Starting the second week of August was full of enthusiasm and motivation. Lots of plans and routines were set from the past week that were targeted to be done based on the days and times scheduled. But things doesn't always go according to the plan that made my schedule scattered last week.

Fresh and Productive Monday

It's a hot, sunny, and bright Monday morning. You can hear the birds chirping outside while seeing the skies full of deep blue colors, and there's hardly any sign of rain coming soon.

After waking up, I took a quick breakfast and had a bonding time with the cats. Shortly thereafter, I went back up stairs to have an exercise session lasting 20 minutes, mostly cardio and stretching. Next, I took a quick break and checking some notifications on my phone to check and clear them all.

With an hour left before lunch, I planned about what should I draw next, considering it's going to be my return to making some art. I quickly thought of cats and tried to do the big cat Jaguar, which you may have probably seen from my post in Noise.

Immediately after lunch and washing the dishes, I went to my easel to prepare my work and taped down the paper. Without any second thoughts, I quickly drew in the jaguar and shaded it with charcoal pencils, one of the fastest mediums to work with. It took me four hours to finish the piece.

Then at the right timing, a door bell rang which indicates that my new mushroom has arrived! It's really exciting to see and grow again the new variant as my curiosity and enthusiasm with shrooms got insane!

Developing an Illness

The next day, I woke up with sore throat with some body pain. My mom and sister told me that they also have the same feeling and it's a flu that we got. We remembered that every August-September of a year, we often get flu or colds because of the abrupt changes in weather and temperature. And the patterns of weather last week was insane actually, imagine raining so hard with the sun shining so bright and hot? Or having strong, cold breeze that blows frequently while the temperature is around 30-32 degrees C. We rarely get ill within a year but these conditions often causes us to feel sick. Thankfully we have stock of meds and citrus fruits that can help fight it.

My plans for that day was to write an article here alongside creating a new work in acrylics. But I just feel oofed after noticing that some of the bottles were already exhausted. I felt the need to rest in the afternoon and slept instead. There goes my productivity down the drain.

Delivery of a Tragic News

It's early Wednesday morning, and around 4 am I woke up due to the pain in my body and throat. I drank lots of water and went back to sleep, with the help of some ointments and lozenges that relieve the pain. I rested a lot until lunchtime is about to come.

Just before starting to eat, we saw and heard an ambulance nearby which stopped in front of our neighbor. Then we saw the breadwinner of their family being enclosed with a cloth, with the head exposed. We were absolutely shocked to see this and got a message from the neighbor beside them that he doesn't have any pulse. It has been 5 days since the man stayed at home as he's feeling ill. His work is being a driver of a van that carries passengers from different cities.

The night came in and we heard that the man was immediately cremated and at that point we can't get near them as they weren't tested yet for COVID. My mom texted her friend (the wife) and said that she must stay strong for her child daughter, and don't hesitate to ask for help and comfort. She just replied with a simple "thanks".

Following his footsteps...

It's Friday afternoon and we just finished eating lunch. Then we heard a familiar voice of a child who cried and shouting that her mom passed out. We can't approach them even if we wanted because they are still under quarantine. No one is really willing to even if we wanted just because of the risk. Instead, we contacted the rescue quickly while comforting the child that everything will be all right.

It took almost an hour for the rescue to come in, and obviously it's too late already for the woman. The rescuers tried to revive her but without any success. We all cried after hearing that because of the fact that the child is too young to experience this with herself alone while we are powerless to give help due to the nasty COVID situation.

Several ambulance and government vehicles came in to the scene to assess the situation. It took around 6 hours for them to standby in the scene while waiting for the nearest relative to come in. At 7pm the ambulance took the body and disinfected the place to ensure that there will be no contamination. Their house was marked with a yellow tape, police line. The daughter was carried by the social workers to their facility to help facilitate her psychological recovery. What's even interesting is that it rained so hard with rumbling thunders hours after her passing. It reminds me of the movies where it rains after a grieving situation.

Everything that happened during that day was hard to absorb as it all happened so quickly. And it's heart-wrenching to see a small child left alone with virtually nothing.

Mom's Help Desk

Due to the event, my mom literally became a help desk or broadcaster where friends and people around the neighborhood contact her and asked what happened. She told everything in short but concise details about the death of the two couple.

Mom was telling them like she had a script on actually. All the calls took around 3 hours as people were contacting her consecutively. I can imagine that around 10 people called her that very day when the woman died. But to be honest, we were all clueless at some details because we don't go out from our gate just to hear and see some news from there.

Recovering during the weekends, and starting with a fresh, new week

This Saturday and Sunday, our condition is finally improving with no more fever and body pain. Only thing that's left is some cough and sneezing. And we have lost some sense of taste due to the cough and cold. Food sometimes tastes bland that we do not eat that much. Hopefully by tomorrow we get fully recovered.

We are also wishing that the child will get a good quality of life with her new "parents" who will take care of her, most likely her nearby relatives. Their family is actually pretty close-knit with us as we celebrate parties and exchange food, gifts, and many others. Hoping for the souls of the deceased to have peace and rest well in Paradise.

May this real-life story touch your hearts and reflect on how life is so unpredictable. We would never know our when will be our end, so please be kind and gentle to those whom you love. At the face of death, we are so helpless and hope that people would have good memories with you. Everything that happened last week was really hard to absorb, yet we keep on moving in life, especially that we are blessed at this current situation.

I have to share this with you guys first because I felt that this is the best way to release some feelings from within, which made me lost my productivity and activity here for a while. Thanks for reading!

[#4] Monday, 16th of August 2021

*Lead Image from Pixabay