in sickness and in health

they knew each other on an event. they both had common interest in flying model airplanes. it was on that fateful event did they realise they had so much in common. in the months and years that followed alex and rachel spent they waking hour either thinking of each other or simply being together. they build their model airplanes together and fly them in the medow in the rural area every weekend. their lives were so blissful and filled with pleasent memories.

3 years after their initial meeting, alex invited rachel to moved in with him. his excuse for popping the question was lame but sweet "rach. i can't bear to know that you always skip your breakfast every morning and if you come live with me, i can be sure to make you coffee and muffin every morning. on some special mornings we can even have breakfast in bed" although rachel was a successful marketing director in her company, with at least 50 staff under her world-wide, this 'iron-fist' lady grow weak at her knees and agreed. evenutally within 2 months of moving in alex and rachel got married at the state-office. its was a simple affair with less than 100 people.

alex and rachel enjoyed their simply lifestyle, it was an enjoyable break from their regular travelling and staying in the 5-stars hotel. nothing beats a quiet night together, slipping in their favourite wine and dancing to the smoothing waltz and talking about their future and passion for model air-plane.

its was the eve of their 5th anniversery, rachel woke up with a terrible headache. the pain was so bad that it thrown rachel on the floor groaning. being a sunday, alex had went out for hi morning jog. by the time alex discovered rachel on the bathroom floor, she had already loss conciousness. alex called 911 and brought rachel to the hospital.

the doctor did x-ray, cat-scan and took tubes and tubes of blood from alex's frail looking darling, rachel. while alex was filled with heart-ache and pain for rachel, his fear of loosing rachel left him panicking. a once strong, composed and steady man was reduced to nothing but a lost child. after 2 hours of detailed checking, the doctor appraoched alex and asked "sir, i understand that you are ms. rachel's husband. i would like to have you sign an agreement for the a lumber puncture..."

the entire day was spent in the hospital and the date marking their 5th annverisary was spent in the ward as well. alex had brought in the new model air-plane that the couple had been fixing up to launch on that day to mark this brand new year of their relationship. but the air that the plane was suppose to be soaring in was damp and fogging outside. alex stared at rachel's pale face. rachel had been in a coma state for the past 2 days. no tender words, no morning kiss, not even a smile on this day of celebration.

finally the doctor had firmed out the diagnosis for rachel. calling alex into his office, dr.lensie was delieved the news with professional poise. "your wife is suffering from a rare bacteria infection in her brain. she must had been suffering from headache for a long time. but now is too late. the tests had shown that the bacteria had invaded into her nervous system. it had affected her hearing and her limbs. i am sorry, we can't do much to the already damage organs but we will surely fight to keep her alive." alex was too shock for words. just the week before he was joking with rachel's giddy spells "ha! you must be having a baby! or maybe its all the flying that had traumatis your brain! haha..."

months of treatment and rehabilation, rachel was able to open her eyes and talk. but her speech had become slurred and she had lost all ability of self-care. alex resigned from his region job and found a stable 9-5 office work so that he could spend more time with rachel. all these changes hit rachel hit and she sank into the pit of depression. although she could communicate with alex by means of writting (alex) and speech (rachel), she hardly spoke a word.

being 'trapped' in the hospital for months, rachel had totally lost track of time and dates. her life was reduced to a merely 5-8 meal a days via a tube that goes through her nose into her stomach, bed bath and lying all day in a room with blue wall-paper.

1 evening as usual alex visited rachel and was having dinner by her bedside. rachel spoke "how can you continue to love me? a woman that is not even a human!" it ws as if alex had knew this was coming, he calming turned over and scribbled some words on to the paper and showed rachel. he wrote "in sickness and in health. til death do us part. my love for you is not based on the condition you are in but base on what is inside of you...you." rachel wept, still she continue to scream out "no. go away. do justice to yourself. i hate myself, why don't you too? leave!" that night alex hugged rachel till she settle down and falls asleep.

"alex, rachel is now relatively well. we can't keep her in the hospital anymore. but you can transfer her to a nursing home if you think you won't be able to handle her, alone, at home." dr lensie informed alex. after doing all the research and visitation, alex had settled on a nursing home near the medow, in the rural area, where the couple had spend most of their dating days. he moved rachel into the nursing home and since it was far from town, alex's daily visit was greatly reduced to weekly visits. to rachel it was a relief knowing that alex had started to move on with his life. maybe it was love that drove rachel to push alex away from herself. afterall alex was a good catch with qualification, looks and thoughtful.

alex's weekly drive to the nursing home never fails, even in the heavy storms and winter snow. it had now been over 1 year since that fateful day. alex was driving to the nursing home after a long day in the office. alex was growing tired after driving for 3 hours straight but he pushed himself as he was anxious to meet rachel and tell her of the latest development in the model air-planes. alex must had fall aslept behind the wheel cause by the time he woke up his legs were both trapped between the steering wheel and his car-seat. his couldn't breathe and blood was tickling down his head. alex immdiate thought was of rachel and their times together flying their model air-planes. then it was dead silence.

weeks and months past, rachel had stopped all hopes of seeing alex again. she had believed that alex must had gotten on with his life, gotten married and is now happily in some part of the world living. the nursing home and all of her relatives had kept the news of alex death away form rachel. in this way, rachel will not live to blame herself of everything that alex had to put up with and went through. it was a pretty and happy ending in some senses for the both.

outside in the nearby medow the sound of model air-plane breaks the silence of the land. a tombstone named: "my beloved alex...missd by Rachel and love ones" stood strong, composed and steady 5 km away from the nursing home, facing the window of rachel's room.

