‘Unbelievable!’ I said to myself and began weeping as I walked down the streets like a ghost. I vaguely remembered the way to the small, abandoned house that Eve had visited many times. The house where the drug dealer stayed. The distributer of death…
I saw it at the far end; I approached it and knocked with my hand the old wooden door.
“Yes?” a deep voice came from inside.
“I want some!” I said, pretending to be an addict.
“Tomorrow.”
I kept knocking on the door persistently, waiting for him to open the door.
“Now,” I shouted.
“Go away, junkie. I told you tomorrow!” he exclaimed and I heard him chuckle with someone else inside the house.
“If you don’t open the door, I’ll break it down,” I screeched with a serious tone and then I heard the door unlocking. I saw the door opening slightly. A soft yellow light lit the darkness.
I saw his hand! It was the same man! The chubby hand with the gold chain!
“What do you want? I told you tomorrow,” he yelled, looking at me from the half open door and pulled it so he could shut it.
I swiftly put my foot between the door and the door frame, preventing it from closing. I pushed hard, pulling the crude man towards me.
At once, two guys stood up, pointing their guns at me with mathematical precision! One of them was aiming at my head and his finger was sliding slightly on the thin trigger.
“I said, I want some now! I’ve got cash,” I shouted with a fierce look, while I continued holding the dealer from the throat.
“How much have you got?” he asked with his rough voice.
“Three hundred…”
He signalled them to stop pointing the guns at me and ordered one of the other low-lives to bring me the stuff.
After a few seconds, that seemed like eternity inside that house, a young man full of tattoos approached me and threw a small bag at my feet.
“Give me the money,” he ordered me.
I let the scumbag go and I threw on the floor six fifties. I left hastily and ran quickly through the alleys so I wouldn’t be followed.
I was so afraid in the house but I made a great effort not to show it in front of them and let them think I was a coward. I tried to look as cool and as street smart as I could.
On the way home, I thought many times of throwing away that damn small bag, but then I thought of the shock and the ordeal the little one would go through and I hesitated.
I unlocked the door…
“I’m back. How are you?” I asked her anxiously.
My eyes focused on the floor with terror! I saw her in a comatose state!
She was lying still on the cold marble floor with her eyes closed and her lips all dried up. They looked dehydrated!
“No!” I cried out like crazy and I ran to her.
“Wake up, my love, wake up, please!” I said as I slapped her on her cheeks so she would come round.
She remained unconscious and was completely out of it.
I broke out in tears and straight away called the emergency department of the main hospital in Venice!
I took her in my arms unconscious and was continuously talking to her and was kissing her cold cheeks, with no response. No reaction. She looked dead but I didn’t want to believe it! I refused to lose her in vain and for no reason.
My confusion was immense. I can’t remember how everything happened so quickly. The disturbing sirens of the ambulance that took her were heard all around and rang in my ears!
They took her to the emergency room of Venice’s hospital in a critical state but fortunately the doctors told me that her heart was still beating.
They told me of course that she needed to be transferred to Italy’s general hospital, which was in the capital.
“Is she going to live?” I exclaimed with a serious tone.
“Sir, the girl is in a coma and it will be difficult to bring her back to normal. She will probably recover. I don’t know what complications might arise after such a serious incident. I can’t rule out anything!” the doctor said.
I didn’t answer, nor did I continue our conversation. I didn’t want to hear any worse news about my young rebel.
They didn’t let me go in the ambulance with her, for safety reasons, they said. So, I packed my things and took the next plane to Rome.
In the airplane I was very anxious. I couldn’t eat or drink anything. I couldn’t imagine how her angelic face would look sleeping eternally! It couldn’t be that this girl is dead! Could it be that the only girl that gave meaning to my life wouldn’t be able to look at me with those beautiful eyes again? Impossible!
When I arrived at the eternal city, I took a taxi and went straight to the hospital. The traffic in the streets was unbearable and was making me even more anxious and nervous.
“Leave me here!” I instructed the taxi driver.
“Here?” he asked baffled.
“Yes, here!”
“It’s three kilometres from here to the hospital, sir.”
“I don’t care. Here you are,” I told him and gave him some money. I opened the door and got out in the middle of the street.
“Your change!” the taxi driver shouted, but I slammed the car door in his face. I wasn’t interested in the change no matter how much it was.
I ran without stopping. I passed between parked cars, through parks and even I didn’t know how I managed to do that. Half way there I got a stitch in my side from running and I paused for a moment. Every step I took I could feel it putting pressure on me but I didn’t give up. I kept on walking quickly, pressing my stomach and defying the pain I was in.
After a few minutes, I arrived at Rome’s general hospital and I stopped to ask at the information desk in which room she was in.
“Hello,” I said.
“Hello sir,” the nurse at the reception said.
“Eve?”
“Eve, who?”
“Eve Bresia. A young girl.” I was upset.
