A Note

A Note
Daylight crept in gradually, running her easy fingers along the walls, and flickering mysteriously at the windows. Philemona woke first, a slight frown on her face as she yawned and looked around the room. Something seemed strange and different. 

Her heart skipped a beat as she realized there was no sign of Tina. "Where's Tina?" she questioned, her voice trembling slightly as she looked at the other persons asking them worriedly.

“I don’t know,” Moana muttered, yawned, and tried to clear the fuzz that had descended on her brain. "She was here when we went to sleep, yes?”

"Maybe she is with the twins. They were quite ill last night they slept most of the time." Hannah murmured.

“I will check,” she said further standing from the bed. She left the room and went to the twins room. In less than fifteen minutes she returned and there was a clear look of alarm on her face. "She's not there. I did not find her elsewhere too.”

Horror crept up over them. It scared two of them out of their beds in search of any sign of their friend. They went into the kitchen, the garden, the kitchen, and almost every other room in the house. The maids said that they had not seen her anywhere. 

"Let's check the twins again," Hannah suggested. 

It was Moana who picked up the note and left it on the table carelessly as if being left there in a hurry. She opened it, and read the words on the paper in haste.

She sighed, and her voice trembling with fear, she added: “Tina left.” ‘She has gone looking for a doctor’

Panic washed over them.

"What do you mean? Where did she go?" Another friend asked, and she spoke the words, shivering with indecipherable fear.

Moana read the note aloud, her throat tightening with every word:

"Please excuse me for leaving without telling you anything. I did not want you all trying to stop me. The twins are very sick. I need to look for a physician to treat them so they do not die. If I don’t come back, look after my boy, Lucian, and my girl, Valeria. You know what to do. They require your love and support and please ensure that they survive this sudden sickness."

"Wow," Hannah sighed, her eyes watering. "We should... I don't know maybe look for her."

"Let us wait a bit," Philomena suggested. "So she doesn't show up when we are looking for her. And we have to look after them, we can't leave them to the maids."

The twins were fidgeting in their beds; they looked rather sickly with sweaty skin. Lucian rubbed his eyes, glancing at his mother's friends.

"Where's Mom?" he asked, his voice weak and fragile. He had overheard the conversation but pretended to be asleep.

Valeria echoed her brother's concern, her eyes glassy with fever. "Is she coming back?"

Philemona took a deep breath, forcing a smile despite the fear gnawing at her insides.

"She... she went to get help for you two. You need to focus on getting better. Just rest, okay?"

The twins exchanged glances, their brows furrowing as they tried to piece together what was happening.

"What really happened?" Lucian pressed, his gaze sharp despite his sickness. He knew they were lying to make him feel better but the snippets of the conversation that he had heard only made him worry the more. "Something is wrong is it not?"

Philemona's heart ached for the twins, her chest constricting with empathy. "Nothing is wrong, I promise," she said, forcing a gentle smile. "Your mother loves you, and she will be back soon."

Valeria's eyes welled up with tears, her voice barely above a whisper. "But she wouldn't just leave," she insisted, her tiny hands clenched into fists.

"Something must have happened," Lucian added, his brow furrowed with worry.

The friends exchanged worried glances, their faces etched with concern. They couldn't let the twins see their fear, so they crowded around the beds, offering words of comfort.

"Let's play a game," Moana suggested, attempting to lighten the mood. "Let's pretend we are soldiers on a mission to refuge something?"

The twins struggled to engage, their bodies betraying them. Valeria's eyes drooped, her eyelids heavy with fatigue. Lucian's face was pale, his skin clammy with sweat.

But the friends remained steadfast, hoping to keep their fears at bay until Tina returned. They chatted softly, their voices a soothing balm to the twins' frayed nerves.

Hours dragged on, the morning slipping into the afternoon. The sunlight streaming through the windows seemed to slow, as if time itself was stretching out the wait.

Just when the friends began to lose hope, the door creaked open. The sound was like a lifeline, throwing them a rope of salvation.

The twins' eyes widened as they saw a familiar figure enter, relief flooding their hearts like a tidal wave. "Tina!" they gasped in unison, their voices trembling with joy.

Their mother rushed to their side, a physician trailing closely behind her. Tina's face was etched with exhaustion, her eyes red-rimmed from lack of sleep.

But as she knelt beside her children, her face transformed. Her eyes shone with tears, her smile radiant with relief.

"I'm here, my loves," she whispered, her voice shaking with emotion. "I'm here."

Lucian's eyes overflowed with tears, his face crumpling with relief. "Don't scare us like that again," he pleaded, his voice barely above a whisper.

Valeria's tiny hands grasped Tina's, holding on tight.

"I won't, I promise," Tina replied, brushing her fingers against their foreheads. Relief flooded through her as she saw the concern etched on their faces transform into joy.

The physician moved forward, his face kind and reassuring. "Let's take a look at these young ones, shall we?" he said, his voice gentle.

As he examined Lucian and Valeria, Tina held their hands, her eyes never leaving theirs.

"We'll get through this together," she whispered.

And in that moment, they knew everything would be alright.