by Rowan Hanlon
Kael jumped up and stared, watching Celeste flail about like she was drowning. Kael started to leave but Celeste, suddenly okay, grabbed her foot and pulled her into the pool. Kael went down hard and was rapidly being pushed underwater by Celeste, who was determined to drown her. They fought for a few minutes until Kael gained some control and managed to throw Celeste off. She swam to the side of the pool and tried to get out. She was almost out when Celeste grabbed her foot, trying to pull her back in. Kael screamed and kicked at her, knowing that if she didn’t get out of the pool, she would die. But Celeste would not let her go.
Kael screamed and didn’t know what to do. She was helpless. But then she spotted a small garden statue a few feet away. It was frog and totally out of character for someone like Celeste to own. Why the fuck did she have that thing? But, then again, what the fuck did it matter? She didn’t care but she knew she had to get her hands on it and soon. She managed to squirm away from Celeste, pull herself out of the pool and limp to the statue. She grabbed it, turned around and saw that Celeste was getting out of the pool. Mustering all of her strength, she took four long strides to the pool and smashed her over the head with it.
Celeste went down. It was over. Kael stood over her, then hit her as hard as she could again, just to make sure. Celeste went underwater and disappeared from view.
Was it over? Kael didn’t know. She took a breath, looked around and headed to the gate again. She finally made it to her car and got in, almost breathing a sigh of relief. But, no. There was something vital missing. The key.
“Fuck!” she cried, shaking her head as tears spilled out of her eyes. She glanced at the house where her purse was but didn’t dare take that as an option. She would never go back into that house of horrors again—ever. But she didn’t know how to get out of there. Her driveway was almost a mile long. She’d never make it to the end!
She was about to break down when she looked up and spotted the SOS button at the top of the car. The breath went out of her as the realization that she might be saved set in. She pushed the button and began to pray, squeezing her eyes shut and gripping the steering wheel, “Please God, let it work, please God, let it work.”
Off, somewhere, there was the sound of sirens growing nearer. Kael didn’t hear them though and she didn’t hear them because almost as soon as she hit the button, exhaustion and pain and shock took her over as her body could no longer produce what it needed to keep her awake. It shut down in order to start the healing process. And so, Kael passed out cold, her head hitting the top of the steering wheel with a soft thump.
What Celeste Lost
Kael awoke with a start, rising up out of bed, arms flailing and screaming. Nick pushed her back down and said gently, “Shh…. It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s all over now.”
She shook her head and looked around wildly, noticing that she was, in fact, in a hospital room and dressed in a hospital gown. She had an IV in her arm. She felt the bandage on her head as well as the one on her arm. She was alive. She was alive! She burst into tears and started thanking God over and over in her mind for allowing her to live after all that. She was alive! Celeste hadn’t killed her! She’d never felt as grateful for anything in her life as she did right then.
Nick watched as she sobbed and gently patted her arm. He smiled at her and, as soon as she began to calm down, he said, “How could we have known?”
“I’m stupid,” Kael said, then her eyes widened as something occurred to her. “Where is she?” she asked in a panic. “Where’s Celeste?”
“We’ll talk about that later,” he said. “Now go back to sleep.”
She was about to lie back when she said, “What about Clifton?”
“He’s actually in critical condition,” Nick told her. “Don’t worry yourself about that.”
She nodded. “Is he going to make it?”
He shrugged. “There’s a good chance. Liza is a different story.”
“Liza!” Kael exclaimed. “Is she okay?”
Nick didn’t say anything.
“Noooo,” Kael cried. “She’s dead?”
Nick nodded. “I’m sorry. I know how you liked her.”
Kael nodded. “I’m so sorry she had to die,” she sobbed. “That poor woman. It’s all my fault, Nick! I did this!”
“You did not,” he said evenly. “Don’t ever blame yourself.”
“She almost killed all three of us because of me!” Kael cried. “Because I’m stupid and I couldn’t recognize the fact that this woman had it in for me! And now look at what’s happened!”
