The Brightness Duet: Complete Series Boxset

by Bri Stone

  “All ready.” I help her stand up and stand by as she stretches out. Sometimes she gets light headed and may wobble a bit.

  “Need help?” I ask her.

  She giggles once. “No. I don’t think so. Maybe I should get a bell.”

  I walk her to the bathroom. “I may actually do that. With school over, I’ll be here to annoy you until September.”

  She sits on the stool by her tub.

  “So, you don’t have anything to do until then?” She yawns.

  I help untangle the IVs, with my eyes closed as she undresses. “Nope. I’ve suffered enough in undergrad. I may need more than three months to recover and reboot for med school.”

  She takes my hands and I keep my eyes closed until she’s safely in the tub.

  “Okay, go make the soup.”

  I laugh as I make her a pillow from a towel for behind her head. But I do as she says and whip up the soup. It takes about ten minutes to bake in the bread bowl in the oven. I bring the tray back and stand by as she gets dressed in the closets.

  “Why are you wearing that?” I laugh when she comes out in a pink onesie.

  “It’s comfy.”

  I help her back in bed and sit with her as we eat and watch the show.

  “So, where will you live?” She asks me.

  “Stan found me a nice place.” I answer. The soup is good, but only because I followed her recipe exactly.

  “Hmm.” She answers. I give her a funny look, to respond to her funny look.

  “What’s with you two?”

  “What? Nothing. Stan is a good guy, he’s good to you. That’s all that matters.”

  “Okay.” I say, not wanting to start a conflict.

  When she finishes, I give her the mid-day pills she needs, and it doesn’t take long for her to drift into a nap. I lay next to her, surfing social media on my phone and what not. People are still congratulating me, and me them. There were a few buddies I made in college, but not many.

  I keep up with the show for a few hours until I notice mom hasn’t been snoring for a while. She isn’t a loud snorer, maybe some snorts here and there, but either way they were gone. It was time for her medication again anyways, so I moved to wake her up.

  “Mama, time to wake up.” I rub her shoulder slightly.

  The way her hair is half wet, her eyelashes fan over her cheeks, she almost looks normal again. She insists on keeping the wig on, but I never thought she needed it. I get up and go to the other side of the bed, prepping the liquid meds. Sometimes it takes her a bit to get up.

  “Mama, wake up.” I kneel and turn her head to me, but there’s no lag in it.

  And her skin is so cold. Not the clammy cold I’m used to since the chemo, a cold that doesn’t get hot again. My chest tightens like an asthma attack, but it’s not lack of breathing, it’s a buildup of tears.

  “Mama.” I whisper, my voice cracks.

  My heart increases with each beat as I reach out to touch her again.

  “Mama, time to wake up.” I try and get the words out, but they are drowned by an ugly sob followed by tears so heavy I hear them hit the floor.

  “Mama...wake up.” I shake her lightly, and then harder.

  I think to call 911 but I’m shell shocked, so I just keep trying to wake her up. But it doesn’t take a genius to notice she isn’t breathing. She’s cold. And she isn’t moving. There isn’t anything, that anyone more or less qualified can do for her. So, I buckle over, laying on her chest and remembering how warm it used to be as I cry.

  I sob and cry and wish upon all my unlucky stars but it’s no use. I feel it in my gut, that she is gone. A piece of me that I never knew could leave, has left. I squeeze her; my mom in her pink onesie, and cry for her. For the unfairness of her even getting cancer in the first place.

  When I can breathe again, when my tears stop falling and I can think straight, I call 911, then I call the only other person in our lives.

  “Hello?”

  “Stan...” I don’t recognize the rasp of my voice.

  He stays silent because he knows what is coming but doesn’t know what to say or how to coax it out of me. I listen to his breathing for a long while and hear the sirens in the background. I take a deep breath, look at my mama, and look at the picture on her nightstand of her holding my baby form to her chest on her chest as I sleep, and back to her lifeless form in front of me.

  “She’s gone, Stan. She’s gone.”

  My conscience tells me now, I’m gone too.

