Illumine Her

by Sieni A. M.

  The curtains flung open and Dr. Fetu returned, followed by the members of Mr. Filipo’s family. He stopped in his tracks and looked at the body on the bed. Glancing at the machines, he frowned and set his eyes on Alana.

  Clearing his throat to speak, his voice was hoarse, his face filled with suspicion. “You resuscitated him?”

  Alana stared back unblinking and she opened and shut her mouth to form a response.

  Without waiting for her, he turned and noticed Chase for the first time. “Mr. Malek? What are you doing here? You should be at the luncheon.”

  “I was touring the grounds,” he replied nonchalantly, his eyes never leaving Alana’s. She swallowed hard and shriveled at his intense glare. What was this man’s story?

  The room became a hub of loud noise—cries of disbelief and expressions of shock coming from the members of Mr. Filipo’s family rushing to his side and grabbing his hands.

  “Papa!”

  “Is he going to be alright?”

  Dr. Fetu waved them away to check on his vitals.

  Alana couldn’t be in that room anymore. She needed to get out and let Dr. Fetu deal with the questions. Mr. Filipo was medically dead when she left, and now he had been resuscitated, his heart beating strong, but not by any medical means. When the reality of what she just witnessed swirled in her mind, she swayed and began to breathe rapidly, air coming in choppy bursts. Air. I need fresh air.

  Chapter 5

  Alana quietly backed up and slipped away from the room. She had to get away from that suffocating space and everything contained in it. Walking briskly down the hallway that connected to the outdoor breezeway, she pushed through the doors and was out, but not out far enough. Hitting the pavement, she ran across the car park into the grassy mound behind the hospital. When she stopped, her breaths were coming in rough gasps. With her hands on her hips, she paced back and forth before nausea rolled over her. Reality hit her hard again, knocking the air out of her, and she bent over dry heaving on the grass. Covering her mouth, she sat down, head between her legs, arms resting limply on her knees. Trembling, the questions poured in again. What in the hell just happened? What did I just witness? Who is Chase Malek? And what did he do to Mr. Filipo?

  “Are you alright?”

  Astounded out of her thoughts, Alana looked up to see Chase standing a short distance away, hands in his pockets. How did he find her so fast? The fear hit her quickly. Scrambling off the ground, she backed away with wide eyes, and then turned to run. She didn’t make it two paces before strong arms grasped her from behind, holding her still. Chase wrapped his forearms around her shoulders and drew her back to his chest, trapping her. Alana felt warmth through her uniform and shook. Reminded of the warmth emanating from his arms in the hospital room, she panicked.

  “I’m not going to hurt you, Alana,” he spoke gently near her ear in an attempt to ease her fears. It didn’t work.

  “Let go of me,” her voice quivered, and she cursed inwardly for it revealing her distress.

  He made no move to free her, and she made a mental list of all the moves she could do to break free from his stronghold. With her heart thundering away in her chest, she threw all her weight down and stomped on his foot, pushing her arms upward out of his grasp before slamming her elbow into his ribs. When he loosened his hold, she spun around and saw that her actions made no impact on him. She panicked some more on the inside. She expected him to be doubling over, gasping for breath. Chase stood back instead, his hands in surrender, eyes tinged with mild surprise. Now Alana was really terrified. Her heart slammed against her ribcage, elbow pulsing with pain from the force she used to ram into his body, and she backed away slowly to keep a safe distance between them.

  “Alana, don’t be afraid of me,” his voice lowered. “I wanted to check up on you to see if you’re okay. You look…pale.”

  Yeah? No kidding! I just witnessed someone die and then brought back to life by some voodoo blue lights!

  Confusion masked her face. “Who are you?” she asked shakily. “What did you do back there?”

  “You did well, Alana. Those extra minutes saved his life.”

  She frowned. What? I didn’t do anything!

