The Last Day
By Viona Onardy
“What’s the result, Lena?” asked Lena’s mom curiously. Lena was just went to find out that she failed in the audition of Indonesian Idol. She’s very experienced and she had won a lot of medals in singing contests. But now she didn’t make it.
“I failed!” she sobbed right away on her mom’s shoulder.
“Oh, poor baby. Don’t worry. You are still young. You’ve got many chances to get success…” She didn’t let her mom finished her sentence, “No! I’m totally screwed up! I hate singing! I don’t wanna sing anymore! Never!”
Lena was the only child in her family so she always got what she wanted until that day when she failed at the first selection. She was so disappointed and angry at her failure. She hated failure! She always had a perfect life. A rich family, a handsome boyfriend, great grade, but she’s never satisfied! Her only failure in the audition was a huge stain I her life and she really hated it.
The next day at the campus, she saw her boyfriend Andy.
“Where’ve you been when I was on the audition?” Lena asked him. Andy was like her servant and he always did what she ordered. He replied, “Sorry! You know, my students have an exam today, so yesterday I’d got to teach them.”
Andy’s family was in Bandung while he was studying in Jakarta. His parents did send him money every month but that wasn’t enough to afford his life. So, he did a part time job as a tutor for high school students.
“Are you saying that your students are much more important tan me?”
“No, I am not. I’m sorry! I left a message in your voice mail because your cell phone wasn’t active! You haven’t checked your voice mail?”
“Don’t give excuses!”
“Lena!”
“Get out of my sight!”
“Lena!”
“I’m telling you to go away, NOW!”
Andy kept silent for a while until his face turned serious and said, “Look, I am not your servant. I am your boyfriend. You can’t treat me like this.”
“What..?”
“Lena, I can’t just take it anymore! I love you but I can’t just take this when you’re humiliating me! I know you’re rich! You’re pretty, genius, famous, but that doesn’t mean you can debase others!”
“Shut up!”
“NO! You shut up! You are not the queen of the world. You are just an ordinary 18 year old girl that’s too selfish to even be friend with people like me, who’s from different social stratum! You look down on people like me! I’m already fed up with you. It’s better if we go separate ways now, breaking up. Good bye, Lena!”
“Hey! Come back,Andy!” Lena called out, crying out loud. But Andy just walked away.
Since that day, Lena didn’t wanna go to campus and didn’t go out of her room either. In her bedroom, she cried and curse Andy and the audition. On Sunday morning, someone knocked on her door. She was ready to yell when she headed for the door. But, she had to save her scolding because she didn’t recognize the girl standing in front of her.
“Who are you?” asked Lena. The girl was at her age, with long beautiful black hair. The girl looked so cheerful and friendly, while Lena looked so cold and wild.
“Hello! I’m your new neighbour, Elizabeth’s my name, but just call me Liz. We live next to your house. We just moved here yesterday.”
“So, what the hell are you doing here?”
“Oh, I just wanna get to know you. You know, I’m new in the neighbourhood and I can’t find other girls my age, except you. We’ve seen your parents and they said I can see you today, so…”
Lena wasn’t interested in talking to her and she was about to close the door before Liz held the door, “Wait! I just wanna give you this.”
Liz handed her a gift.
“What’s this?”
“Well, let’s just say, it’s an introduction gift. Ok, see you around!” Then she left.
Lena opened gift, “A music box and chocolate?” then she saw a card, saying : A chocolate will help you feel better. A music box with a soft classic song will help you sleep peacefully.
Because she hadn’t eaten for a couple of days, she finished eating the big chocolate in less than 5 minutes. Then, her eyes laid on the music box, “How’s the music? Wanna know it is.” She opened the music box slowly and the soft lovely song started to fill the atmosphere.
“Ehm…,” Lena opened her eyes and she saw a blurry figure. She winked a couple times and the blurry figure became clear. It was Liz.
“Hello, a good afternoon!”
Lena sat up and asked, “What time is it?”
“It’s 5.05 P.M. You slept soundly.”
Lena rubbed her eyes and investigated her, “And, what are you doing in my room?”
“Well, my parents are attending a party and so are your parents. My parents afraid of living me alone in that big house so they brought me here and here I am, in your room, with you.”
“You know what? Your parents told us about you, about the failure…”
“They told you?” Liz nodded her head.
“They care about you and they just wanna get a little advice, cause my mother is a psychiatrist.”
“So, they’re thinking I’m crazy now so that they need a psychiatrist’s help?”
“They’re sending me, not my mother. If that means something.”
“What are you?”
“I’m just a 16 year old girl with an ability to deal with problems calmly and objectively. In your case, let me guess. Oh, I see. You’re upset and disappointed cause you failed the audition.”
Lena acted like she didn’t pay attention, but Liz kept talking. “You can act like you don’t need someone to talk to. But, I know and you yourself know that you’re really in need of a friend to share your problem with.”
“No, I don’t!”
“Aha, you just raised your voice. You gotta admit that now you’re too tired to fight or get angry. So just sit tight and listen to me, “ she said knowingly.
