This writing/story originated from my twisted mind. Hence, I reserve all rights to this work.
“Joshua!”
Mary Anne was awoken by her mother's sudden outburst. She looked across the room which she shared with her mother tonight. Earlier the day, her mother had been complaining about feeling unwell, of being restless, so Mary Anne elected to sleep in her mother's room this night to look after her.
“What is it mama? Are you feeling unwell?”
Her mother switched on the table lamp next to her bed post. As Mary Anne's eyes adjusted to the light, she saw her mother seated upright with a terrified look on her face. Mary Anne sprung from the arm chair that she was sleeping in and rushed towards her mother's bedside at the other end of the room. “What's wrong mama? What's wrong?...”, she asked urgently.
“It's your Koko Joshua! I heard him calling me..”
“Ma, Koko is still in Sabah. He's coming back next month, don't you remember? I think you just had a dream.”
“No! I know.. but I clearly heard him called me just now. It was like he was just right next to me and he sounded like he was in trouble.”
Two weeks later, thousands of miles at the other end of the world, in a city called Kota Kinabalu. Mary Anne and her younger brother, Joseph, had been taking turn keeping vigil at their big brother's bedside since they arrived in Kota Kinabalu from Seattle. Their mother, Anne, had wanted to be in the roster but they outright vetoed her. Anne, had been putting up at Joshua's apartment, holding court to the many relatives that trickled in since word of Joshua's near fatal accident got out. Kinship rekindled in the most unfortunate circumstances but Mary Anne and Joseph were at least grateful that the many visits by relatives were distracting their mother's attention from Joshua's condition.
Mary Anne had arrived at the hospital just little over at eight in the morning to relieve her younger brother who had the night roster.
“Joey! Joey! Wake up...” whispered Mary Anne to his younger brother.
“urh..! Jie..” Joseph greeted his sister while rubbing his eyes and stretching his sore body from sleeping in the only arm chair provided in the hospital room. Apparently, comfort to the patient's relatives were not a priority to the hospital's management as the cushion of the arm chair was hard as wood. “Did you bring any snack? I'm hungry!”
“Sorry, I didn't have time today because I woke up late. Another long lost relatives visited us last night and stayed for the night. They kept me up well after midnight before I could sneak into my bedroom and sleep. I think mama stayed up all night!”
“Jesus Christ! How many relatives do we have!” Joseph's comment was rewarded with a quick rap on the head by his elder sister. “Hey!” he protested.
“You know mama and koko don't like it when you cuss that way. Anyway, I think mama said the relatives are her maternal cousins. She seemed happy last night, catching up. So I guess that must be good right? All night long I was called Orang Putih, kinda annoying but you know what, I think I've a new appreciation for our Kadazan blood. You know what they said? We might be descendants of a famous Kadazan headhunter.” Mary Anne chuckled at the idea of being the progeny of a headhunter.
“Jes....” Joseph managed to kept himself in checked this time lest he got another rapping by his elder sister. “A headhunter? No kidding?”
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