Envy

Then the phone rang. The shrill sounded so near and so loud, and she buried her head under the pillow. There were only three rings. The caller mercifully discontinued the call. She wondered why the children had not answered the call. When she opened her eyes much later, it was past noon. She did not register the time for a moment, as her thoughts went to the next bedroom. She listened hard for noises downstairs, realising that the eerie silence was ominous. She knew that had they been in the garden, their laughter could have been audible. She pushed herself off the bed onto wobbly legs. The dizzy spell lasted for nearly ten seconds when she could not breathe. Searing pain in her eye sockets made them water and she had difficulty locating the door handle. She groped with both hands, found it and turned it. The children were not in the bedroom. The idea that the children had been abducted flowed unwillingly to her mind. She flopped to the floor and did not bother when her bladder gave. Tears did not come, and even the prayer she began to compose did not last five words. The phone rang again. Three rings and no more before she could get off the floor. Expecting a repeat, she dragged herself, opting to crawl out of the bedroom to the stairs. She sat on the topmost step and slid down the stairs on her bum. At the bottom of the stairs, she used the banister to stand up and lean against the wall. Her knees were gelatinous and she flopped on the floor again. On all four, she crawled to the lounge and fell on her belly near the corner table. She knew the phone was within reach. Some time later, the phone shrilled, jarring her awake. She stretched her hand out and pulled the cord, then took the receiver in a weak hand. 'Hello?' she asked, her raspy voice barely audible. 'Your children are safe. For their and your continued safety, don’t call anyone. Keep waiting for our next call.' The line died before she could say anything. The retching started then- long paroxysms that raked her weak sore body to the marrow. Acrid bile and sticky spittle ensued drooling from her mouth. She flopped on her belly again, her head spinning. The throbbing temple made it difficult to think. She lay unmoving for some time, then started on the long journey upstairs. Halfway, she turned back. Each step she took brought fresh strobes of lightening shooting through her head bringing forth tears. It did not occur to her that she could be endangering the children or herself. She did not remember that only the night before she had got drunk with a resolve. She dialled with a heavy hand, then shut her eyes with fatigue. 'Hello?' 'Alex, they have taken my children,' she broke down sobbing in a guttural voice.