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this story is inspiried by something i had seen and of cuz mixed with lots of my imagination
may the vow of love seed in deep...til death do us part...
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a typical plain Jane story

jen is the everyday little girl that you will see in the train, on the bus, in the school, in fact anywhere. people had called these sort of girl 'plain Jane'. isn't it an irony that jen's elder sister's name is indeed Jane but isn't in any sense plain. Jane was the most popular girl in school. before her legal age of 18, she had already at least 10 boyfriends- ranging from the basketball player in school to the rock band's drummer in downtown bar. jane's body seems to be a prefect cloth's rack! everything that is placed on it seems like a show piece in the window's showcase. Jane is loud and cheerful and filled with life. jen on the other hand was like an opposite pole compared to Jane. although jen too inherited her parents' love for socialising and activities she was just that cute, bubbly girl that every one of jane's boyfriends love to pinch. jen always wonder what went wrong inside her mom's reproductive organ during that 2 years interval before her birth. why is she so different from her elder sister!?

just like every other day jen dutifully woke up and prepared the family's breakfast while mom rush through the morning laundry while screaming for everyone to get their butt down for breakfast. jen set the dishes, poured the coffee and spread the bread. while everyone was having their breakfast, jen planted a kiss on her parents and left early for school. although both jen and Jane studied in the same school, jen refuse the free-ride to school offered by jane's boyfriend. maybe it was pride, maybe it was low-esteem but that was jen. the girls may be different and seemly talks different paths in life, they loved each other dearly and never force the other into anything. it was an unspoken sisterly love.

jen boarded the bus as usual but the unusual thing today was that the bus was packed with lots of people. this left jen standing throughout the bus-ride. with all the pushing and shuffling, jen's glasses were accidentally knocked off. as jen bended over to pick it up, a senior who had been sitting nearby picked up the glasses and handed it to her. jen smiled and thanks him. then it was a just a quiet ride.

when the bus came to a halt at the school's bus-stop. jen with all the rest of the high schooler alighted off the bus. the senior who had earlier helped jen came forward to jen and gently tapped her on her shoulder. "hi jen, you look nicer with those glasses." after saying these words he disappeared among the crowd and jen was left standing there. she wonder who he was, how did he know her name and why is he at all bothered by her looking nicer or not.

the school passed and it was time to go home. Jane met jen at the school lobby and invited her to watch a ruby game with her, as jane's new crush was the playing. jen agreed and tagged along with Jane to the school's field. there stood the senior whom jen had been thinking of the entire day. he was shouting commands at the rest of the ruby boys. at that instant, jen knew who that senior was. he was the rumored macho-gay captain of the team, steve. jen smirk and made a mental note "no wonder he is interested in how i look cause he is a gay! gay love commenting on woman's dressing and looks!"

before jen could turn over and tell Jane about her encounter with steve, Jane had long run off, screaming cheers at her new beau. jen sat in the seat next to the loud and excited Jane throughout the game. after the game, the sisters met up with the players who had decided to grab a bite at the cafe nearby. since Jane had found new company, jen decided to go home and complete her assignment. without hesitation, Jane said "ok, bye! see you at home!"

as jen was walking towards the bus-stop, she saw steve walking infort of her. she quicken her pace and caught up with steve. after the normal greeting and a little small talk, the both of them got on the bus. sitting together, their bodies touch each other, a warm feeling radiated from jen's left arm to the rest of her body. stealing a glance at steve, jen sighed.thinking; "what a pity, that he is a gay. such a good catch." but as if comforting herself..."if he isn't the rumored gay, will i ever get so close to him? even if he is a gay, i am thankful i can have him for a split second."

"jen, thinking of something?" steve broke jen's train of thoughts with his deep voice. jen bushed and replied "nah. just some random thoughts. why don't you go out with the ruby team? is your boy-friend the jealous type? he will get really nasty if he sees you with other man, huh?" jen giggled. staring hard into jen's eyes, steve replied "your eyes are really beautiful don't attempt to hide that hidden beauty in you, ok? right now, there is only you in both my eyes." then steve turn around, facing the front and closed his eyes, as if falling into sleep. jen was too surprised by what she had heard and kept quiet throughout the ride home.

when jen got home the words that steve had said to her the entire day, kept ringing in her ears. jen dismissed her fantasy with rational thoughts telling herself that he is a gay and he was saying that because he was staring at him of course that was all that he saw. still jen was unable to sleep well the entire night.

the next day, jen met steve on the bus again. they sat together during the ride and jen took off her glasses. steve turn over and looked at jen and smiles. then it was silence. many thoughts ran through jen's mind but none was verbalized. when they alighted, steve held jen's hand and planted a kiss on her lips. "i'll see you at the practice today, right?" jen blankly replied "ya, Jane will be there to cheer.." before jen had completed her sentence, steve had ran off to class and jen stood here in a daze.

during the practice, Jane and jen sat by the field. Jane started telling jen her weird encounter with the captain steve a few days ago "...and he asked me for your name and wanted me to ask you to the games and practice. you know since he is the captain of my darling, i should be really nice. so i ..." jen was lost in her own world of why, what, when and hows. after the practice, steve walked over and yet again planted a kiss on jen's lips. the entire ruby team fall silence for a moment. to jen, it was eternality.