The Candle

Wishing and praying... Pleading with someone who wasn't
there.. "make it stop make it stop".
Her eyes were red. How long had she been crying? 2 hours?
3 hours? She didn't know. Tears were freezing on her
cheeks. She got closer to the candle. The shining candle was
the only proof that somebody was living in that shack. She
heard a cough behind her, then a sound of movement. Her
mother should have been turning backwards in bed. At least
that was showing her mother was still alive. However Alisa
knew that she will have gone soon. The illness was
spreading amongst her cells and made her worse day by day.
She got up and hold the candle, then glide towards the bed
and placed it next to it. There was only one bed in the tiny
shack. Alisa had been sleeping on the rotten floors for
2 years, since her mother got sick.
She looked down her mom with pity and misery. Her pale face
was paler compared to yesterday. How long had she had? A
day? A month? Tears started falling on her cheeks again.
"Please" she wispered to the darkness, "have mercy..."
Everything had started 5 years ago. Alisa had had a good family;
a father who doted on her and a mother who loved her more
than anything. Her father was a fisherman. He had a boat
with a crew. He had earned well. At least he had earned
enough to get fresh food to the table everyday. When Alisa was
just 7, he had an accident and passed away. To go on with the
life was no different from being tortured. They had no money
at all. Alisa's mother had to take care of his daughter. She
had worked as maid for nearly 3 years till she got sick. They
moved into a filthy, neglected and tiny shack. Their life was
never like it used to be.
Alisa had fallen asleep with a wide smile, thinking of her dad
and games they had played with...
When she woke up, everything was the same, it was no like her
dream. Her mother was asleep, Alisa checked her breathing,
thanks to god she was still alive. She hold the lighting candle
and take it with herself to the other side of the room, it was so
dark because there was no window. Alisa put the candle on to
the rotten counter. She took the rusty knife and tried to cut off
the moldy bread, which was as hard as a boulder, with awkward
hands. Suddenly she pulled her hand with agony. She had cut
her hand. When she put her finger to the cut on her hand, she
saw it out of the corner of her eye: the candle had been put out.
She didn't know how to say but she knew that something was
terribly wrong. She turned to her mom with a sudden move
and saw her body moved no more. Alisa approached her body
like a sleepwalker. She stopped right infront of her. Her eyes
gazed her mother's white face. Then she started to cry like mad,
screaming and yelling, yelling, yelling...