  Chapter Thirty-Two: Perrie

  The last thing I said to Thom replays in my head. I leaned over him where I could smell his hair and see the little freckles on his nose and I told him that I could still remember the very first day we hugged. How it made me feel, how much it harder it got to resist him. I told him I could still remember the kiss of his head on mine and the smell of him in my head. I told him how safe it made me feel, and every time after; that his arms just felt like heaven and I never wanted to leave them. I begged him not to leave me with just the memory of him. I begged him to find a way to fight through it, to somehow make it through. I told him how much I still love him, how much I still want to be with him and feel the safety of his hugs again. I asked him for one last favor, just one last thing he could do for me and I would be forever grateful; that if he could just please, please, please—please not die.

  I suppose I should have wished for it instead, because at least I know that wishes don’t come true.

  How can I be here now, after everything that has happened? Melinda asked me the same thing. Lucky for me, she was in town and in the seats across from me now. I need to focus here, I need to do my job.

  “Can you explain the discovery in your autopsy of the victim?” Dean Walsh corners me on the stand.

  I clear my throat and read everything out as I memorized it, except it doesn’t come out of my mouth. It stays in my head behind Thom. The way he looked, lying motionless in the shower. On that gurney, on...

  “Dr. Simmons? Can you answer the question please?”

  I meet his eyes, see the urgency in them, but it doesn’t relay. I managed to get out of bed, dress in a black pant suit, and cry in the car as Melinda drove. She asked me if I was sure if I could come. She asked me if this was the best idea.

  I thought it would be a distraction, but I was too distracted to even be distracted.

  “Dr. Simmons, you need to answer the question.”

  I turn to the judge slowly. The slight, older blonde woman with a stern expression. I am answering the question... the victim was strangled before she was shot. There was blood from the other victims tainting the hand pattern on her neck. It’s in my head, my notes, my recording, my case reports...it won’t come out of my mouth.

  “I...” my voice trails, “he had lung cancer and he never told me.” I whisper.

  “What?” Dean leans in, gives me a harsh whisper.

  “It was all a lie.” I say through hard teeth.

  “Dr. Simmons, if you do not answer the question I will have to hold you in contempt.” The judge adds.

  I hear the jurors whisper. I see Melinda lean forward and give a strong look. She looks so much older and put together in her all white outfit. I don’t know what to say, except that I don’t know why real words aren’t coming out. I didn’t talk to Melinda yesterday, she doesn’t know the dots connected in my head.

  Thom never cheated. He was sick, and he didn’t want to tell me. He lied to try and save me, but he broke me and now he can’t fix me.

  “Dr. Simmons, I’ll ask you again. Explain to the court your discovery, in the autopsy of the victim presented here.” He points to a photo of her head shot on the slab. I look back to him, with no words still.

  It’s all in my head, I swear. Ask me to write it down.

  “I just... lost so much time with him.” I rasp.

  Melinda stands just as the judge bangs her gavel, and Dean flusters as he tries to explain. I don’t know what to say, I just watch
the events unfold. She doesn’t hold me in contempt, but I am escorted out and Melinda is on my co tail. She has me in a secluded corner sitting down in seconds.

  “Perrie, are you okay?” She holds my shoulders and finds my gaze.

  I stare at her; the brown of her eyes is soothing in a way. The scent of her sweet oils and perfume is intoxicating.

  “I... Thom...” my breath catches.

  As my vision blurs I see her shake her head and the last thing I notice is her long black hair fanning my direction as I fall against her.

  Nothing else happens until I open my eyes again, and I am laying down. The sheets reek of hospital and sickness. Even the morgue smells better.

  I wipe my eyes and feel better from before. My head swarms with the memory of what I did. I had no doubt I tarnished my career, put a black mark on my white ledger. I didn’t have time to think on it before Melinda made herself known.

  “Hey, you’re up. Want water?”

  I nod.

  She hands me the cup and sits by me as I drink. I’m still in my clothes from before, so I still don’t know what happened.

  “Thanks. How bad is it?” I look in her eyes. She tucks her jet black, straight hair behind her ear. I only know it isn’t hers, because I’ve seen her real hair on skype once.

