by C. J. Anaya
“Take it,” he said softly.
“Why?” I felt mesmerized by his crystal blue eyes.
“It belongs to you. It always has, and it always will.”
The blossom’s ebony petals glistened enticingly within my reach. I stepped forward hesitantly and reached out my hand to take it.
“Wait,” said a commanding voice.
I turned around, surprised to see Victor a few feet behind me. His jet black hair matched the blackness of his own attire, and his striking features were shrouded in angry shadows, dark and foreboding. His presence agitated everything. A strong gust of wind whipped the folds of my kimono. My long, dark tresses blew haphazardly around me. I pulled them back in frustration so I could better see and understand the look of anger—or maybe it was betrayal—radiating from the depths of Victor’s eyes.
The cherry blossoms showering down upon us changed from blood red to midnight black. I turned to my left as a statue of a kneeling woman with her arms outstretched materialized out of thin air. I looked down and stared at my apparel in amazement. It was no longer white, but red as well.
My focus shifted between Tie and Victor. The black blossoms swirled around us all, creating a dark blanket which shut out every shred of light. The darkness pulled me under, leaving me feeling hollow, empty, and hopeless.
“You say you found her passed out in the elevator?”
My father’s voice echoed from a great distance.
“Yes, sir. She really had us frightened. When I saw her this morning at school she seemed perfectly fine to me.”
I recognized Victor’s deep voice almost immediately, and then I wondered if my father knew who he was actually talking to. After what he knew about Victor and Tie, I was pretty sure he would be less than anxious to have a conversation with either one of them.
“Does she usually get migraines like this? I mean, with the way she was screaming, I thought she was going to die.” Victor’s voice shook when he spoke.
I was touched he actually seemed to care about me. I wondered if he was also trying to fish for some information that might help him prove his theories concerning my powers. I hoped my dad would play it safe and be cautious about what he said.
“Never,” my father replied. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen Hope in that much pain.”
Wow. He is obviously clueless.
I became frantic, trying to pull myself up and out of the sleep induced fog surrounding my mental state. I did my best to open my eyes and move my arms which were resting limply on either side of my body.
I soon realized that any attempt at arm movement would be futile. I was now willing to settle for finger flexing and some possible toe wiggling.
“Hey, I think she’s waking up,” Victor said.
Someone grabbed my hand and squeezed it a few times.
“Hope, honey? Can you hear me?” my father asked.
I had to lick my lips and swallow. It felt like a small desert had taken up residence within my mouth.
“What in the world did you give me?” I croaked out.
“She’s fine,” my dad said.
I opened my eyes a little more and squinted, afraid another blinding streak of light would hit me and the pain would start all over again. The room was mostly dark; however, and the only light I noticed came from the hallway.
Did I miss the rest of the afternoon, somehow?
“Dad, how long have I been out?” I asked feeling totally confused.
“Not long. Maybe twenty minutes. Which is surprising when you consider the amount of drugs I gave you would have knocked a small elephant out for a decade.”
I cringed, knowing Victor probably thought any normal human being would still be unconscious right now. I worried about how I had missed half the day. Healing Kirby must have taken up the entire afternoon. I turned my head slowly to the right and took in Victor’s strained features and mussed up hair. He looked like he needed to sit down.
“Victor, what brings you to the hospital?” I asked, making sure I emphasized his name for my father’s benefit. I felt my father’s hand stiffen on mine and then relax imperceptibly.
“When I couldn’t find you after school let out, I asked your friend Angie if she knew where you might be. She said I’d probably find you at the hospital.” He looked a little sheepish for having followed me here.
His expression might have been cute if I hadn’t been distracted by the huge lecture I was already forming inside my drug addled brain when next I saw Angie. She was more than dead to me.
She was extra dead to me.
“I also had to drive Tie over here because the nurse at the school eventually decided her stomach was too delicate for the type of nose job he required. We were kind of hoping your dad could fix him up,” he finished.
So they’d decided to continue this charade even though Tie could have healed himself by now. Granted his overnight healing might have looked suspicious, but who really wants to be in that much pain any longer than they have to? I knew I didn’t.
Tie’s presence here at the hospital made Victor’s face sour at the thought. It had become easier to read people’s emotions over the last two days, and I didn’t know what to think about it. From the nervous look on my father’s face it was obvious he wasn’t too thrilled either.
“So where is Tie?” I asked, surprised he wasn’t in the room with us.
“He was the one who picked you up in the elevator, actually.” Victor’s admission came out grudgingly. “When we got to this floor, a nurse took one look at Tie’s face and attempted to make him wait in one of the other hospital rooms. He put up quite a fight.”
The small smile tugging at the corner of Victor’s mouth made me want to laugh a little. These boys were so petty with each other. They really could’ve been brothers.
“Is Tie the guy I saw getting dragged out of this room by three security personnel and Betty?” my dad asked in startled amusement.
Victor’s grin broadened big time.
