As we made our way to the recovery ward, I felt my anticipation grow. Finally, I'd be able to see my sister again. After eighteen months, I had no idea what she'd look like, or if there would be anything left of the Kim that I'd grown up with. And right alongside me, never more than an arm's-length away, was Sophie.
We soon arrived at another waiting room. Mom had a word with the nurse on duty, who directed us to a room about thirty yards down one corridor. Mom and I hurried to the indicated room, and our breath caught in our throats as we looked through the door.
There she was.
She had a bandage around her head and her eyes were closed, but it was definitely her. The long blonde hair I remembered her always having was splayed out across her pillow, her pink highlights visible under the room's lights. She was connected to several machines as well as an I.V. Her breathing was deep and rhythmic.
I felt Mom clutch at my shoulder. “My God, Ayden, it's her,” she cried, barely above a whisper.
I slowly approached her bedside and, unable to tear my eyes away from my long-lost sister, I began to cry again. They were some of the happiest tears I'd ever cried.
She's home. Kim is home.
Chapter 32
~ Day 83 (Sat., 8:45 p.m.) ~
SOPHIE
Sitting next to Eve and Joshua, I watched as Ayden shuffled back to the waiting room. The spring in his step I saw on stage two hours ago was gone, and he looked completely exhausted. Not just physically, but emotionally as well.
I took a moment to reflect on the whole situation. Here I was, dressed as Wendy, sitting in the waiting room of a hospital, hoping a girl I'd never even met would be okay. When Ayden and his mom got the news about Kim, I didn't even taken a moment to decide if I should be the one to be at Ayden's side during this ordeal. I just did it. And my family didn't question me at all when I insisted on coming with him.
He means so much to me. Maybe his relationship with me is different from the one he has with Riss, but it's just as strong.
Dad, who just called home to inform Mom and Kirsten of our situation, shut off his phone and walked back over to us. “How's she doing?”
“She's okay,” Ayden said. “She hasn't woken up yet. Mom's going to wait by her bed until she does.”
“What about you?” I asked.
“I – I dunno,” he said sleepily. “I guess I'll wait too. I just needed some air. It smells like hospital soap in there.” He looked up, meeting my gaze. “Thanks for waiting.”
“No problem.”
“Sophie, we really should get home,” Dad said, interrupting us. “It's getting late.”
I gave him a pleading look. “Please, Dad. Just a little while longer, okay?”
Dad stared at me for a few moments, then nodded. “Oh, okay.” Standing up, he glanced at Eve and Joshua. “I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving. In all the hubbub, we kind of skipped dinner.”
“I think there's a cafeteria on the ground floor,” Joshua said.
“Sold,” Dad said. “I'm buying. Y'all coming?”
“Yeah,” Eve said, rising to her feet. Joshua also rose. “You coming, Soph?”
I looked at Ayden, then reached over and grasped his hand. “I'm not hungry right now. I'll stay here.”
“You sure?” Dad asked.
“Yeah. Just pick me up a bag of chips or an iced tea or something.”
“Will do,” Dad said. “Don't leave this floor, okay?”
“We won't.”
“Be back in a little while,” Eve said, and the three of them left the waiting room, heading for the elevator.
As their footsteps receded, I turned to Ayden, who was looking at the ground. Without a word, he moved toward the window, staring out at the Phoenix skyline. I joined him there, putting my hand on his shoulder. A brisk wind had picked up, and I could see the fronds of a couple of distant palm trees whipping around in the breeze. It was probably going to start raining at any minute.
“She's going to be fine,” I said softly.
“I hope so,” he said, so quietly I barely heard him. “I really hope so.”
“Ayden, look at me.”
With a faraway look, he turned to face me.
“Remember what Mr. Callahan said about karma? I believe that too.”
“You do?”
“Mmm hmm. And I think, starting now, great things are going to happen for you. And your family.”
He gave a tired smile. “You know what I think?”
“What?”
“I think as long as I'm around you, my luck will always be good.”