  “I didn’t do anything! I don’t understand what just happened. Mr. Filipo was dead,” she stammered. “I walked away and came back and you…” She shook her head. “You…You brought him back.” She stopped and swallowed. She expected an explanation, an answer, anything, and when she looked up at him, she was met with an impassive gaze.

  Shaking his head he said, “Look, Alana… I feel badly for having kept you from your work. What you do, it’s honorable no matter what people think.” He held her gaze. “It’s my fault you were late.” Alana looked into his blue eyes and wanted to be angry at him. Yes, it was indeed his fault she was late for an on-call emergency. Her patient had died on her watch. Dizzily, she remembered the blue-like flames and the beeping sound of the machines, a testament to Filipo’s beating and very alive heart, and her anger dissipated and was replaced by concern and curiosity.

  “What was that?” she whispered. “What did you do? That blue light? What was that? Where did it come from?”

  Chase regarded her seriously before straightening to his full height. Alana could see distance cloud his eyes as he spoke. “Alana, I’ve taken up too much of your time. I’ll leave you now so you can return to work.”

  Baffled, she watched as he brushed past, threatening to abandon her to her puzzled thoughts and infinite unanswered questions.

  “Stop!” she yelled, halting his steps. Turning his head, he looked at her. “You can’t just go!” she pleaded. “What did you do? Talk to me, please.”

  Chase held her gaze when he spoke. “I was drawn to that room, Alana.”

  Imploring with her eyes, she silently willed him to continue, but he shook his head in answer before walking away.

  Chapter 6

  “Earth to Lana, come in.” Sera’s eyebrows rose and her smile flashed across the screen. “Did you hear what I said?” Alana looked at her best friend’s face on the laptop and sighed. True to her word, they had been chatting on Skype every Sunday evening, rain or shine. “Are you alright? You haven’t said peep,” she asked.

  Alana let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Sera. I’ve just had a rough week. Stuff at work, that’s all.”

  Yeah, that was the understatement of the decade. In truth, she couldn’t let that incident with Chase and Mr. Filipo go. It infiltrated her thoughts every minute of the day, and she had a buildup of questions that threatened to explode. What was his story? Who was he? What was he? Where had that blue light come from? She was bewildered that life around her went on normally without a clue as to what she experienced. She knew what she witnessed was far from normal, far from anything that was of this world. She also knew he was deliberately ignoring her ever since, moving away when she spotted him at the hospital. Consequently, she was hailed a hero by the medical staff. Alana wanted to laugh. If they only knew what really happened. She wanted answers and the only person who could give them to her was avoiding her. Now he was leaving Samoa tomorrow for good.

  “Is Manu giving you a hard time?” Sera asked. “He’s not bossing you around, is he? I will kick his butt if he is.”

  Alana gave her a small smile. “No, he’s not. I don’t get to see him much since he’s in the ER. We had lunch together last week though.”

  “Did you make some love-struck nurse jealous? I bet he has them swooning over him.”

  Alana laughed. “Yes, in fact. We pretended to be a couple so we could get this one girl off his trail. Not sure the plan worked though because he still gets texts from her claiming that he could do better with her.” Alana smiled at the little game they played over lunch, pretending to have a fling, but when Manu suggested they hold hands and kiss to make it look authentic, she promptly swatted him across the arm and brought an end to their little charade.

  Sera laughed out loud.

  “Anyw
ay, enough about work. What were you saying before?” Alana asked.

  Sera shook her head. “You mean before you spaced out on me?” she asked in mock annoyance. Alana shot her a grin.

  “I was saying that I’m planning to come visit you soon,” Sera answered.

  Alana’s eyes widened. “Are you serious? When?”

  Sera beamed in return. “I just need to finalize a few things with the boss, but first semester break is coming up, and I want to come to Samoa for it. I miss you, girlie!”

  Alana remembered that prior to leaving Fiji, Sera secured a part-time job at the university’s sister branch in the Solomon Islands working in the psychology department. She was no doubt giving those students a run for their money.

