A Broken Fate

by Cat Mann

  Chapter 3

  Remember

  Ari pulled down the shade of the window that peered into the waiting room. With dark circles under his eyes and clothes that were uncharacteristically unkempt, Ari looked exhausted.

  His hair flopped down onto his forehead. His shoulders were tight with tension.

  “You look tired,” my voice was meek and quiet.

  Ari let out a long breath between his pursed lips.

  “I am,” he said, and his eyes closed when he spoke. In that moment, my strong man looked like a scared boy.

  “Ari, will you do something for me?”

  His eyes fluttered back open and he looked at me longingly.

  “Anything.”

  “Promise?”

  “Of course.” He came to my side, worry radiating off him in waves. His eyes bounced around my body, searching for a way to help me.

  I moved over in my little hospital bed.

  “Hold me.”

  His shoulders loosened slightly and he smiled a bit.

  “I can’t, Baby. I don’t want to hurt you.” He gently rubbed his thumb across my cheek leaving a path of warm tingling skin.

  “Please.”

  His eyes were so dark and heavy. I could tell he was struggling to stay awake.

  “Please.”

  Giving in to my request, Ari slipped off his shoes, he crawled into my bed and curled his body softy around mine, cradling my head to his chest. He ran his fingers gently around the outline of my lips, the crease of my eyelids and the seashell contours my ears.

  “What happened to me?”

  The movement of his fingers paused.

  “Ava, I don’t think...” he hesitated and shifted a tad, causing the hospital bed to squeak. “I mean, I don’t know how to tell you just yet. Let’s talk about it in the morning.”

  “Ok,” I said dropping the subject.

  Ari fell asleep moments later. I relaxed to the gentle thump of his heartbeat, and the soothing sound of his soft breathing. His chest moved ever so slightly with the rhythm of his breaths.

  I wanted to touch him, run my fingers through his unruly hair and across his soft lips but my hand throbbed. I hurt all over; my head pounded and my side ached with every inhale and exhale. Snuggling my face close to his warm chest, I fell asleep.

  When I awoke the next day, I was still wrapped up in Ari. He was awake and he looked and smelled clean. His hair, no longer drooping down over his eyes, was back to the messy state that I remembered – sticking up everywhere. He had changed into clean jeans and a tee-shirt. He was propped up on one elbow, staring off into the distance while he ran his fingers through my hair. His face was still worried, though, and he still had that little wrinkle in his forehead. I lifted my hand and smoothed his creased brow out with the backs of my fingers. Smiling down on me, he took my hand, kissed it and put it back at my side.

  “Good afternoon, Mrs. Alexander. Sleep well?”

  “You left?”

  Ari shook his head no.

  “I didn’t leave. I used your shower.” His head tilted in the direction of the en suite bathroom.

  “My parents brought up some clothes for me while you were still asleep this morning. They sat with you for about five minutes. I hope that was okay.”

  I nodded. I did not remember his parents.

  “I need to let Dr. Phillips know you’re awake.”

  Anxiety took hold of me and I stiffened – I didn’t want Ari leaving me; I was so scared.

  Ari kissed my forehead, picked up a phone near the bed and called the nurse’s station. I let out a shaky breath and he looked down at me, concern on his face.

  Moments later, the doctor arrived with a too-eager-to-help smile. He looked me over in a general way and then said he thought I could have more visitors once I had eaten. He checked my eyes with his flashlight again, took blood pressure, checked my pulse and went over a long list of my injuries.

  With five broken ribs and three cracked ones, rope burns around my neck, a deep wound on my wrist and burns on my left hand; it was needless to say that I had somehow been severely tortured. There were two hairline fractures on my skull but no readily discernible damage to my brain. I had been in a coma due to brain edema. Once the swelling reduced, they had been able to remove me from the ventilator that had been keeping me alive. My head injury seemed less severe than had initially been thought – though Dr. Phillips warned me that I wasn't out of the woods yet … head injuries have a life and progress of their own and only time would tell if more evidence of injury would materialize.

  He stated again that I had been involved in an exceedingly invasive series of events and added that my failure to remember my past was an effort on the part of my mind to protect itself. He said that I would most certainly have to deal with some post-traumatic stress in the months that followed and that regaining all of my memories could be time consuming and difficult.

  “What happened to me?” I pressed the doctor for information. I couldn’t help it. I had to know why I felt as scared – no, as terrified, as I did. He looked from me over to Ari. Ari nodded at him and Dr. Phillips patted him on the shoulder and left.

  “Ava,” Ari took in a breath, “you were kidnapped the day after our wedding. You were held captive in a small house out in the hills; you were actually just a few miles away from home the whole time. We found you almost a week later. I don’t know what happened to you while you were gone except that you had been grievously hurt. You are the only one who can tell us what happened.”

  “Who kidnapped me? Who would do something like this?”

  Ari frowned. “His name was Damien Kakos. You knew him as 'No. 6,' though. You needed to dehumanize the Kakos clan as much as you could. He had five brothers.”

