hsdeogan

[hsdeogan]

Distractions

Exhausted, she wakes up. She stayed up late at night. Not studying, not cleaning her room, just on her phone. But she tried. She thought she would study all night, clean up her room, make a schedule, but everything seemed exhausting and boring. She's going to be late for the class, so she doesn't think that today is just like every other day. She would think that she needs a change in life when she's not getting late for an 8 am.

When she's back after the lecture, she needs a break. Now it's time to decide how she'll spend the day. Finish laundry while tidying the room, make food, make a study schedule.

Enough, she says, time for a change. But first, she needs to get distracted by her phone. Just like we all do, nothing and everything. Time flies and she almost falls asleep. It's afternoon, half the day is over. Before she starts telling herself how lazy she is, it's time to get up and do something. The room is tidied soon. Books and laptop is well placed on the table, ready to be studied. But as she sits down, she gets distracted by all the stress she has right now.

First, it's the studies. How much she is lagging behind with an enormous backlog, She can make a schedule for the 6th time this month and in theory, finish it all up in a week. But that's not how that works, a theoretical schedule never works. It's demotivating, and she doesn't want to start making a new one. The mind shifts to how exhausted she is. All she does is study, and yet the work piles up. How is everyone surviving this? Am I the only stupid one?

Keeping up with all that, then there are the wonders of being an adult. Shopping, cleaning, cooking. Looking for a better job that actually pays a livable wage. Then there are problems with the family. She hasn't talked to them in a while, and the more time passes the more they complain when she finally calls. She should call them now, mom must be free now. But that would take 30 minutes away, or more. Maybe tomorrow.

How are days passing by and she is not doing anything, and yet she has time for nothing? She looks at the laptop and opens up the document that she should have memorized by now. I can't study like this, probably should cook something first, she thinks.

It's already 6. Soon it would be 7, then 8. And then 10. She wanted to sleep early so she can finally wake up timely and study more efficiently. There won't be any time left for studying if she cooks now, but she has to. Let's get that over with first.

As she cuts the vegetables, she's thinking of all the other stuff she had forgotten to think about before. How she hasn't talked to her friends in a while. How she misses going out, meeting family, laughing with her sister. How she still needs to talk to the bank about her lost card. How she hasn't replied to emails from last week.

All she needs is a break, she tells herself. Just a small break to catch up on everything. Or maybe magically fix her sleep. Something, anything. Today won't be another day of crying, she sniffs to stop herself. Maybe music can help. Something quick as she cuts the vegetables. She opens the app, and clicks on her liked songs. Nothing new, she wants to listen to something she knows and likes. She found it - her song. The song.

As the song plays, the upbeat and melodies seem to fog away her distractions. Distractions from stress, at least. As lyrics come by, she starts to hum, first in her mind, then on her lips.

This is a good song. She loves it, she has listened to it many times. For now, this is all on her mind. Nothing else matters, not the pending schedules, not the waiting messages, or adult responsibilities. This is her, being with herself, chopping down the veggies as she hums her song.

This is her moment, and everything else can wait.

[hsdeogan]

The doctor is out

As he landed the helicopter near the cliff, Jason knew something had gone wrong when he saw the doctor’s house up in flames. “My friends!” he screamed, imagining the worst. He ran towards the entrance but heard painful moans besides the house in a collapsed rubble which was once a garden. The doctor was there.

“Doctor!” he exclaimed, happy that he was alive, but that didn’t matter, and Jason felt bad about it. All he cared for were his friends, whom the doctor was hiding from the military. Jason needed to know what had happened, and the doctor must know all about it. “What happened?” he asked, hoping the doctor would tell him that his friends magically escaped to Santa Monica and that everything was fine, or something like that. He’ll take anything. He didn’t spend months avenging his murdered brother and keeping his friends safe for something bad to happen.

The doctor was breathing his last breaths, Jason noticed as he came closer. “What happened, doctor?” He asked again.

“Jason... the jungle warriors. They came for your friends. I’m sorry... I couldn’t fight them.” The doctor spoke between breaths. Jason noticed the wounds. The doctor had tried to fight them. He had no incentive, no reason, nothing to gain from it. He was a nice soul.

“The jungle warriors?” Jason realized who these warriors were before he finished his question. The Rakyat. But how? The powerful cult of the island that gave him the strength and power to fight the military, why did they take his friends? Wasn’t he now their chief or something?

“I’m sorry... they took them to the temple.”

He wanted to know more... how did this happen? What did they want? How did the Rakyat people found out the hidden cave in the mountain?

The doctor was about to die, and Jason knew what to do. He needed to fight the Rakyat, and take his friends back. There were no more questions necessary. This was time to say goodbye to the doctor, even during this adrenaline rush of confusion and anger. ‘I’m not dying, he is.’ he thought. ‘He doesn’t need to answer my questions’. This is not what someone wants to talk about as they’re dying.

“You did good doc”, he said softly, “You lived a good life and took good care of us. Thank you for everything”.

The doctor’s eye’s shot up and seemed to shine for a second.

“You did a good research with those herbs,” he continued, “you will not be forgotten. I will avenge you. It is time to rest in peace.”

Jason didn’t know anything about the herbs or his research. But it was fine. It made the doctor happy, and he seemed to let his last breath out in peace.

The doctor was out.

Inspired from the Far Cry 3 mission: The doctor is out.