! I don't want to see you or hear any more of your pathetic lies. Jen B, the finsta queen, is welcome to you!”
She then took out her cell phone and started playing “TQG” to drown out his lame attempt at an apology. She closed her eyes and sang along to the song.
“Verte con la nueva me dolió (dolió)
Pero ya estoy puesta pa' lo mío
Lo que vivimos se me olvidó
Y eso e' lo que te tiene ofendido
Que hasta la vida me mejoró
Por acá ya no eres bienvenido
Vi lo que tu novia me tiró
Eso no da ni rabia, yo me río, yo me río.” **
When she opened her eyes, Mateo was gone. But she could hear echoes of her Abuelita whispering something.
“Ojos que no ven, corazón que no siente Jasmina.”
How long have I been sleeping for? Why is that song playing again? I'll go downstairs and find out what happened at the hospital. I don't know why but my head hurts like a sledgehammer has been at it.
What are all these voices? Oh my God, there’s so many people. My aunts, uncles, cousins. Uncle Yazan, what’s happened? Tía Rosa? Xavier? Gabriella? Hello? Why is no one listening?
There's Papa, Papa! Where's Mamá? He looks at me with his eyes swollen red with tears and cries, “Oh Jasmina ! Jasmina, ma fille chérie !” Looking at me as if his soul had left his body.
He always used to tell us the story of how he met Mamá and joke how “She picked an ogre like me! A face that sank a thousand ships!” And Mamá would laugh and stroke his face and say, “¡Qué guapo es!” whilst shaking her head jokingly. There's no way he could live without her.
I start to look for Mamá but I can't find her. Where is she? Did she die? Where was I? When did it happen?
The song’s playing again… I can see sweet Abuelita across the room… She can't be here…
My head hurts again and I see Mateo. I don’t want to see him. I shout at him to go away but he grabs my arm. I wrestle him off and run outside where I find Mamá sitting on the bench.
She's not dead! She's not dead! I cried as I ran to her. She's holding something, it looks like a framed photo. I don't understand, if she's here, then who died? I try to look at the picture, but she's holding it close to her chest.
I see Mateo running towards me calling my name, the song starts playing again and my head hurts. I push him away and run inside. I see Sofia and I scream at her, but who died? She looks towards the family photo and walks away. Oh no! Our sister Hana isn't here. She was studying abroad. Where’s Hana? Surely she would be here? Unless… I start shouting Soledad! Soledad! That will surely annoy her. But nothing…
I close my eyes.
Jasmina was running for the bus, she could not miss it, because it was the final exams. She managed to get on and felt relieved. Her cell phone was ringing, it was Sofia. Jasmina ignored the call and turned it on silent.
She saw Mateo sitting at the back, but her friend Daya stopped her.
“You're not going to talk that creep are you?” Daya asked.
“No,” Jasmina replied. But he had seen her and started to come towards her. Daya started blasting “TQG” on her phone as the two girls sang along.
All of a sudden, some of the others started pointing and shouting in panic as the bus driver suddenly applied the brakes, swerving to the left. A lorry had crashed through the opposite carriageway and was heading towards the bus. There was an almighty crash as the lorry smashed into the bus, causing it to overturn as more vehicles crashed into it too.
Jasmina opened her eyes as she looked into the hallway mirror and saw blood gushing from her head. She then looked at Mateo, who had his hand on his bleeding chest.
Echoes of her Abuelita once more whispering something and now gesturing towards her with her arm outstretched, beckoning Jasmina.
Jasmina turned to Mateo with tears rolling down her face and whispered,
“Mateo, did we die?”
He did not reply and started to fade away into the distance.
Jasmina turned to her Abuelita, standing with her arm still outstretched, whispering once more.
“Ojos que no ven, corazón que no siente Jasmina.”
“But I don't want to go, Abuelita!” Jasmina cried.
Hoping for rain, but there would be no rainbows…
The summer air was filled with music, Karol G and Shakira’s “TQG” was playing. Jasmina suddenly leapt out of bed to the beats of the music not knowing where it was coming from. It was her exam finals today, so she could not risk missing the bus…
*Ojos que no ven, corazón que no siente
What is not seen with our eyes, cannot harm our heart.
**Seeing you with the new one hurt me (it hurt)
But I'm already on my own
What we lived through I forgot
And that's what you're offended by
That even life got better for me
You're not welcome here anymore
I saw what your girlfriend threw at me
That doesn't even make me angry, I'm laughing, I'm laughing
No hay que llorar la muerte, es mejor celebrar la vida