The nurse looked at the patients’ names that had been admitted to the hospital and that made my nervousness even more excruciating!
“Fourth floor, room 405.”
I was relieved! I went up the stairs quickly, arriving at the fourth floor and I opened the ward door suddenly, startling a couple that were in the same room.
“I’m sorry…” I whispered and walked to the end of the ward, seeing my beloved sleeping again.
I read about the state of her health from the medical chart that hung from the bed and checked her pulse to make sure that my girl was alive! Thank goodness she was alive!
“Thank you God…” I whispered with tears in my eyes and sat next to her, gazing at her while she was sleeping.
She was so beautiful and her expression, even though she had gone through so much, remained authentic and innocent and made me melt as I watched her. I was begging for her to get well and leave as soon as possible. To go to our house and to begin our lives from the beginning…
I stayed with her until dawn, without having slept at all! I had placed my hand into her soft palm and was watching her breathing. That was more than enough for me! Having managed to survive was more than enough for me!
At some point, I felt her hand clenching my fingers. She blinked, looking lost. I immediately stood up and looked at her, touched.
“My love…” I said softly.
“Hi,” she answered with an abrupt tone.
“Eve, are you alright?” I held her hand.
“I’m sorry?” she asked, frowning.
“Baby, it’s me, Jacques,” I said but she looked like she didn’t understand what I was saying.
The door opened and the doctor came in and saw us together.
“Good morning. How are you doing?” he asked and checked her pulse and the drugs in the drip.
“Is she alright doctor?” I had an anxious voice.
“Yes, she’ll be fine. Are you her father?”
“Yes�
�� I am,” I replied with a false cough.
The doctor began to leave the room and stood by the door making a gesture for me to approach him.
I was petrified when I saw his signal! I knew that things were much more serious and I began walking towards him, trembling about what I was going to hear.
“Tell me doctor, what’s going on?”
“The girl…” he took off his glasses.
“What’s wrong? Is she okay? She’s going to live, right?” I asked with a nervous grin on my face.
“Calm down. Concerning her health, we managed to save her from certain death. She had taken an impure drug dose that put her in shock and into a coma.
“But she is okay now. She woke up,” I said, interrupting the doctor.
“She is alive. There is a possibility of brain damage,” he said, touching me gently on the shoulder. A gesture of sadness and compassion!
“What do you mean, doctor?” I was terrified.
“I mean there is a chance that your daughter might not remember absolutely anything from the moment she went into shock and before that.”
I looked the doctor in the eyes, feeling lost and I couldn’t utter a word! I stood like a statue in front of him with my mouth open. My body froze and so did time… my tears trickled down my cheeks and fell on the blue hallway floor. I could hear them! I could hear the tears dripping on the hospital’s floor like drops of water in the kitchen sink. I couldn’t bear to hear anything else. Even though inside the hospital people were running around like mad, for me there was only pure silence and peace.
“Are you telling me she has amnesia?” I asked, breaking the silence.
“Yes. The girl has a slight damage to the brain probably from an overdose or from some blow to the head that caused her to erase all memories from before the incident. It is possible that after a few hours she will have forgotten everything you have said to her right now.”
“Everything?”
“Everything! In one week to ten days when her condition is stabilized she will remember everything from that moment onwards, but certainly not previous situations or conversations.”
“So are you telling me that now that I’m talking to her, tomorrow she won’t remember anything?”
“That’s right.”
“So it’s amnesia?” I asked again.
“Yes, amnesia,” he said again calmly.
“Doctor, can I ask you one more question, please?”
“Whatever you want.”
“Will it be permanent or temporary amnesia? I mean is it possible for her to remember someday what happened before she fell into a coma?” I asked, placing my last hope in his words.
He gripped my shoulder tightly, shaking his head and left the hallway. My eyes were wide open and my head was ready to explode!
“Amnesia? Everything that we went through has been deleted?” I wondered. “Her life, her dreams, her studies and the unforgettable moments we had together, everything is dust in the wind?” I pondered.
‘How strange can life be… one day you have dreams and the next nightmares. What can I say to her now, since in a few hours she won’t remember a thing,’ I whispered to myself, wiping my eyes and I was trying to look normal before I went into the room again.
Opening the door, I waved my hand happily and went near her.
“What did the doctor say to you?” Eve asked me with her sweet voice.
“Everything’s good!” I answered, smiling.
“Yes, but I don’t remember you. I can’t remember where I live, how I got here, nothing.”
“It’s temporary. Don’t stress yourself and you will remember everything.”
“Who are you? Friend or family?” she asked me in complete ignorance and shocked me!
“I’m friend and family… just a second and I’ll be back,” I said to her and stepped out of the room. I couldn’t stand looking into her eyes and her not recognizing me.
I sat on the floor in the hallway and began sobbing and pulling my hair, banging the back of my head on the wall.
“Are you alright?” a polite nurse asked me as she approached me and bent down next to me.
