The Yellow Hibiscus

Chapter 2

Monday, April 20, 2015

The New York City subway system was unpredictable tonight. The train signals were behaving like a moody teenager. It took me hours to get home from Morris Park in the Bronx, to my apartment on 89th Street and 3rd Avenue on the Eastside in Manhattan. Stressed out from the day to day grind of the city, it had taken two cups of chamomile tea to calm my nerves, before climbing into bed. Knowing that the following day would bring more of New York’s unpredictability.

It seemed I’d only just fallen asleep when the relentlessly ringing phone awakened me from my restless, but much-needed sleep. “Who the hell could be calling me at this hour?” I snarled, grabbing the telephone. Propping up on my elbow, in the middle of a shuddering yawn, still groggy, I glanced at my LED lit caller ID beside me on the night table. It read ‘Unavailable’. I could hear the hiss of heavy breathing as I picked up the phone, but no one spoke. I slammed the phone back down on the cradle, wishing prank calls would not be allowed after midnight. Since my number was private. A prank call was the most likely reason for a call at this hour. Now fully awake, I laid there tossing around thoughts in the muted darkness, pondering how to fall back asleep when I had to be up in two hours