  I scrunched my face up and shook my head trying to remember. I looked at the five black tally marks on my left wrist.

  “What happened before that?”

  “Do you remember your dreams?”

  I stared at him, blinked and then tried to look away. I do not talk about my dreams with anyone.

  “I know about them, Ava. The scissors. The people and their screaming. You’ve told me about them before. You are Greek. You are more than Greek … you are the sole descendent of Atropos, one of the three Fates. The Kakos brothers knew who you are and they wanted to destroy you. But you beat them. You won. I don’t really know how… you never shared that information with me. I only know that you killed them, Ava. The first two kidnapped my sister and you went after them. One was shot to death on their boat and the other died with the lanyard around his neck. I don’t really know about the rest – only what the news reported. No. 3 was pretty gruesome, No. 4 not so much. No. 5's death was … intense. There are some things that you would not tell even me. I’m sorry I can’t be more help.”

  “There are more … these men, are there more of them?”

  “No… you are done.”

  Scrunching my nose in thought, I remembered, once again, the words my mother had spoken to me. I was not safe, I was not done. Ari was wrong.

  As the day led on, I was able to remember odd details of my life and I worked at piecing them together. I remembered scenes from London, and as soon as I remembered London, I thought of August.

  “I remember someone,” I said. My words brought a smile to Ari’s face.

  “That’s great, Ava! Who?”

  “August! Where is he?”

  Ari’s smile faltered a bit and he laughed.

  “Oh, August is going to love this. He’s at our house right now, but he’ll be up here a bit later to see you.”

  “Ok.” I felt eager to see him and to know that everything I remembered was real.

  The nurse (I already decided I hated her), popped in and checked my fluids. She then turned to Ari and flashed him another toothy smile.

  “We’re going to need a DNA sample from you.”

  “It can wait,” he responded coldly.

  “Well, no, I am afr
aid it can’t. It won’t take but a few minutes; the lab is just down the hall.”

  “Well, yes, it can and it will wait, until someone else is here and able to sit with her.”

  The nurse’s cheeks turned red and she looked down at her hands.

  “Yes, sir, I will bring Mrs. Alexander some lunch. When you both feel more comfortable, I can take you down there.”

  “I know where the lab is,” Ari snapped, “and we’ll order her lunch from here.” The nurse nodded then left.

  “What was that about?”

  Ari closed his eyes and shook his head.

  “It’s nothing, Ava. They found traces of rohypnol in your system and they found DNA in your body that was not from you. They’re just ruling some things out … that’s all.”

  “Oh.” I looked down in my lap.

  “Hey Baby, it’s going to be okay.” He put his hand on my chin and kissed me softly on the lips. “We are going to get through all of this together.”

  “Mm hmm.”

  “Hungry?”

  “Mm hmm.”

  Ari picked up the phone by the bed and ordered my lunch.

  I ate a peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich on whole wheat bread and then worked a bit on a cup of tomato soup. Ari’s mom and dad came in to see me after lunch. They were still not quite in my brain’s focus. I could not quite place them, but they did seem familiar. My attention was caught by the sound of Ari’s mom crying and I tilted my head to the side to look at her curiously.

  “I saw you,” I said to her. “I saw you on the beach. You were holding a candle and the sky was full of lights.” They all three looked at me as if I were nuts.

  “What?” I said indignantly. “I saw her, I swear. She was crying and she hugged him,” I pointed at Ari’s dad. “I saw it.”

  His dad’s jaw dropped. “The news,” he said, shocked. “That was on the news; you saw the footage.”

  I shrugged. “I guess I don’t remember that what I saw was from TV. It seemed so real to me.”

  Ari said, “I can’t believe you actually saw that! Do you remember anything else?”

  Wrinkling my forehead, I tried to think of something… anything.

  “No, sorry.”

  “It’s ok, Baby, you will. Slow and steady. That’s the best way for your memory to recover.”

  His parents stayed with me for a long while, talking to me and telling me little stories about the first time they met me, and about moments we had all shared together. They re-capped their family history for me, showing me who they were with their family stories. I vaguely remembered some details, but the memories were fuzzy.

  “Oh, Ava Baby,” Ari’s mom sighed, “we just love you so much.”

  “Love,” I cocked my head to the side again. “All tonight is, is love, Baby, nothing else but love,” I quoted her from my wedding day. Her kind words had helped get me through the day.

  A giant smile spread across all of their faces.

  “You remember?” Aggie asked softly.

  “I will never forget, Aggie. I love you and Andy so much.”

  She wrapped her arms around me in a gentle hug and when she finally let go, Andy stepped up to take her place.

  August knocked on the door and I beamed up at him. I did not need any help remembering his face; he was tied to such a dark part of my life. The sad, hard moments were harder for me to forget. I remembered the awful events in London and the two deaths that came before the trip. I even remembered how August had a hand in the killing of No. 4. Ari, worry showing in his eyes, slipped out of the room when August and I started talking.