“Whatever!”
“Well, first of all, we gotta find the cause of your problems. Your boyfriend! I think, perhaps he’s tired of your behaviors. The audition! You have great voice and great performance, your mom told me about it, but you still failed! You’ve won a lot of similar competitions before, but you still failed! Why? Can you answer it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Remember, there are ups and downs, good and bad, success and failure, etc in our lives. In your life, you almost forgot the word failure, ‘ cause you’ve always got what you want.”
“I get what I want and that’s why I don’t know what failure is. What you know about me?” she said sardonically.
“I know everything about you, cause I used to be you!” Liz’ face turned sad and serious at the same time. Then, she continued, “I am rich, pretty, smart, famous, just like you. But finally I realize that they all are temporary when that day…”she paused.
“That day?”
“Nothing! Just, I was like you. I never wanted to say thanks or sorry to anyone. I never appreciated other people’s jobs. All I knew was the word I. I controlled my life and others. I was the best! When I finally figured how bad I was. I could feel what people thought of me. I was selfish and I put my will at the top. They hated me cause I humiliated them and they were happy when I was down.” She paused again
“And?”
“I cried all night in my room and I wrote all my of faults. I practiced how to say sorry, I apologize, thank you, thanks a lot, and many more. I fixed the broken glass before it was completely broken. “she stopped and waited for Lena’s reaction and she didn’t say a word, but her body start shaking. Liz hugged her and said warmly, “If you wanna cry, then just cry…” As a reply, Lena cried out loud on her shoulder.
Lena wiped her tears away from her puffy eyes.
“Feel better?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ok, so, what are we gonna do now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t just answer I don’t know.”
“What do you expect me to say?”
“I want you to say, thanks for me.”
“What for?”
“Hey, I’ve given you advices and I made you cry like a kid. Ok, just kidding!”
Then they heard a car coming. Liz reacted to the car horn. “Hey, I think my parents have gone home. I gotta go, Lena. About your boyfriend, go talk to him and say sorry. You know what to do.”
Liz humped her back to grab her jacket that is on the floor but she suddenly stood up and grabbed her nose.
“What happen?”
“Do you have tissue?” asked Liz when fresh blood fell on the floor.
“Oh my God! Are you OK? Your nose is bleeding!” Liz used to tissue to hold the blood from coming out of her nose.
“Don’t worry. It happens since I was a little girl. Ok, good bye and thanks for your tissue.”
Lena stood still. Liz thanked her for a tiny piece of tissue she gave. Shame on herself for not able to say thanks. Liz had opened her mind of how bad she had lived for 18 years. Abruptly, she ran to Liz and shouted, “Thank you, Liz!”
Liz turned around and shouted, “That’s okay!”
All of sudden, she felt a lot happier then.
The next day, little by little, Lena was easier to say thanks or sorry.
“Thank you, mom, dad.”
“What did you say,Lena?” her dad asked carefully.
“Thank you for worrying about me and for all the things you’ve done to me.”
Her mom and dad were surprised.
“And, I wanna say sorry for behaving so bad for so long.”
They burst out in tears!
At campus, Lena looked for Andy. When finally her eyes caught Andy’s figure, she was so happy. Andy also gave a fleeting glance to her as if he didn’t recognize her. Lena didn’t care and ran to Andy. She grabbed his hand and asked, “Can I talk to you for a second?”
Andy looked at her for a sec and answered, “Okay!”
“Andy, I wanna say sorry. I know I’ve been so bad. I didn’t treat you as my boyfriend. I looked down on you.” Andy didn’t let her finish her statement and kissed her on forehead.
“All I wanna hear from you is just the word sorry.”
There was a big smile on her face. “Thanks, Andy. I love you.”
When Lena got home, she looked for Liz at her house. She rang the bell, but it seemed like no one at the house, so she headed for her house. She couldn’t wait to tell Liz about Andy, but she had got to wait.
The next day, she eventually knew where Liz was.
“What?”
Her parents told her carefully, “Yes, Liz passed away this morning in the hospital. She had the operation for her brain yesterday, but it didn’t work. You know, she was suffering from brain cancer and…”
“No,” Lena stepped back with her teary eyes.
“Lena,”
“No, she can’t do that I just knew her for one day!” Lena ran out of the house and went to Liz’ house.
The front door was opened and she saw Liz’ mom crying so badly and Liz’ dad staring the floor with blank sight. Actually, she wanted to ask them about Liz, but she decided not to. She went home.
“Lena, Liz gave you a message.” Her mom gave her a piece of paper. A letter. From Liz. Liz, who had been my close friend.
Dear Lena,
How’re you doing?
How about Andy?
I know he must accept you.
OK, when you read my letter, maybe you won’t be able to talk me anymore.
I just want you to remember a sentence :
Treat this day as your last day.
I’ve used that sentence to face my day for four years, since I was told hat I was suffering from brain cancer. And, since I think everyday is my last day in this world, I always face my day with smile, helping people, doing the best things I can do everyday. You’re a great girl, and you’re my friend. Bye.
Liz.
