What are you waiting?

One day a man wakes up feeling terribly ill, he’ s in his bed but doesn’t feels like his bed , he looks at his room but his vision is blurry and his eyes heavy, “strange” he thought, ”that doesn’t seem like my room at all”. He knows it’s all because of the importance of that day , he is feeling anxious, he is getting sick again. As he struggles to wake up a woman knock his door, ” Mr E. I’m you neighbour from apartment B ,There’s a letter for you, the mailman must have put it in my mailbox but it’s addressed to you!” He stands up quickly and open the door . The woman looks at him and say “it’s for you” “time has come” she whispers. Mr E was distracted so he politely thank her and tells her to have a good day.She leaves.

He opens the letter only to find that it’s an invitation for a meeting, his meeting . It didn’t say when, where or who the sender was. Confusingly and without any doubt he Puts on some fine clothes and shoes, fix his hair and then made the regular calls . He called his kid , a well educated guy that now lives abroad with its family, he called his boss to tell him that he needed a day off work And lastly his sister who now lived in a nursing home, she was older than him. Mr E didnt have a lot of friends orfamily so he knew that as soon as he left home he wouldn’t expecting Any more phone calls. He then watered his flowers and ate some breakfast , there was a big day ahead .He knows where he is going and he knows when but still feels the anxiety levelling and his heart bursting. He then kiss his wife’s photograph and leave.

After an hour or so, he is finally there . Its a beautiful building with a big gate though nothing memorable about it. As he reaches out to the gate he sees two guards standing there, like statues. At first he didn’t knew if they where men at all. The guards let him in without any question asked “Huh strange” he thought “ they were expecting me”. The gate was obviously hard to be opened , and with all of his strength he managed to get in through a slight opening to the side.Suddenly he is in an enormous room, Like a maze ,alone. Nothing memorable about this room either, arsenic white walls, pale furniture that Reminded him of a frozen landscape where the colour of sea meets the colour of sky , meets the colour of ice, all in a shade of frosty white.The dust that fell like snow ,the light Burning his eyes and echo of his solitude only confirms his previous observation. As he walks in he feels the door locking behind him, he dont care.

Suddenly a voice is coming from a distance. “Welcome mr E , we’ve waited for you”. He tries to understand where that voice is coming from But there was no one there, no man expecting him. “Take a seat and our assistant will inform you” . Mr E Felt like he needed to comply with the voice’s instructions thus he seeks for a chair to rest.

For some unknown reason he walked there from home even thought he could have taken the bus. It was sunny outside and he walked miles to enjoy the weather. Unfortunately his legs now hurt and he is very tired and slow.He then sees a plastic Worn our chair, “it seems like many people have sat there“ he thinks, never the less he again feels the need to comply “if everyone sat there that’s what I should probably do” he mumbles. As expected the chair was very uncomfortable and it was hurting his back, he didnt moved.

A man with expensive clothes and A repugnant face appears in front of him “welcome to the Wainting Room, please fill in this brochure for us and the waiting will be over soon”. As mr E reaches for the brochures the man is gone .That doesn’t matter to him thought as he presence made him

feel unready, scared and a little under dressed .

Mr E was surprised to see that The papers he gave him are empty, blank. “it’s ok he thinks they will bring me

the correct ones once they figure out their mistake”. So he waits.

As he sat there he remember his son and how happy he felt when he heard his voice that morning. Funny thing how that sound soothes him as the unknown man speakS again. His voice is not soothing , it’s not a male or a female voice , it’s not strict or casual, he doesn’t know what it is. “ we are here for you Mr E” .distracted from his thoughts he didn’t care about that voice. He waits . He waits there For hours Thinking of his beloved wife who he lost a few years ago, their marriage , their ups and down their love. He remembers of his youth and his adulthood his dreams that he couldn’t fulfil and all the sacrifices he have done to be the man he is today.He waitEd there for hours thinking and analysing his life that didn’t notice how dark it was outside. He is now worried that no one has appeared all these hours, he feels forgotten . He now don’t know if he Should comply, “should I leave?”. He screams . “Is anybody here” Yet no One is coming . He is getting tired and thirsty and confused and he feels like he is going insane. ”what can I do to escape that “he thinks , “what do I owe them?” Im a good man , always has been, never hurt anyone never stole from anyone and I can prove that“ ”what do you want me to do?””Is this some kind of redemption?“ many things crosses his mind. He takes a deep breath and then screams again“ I know why I’m here for why aren’t you coming? I’ve waited enough” Many hours later still alone and frightened he starts writing down everything in these blank papers , the good things the bad things he did, he asks for forgiveness and he ask for mercy, but no one is coming. He wrote everything he could remembered and all the things he wanted to forget, he wanted to come clean.Many days passed , and mr E was feeling smaller and so very tired , and so very dying, but he can’t leave, he didn’t even try to leave (even though at times he wanted to). His vision is blurry again and it’s snowing and it’s covering him. The anticipation has long gone ,the waiting was over, he was dying.Then, that unknown man appears again.

What are you waiting here MrE? ”

“I can’t remember “ he replies, “how long am i in this waiting room?”

The man then smiles at him and says “you were Always in a waiting room, now it’s time for your call ” ,he smiled. And as he reaches for the papers MrE looks at him as with his dying breath he smiled. They both leave the waiting room.