Malee silently paced up and down the room so as not to disturb Georgia. She could feel her confidence rising with each step and even though the pain didn’t disappear from her ankles, she could ignore them. Eventually, she went out and attempt the staircase again. Malee walked over to the door and turned the knob and walked out of the room towards the staircase before staring down the abyss. She remembered the incident in the morning, but with more practice, she was sure she could much better.
She breathed in a deep breath to calm her mind and paused for a while before blowing away her fears. She lifted the right leg gently and carefully placed on the lower step, and then the left leg onto the same step with her hand gripping onto the handle. She had remained in complete control of her balance, and her ankles weren’t giving way. She repeated the process for the next few steps with her eyes carefully coordinating on the location on the step to place her foot. It was excruciatingly slow, but she was still standing by the time she reached the middle section of the staircase. She took a breather to look up at the top of the staircase in delight. She could do it, she whispered to herself.
She adjusted her body to stand upright again as Georgia had shown her and loosen the tight grip on the handle. She took a step down as before and a slight wobble forced her to tighten her grip to recover but immediately loosened it back. She took a few more steps successfully before reaching the base.
“Good Job! Can I have my drink now?” said the voice from the top of the staircase. It was Georgia. She must have been up from her sleep and observing Malee going down the staircase with much more grace and ease than earlier. Malee smiled and nodded before making her way towards the kitchen. She filled in the cup with the wine as before and came back to the staircase. She looked up at what was the making of a mini disaster earlier in the morning and slowly walked up with one hand holding the wine cup. She found out, to her surprise, it was a non-event. She could walk up naturally, and in no time, she was on the upper floor without even without her realizing it. She wondered why it was such a big deal to her before continuing her way into Georgia’s room.
Georgia was sitting by the chair close to the windows and reading a book by the light shining down. She looked up to Malee entering the room with the wine up in her hand and signalled her to the chair near the table. Malee walked towards the table and put down the wine cup on it.
“It’s yours. For the job done well.” said Georgia. Sudden generosity from Georgia took Malee by surprise, but she took it well. She nodded and make a soft whispered before sitting down on the chair and taking the glass to her lips. She had never drank wine before and it showed. She took a sniff at the strange smell before emptying it in 1 shot. She felt the warm liquid streaming down her throat into her stomach as her eyes lost their focus. She wondered what was happening when she saw Georgia splitting into two.
“Feeling dizzy?” asked Georgia. She saw Malee emptying the cup and her body swaying left and right after that. Poor girl, she didn’t know the difference between wine and cola.
“I am fine.” replied Malee though she wondered if she was because she could see the furniture moving as if there was an earthquake happening at that moment. She tried to stand up but was back to the chair as she couldn’t keep her balance.
“Just sit and close your eyes. It will be awhile before you could walk again.” said Georgia, but she might have been talking to herself because Malee had already closed her eyes. Just as then, Mary came into the room and saw Malee slowly sliding from the chair onto the floor below.
“What happened to her now?” asked Mary.
“Drunk” replied Georgia while pointing to the empty cup lying on the table besides Malee.
“Ah.” sighed Mary with full understanding.