Story Ten: The Reluctant Traveler
Fear has held Sandra hostage because she had allowed it to.
She thought it was safer to be locked within her own boundaries. She knows that
she had given terror the absolute authority to make her invalid to the world,
and to herself. It has been 25 years, 8 months and 10 days since she lost her
entire family in a horrific plane crash. To this day, it is recorded as the
worst single aircraft disaster in history.
Sandra can still hear the newscaster’s voice in her head, as
if it was just yesterday. It was an August evening of the 12th in
the year 1985. She had came home early from work. As usual, she would switch on
the television to catch the day’s headlines and make herself a cup of tea. The
local news channel was broadcasting the top stories of the day. Then the words:
“BREAKING NEWS - Japan Airlines Flight 123 has crashed near Mount Osutaka.”
splintered across her kitchen table, and gutted her heart.
Sandra’s mug fell onto the floor, and shattered to pieces.
She could not move, and stay glued to the television set. They were showing a
live aerial transmission of the crash site.
“At around 6pm today, the Japan Airlines 747 Boeing flight
had taken off from Tokyo International Airport 12 minutes behind schedule. It was a
domestic flight from Tokyo to Osaka. However, due to severe mechanical failure
the plane crashed into the mountains about 100 kilometers from Tokyo. There are
only four confirmed survivors. The death toll stands at 520. ” The newscaster
added.
Sandra’s husband and son were on that flight. Her husband
was taking their son to visit his parents in Osaka, as it was the Obon holiday
week in Japan. It was customary for all practicing Japanese Buddhists to go
back to their hometowns during Obon to honour the dead, specifically the
spirits of their ancestors. Sandra would have never imagined that her family’s
first trip back to Osaka without her would be their last. In that one day,
Sandra’s world came undone. She had lost everything that was important and dear
to her.
The weeks that followed went by like a haze. Sandra had to
fly out to Japan to identify her family’s bodies. She went to the morgue
together with her in-laws. They had decided to bury their remains in Osaka,
where her husband was born. After the small and private funeral procession was
over, Sandra made her way back to Malaysia. She truly dreaded coming back.
There was nothing for her to return to.
The first month was pure hell. She had never felt more
abandoned. Although many friends and relatives came by to visit or called her,
it was never going to be the same. She was completely and utterly alone. As she
was an only child and her parents had already passed, her husband and son were
all she had in the world. She thought of joining them in the after-life, as
there seemed pointless in pretending that she still had a life. It became her
routine. From the very second, she opened her eyes to face another depressing
day, to the final minutes before she gave herself over to exhaustion and slept
through another lonely night – all she could think about was how to end her
life. Even breathing in and out was becoming a chore. Day by day, she felt more
drained. She had no energy to do anything else, but grieved. Her house was
turning into a dumpsite of sorts.
THIS IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK: "LIFE IS A JOURNEY - A SYMPHONY OF SHORT STORIES".
THE BOOK IS BEING PUBLISHED AS WE SPEAK, BOTH IN HARD COPY AND E-FORMAT.
HOPE YOU LIKE IT ENOUGH TO BUY THE BOOK WHEN IT IS OUT. I WILL UPDATE AGAIN.
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