“No,” I replied in an abrupt tone.
She seemed to acknowledge my pain and patting me gently on the back she left and went into the lift.
I went back in the room and saw the little one with her head bent over, sleeping. The doctor had warned me that the first few days she would feel sleepy because of the medication they were giving her.
I sat on the chair next to her, holding her hand and I slept like nothing unpleasant had ever happened.
When she woke up, she looked confused and couldn’t remember many things from the previous day. Exactly like the doctor described it would happen. I didn’t lose my faith. ‘Don’t give up’ I always used to say…
Faith was giving me strength to carry on and hope. Without hope dreams die and when dreams die, the meaning of life gets lost with them…
Every day I visited her, bringing her colourful flowers and I sat with her for hours even if she didn’t know who I was. The same conversations, the same questions and of course the same answers. I was always smiling and not once did I show my disappointment. I was happy just knowing that she was alive and I didn’t care about anything else. Deep inside I believed that she would someday remember who I was and what we had gone through and she would come back to me. But all these were only thoughts that didn’t resemble the unfortunate reality.
One fine evening, I left the hotel, which was in the centre of Rome and after buying some beautiful red and yellow roses, I went to see my favourite angel again.
She would look at me again as if I was a stranger and wouldn’t recognize me. She would ask me again how I was and what I did, but I didn’t mind. I didn’t mind at all! I only wanted to look at her and sit next to her.
I wanted to feel her close to me and to breathe in her scent.
Making my way into her room, I noticed with terror that the last bed, where she had been, was empty and had been changed with clean white sheets! In those few seconds when I faced those fresh sheets, my thoughts raced, imagining the worst case scenario in my head!
I left the flowers on the bed and ran to the doctor’s office to find out what was going on.
“Good morning…” I said, pushing open the office door with force.
“You can’t come in like that sir? Don’t you knock?” the doctor asked justifiably.
“I’m sorry, doctor. Where is the young girl?” I asked in confusion and upset.
“Do you mean Eve, Eve Bresia?”
“Yes.”
“Eve, sir, is in Paris with her aunt.”
“Where? What? In Paris? What aunt?” I asked confused.
“You heard me, sir. The girl is with her aunt, who was informed about what happened to her niece and came to pick her up from the hospital.”
“Her aunt?”
“Yes, sir, her aunt! And from what I was told, Eve never knew her parents, “the doctor said, insinuating. So it would be wise if you left right away from here before I inform the police,” he continued threateningly.
“I was just taking care of her, doctor. I was like a father to her,” I said apologetically.
“Get out, sir,” the doctor shouted and from his look he seemed like he meant it.
I left the hospital and I didn’t know what I should do. Everything around me was spinning and I felt lost! For the first time in my life I couldn’t think of anything.
I walked towards a large park, which was filled with trees and grass, and sat on a bench, tormented and confused, trying to find a solution.
‘She had a distant aunt from what she had told me once. They probably informed her because she was the only living relative,’ I mumbled, giving a logical explanation to my questions.
‘Eve, my love… we can’t lose each other! I have to find you!’ I whispered to myself.
After quite a while, contemplating and racking my brain about what to do
, I returned to my hotel and packed all my things. I was going to leave Rome.
The same day I took the airplane and went to Venice feeling sad and upset.
I went by the barbers and had my hair cut really short, like Eve liked it. I had been meaning to do it for some time now but I kept postponing. In the end, she didn’t manage to see me as she wanted…
The rusty lock made an annoying noise and the door opened. Going into my deserted and lonely home, I felt melancholic. I began to shave in front of the bathroom mirror so I could finally get rid of my thick, ugly beard. I got ready and packed my things. I was abandoning Venice… with a heavy heart I was leaving behind the city that gave me my most intense memories and thrills.
I closed the large wooden door of my house with an enormous sigh. I turned round to look at it, feeling sad that I was parting with it.
Niki was being mischievous and was brushing against my foot playfully as if she had realized that I was leaving her and was going. I couldn’t do that though, so I decided to take her with me; on my trip to Paris…
On the airplane, I asked them to bring me a newspaper. I had good reason.
I held it in my hands and read only the front page:
‘A gang was caught for dealing drugs! Two dead and four men were taken to prison in Rome…’
On my lips was portrayed a feeling of great satisfaction. I folded it and left it on the seat next to me and took a sip from my coffee…
‘Unfortunately, this is how the most romantic and at the same time most adventurous story of my life ends,” I say, taking off my glasses.
“Impressive! Really, I’m speechless. Father, can I ask you something?”
“Whatever you want, sweetheart.”
“The young girl, little Eve, was she the same person as the Eve you’d met in Paris, right?” my daughter, Lily, asks me.
“Precisely. The beautiful girl, who was lost in Paris, is the same person with my little Eve, who I had met in Venice,” I say with a sigh and I get up from my chair.
Did I Seduce You Mr Jacques Page 18