  “The DA guy was pissed. After you left, he got the judge to move your testimony. Hopefully you’ll be a little better by Thursday, because that’s when they said. It isn’t bad, I promise.”

  I nod, believing her. People had made worst career moves. Even still, I went all crazy in court.

  “So how did I get here?”

  “I brought you.” She says sarcastically, but it doesn’t lighten the mood as usual.

  “They gave you some sedatives just to sleep everything off. How do you feel?”

  “A bit clearer in the head. Still... shitty.”

  “I can imagine. Are you hungry? You should eat.”

  I shrug. I feel my stomach pinching.

  “Thanks for being here.” I tell her when she returns with a bagel and coffee.

  “I was already coming. And I wanted to spend time with you, good or bad.” She sighs.

  “Yeah. Good or bad.”

  She rubs my knee softly. I eat a few bites and have some coffee. It makes me feel slightly new. I decide it’s time to tell her.

  “Thom never cheated on me. I know you kind of hated him for that, but he didn’t.” I stand up and stretch out.

  Everything is stiff and sore. A look at the news on television tells me it’s the end of the day. I wasn’t out for long.

  “How do you know?”

  I face the window for a moment, when I turn to her I hope she understands. “I always knew something was off with the whole thing. But after finding out he had cancer, and... I just knew he used that lie to break up with me. Lied to me so I wouldn’t be worried about him, I guess. He always told me how hard it was when his mom was sick. I think he just didn’t want that for me.”

  I always knew that I knew Thom very well. It didn’t take long for these pieces to come together. I always felt odd about the whole thing, and now I finally knew why.

  Melinda nods slowly. “It isn’t farfetched. I just wish I could hear it from him.” She is defensive.

  My throat lumps as I swallow. “Me too.” I sniffle. I wipe invisible tears until they start to fall, and I rapidly wipe until I give up and just hide my face in my hands as I cry. I think really cry for the first time since Thom was rushed here.

  Before it was just like with mom. Everything, I just kept it bundled up inside. Thinking I could be normal; go to court and do my work, but I couldn’t. Thom was too much a part of me to be able to function without him.

  I am alone for a moment until I feel Melinda wrap her arms around me. My head falls to the crook of her neck, as she stands a few inches shorter than me. Her hug is so warm and so rare, because she isn’t much for affection, but it’s all I have in the moment. I spend a long while just crying for everything. For time missed, time gone... time we don’t have anymore.

  “I can’t believe this is happening.” I stutter. My gut wrenches as it curls in on me. that gaping hole with the burnt edges has opened up and the scent is nauseating, the pain crippling.

  “I know. I know.” She rubs my back and hugs me tighter.

  It isn’t until her shirt is soaked and I am tired of standing that we separate. I get the hell out of the hospital room and we head for the lounge. I don’t want to see anyone, so I’m lucky no one is there. Stan calls me, saying he came and I tell him where to go. As far as I know, Thom’s friends have surgeries keeping them. Clem constantly checks on me, and even Declan calls. Dad is another story, I can’t bring myself to tell him.

  Melinda is making herself coffee when Stan walks in. He looks jet lagged in his khakis and sweat shirt. His eyes are tired and so sad, and I remember, that this was his son. I get up and hug him. He holds me tight in the hug and I hate that he feels so much like Thom, even smells a bit like him.

  “You should have told him.” I whisper so Melinda doesn’t hear. Something in him breaks and I feel the sobs coming.

  “I know.”

  We hug a moment longer and then separate. I wipe the stray tears and he pinches the bridge of his nose as he clears his throat. Stan greets Melinda, they only knew each other in passing.

  “It really is nice to meet you. Besides the circumstances... the surgical research world can’t stop talking about you.” Stan tells Melinda. She smiles softly as she shrugs. Her confidence is never mistaken for cockiness.

  “Thank you.”

  I find my way to Thom’s cubby, because it has three Henley’s neatly folded in it. I go over and pick one up. The smell is him all the way. Some bustle in the doorway makes me look up. I see Staci, years older but still the same with three others.

