The prompt was given by them: "Back in Time. A woman is given the ability to go back in time and change one event in her life."
And that is what I wrote:
In an autumn afternoon of 2000, the streets of Seattle bled with maple leaves all around. The sky was crying and every drop of tears burned my skin. The quietness was intense. The world seemed to stop only to look at me with disappointment.
My decision had been made weeks before…. The room was crowed with cowards and I felt suffocated as inside of a matchbox. All the women in it looked the same and I was one of them. On TV, The American President movie was being played and Annette Bening was everything I wanted to be at that moment; a successful professional who felt in love with the most important man in the world.
The nurse called my name and I was fore ready for the final judgment. I attended to her call. She brings me to this freezing room and I began to strip my clothes off. I lay in paper sheets and tried to cover my shame with them. A doctor entered in the space and questions were answered. Explanations were taken and so as blood. Tests needed to be performed, even though they had nothing to do with my reason there.
I spread my legs wide and gangling fingers were inserted into my reproductive nest. The pain and embarrassment dominated my being. Words of solace were lost in the air. When I finally gave in, the doctor stopped the procedure. A woman had just invaded the room and I knew her. I recognized her smell.
She looked tired and in her fifties, but she was just 33. Her scalp could be seen through spares of hair. She moved her bulimic body, approached my ears and, in a soft voice, told me:
“Everything is going to be all right now. I am here and I won’t let this happen to you. You will have what you deserve and you will be strong. You will go on and everything is going to be ok. You won’t become me.”
She placed her hand on the doctor’s, but all he could feel was just a pinch. He stopped right away and, in an oddly action, told me to get dressed and go home.
“Go and find some peace in your heart, kid.” he says.
Disturbed by all, I did what I was told and was left alone with the woman. I almost couldn't see myself in her. The guilt had just consumed her guts. She fondled my face and I burst into tears. She embraced my bag of bones, rubbed my belly and told me softly:
“I am here to save you and to give the opportunity of your life. It was not easy to come back in time, but I had to do it for my own sake, for our own sake and our baby’s too. I didn’t want you to become what I have. Look at me! I had to travel in time to rescue you. This moment was my only chance of being happy again.”
I closed my eyes for a moment and let the words furnish my cells. When I opened them, her image had disappeared. But, she was close, she was inside, she was with me. I accepted the appraisal and floated home.
Today, toddler Isabella fills my days. Runs around the house and repeats every word that I say. She is bright and has a smile that penetrates my heart. She brings tears to my eyes, tears of joy.
And looking at her I thank God. I thank Him everyday for the opportunity to migrate back in time and interrupt the procedure that has completely changed the course of my life.
