RAMBLINGS OF THE MIND
At the House
15:01:38
The house was empty, except for the man who was sitting on the settee in the lounge facing the ocean. The view was spectacular, astonishing, and ordinarily, this view would have sparked romance and love and candle-lit dinners. But not today, for the man with a double scotch whiskey on his right hand, the view triggered memories of happy days gone by, and it punctuated even more the emptiness of the house.
At that very moment, the man still could not figure out why his family had left him. On his left hand was the piece of paper his wife placed on the side table in the bedroom. The words were clearly written, but the last letters were smeared, with what could only be tears dropping unto the paper when it was written.
“THINGS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM”
He didn’t know how long ago his family had left the house. He couldn’t remember when he arrived, for he apparently was unable to reach his bedroom before he passed out on his lounge. He woke up at around noontime with a serious hangover from the party his company gave him for his promotion as Vice President for Operations.
“With a beautiful wife, lovely kids, a happy family,” one of his colleagues said, “and now a senior partnership in the company, what more can you ask for?”
“I wish I was like you, man,” another said.
He could overhear people whispering when he passed by,
“He has a very happy family” one young manager said.
“You should see his wife and kids,” said another one. “Wish my wife is as beautiful. And he goes to church every Sunday.”
“Hey buddy, maybe you should start going to church too.”
“Is that where the beautiful women are? You made me a convert, man. Halleluiah.”
The man even recalled that it was only after he drank his coffee that he noticed the note. And it didn’t sink in to him then that they left him for good, until he saw the empty drawers and closets of his wife and children.
He had called his parents, her parents, her friends, her friends’ parents… he had called everybody. But nobody seemed to know where his family went, or nobody would tell him where they were.
He even called her wife’s mobile and it went straight to message bank.
Nothing.
His wife still had not called him … or would she?
At The Park
15:06:32
About a kilometre away from the man’s house was the park. It was a picture of joy, children were playing, some elderly Chinese were doing a taebo-kind of thing, a group of teenagers were doing magic with their skateboards, the birds were tweeting, trees were swaying gracefully with the slight afternoon wind.
Even the animals were happy.