“It’s not your fault,” he said. “This is the work of a crazy woman! You will not blame yourself for this. Got it?”
Kael shook her head. No, it wouldn’t be that cut and dry for her. She would have a hard time dealing with all this. It was life changing. You don’t just come back the same person you were before after something like this happened.
“Kael,” Nick said. “You are not to blame.”
Kael nodded, though she begged to differ.
“Let’s just stop talking right now,” he said gently and smiled at her. “We can talk about it later. You need to rest.”
“What day is it?”
“It’s Saturday,” he said. “Late afternoon.”
Saturday? Late afternoon? Kael shook her head at the news. “How long have I been out?”
“They brought you in last night,” he said.
“Where am I?”
“We’re still in the country,” he said. “Just rest. They said that was the best thing to do.”
Kael nodded and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she glanced at the window. Dawn was breaking. Wow. She’d slept a long time. She looked around but Nick was nowhere in sight. She felt a strong sense of urgency to leave. Yeah. That was what she should do. She should leave, go back home and hide.
She sat up, groaned with pain and took the IV out, then got out of bed and walked as quickly as she could to the bathroom, where she seemed to urinate forever. Once she was done, she found her bag which must have been recovered from Celeste’s house, as well as a bag Nick had packed for her in the corner. She took out a bra and underwear, a sweatshirt, a pair of skinny jeans and her favorite Converse sneakers and dressed quickly. Within minutes, she had snuck out of the hospital and grabbed a taxi in front of the hospital, asking them to take her to the train station. It took a while but soon she was on her way back to the city. And once she got there, she was on her way back to the loft.
She kept her head down and hoped no one noticed the woman with the big white bandage covering her head. But it was New York and everyone there had probably seen a lot worse. No one blinked when she exited the train station. No one said a word when she rode in the subway. And no one on her street stopped and asked questions. Of course, it was really early in the morning and it was Sunday. Most everyone was either sleeping in or sleeping it off. Or at church.
She chuckled to herself at the thought. That was New York. Too bad she had to leave now.
Soon enough, she was back at the loft and she was gathering her suitcases and she was packing them. She was so immersed in her task that she didn’t even notice Nick entering the loft and calling out for her. He abruptly came into the bedroom and scared the wits out of Kael, so much so that she threw the clothes she’d been holding into the air, yelping out of fright.
“There you are!” he exclaimed. “Are you serious right now? You’re supposed to be in the hospital!”
Kael attempted to get her breathing under control. She turned to him and said, “Seriously, make some noise next time.” She put her hand over her palpitating heart and held onto the wall, leaning down and breathing in. “Seriously, I think my heart is going to burst right now.”
He nodded, looking concerned. “Are you okay?”
She held up one finger and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
He sighed and shook his head, then looked around the bedroom at th
e mess she’d made. “What are you doing?”
Without skipping a beat, Kael said, “I’m leaving. I suggest you do the same.”
“What?”
“You heard me,” she replied and started packing again, grabbing clothes out of the dresser and shoving them into a suitcase. “A lot of these I am going to have to ship,” she said and turned to him. “I don’t know how I am going to do that…” She shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ll figure something out. I might just leave them.”
“Stop it,” he said and took the clothes out of her hands. “Why did you leave the hospital without me?”
She stared at him. “Because I knew you wouldn’t let me leave. And I’m leaving. I’m getting out of here. This is too much for me to take.” She stopped talking and stared at him. “Why aren’t you at the hospital?”
“I think I better ask you that,” he replied.
“We already covered this,” she replied. “How did you get here so quickly? It took me forever.”
“Oh, I got the car from… You know…”
Kael shuddered at the thought. “Oh.”
“Anyway, I got up to go get some coffee, came back and you were gone. You can’t just leave.”
“I did and I can,” she said. “Come on! Let’s pack!”
