By Tint Tint Sandi
Myanmar-Thailand Contributor

It was 11:00 pm and raining heavily outside. A woman put her hands on her womb and cried desperately. A man was sitting next to her and told her to calm.

“Tom. I don’t think I can hold on any longer. Where’s the car? Is it yet to come?”

“Rosy, please hold on a bit. The car is about to come in any minute. I am with you, ok?”
   
“Tom, the car is here. Quick, quick. The water has broken. We don’t have much time," the mother of the women yelled.

Fortunately, they made it to hospital. When the clock hit 12:00 am, a crying of a baby crawled out from the operation room. It’s a boy!

“There’s one left, sir!” The nurse whispered.

At 12:01 am, another baby boy came out of his mama’s womb: one minute younger than his brother, but one day behind his brother.

Tom and Rosy gave the names to their two sons according to the days they were born, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. The elder one named Seth, the younger one named Eric. Seth was born with a gift : he always wins the lottery, wins the girls and wins everything from Eric. Eric is a quiet, patient, and kind boy, never wants to have the things his brother want.

Their parents died in a car crash just before they graduated from high school. Seth chose to chase after money instead of going to university. He spent most of his time gambling, hooking up with girls, and drinking liquor. He collected a decent amount of money. All his friends stayed close to him for money. He barely called his brother. He thought he was the happiest man in life. Why not? He had everything, unlike his little nerd brother.

Eric went to a famous university. He’s not a nerd like his brother thinks but he was a good student. He enjoyed his university life that Seth never got to enjoy. He even fell in love with a nice girl. He wanted his life to be as simple as it could. He didn’t want to be rich and famous. Eric wants a happy family with a regular salary. He wanted to live his life. He believed Seth has no life at all: the things around Seth never really brought happiness for him.

Eric found his brother to be quite pitiful. He married his girlfriend after 4 years he graduated from the university. He called his brother twice a week, but he found Seth never wanted to talk to him. He picked up the phone and said goodbye with a non-sober voice and hung up on him.

Years passed. Eric was reading a newspaper and saw an article written about his brother getting killed by a bunch of guys he called friends. They took all his money.

Eric threw the newspaper away and cried. All the memories of his brother came up in his mind. He fell on the couch and thought about his brother all day long. He couldn’t even talk to his wife or eat dinner.

“Daddy, what’s wrong?” His five year old son asked. “Want me to show you something?” He continued.

He tried to smile at his son and nodded slowly. His son took a coin out of his pocket, made an O-shaped hole with his forefinger and thumb, put the coin on his thumb and tossed it in the air. He caught it before it fell to the floor and asked Eric, “Heads or tails, daddy?”

by Tint Tint Sandi
Myanmar-Thailand Contributor

Midnight! 12:00 am.

There is no sound of movement in the room. Is someone here? She is the only one person in the room, sitting motionlessly.

Tik Tok.

Tik Tok

Tik Tok

The second hand of the clock moves and passes through the overlapping hour and minute hands. It’s 12:01 am.

She sighs heavily while staring at the face of the clock meaninglessly. It’s 12:15. It’s been a long time that she’s been sitting in the dark with her eyes wide open. Her eyes can see the clock's face clearly since she used to stay in the dark. She cannot sleep for the time being: It has been 60 hours to be precise.

She put all her concentration on the second hand of the clock and is counting the seconds at the same time. Yes! She does not want her mind to think other thoughts.

But even when her hair floats with the playful wind, mind notices, doesn’t it? Then, against her will, she is thinking about something that happened at 5:30 in the evening three days ago.

.…

In a very huge, fine house’s living room, there was a woman sitting. She was wearing diamonds all over her body and extremely red lip-stick. She was also wearing an I-don’t-care face and smoking a cigarette. That’s her mother.

Then, there was another man standing in front of her. His face was red with anger. A very hardworking business man that always arrived home late. That’s her father.

She was peeking at her parents, frightened and even forgot to shed the tears.

The conversation began.

“What do you think you are doing? You spend so much of my money, look at my face every day, and have no shame at all,” her father yelled at mother.

She said nothing back. I think that mde my father angrier.

“Don’t you have any standards? You have a daughter. What? Jennifer’s husband? You cheated on me, big time. You are nothing but a...”

“Aunt Jenny? That’s my best friend’s mother,” she thought. “Mum and uncle Arthur?” She almost fainted. She took a peek at her mother’s face. She stopped smoking. But still calm.

“What are you saying, Fred? I cheated on you?", she laughed. “You are talking about standards and standards. What is your standard? You're a low life. What are you doing with Jennifer? The same time, the same place? You thought I didn't know… ”

Her father slapped her mother.

She sat on the floor for she had no strength to keep standing.

“Shut your mouth,Gena!", father exclaimed. "I am a man. I know what I am doing. I can sleep with anybody; I can even marry one lawfully. If you are not OK with that, you can choose your own path.”

She silently went back to her room, wondering if the situation would become any worse.

Gena stared at Fred, bit her lower lips, and went to her wardrobe, grabbed what came in her hand and left the house immediately.

She saw her mum leaving her but had no guts to stop her. Then, a while later, another sound of an engine starting went into her ears. It was her dad.

“Is he also leaving me? No, he will come back, I know it,” she talked to herself.

…

Now, it’s been three days. She fights with her thoughts but when she finds that she can’t let them out, she gives up.

When the anger, pain, and shame combine, she lets herself break a glass on the table. However, nobody hears the broken glass and her broken heart.

She’s alone in her room. Rather, she's actually alone in an entire house. The dark night, house, and room suck her into the darkness.

It’s 2:00 am.

A car passes through the gate of her house. It’s her dad, and aunt Jenny?

She smiles painfully.

Her pale skin and cryptic face contrast with her long hair, black shirt, and dark pants, she looks like a ghost.

She moves slowly towards her wardrobe.

Maybe she will dye all her clothes black tomorrow.

Tint Tint Sandi is a Business Arts student at an international university in Bangkok, Thailand. A Myanmar-native, she enjoys reading, writing, and drawing. At 21 years of age, Tint Tint hopes to one day study a master's degree in the United States.