  “My sister’s getting married over the school holidays. Do you want to come to a big, fat Samoan wedding?” Alana asked.

  “Oooh, how’s bridezilla?”

  Alana smiled. “She’s assigned a ton of things for me to take care of, so if you come we can work on it together.”

  “Dresses, shoes, and flowers, oh my. How can I resist?”

  “Well, so far all I’m seeing is stress, stress, and more stress. But with you here, it’ll be a big relief.”

  “Wait up...” Sera held up her palm. “Doesn’t she have a strict guest list?”

  “Sera, it’s a Samoan wedding. That means wedding invitations are only meant to set the theme colors. It doesn’t matter that there will only be two names on that invite because ten more will show up. That’s why we’re having it at a large hall.”

  Sera grinned. “Okay, count me in then. I’ll be there.”

  Alana smiled at her best friend and then wished her a good night.

  After she clicked off Skype, Alana padded down the hall to grab a drink from the kitchen. It was close to eleven and soft light filtered through from her mother’s bedroom.

  “Mama? You’re still up?” she asked, poking her head in the door.

  Perlita was propped up against the headboard of the bed, picture albums spread around her. Alana recognized them immediately and took a deep breath. She went in and lay beside her, stretching her legs under the covers. Pulling her into her side, her mother sighed. She pointed to a picture of David, Malia, and Alana taken at a country fair in the States.

  “I remember David kept stepping in that goat poop,” Alana mused. “We came back from that trip with more cavities from all that cotton candy.”

  Perlita flipped the page. “Look at this one,” she said, tapping a picture of them as kids riding on their father’s back.

  Alana smiled sadly. Another had them building a sand castle fort at the beach. “I miss him so much,” she whispered.

  “We have some beautiful memories of him now though,” her mother spoke softly.

  Alana suddenly noticed a picture of David when he was seventeen. For his birthday, he received a new hair razor and decided to give himself a buzz cut. Unfortunately, when the razor got stuck and stopped working, he only succeeded to shave off the top half making him look ultimately like a bald clown. Perlita glanced at the photo and began chuckling quietly. Alana smiled and then joined her mother in suppressed laughter.

  “What are you two laughing about?” David asked, peering through the doorway.

  “At you,” Alana forced out, unable to contain her giggles.

  David joined them on the bed and snatched the picture away from her. “Oh man, how did you get this?” he groaned.

  “You were frantically trying to fix the situation, running around so stressed that you didn’t even notice,” Alana said.

  “And you had that school speech competition to go to the next night,” Perlita added with a smile.

  “Well, I’m glad to see you both find it so funny. I’m going to go take this and burn it somewhere,” David got up and walked to the door. “I’ll leave you two sosos to reminisce.” He left the room with the laughter following him out.

  ***

  Alana rose at dawn the next day and headed out for her jog. Shuffling through her iPod, she let her mind go and set her breathing and steps in an even gait. She thought of her sister’s upcoming wedding and the list of tasks Malia emailed her about. Having her on a different island did not mean she was any less controlling.

  1. Can you remind Mom to make an appointment with her tailor for the bridesmaids’ dresses? I don’t want the assistant. I want Moira.

  2. Have you called the hotel to make the bookings for Kane’s family? That reminds me, I have to book a place for the wedding night. I do NOT want to be in the same place as everyone else.

  3. Sign us up for a hot hula fitness class. Oh, and we’re going hiking up Mt. Vaea the next time I visit.

  Alana was looking forward to seeing Sera again. She couldn’t wait to be reunited with her best friend in a few months. She made a mental note of the beaches, waterfalls, and fresh water pools they could visit.

  Alana thought about her day ahead at work and frowned. Her thoughts immediately shifted to Chase and that eventful afternoon. Mr. Filipo had made a full recovery and hadn’t been healthier since his forties. He was discharged and was immediately making plans to travel to New Zealand to visit his sons. The doctors were baffled, calling it a medical marvel, but Alana knew the real reason. She decided she would track Chase down and demand answers to her questions. He was not leaving her on this island with the knowledge of that day without an explanation. But how would he explain something like that? And was she even ready to hear his response? She shook her head. Reaching her home, she couldn’t help but get the feeling that everything she had come to believe in this world would be rocked to its core.

