The Beginning

I always wanted to travel back in time. It was always part of my thoughts, but I never thought it would happen until I saw a strange light and, stepping into it, found myself in a time where my world was still a vivid dream cocooned inside my unexplored mind.
The paths seemed familiar. It was my city, just not my time. I knew the Gods had their reasons for this. It was faith which had brought me to this city called Cape Town many years back, and I was sure the person I was meeting was very important.

I saw a black car quickly approaching on the grey tar road where I stood. I couldn’t see the people inside, but I knew there was something that brought me to this place on this fateful day.
I built up courage and stood still, right in front of the car. It was headed straight for me. With both my hands out, I felt my heart rate suddenly speed up. As I watched, another car came from behind me. Before I could scream to make them stop, they crashed into each other in front of my eyes.
The black car had overturned and I watched as a guy tried to pull out a lady from the back seat. The look on his face made me fear that the worst had happened. It was then that the lady tried to move and he got her out.

I saw she was pregnant; both faces were traumatized.
“The baby…is the baby okay?” the guy shouted. He was panicking, touching the woman’s face.
Other cars stopped to help.
The woman’s eyes looked familiar. It was like I’ve seen them before.
Could it be her? It couldn’t, I told myself.
Suddenly the scene blurred and I found myself in a totally different place. I was at a hospital. I walked down the corridor and I saw that woman from the car, alone in a room. She was crying, but I could see her brown eyes through those clear tears.
I looked around me to see if anyone had spotted me. I entered her room silently and stood near the door. When she looked up, she saw me gazing into her eyes.
“Come in,” she said, wiping her tears from her eyes.
I smiled at her andshe asked me, “What’s your name?”
“Sarah,” I replied.
“Beautiful name.”
“Why are you so sad?”
She said it was the baby. A few months ago, she thought she was going to lose her baby.
I sat at the foot of the bed. She was pretty, I noticed. She was still young, and I could see it in her face. I knew that one day I would grow up to look just like her.
She was my mother. I was the daughter yet to be born who she was caressing as she talked to me.
I put my hand on her stomach but she didn’t mind at all.
There was something I needed to know, a question that I wished she would answer when I was all grown up.
“Do you love your baby?” I asked.
I don’t know why, but I had to ask. I wanted to know that when I did come into the world, I would have love in abundance.
“Yes,” she answered and more tears came out of her eyes. “I love my baby so much. This wonderful little girl is going to be a blessing to so many. She will have grace of her grandmother, a heart like no other, and I will be the proudest mother in the universe.”
The way she said that all in one go with such passion, I knew she would love her baby, love me.
It was her tears that I wanted to take away. I wanted to hug her and tell her that she didn’t need to worry, that God will save me from many things in my life. I wanted to tell her that I am her daughter, that I wasn’t born yet, but that I would be with her soon.

It was then I whispered these words, “I love you too, Mom,” so she couldn’t hear me clearly.
I could feel that my time with my mother was slipping away. I was almost ready to meet the world.
She shouted to the nurse passing by, “I want to meet my baby. Get her into the world now!”
Tears were falling, the same courageous tears from the car accident and the same tears that brought me into this world.

It was like time stood still as I was shifting out of that room, hearing my first cry.
I knew that I met my mother on two occasions. The first was when I almost died in a car accident when I was still inside of her, and the second was hearing her tears and speaking to her.
Those were the two memories that I knew the future me would remember always.
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For the IndieInk Writing Challenge this week, kelly garriott waite challenged me with "You're given the opportunity to meet your mother or father at a point before your birth. Who would you meet? When? What would you talk about?" and I challenged Shelley with " Things that make you uniquely beautiful"