“Yes, sir. He wasn’t leaving Hope’s side without a fight.” Victor sounded annoyed. “The only reason he’s not here is because those security guards weren’t messing around.”
“Neither was Betty.”
Both Victor and my father were silent for like a second, and then they busted up laughing. I was dumbfounded. They seemed like unlikely allies, all things considered.
I thought about Tie and his concern over my well-being. I didn’t know if his worry for me had to do with his assignment or if my condition affected him on a more personal level. Everything he did was tinged with various shades of indifference one moment and then a focused intensity the next. To think he was worried enough about me to take on three security guards and Betty made my heart warm in a truly alarming way.
I gingerly moved my head to clear it and pushed myself up into a sitting position.
“Hope, maybe you shouldn’t sit up just yet,” my father said, placing a restraining hand on my arm.
“I’m fine. Really, I am. My migraine has completely vanished. How did you know that was the problem in the first place? I could have been screaming due to a number of different aches and pains.”
“Well, you were grabbing your head and begging me repeatedly to cut it off for you. I didn’t need to go to medical school to divine that diagnosis.”
“It was pretty scary,” Victor added.
I noticed the deep lines around Victor’s mouth and eyes. They hadn’t been there earlier today. I must have completely lost it in front of everyone.
“Thank you for helping me. I’m really sorry you had to see me like that.”
“I’m just glad I was here. I do wonder why your head began to hurt at all. Were you doing something different from your regular routine?” Victor eyed me with suspicion.
Was he trying to find out if I’d been healing someone? If I really was the girl he’d been looking for, I wouldn’t have had such an incredibly painful headache or been shrieking at the top of my lungs for some
one to stop it. Victor probably wanted to know what caused me so much pain, and why my life force hadn’t corrected it?
“Hey Victor, why don’t you go check on your cousin and see how he’s doing? I’ll go talk to Betty and take a look at her notes.” my dad said, interrupting Victor’s sneaky interrogation attempt.
“Uh, yeah. Sure thing.” Victor continued eyeing me suspiciously.
“Would you please tell Tie thank you for me?” I asked sinking back down on the bed.
He gave me a small smile and took my hand gently in his.
“I’ll tell him. Just get to feeling better, okay?”
“Okay,” I nodded. I looked up at my father and couldn’t help but feel my face getting a bit warm. He was watching the exchange between Victor and myself with a measured look.
“Come on, Victor,” he said placing a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go see if we can fix your cousin’s face.”
“You might be able to fix his face, but don’t feel too bad if he still looks ugly. There’s no fixing that.”
My father chuckled and followed Victor out the door.
And then I waited.
My father would return just as soon as he finished helping Tie. I figured I had about fifteen minutes tops before I had to tell him what I’d done. On the one hand, he would be very interested in learning how I’d managed to bypass Kirby’s life force. The scientific part of his brain intrigued and even elated that such a thing might be possible. It was certainly something I’d never been able to do before. I’d never even thought about doing it before. I guess desperation can be a real breeding ground for ingenuity and, let’s face it, dumb luck. On the other hand, I was going to get a lecture on all the many things we don’t understand concerning my healing capabilities, and how could I be so stupid to attempt something that could have (and apparently did have) such awful side effects for me.
I really wasn’t in the mood for defending my latest rash decision. It wasn’t that I was tired after such an excruciating ordeal. I was back to my old perfect self—health-wise anyway— and I didn’t feel any other side effects from my unorthodox healing method, but I didn’t have an explanation as to why I was able to bypass Kirby’s life force, and I was frustrated that I couldn’t get back to his room and try it again. I didn’t know if I’d be able to break through that strange, invisible barrier for a second time or if I’d even need to.
The only thing I knew with certainty: I would be trying again. I didn’t care how many headaches I incurred over the next few months or even how long it took. I was going to continue on until every mutated, white blood cell in his body was either eradicated or made whole.
I needed to be very careful about what I said to my father. He’d probably ban me from both Kirby and the hospital for a very long time, and time wasn’t something I could spare. Now that I saw a light at the end of this previously dismal tunnel, I was going to continue on until there was nothing left but that light, with Kirby waiting for me happy and healthy on the other side. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of pounding footsteps outside my door.
My father came barreling in and quickly shut the door behind him. He sat down in a nearby chair looking rushed and ready to throttle me.
What in the world? He’d seemed so composed earlier. I couldn’t imagine what had brought on this alarming mood swing.
“Look, I don’t have as much time as I wanted to pick your brain and figure out exactly what happened to you.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“We just got a call about a car pile-up along the highway. The ambulance is going to be bringing in trauma patients within the next ten minutes, so I’ll need to get going here pretty soon.” My father shook his head in frustration. “What I really want to do is take you home and watch over you for the rest of the night, but we’re short on staff, and I can’t see any way out of this.”
“I can help. Just let me stay and…”
My father held up his hand to silence me. From the look on his face it was clear he thought my suggestion to be absolutely ludicrous.