I let out a short breath, utterly astounded by his words. I just stared at him, this amazing boy. So much like Joshua. Kind, generous, sensitive, with so much more strength than he even realizes. Beaten down, not by bullies, but by life. But not broken. He's come through it all, found himself, made friends, kissed a girl, discovered his path.
In an instant, I knew what he said earlier was true. We would be friends for a long, long time. Maybe forever. Hopefully forever.
Just then, I heard several sets of footsteps clattering down a different hallway than the one leading to Kim's room. A woman about Mom's age, dressed in very elegant, expensive-looking clothes, strode through the waiting room on the way to the elevator. Right behind her, running to catch up, was a teenage girl with a very angry expression on her face.
My breath caught in my throat as I realized who it was.
Rhianna.
The girl who tried to ruin my life, who attacked me, is here. In the hospital.
Crap.
I turned back toward the window, urging Ayden to do the same, hoping Rhianna would pass by without looking our way, and praying she wouldn't recognize us. Fortunately, she seemed to have more important things on her mind. She didn't even turn her head as she walked by.
However, before she could leave the room, a middle-aged man came charging down the same corridor they came from. He caught up to her just as she was about to pass through the exit door. Grabbing her shoulder, he spun her around to face him. “Aphrodite, wait! Please!” The tone of the man's voice seemed to be a mixture of sadness and anguish.
Rhianna looked the man dead in the eyes, shaking free of his grasp. “For the last time, don't call me that! My name is Rhianna!”
“I'm sorry,” the man said. “Please, Rhianna, don't go. Not like this.” He seemed to be near tears.
“Like what, Dad? Like you actually give a crap? Like you're not going to just pull my sister's plug and then jet off to Europe again?”
I drew in a sharp breath. What the hell?
“I didn't want it this way! you have to believe me!”
“Goodbye, Dad,” she said angrily, and then she turned on her heel and followed the other woman out the door.
The man just stood there, bent over, his hands on his knees, catching his breath. When that didn't work, he straightened up, looking around for the nearest chair. He stumbled over to it and sat down, cradling his head in his hands, sobbing quietly to himself.
“What do you think that was about?” Ayden whispered in my ear, but I barely heard him.
This entire school year, Rhianna's been on the warpath against me. And no one has been able to tell me why. I'm missing something. Something important. I have to find out what it is.
Stepping away from the window, I walked toward the man, who still hadn't looked up.
“Sophie!” Ayden whispered loudly, grabbing at my arm, but I shook him off.
As I approached the man, I saw his face clearly for the first time. He looked to be in his mid-forties, with hazel eyes and short hair the same shade of blonde as mine. His dress shirt was wrinkled and messy, and it wasn't hard to deduce that he'd had one of the worst days of his life.
“Excuse me?” I asked gently, causing the man to glance up. “Mr. Kosto?”
He lifted his head, giving me a puzzled look. “How do you know my name?”
Much more nervous than I was a moment ago, I replied, �
�I go to school with Rhianna. I'm Sophie, and this is Ayden.” I gestured to Ayden, who was still standing a few yards away.
His eyes widened, and he looked back and forth between us. “You're Sophie? The girl she … attacked?”
I nodded.
“And you're the boy who got hurt, right?”
Ayden stepped forward, using his finger to point to his bruise. “Yeah.”
Mr. Kosto exhaled, and a pained look came over his face. “Oh, my God. I am so, so sorry. I've been meaning to call you both, you know, to apologize for my daughter's behavior, but this has been a very stressful time. In all our lives.”
“It's okay.” I took a seat next to him, and Ayden took the one next to me.
He looked us over again. “Why are you dressed like that?”
“We were in a school play earlier tonight,” Ayden said. “But my sister had an … accident.”
“I'm sorry to hear that,” he said. “I'm here visiting my daughter Athena. She's … in a coma.” He choked out the last word, as if it was an evil word that would curse him to speak it aloud.