  Chapter 7

  “How’s my favorite netball player?” Alana asked as she neared Tiana’s bed. She picked up her chart and examined it before clipping it back at the end of the bed, noticing the doodles and names on her cast. “I see you’ve had some visitors.” She smiled looking at the swirls, flowers, and the scribbled “Get Better Soon” and “JT WAS HERE.”

  “Friends from school stopped by yesterday and brought me this.” Tiana pointed to a plastic bag filled with DVDs and books.

  “That’s very considerate of them,” Alana said. “How would you feel if you could watch them at home?”

  “I can go home?” Tiana asked, surprise etched on her face.

  “Yes,” Alana answered. “I spoke to the doctor and she’s happy to let you go. There’s no reason for you to be here any longer. Granted, you’ll be walking with crutches for a while and will be back to get that cast off, but you’re being discharged today. There’s just a bit of paperwork that needs to be done, but your mom is on her way and will handle all that.”

  “Sweet! When can I start playing netball?” Tiana asked eagerly.

  “Not for a while. But you’re young and healthy, and I’m sure you’ll be back out there before you know it.”

  “Will you come watch one of my games?”

  “I would love to.” Alana smiled.

  As she walked down the hallway, Alana checked her watch and noted she had a twenty minute break before her next engagement. She set out in a brisk pace determined to find Chase and demand some answers. She shivered in anticipation. Was she prepared to confront him? Should she be afraid of him? He wouldn’t hurt her, she concluded. After all he did bring someone back to life and was obviously devoted to helping the wider public by donating all that money to the hospital. She knew he had been touring various departments in the hospital over the past week and was leaving soon. She hoped she hadn’t missed him.

  She heard footsteps approach from behind. “Hey, Lana, wait up,” Manu called out.

  She stopped and turned to face him. “Hello there, Dr. Vai. It’s good to see you’re out and about.” Dressed in his doctor’s scrubs, stethoscope hanging loosely around his neck, he looked very much like the cliché doctor.

  “Hey yourself. How are you doing?” he asked, brows lowered and his voice laced with concern. “You’ve seemed distracted these past few
days. Everything okay at home?”

  Alana half shrugged. “Home is great. Everyone’s just busy with the wedding, you know.”

  “That’s right. Sera told me she’s planning to come over for it,” he said.

  Alana glanced down at her watch. “Hey, I was wondering…do you know where I can find Mr. Malek?” she asked distractedly.

  He took a step back and narrowed his eyes. “Chase Malek? Why do you want to know where he is?”

  Alana bit her lip. “Um…no particular reason. I just heard he was leaving today. So, do you know?”

  “He had a meeting in the pediatric ward this morning. You can check there.…” he trailed off as Alana started to hurry off in that direction.

  “Thanks, Manu! I’ll see you around,” she called back.

  “Hey, we should hang out soon!” he announced, his posture rigid.

  “Sounds good, will text you!” she called back.

  Alana rushed to the pediatric ward. The walls were painted with colorful images of animals, balloons, and happy, smiling children, a sharp contrast to everything that was enclosed within. The smell of disinfectant and sickness flooded her nostrils as she heard a child cough and another cry in the distance. Shuffling to the front desk, she was met by a nurse with graying hair and thin, stern lips. She sat behind a computer rapidly typing away at the keyboard with two thick fingers. She looked up when Alana approached.

  “I’m Nurse Alana Vilo. I was wondering if you can tell me where I can find Mr. Chase Malek?” she asked nervously, her voice getting higher and squeakier.

  “Mr. Malek? He left already. You missed him by ten minutes. He’s heading to the airport now.” The nurse returned her gaze to the computer and continued typing.