“Also, we have exactly five minutes before Angie gets here and monopolizes your time and attention.”
Angie. I smiled to myself. How incredibly predictable.
“So, the first thing I want to say is, I’m more than relieved that you’re okay, and if you ever scare me like that again, I’ll place you inside a cell with steel walls and never let you leave it.”
I sensed the turbulent emotions my father attempted to bat away, which made me feel guilty for all of the amazing lies I’d been thinking up in response to the inevitable questions he’d been prepared to ask.
“Why is Angie here?” I felt a bit smothered by all of the company. I just wanted to get back to Kirby.
“I’m not finished lecturing you, Hope. As a single parent and one seriously freaked out father, I have the right to yell at you for as long as I possibly can before Angie takes you home and puts you to bed.”
He tried to yell, anyway, but I was certain he didn’t like the idea of anyone else hearing the details of our conversation.
“You’re letting Angie take me home?” I choked back a laugh. This whole situation had become borderline hysterical.
“I’ll get to that in a minute.” He took my hand in his, looking me straight in the eyes. “Whatever you did, don’t do it again. Do you hear me? Don’t you ever do it again. I’ve never seen you like that before. I didn’t think it was possible to see you like that, and I can’t handle it. I’ve always felt some comfort in letting you out into this crazy world knowing that no matter what happened you’d be able to heal yourself. You’d never feel that kind of physical pain, but tonight…” my father had to swallow hard before he could continue.
I fought back my own tears threatening to surface.
“I do my best to help the people that come into this hospital. I do the best I can to treat them in my own clumsy, western medicine kind of way, but I will not sit by helpless and watch you suffer just like the rest of them. I don’t know what brought this on, and as of right now I don’t have the time to find out. So, until we can discuss this further, you have to promise me you will stop healing, go home, and go to bed. Okay?”
I resisted the automatic urge to argue, but my father was probably contemplating buying two, one-way tickets to Germany.
“Okay, Dad. I’ll go home, and we’ll talk about this later. I’m sorry I scared you.”
My father rested his head on my shoulder and pulled me in for a hug.
“Dad, I can’t breathe,” I wheezed out.
“Sorry,” he laughed. “I’m not even sure I want to send you home with Angie. I’d rather lock you up in that cell right now. At the very least, I’d like to keep you here for another night, but we’re going to need the extra bed for the trauma patients coming in.”
“Why is Angie here, and why are you so buddy-buddy with Victor? You were ready to fly us out of the country a few hours ago.” I looked down at my hand and noticed an IV. I stared at it like it was some kind of alien life form. Never in my life had I ever needed to use an IV.
“Your other half is here because her mother happened to be in the hospital visiting a relative at the exact moment you had that rather unfortunate episode. Angie’s phone was off so her mother left a message. I’m assuming she received said message because she came running into the examining room reserved for Tie and threatened to maim someone if she wasn’t told where her best friend was within two point five seconds.”
I chuckled at the thought of Angie actually clocking one of the security guards or possibly getting into an altercation with Betty. Not many people were able to stand up to the wiry nurse, but if anyone could do it, it’d be Angie.
“Okay, so why didn’t you throw Victor out of my hospital room the moment I revealed his identity? You told me to avoid them like the plague.”
“After today, I’m convinced those boys would never in a million years hurt you.” He stood up, running a hand through
his slightly graying hair. “It was amazing to see how upset they were. Not that I think you and I should be inviting them over for dinner anytime soon. I don’t know their real reason for being here, but it certainly isn’t a malevolent one. I’m even wondering if Tie and Victor somehow managed to heal you.”
“What?” I dropped the IV cord I’d been tugging on.
“When I rushed into the room, they were leaning over you with their hands on your head. Tie said something about it being necessary that they both try since they still didn’t know who you were tethered to, whatever that’s supposed to mean. We’ll have them clarify that later. Anyway, they closed their eyes and stayed still as statues for a few moments. It was the same position you usually take when healing a patient.” My father looked a little shaken at the thought. “I didn’t register this as significant at the time. I just grabbed your arm and gave you a shot of morphine. I’m sure what I did was helpful, but until you stopped screaming completely, I was positive something inside your brain had been damaged. I thought maybe it had been damaged so badly that your life force was incapable of communicating with it or receiving a response in return.”
I was shocked my dad had come to that conclusion so quickly. I hadn’t even begun to make sense of what had happened, but the scenario my dad suggested made quite a bit of sense.
The brain plays a huge part in the healing process. It’s like a large electrical enhancer. Like a command center for a life force to operate. It tells all of the intelligences within the molecules and cells how to react, and they do it on a microscopic level and beyond. That’s why brain-waves have so much to tell about the way a person is functioning and why most life forces are not able to operate correctly when the brain is damaged in any way. The life force is there, intelligent, waiting to help the body continue on, but any problems with the command center creates a huge obstacle it can’t overcome.