Granted for Time

Submitted into Contest #74 in response to: Write a story that takes place across ten seconds.... view prompt

4 comments

Sad

Note:

Hey! This is one of my first works done so it's probably not the best thing you have ever read but I still hope you like it. Before you read the story I want to clear out that I don't mean to offend anyone. Feel free to leave your honest opinions. Enjoy!


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Julia was stuck in traffic when she received a call from the hospital. What she didn’t know was that it would be the last time she'd ever go back to the hospital, the same hospital she would work at for multiple hours every day. Who knew 10 seconds could ruin multiple lives? It's funny how easily we take time and most things in life for granted. A few seconds could change the whole world for someone. In this case, it wasn’t just one life that would get ruined. Julia frantically rushed to the emergency room and started questioning the head nurse as she wore her gloves, ready to save a life but how could she save a life that was already taken away from the world? “We lost the heartbeat only a few seconds ago doctor.” the nurse replied. She along with everyone in the room did everything to save this person’s life. Everything changed for Julia from that moment onwards. She was devasted and her heartfelt like a fragile glass decor shattered into pieces. If losing one life and failing as a doctor didn’t leave a scar then the patient being her father surely did cut her heart open and left a cut so deep it would never stop bleeding. She didn’t just lose the battle as a doctor but also lost as a daughter. The only thing that was going in her mind was how it was all her fault. She might have saved him if she wasn’t late; only if she came earlier, he might have still been alive. All she could think was how she not only failed but just because of her carelessness her sister lost a father, her mother lost a husband, everyone who knew her father lost someone and she was the cause of everything.

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Julia was never the one to give up. Even when the thought of giving up would cross her mind, her dad would be there to help her get back up. She knew it was her mistake being dependent on a human. After all; humans were neither immortal nor loyal. Life worked that way, people leave either by choice while others don’t have a say in the matter. She knew the cruel ways of life after she lost her brother due to a heart attack; the same way she lost her dad. The history was repeating itself, only this time her dad wasn't here to help her get back up and it was all her fault. All her future plans suddenly didn’t matter. Some would pity her while others would tell her how she was being stupid, leaving years of hard work behind.

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It had been five years since the whole incident took place. As cliché as it sounds, Julia wasn’t the same selfless and sweet girl everyone knew but no one ever knew the real her except her father. Right after her father's funeral, she left for Paris. The dream destination she and her dad always wanted to go to but could never due to Julia being engrossed in her work. After her father died, she started re-thinking her life decisions. Much to her discomfort, he was right all along in some way or another but she never listened. All she thought was that after her brother's death she had to save everyone from that pain. She lived but for what? Her dead brother wouldn’t come back to life and the brother she knew would want her to be happy. It was something her dad always said but she never gave a thought to it. She might be good at being a doctor but was that what she truly wanted to do. After years of hard work, she was a bestselling author currently traveling the world. She thought she loved helping people; she did but not in the way she thought she did. It scared her how her words could save a life and end one at the same time. She found happiness when she wrote, she felt at comfort as her worlds eloped her like a warm blanket on a cold winter night. Writing like any other work in the world could get difficult at times and so frustrating that she would think about quitting but that’s what made her realize her father was right all along. She was made for writing and no matter how hard it would get it would always be her safe place; buried with thousands of words all written by her. At times she would think how proud her brother and father would be if they saw her grow into the woman she was now but the thought of her father's death always left a foul taste of failure. Of course, life wasn’t so easy and fair and reality hit her soon enough like a plot twist from one of her books but only it hit 10 times harder.

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“Julia please come back quickly.” her mother said over the phone as Julia heard her hold a blood-curdling cry back. “It's your sister she overdosed.” her heart shattered as she heard her mum spill those words while she heard her cry in pain for her younger daughter. It pained her how she wasn't there for her family when they needed her the most but what hurt her the most was she failed again at the battle of life. She lost her sister to time, the same way she lost her brother and dad. She was never close to her because of her constantly working or traveling. It pained her how she yet again couldn’t win against time. She had promised to take her sister along on her next trip when her sister begged to spend time together. If only her life was like the books she wrote; they ended with a happy ending somehow but life didn’t work that way. One thing Julia learned from her life was that you will never have enough time. Each second counts in life. You never know how much 10 seconds could impact someone's life. Sometimes that someone could be you considering how unfair life gets. You can take nothing for granted in this world; not even a simple blessing like time.

December 31, 2020 21:01

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4 comments

Maryam Khan
15:11 Jan 01, 2021

Love it❤️. The story exhibit realistic emotions as it contains precise words to express the theme of the plot and makes one to implement the concept of time,fear of losing loved ones, unreliability of life and chasing one's dreams in his life. Beautifully delivered

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Emily Rose
17:30 Jan 01, 2021

THANK YOU!

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Ramsha Imran
00:33 Jan 01, 2021

This is amazing❤️ Felt every word you wrote and I think that’s the best quality of a story.

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Emily Rose
11:00 Jan 01, 2021

thank you sm

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