“Rhianna has a sister?” I asked, more to myself than to Mr. Kosto.
He nodded. “This whole ordeal with Athena has really affected her. Badly. I – I don't know what to do anymore.” He looked so hopeless, I could feel my heart breaking.
“Sir,” I said hesitantly, “I know it's none of my business, but if I may ask … what happened to Rhianna?”
He straightened up in his seat, wiped his eyes with his sleeve, and faced us again. “It's a long story. But after what Aphrodite … I mean, Rhianna, has done to you, I guess you deserve to know.”
He paused, then began. “I build hotels, you see. Ten years ago, I was one of the best in the business. That is, until the economy collapsed. All my investments, all my business prospects just vanished overnight.”
“I know what that feels like,” Ayden said. “My dad went through the same thing when he lost his store.”
Mr. Kosto took in a deep breath. “I looked all over the world for other investors, and the only one who wanted my services was a company in Finland that wanted to open a chain of economical hotels in the Helsinki area. But my wife, who comes from wealthy parents, refused to uproot our family. And since she spoiled our daughters rotten, they all refused to come with me.
“So I moved to Finland without them, promising my daughters I would come home as often as I could. I came back every few months, but with every visit, they were less and less happy to have me back. I was torn: I needed my girls, and I knew they needed me, but I was finally starting to get my business back on its feet. I couldn't be in two places at once. Enough time passed, and my daughters stopped coming to the phone when I called. Imagine my surprise when I found out my wife had also changed both my daughters' names. Legally, I mean.”
“So that's how Aphrodite became Rhianna?” Ayden asked.
“Yes. I was always a fan of Greek mythology as a boy, so we named our girls after Greek goddesses. They were such beautiful children.”
“Those are very nice names,” I said, trying to smile.
“Six years ago, Athena started having problems in school. I begged her mother to start disciplining her properly, but she wouldn't listen, and Athena's behavior got even worse. She got into fights, and several schools kicked her out. And still my wife refused to act. She just kept spoiling them, and poisoning them against me.
“We got divorced not long after that, and though my wife's family hired lawyers to try to have her awarded full custody of both our girls, I was able to convince a judge that my business had rebounded enough to provide for them. Athena actually stood up in court and said she'd never go anywhere with me, and Aphrodite just remained silent. That's how she was back then. So Athena stayed with her mother, I got custody of Aphrodite, and the two of us went back to Finland.”
“But she came back,” I said. “About two years ago, right?”
He nodded. “I tried so hard to make her happy, but the change was difficult for her. She'd gotten so close to Athena. Athena was her whole world. And once they separated, Aphrodite became withdrawn. Moody. And when I enrolled her in school, the other kids started picking on her. Horribly. Again, I tried to help, to get her counseling, but it didn't work. Every day, she begged me to send her home. She hated our life, and she hated me, and there was nothing I could do about it. So then I made the best decision I could, which turned out to be the worst one I ever made: I sent her back home to her mother.”
He looked at us, and I could see tears in his eyes. “I tried so hard. To build something for my family that I could be proud of. That I could leave for them. But in achieving my own dream, I lost the ones that matter the most to me. I failed them. I chose my career over my family, and now I've lost them.”
Pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket, he blew his nose and dried his tears before continuing. “I came home for Christmas last year, hoping one more time to reconnect with my girls. Athena was eighteen, and my wife had let her go completely off the rails. She'd become a full-fledged party girl. She'd come home drunk as a skunk, shouting and cursing at me. And Aphrodite, well, she was starting to act just like her big sister. She'd hated the bullies that tormented her back in Finland, and now she was just like them.
“In January, a few days after I returned to Europe, Athena went to another party with her boyfriend. They got completely inebriated, and then they decided to … drive themselves home.” His eyes closed, and I could hear the emotion welling up in his voice.
I just remained silent, my mouth falling open. I already knew how this part of the story was going to end.