  “Hey.” I smile softly. Staci waves the others and they all come in. Stan has apparently met them.

  “Hey, Perrie. This is Maci, and Brock, Steve, and David.” She points them out. Maci is a petite dirty blonde with kind blue eyes, and next to her is David, and then Brock; who looks more like a male model than a doctor. Steve has an older, regal look to him.

  “Nice to meet you.” I nervously tuck my hair away, concerned about how I look. I just woke up and have had a rough night, and day. It makes me nervous in front of them.

  “You too.” They say respectively.

  “You know I once asked Thom if you were hot, he was definitely right.” Brock gives me a warm smile and a mock douche look that makes me smile a little.

  “Thanks, I think.” I cross my arms.

  “I hope we can talk more later, but I have to get home.” Steve steps between them and touches my shoulder kindly. I nod before he leaves.

  “Wife and kids. He has no life anymore.” Brock says.

  “You’re such an asshole.” Maci rolls her eyes.

  I am taken aback but Staci just smiles like it’s normal.

  “Well, we just wanted to come see you guys. Um, we already saw him... so.” Staci swallows. I knew she was close to Thom, probably the most out of all of them.

  “Thank you.” I hug her, and then Maci and Brock.

  They’re all so friendly, I think as they leave.

  “You ready?” Melinda asks me once they’re gone.

  I glance at his shirts in the cubby and see the watch I got him so many years ago in there. It makes my stomach drop lower than it already is.

  “Stan should go first.” I look at him, communicating with my eyes.

  He nods, and we head to his room.

  The walk is long and painful. Each step is heavier, louder. Until we get to his suite. I hear the noises; the machines from outside. Melinda and I sit down in the chair outside the door as Stan goes in, he nods to me before shutting the door.

  “What is that about?” Melinda asks softly. The floor is quiet, only the nurse’s station has any activity.

  I sigh, as it’s useless to keep it t
o myself. We are all kind our own little family together.

  “Stan is Thom’s dad.”

  Melinda holds back a laugh or tries to. “I’m so sorry. I thought you were joking. Shit.” She fiddles with her diamond bracelet.

  “I thought his dad ditched them.” She adds.

  “Well, Thom thinks so too. But he didn’t. It was always Stan. And he was around, but his history with his mom made it so it was on her terms. Hence, Uncle Stan.”

  “Wow. I thought white people didn’t have drama like that.” Melinda mutters. I manage a laugh, a semi real one.

  Clem calls me again and I talk with her. Tell her I am about to go in and see him, that she doesn’t need to come.

  “I can come up you know.”

  “No, it’s... okay. For now.”

  “And what about you?”

  “I uh... almost got held in contempt in court.”

  “Oh shit... I told you that you shouldn’t have gone. But are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. The hearing got moved. Honestly, I’m lucky it wasn’t worse. They could have thrown everything out. The whole case is built on those autopsies. That I did and am responsible for.”

  “Right. You can’t go crazy... but are you sure you don’t want me to come up?”

  “I’m sure. And Melinda is here, I’ll be fine.”

  “Oh yeah, my replacement.” She snorts.

  “Okay, Clem.” I sigh.

  “Well I love you, and you call me if you need anything.”

  “I will. I love you too.”

  Melinda and I sit for a while until I hear the familiar shout. Stan must have said something by now.

  “I hope it doesn’t set him off.” I say. I bite my nails and Melinda swats my hand away.

  “It will be fine. Nothing can be worse than that surgery. All thirteen hours of it. Or the coma afterwards.”

  It has been just under two days since I found him...

  “True. I hope. I need to get ready for this trial. I can’t be known as the medical examiner that can’t talk about autopsies.”

  She scoffs, “you have performed so well before, it will cloud over. I promise.”

  I look at Melinda, her stern look convinces me.

  The click of the wide wooden door gets my attention. Stan has a poker face down to perfection, so he is hard to read. He just shakes his head once and my heart sinks. I really thought it would be different. I stand and squeeze his arm once before I go inside.