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“Home, to Tennessee,” she said. “My daddy will make sure we’re safe.”
“Kael, stop it,” he said.
“Yes, stop it, Kael.”
Kael and Nick froze, then looked over to see Celeste, who looked like she was on her way to fashion week. In fact, Kael had seen her wear this outfit last fall. It was very high-end designer. The black slacks fit perfectly and the Ikat printed top was stunning. Her black bag was hanging on her arm in a most fashionable way. And, of course, she had on her stilettos. Black ones, pointy toe, beautiful. They looked brand new.
Celeste looked immaculate and like she was ready to impress. There didn’t seem to be a hair out of place on her head, even. How was that possible? Kael had beaten her over the head with a ceramic frog. But before anyone could say anything, she grabbed Nick by the shoulder and stabbed him in the eye with the syringe Kael recognized as the one Celeste had bragged about getting from her dermatologist. She pulled the syringe back out and watched as he groaned for a second then fell to the floor without a word. Celeste kicked him out of the way as if he annoyed her.
“Oh, sorry about your meal ticket,” she said and kicked him again. “Good luck trying to find another one of those.”
Kael screamed, then pointed at her, “You’re fucking dead! I saw you! I killed you!”
“Oh, you did?” Celeste said with an air of nonchalance. “Now, for that, I really am going to have to fire you. That’s just bad form.”
Kael looked at Nick, feeling so sick and nauseous she was almost ready to surrender. “Oh, my God, you are one crazy bitch! Why did you kill him?!”
“Seriously? You have to ask that?” she said and kicked him again. “He ruined the Jacob Anvil gown. I can’t overlook something like that.”
Kael dropped down beside Nick and started sobbing. Was he breathing? She touched the side of his throat and felt a slight throb in his vein. He might not be dead. Oh, God, what now? What was she supposed to do now? Could she survive another attack? She didn’t think so and now Nick was probably dead. Her world had blown up into pieces. It was unrecognizable. If Nick was dead, she didn’t know if she could fight. She just didn’t know if she could.
Celeste sighed with agitation and dropped the syringe in her bag. “Oh, Kael. It’s your turn now. Let’s finish this up.”
Let’s finish this up… So nonchalant. So very bitchy. Kael turned to Celeste and stared at her. Really, what was this woman’s problem? Just because Kael agitated her a few times and said a few mean things? She’d certainly acted worse herself. But there was no fighting with someone like Celeste. It had to be her way. She’d gone too far, she’d done too much damage and, for some reason, the bitch was still alive. She’d forced Kael into a very weird, awkward position, one she’d never, ever feel freedom from. Her whole life was probably fucked now. It was probably just fucked. Thanks to the evil queen bitch.
“Get up, you sniveling little bitch,” Celeste said. “Get up, take your medicine and die like you were supposed to at my house.”
Kael asked, “How are you even alive?”
“In case you didn’t notice, that frog?” she said and tossed her hair. “It was resin and a gift from my insufferable mother-in-law. Clifton would not let me dispose of it. I just faked dying. You know, just to irritate you.”
No words would come to Kael. No words.
“It takes more than a stupid hillbilly to take me out,” she chirped, almost smiling.
That infuriated Kael. How dare this bitch? How dare this bitch? She’d ruined her life! She’d kidnapped her, tortured her, shot and killed Liza, almost killed Clifton! She’d come into her home and stabbed her fiancé and now had the nerve to talk to her like that? She wondered if Celeste wasn’t crazy. She wondered if she were just plain damned mean. And she was. She was a mean person. Maybe not always. Maybe just now. Maybe just because Kael had “pushed” her over the edge. It didn’t matter. No human should ever treat another human as such. Life was hard for everyone. That didn’t mean people should take their issues out on others. That didn’t mean Celeste had the right to do any of the things she did. She’d just taken liberties. And it was time for it to be over.
Kael found her strength and stood, turning to Celeste and began to walk towards her, feeling her will to survive and her fight come back. She squared her shoulders and said, “No, no. I won’t be afraid of you.”
