Confession

The explosion rocks the hospital.
There is smoke and falling debris everywhere. Her mother is pinned under a concrete slab. She looks to him for an answer.
He struggles trying to lift the slab, a futile effort really.
It is a small area in which they have been caught up in this mass of destruction.

“Get her out of here.” Her mother’s voice strangely calm.
He grabs her arm and pulls her away. He finds an exit and they end up in the open air.
Chaos all around them an ambulance officer checks her wounds.
He looks at her. Her eyes are dark and scared.
“I’ll get her.” He kisses her lusciously then runs back into the disaster area.

He finds the area where her mother lay. He looks around for some sort of lever to lift the slab.

The second explosion was not as devastating but it was enough to entomb the area in which he had come back too.
Her mother lay there covered in dust and pinned her legs unable to move.

He picked himself up and looked around; the place was now completely sealed off. They were not alone. There was a young child and an old man still alive huddled in a corner. There were of course a few bodies that did not survive the initial blast. He grabbed what he could and covered them up. His head continually searching the area searching for something anything.

The old man was holding his arm and moaning. He grabbed a piece of clothe and wrapped it up in a sling. The man looked at him. “SSSsssh we will be fine.” His words bring some comfort.
The child was sobbing. “Come here.” The child looks at him then moves towards him. He cuddles her. And wrap’s her up in a blanket that he has found.
Binding together some clothing he makes a pillow for her mother.

Lifting up her head and resting it back down he brush’s the dust from her face. Checking her legs he comes to the conclusion they are just pinned by the concrete slab. They will be badly bruised but generally she is in good shape.

She coughs and he checks on her.
“You Ok? He asks her.
She stares at him. Cold and heartless eyes look into his.

“I guess you are!”

He searches the room again. Scavenging the drinks from the vending machine that has been shattered he puts all the supplies in a box he has found. He calls the child and the old man over to where her mother is. They all huddle under the arch close to her mother.
“We must all stay together.” He tells them. “Help will be here.”

The old man reaches into his pocket and pulls out a packet of cigarettes.
“I wouldn’t smoke in here.” He tells the old man.
The old man looks at him and shrugs still placing a smoke in his mouth and about to light it.
“Just before you light that up. This is a hospital and has all sorts of flammable materials that could be leaking.”
“We could also be running out of air to breathe.”

He smiles a sarcastic smile at the old man. “Surely you can wait till we get out of here?”
The old man looks over at the child and woman pinned under the slab.
“Sorry!” he bows his head and puts the packet away.

He goes over to the man and pats his shoulder.

Checking his watch they have only been in here less than fifteen minutes. The lights will soon go out. He is surprised they haven’t already.
He searches for a torch he finds nothing.

“The lighting will go out soon.” He sighs and sits next to her mother.
“I have a torch. I always carry one.” The old man fumbles through his pockets and hands over the torch.

He try’s it out. It works and he switches it off.
“Now, we just wait.”
He hands out a can of drink to each of them.
“Drink slowly make it last. I don’t know how long we will be here.”

He takes the child and places her between his legs and strokes her head trying to comfort her. The main lighting goes out and emergency lighting automatically switches on.
Her mother glances at him before saying anything. She sips her drink.

“Are you in love with my daughter?”
“Yes.”
“Then why were you not more careful? She is pregnant! It brings shame on us, on her. You have corrupted her mind with your ways. Have you no shame? No sense of what trouble you have brought upon the family?”

Her eyes search his face for something in the dim light. He just looks ahead. Looking into the blackness.

“I can not change what is nor what has happened.”
“You have your beliefs I have mine.”

The old man lets out a soft moan then his hand drops to his side.
Wrapping him up and covering him with a sheet he moves him away from the child and the mother.

‘Is he dead? The child asks. ‘Sleeping.” He tells her.

“Come sit here.”
She sits on his lap and rests her head on his shoulder. She falls asleep

“Did she get out safely? Will she be OK?”
“She will be fine. It is you I have to take care of now.”

“You are a strange man.”
“Strange? I guess I am.”
“You care and love but you always remain distant. So far away. Why?” Her mother wonders why he has not attacked her with a mouthful of verbal abuse. She has tried to provoke him. Find answers yet he remains constantly calm.

He lets out a sigh.
“Everyone has their beliefs. Whether that be religious or cultural or whatever. Everyone believes some way is their way but when it comes to someone questioning or going against what they believe they get all high and mighty. They profess to be understanding and righteous yet when push comes to shove we all revert back to what we all do best. Self preservation.”

“We attack; we do all the things that our beliefs tell us we should not do.”
“Yes your daughter carries our child and yes it goes against everything you have been brought up with however yelling and screaming, hurling abuse of any description is not the way to fix things nor to make things right?”

“You and I can not change what has happened. What we can do is deal with it in a way that does not show us to be uncaring, unthinking unloving human beings.”

He looks up at the ceiling. “To understand someone better. To get them to understand you and what you stand for. Do not yell and scream and jump up and down. Just improve your argument.”

Her mother remains silent. She try’s to digest all that he has said. She is tired.

“Sleep Mother sleep. I’ll still be here.”

The mother wakes up in hospital. Her daughter and family are gathered around the bed. Her eyes start to focus and she sees him standing back from the rest of the family. She sits up. Struggling at times with aches and pains.
He smiles at her. A tear slips down her cheek.

He turns and starts walking away.
“Where are you going?”
He stops and turns around.

“Mother, I must confess I need to get some sleep!”