  “Ava, I have to go back home to France,” he delivered mind-numbing news. “I am going to be there for a while with my family. I’ll be looking for jobs in California, and as soon as I land one, I will be back, okay? I promise.”

  I frowned and August laughed.

  “I had no idea you cared so much, but don’t worry, Ava, your husband has already given me permission to crash in your pool house. We get to be roomies again!”

  I smiled and rolled my eyes at him. Only August would beg Ari, at a time like this, to let him live with us. That was why I loved him.

  He was catching a flight right away and I was going to miss him terribly. But I knew August would be back; there could be no keeping us apart.

  Ari returned minutes later and August pulled him into a hug. They exchanged a quiet goodbye complete with more hugs, pats on the back and handshakes. August smiled back at me and left.

  Exhausted and in pain, I was still able to convince Ari that I was fine so he would hold me again. His parents stuck around until the evening, then left to let me rest.

  The next morning Lauren came in, crying, with Julia behind her. Rain had been falling steadily all morning and the squeak of their wet shoes on the tiled floor of the hall announced their arrival long before the two girls reached my room. I set about comforting Lauren as best I could … she needed it more than I did. Julia painted my toenails and brought me some of the clothes I had asked her to bring.

  “I looked everywhere for your Cubs shirt, Baby, but I couldn’t find it,” she said with a furrowed brow.

  Ari shot her a warning look and she gulped and shut up.

  My dear grandmother Margaux came for a visit, too. She was dressed in a flowing summer dress, slightly the worse for having been rained on, and, as usual, improbably high heels. Oh, and huge, sparkly, yellow diamond studded earrings. After setting a vase full of cut flowers on my stand, she immediately turned to talk with Ari. Shortly after, she saw herself out of my room.

  Toothy Nurse came to my room and removed some of my bandages and my IV. She said I could shower if I wanted to and even change out of my hospital gown. Ari offered to come with me to the bathroom to help me clean up, but I refused. I asked Aggie to help me instead.

  My declining his help hurt Ari’s feelings, but I didn’t want him to see my bruised and beaten body. I didn’t want those images of me in his head.

  Ari helped me out of bed and holding his arm, I shuffled slowly to the bathroom. I ached all over and my legs were beyond weak. Aggie waited for me at the bathroom door, but Ari was hesitant to turn me over to her. Aggie put her hand on Ari’s cheek and smiled up at him reassuringly.

  “I’ll be right here,” he pointed to the spot just outside the bathroom door.

  “We know, Honey,” Aggie took my hand, closed the door behind him and helped me out of my hospital gown. She stifled a gasp.

  Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I was appalled at what I saw. I was much worse than I had expected. The person before me was a stranger, an uglier, scarier twin. My left side was completely black and blue. I had broken the same ribs that had been hurt the last time, only much more seriously. My point of balance was nonexistent and I wobbled even when standing still; walking by myself was impossible.

  My arms and legs were like sticks, fragile and frail. My left arm and the fingers of my left hand were swollen and liquid oozed from them. I looked again in the mirror. My sunken eyes were rimmed by bruised purple flesh and bits of blood stained my hair. My neck was bright red and the flesh there was raw and meaty.

  Aggie watched me watch myself and her tears threatened to roll down her cheeks.

  “We’ll get you cleaned up, Ava Baby, and you will feel so much better,” she said, her voice full of sorrow and love as she tried to reassure me.

  Aggie knew I had issues with close contact and with modesty, so she made quick work of helping me wash. Over and over she had to wipe tears from her cheeks with the backs of her hands. She washed and rinsed my hair, then wrapped a big towel around me. Aggie started on my hair. She brushed the long strands carefully with soft strokes that were soothing for both of us. She was quiet as she helped me get dressed in a loose white tee and a pair of Ari’s sweats. She even pulled up the legs the way I like them and rolled down the waistband.

  “You know me well.”

  “I really like to think so, Ava.”

&nb
sp; As we finished, there was a knock at the door and Miss Tooth came in to replace the dressings on my burnt fingers and on the slash in my arm.

  When she opened the bathroom door, Ari was there, pacing the floor. He stopped as she slipped past him, then looked at me. Relief washed over his face. He wrapped his arm around me and helped me to my bed. He peppered my face with kisses as he lay back down next to me. Julia, Lauren, Gianna and Aggie were in the room. He tuned them out almost as though none of them existed for him now that I was near.

  “They got our lab results back today,” he whispered. I could tell the others were straining to hear his words, but they were meant only for me as he whispered them almost soundlessly into my ear.

  I drew in a sharp, painful breath. Ari held me more closely and more gently.

  “We’re good; nobody there but you and me.” Tears ran down my face and then down his.

  “Oh, Ari, I am so sorry this happened.”

  “No one is sorrier than I am, Baby. I should never have let you out of my sight.”