“I think you should.”
“No. No. No. You are not going to get me. You are not better than me. You are not smarter than me and you are not prettier than me. You have come to the end of your reign as evil queen bitch.”
She punched her in the face. Celeste’s head jerked back but she steadied herself and grinned evilly. Kael grabbed her bag off of her arm and slapped her across the head with it. Celeste held up her hands to ward off the blows, but Kael kept coming at her.
“Die, evil bitch, die!” she screamed.
Celeste straightened up and punched Kael in the face so hard she fell to the floor. She started to scramble away but Celeste grabbed her by the foot and pulled her back to her, holding her down with one knee then pulled her designer belt off and wrapped it around Kael’s throat, hell bent on choking her.
“No one backstabs me, bitch!” Celeste hissed. “No one takes my place! No one tells me what to do!”
Kael grabbed at the belt and pulled it away from her neck. Then, with all her might, she head-butted Celeste, who fell back against the wall. She stood up and tried to come after Kael again but Kael kicked her back with force and this time she tripped and fell. She scrambled to her feet but the soles of her shoes must have been very slick because she started slipping, unable to gain her footing and it appeared as though she were almost dancing some odd form of ska, her arms flailing and her legs wobbling all over the place. She finally straightened up, almost regained her composure then teetered and turned and then, inadvertently, fell onto the obelisk, impaling herself, right in the chest. She jerked for a moment, then became very still.
Kael couldn’t believe her eyes. The obelisk? Really? She stared at her for a long moment then she walked over to Celeste and gingerly touched her. Celeste jerked and narrowed her eyes at Kael. She tried to speak. Nothing came out. She jerked her head a little, indicating that Kael should move in closer and listen. Without thinking, Kael did just that, leaning over Celeste, turning her ear so it was close to Celeste’s moth.
With blood running out of her mouth, she barely managed to say, “I had a baby, too. I gave her up. No one knew, either. I thought I could always have another to make up for her. She would have been around your age.”
Kael’s m
outh dropped and, for the first time ever, she felt a kinship with Celeste. Why couldn’t she have just told her this or at least told someone? It must have eaten her alive to know that she’d waited too long to “make up” for the child she’d given away. That’s what it was all about—what Celeste had lost. And that’s why she kept saying they were finding all these commonalities; they’d each had a baby they’d given up. Maybe they were alike in more ways than one.
Celeste was choking on her own blood when she spoke her final words, “It’s not fair, Kael. Life’s not fair.”
She gasped for breath, then ran out of it. She was dead. Kael stumbled back and took a deep breath, then she began to tally the carnage that now surrounded her. Celeste was dead. Liza was dead. Clifton was probably going to die and Nick—what about Nick? She stared at him, not knowing what to do.
They say there are three ways to react to fear. The first is to run. The second is to fight. The third is freeze. Kael was stuck in the third phase. She was frozen. She couldn’t move back and she couldn’t move forward. She would have to find her bearings soon, though, if she were to save Nick, even if she didn’t know if he could be saved.
Nick stirred a little. He could be saved. If only she could save him.
And then… Then she heard it. It was a song, that song, a pop song that was big a few years ago. It was a sweet song, with a nice, melodious tone. Kael had loved it but when her neighbor had also fallen in love, the girl had taken a shine to playing it all the time. Over and over again until Kael called the super and begged him to tell her to turn it down. Now she was playing it again. There was one time she played it that she and Nick started dancing together, laughing like teenagers, feeling free and alive and in love. That was before all of this. Now the only thing they had was the song, which seemed to haunt the space and take up all the room that was left in her mind.
Kael felt the ground move below her then felt the floor hit her face as she passed out. She gave into the deep unconscious bliss of not knowing what was going on. She knew that there would be a lot of explaining to do once she was roused out of this deep, dark sleepy tunnel of shock but right now there was nothing. Nothing but total black.