“My daughter was driving, and her attention drifted. She smashed into several parked cars and flipped the vehicle while doing fifty miles an hour. Her boyfriend was killed instantly, and she would've been too if it wasn't for her airbag. But …” he choked back another sob, “she suffered brain damage. She's been in a coma, on full life-support, ever since.”
Sadness was welling up in me as well. I felt Ayden grip my hand. “I'm so sorry, Mr. Kosto,” I said as sincerely as I could.
He nodded. “I've had the best specialists I can find review her case. They've all said the same thing: she's in a permanent vegetative state, and she'll never come out of it.” He sighed. “Two months ago, I suggested to my wife that our daughter was gone, and she wasn't coming back. That it was time to let her go. She wouldn't accept it, just like she's never accepted any responsibility for our daughters' actions. I'm currently fighting for power of attorney so I can make the best decision for Athena. It's been brutal on all of us, especially Aphrodite.”
I cleared my throat. “Now it makes sense.”
“What does?”
“Well, this thing between Rhianna and me … it goes back a long time. More than a year. At first, all she did was say nasty things about me, but ever since, I guess, Athena's accident, she's … well, she's been trying to destroy me. And I've never understood why, because I've never done anything to her. But I guess I kind of understand now.”
He managed a weak smile. “You seem like a nice girl, Sophie, and I apologize for her behavior. I doubt it was anything you did, personally. Something just made her fixate on you. You became another victim in the war that's been waging between my wife and me for years, and for that, I am truly sorry.”
“It's okay,” I said, relieved to have finally gotten some answers. “What's going to happen now? I actually haven't heard, since we haven't been in school in the last few days. Was she suspended?”
“Yes,” Mr. Kosto replied. “Suspended indefinitely, pending a psychological evaluation.”
“What are you going to do?” Ayden asked.
“Honestly, I don't know. I can only hope that whatever happens, I have the chance to save the only thing I have left that means anything to me, before this,” he pointed in the direction of what I assumed was Athena's room, “happens to Aphrodite as well.”
Joshua and Eve entered the waiting room,
having returned from the cafeteria, and took seats across from us. “Hey,” Eve said with a smile, “Dad's still downstairs, e-mailing footage of you guys on stage to everyone he knows.”
“Figures,” I said, blushing.
Joshua turned to address Ayden. “Any news?”
“No,” Ayden said. “Mom's in with Kim right now. I'll be going back in there in a minute.”
“Do you think you'll need a ride home?” I asked.
He thought for a moment. “No, I think we'll probably stay for a while. We may even sleep here. Knowing Mom, she won't leave Kim's side for a minute. So I won't either.”
“Who's this?” Eve said, indicating Mr. Kosto.
“This is Mr. Kosto,” I replied. “Rhianna's father.”
“Rhianna? The girl who –”
“Yeah,” I interjected, not wanting to make the black cloud hovering around Mr. Kosto any worse. “His other daughter is also a patient here. We've been keeping each other company.”
“Richard Kosto,” he said, extending his hand.
Eve returned the handshake. “Eve Devereaux.” Indicating Joshua, she added, “This is my boyfriend, Joshua Harper.”
Suddenly, Mr. Kosto straightened up, his whole body stiffening. All the color had vanished from his face. His mouth opened, but nothing came out. He looked like he was in shock.
“What is it?” asked Joshua.
He said nothing, but continued to stare ahead of him, glassy-eyed, as if he'd seen a ghost.
“Mr. Kosto?” Eve asked.
“I know your names,” he said, barely above a whisper. “Dear God …” He turned away from us, closing his eyes. Joshua and Eve looked at each other, then at me and Ayden, completely taken aback by this statement.
After a few tense moments, he faced Joshua and Eve. “I'm about to go in and see Athena one more time before I head home. I think you should all come with me.”
An alarmed look crossed Eve's face. “Come with you?”
He nodded.
Joshua protectively put his arm around Eve. “Mr. Kosto, I don't know where you think you know us from, but –”
Sophie's Different (James Madison Series Book 3) Page 26