Part I:
Need me? Tristan was stupefied Why me?
Then a sickening thought struck him just as the
nurse put it into words, “It’s Miss Hamilton, sir. We thought it would be best
if – ” she was cut short as the doctor bolted up, toppling his office chair. He
was across the room in less than two seconds, but then remembered Gabriel was
there. He whipped his head around just as Doctor Redwood said, “Go. We’ll talk
later.”
Wasting no time, he sprinted outside with the nurse
at his heels. He didn’t even stop to deposit his items to Mr. Johnson as
heart-wrenching scenarios flashed inside his mind, each more terrifying than
the one before.
Tristan didn’t dare ask what happened; he’d
completely burst to smithereens if he did. He wouldn’t be able to face it, and
face her.
The atmosphere changed almost instantly when they
emerged on the ward. People made way for them automatically, giving Tristan worried
looks.
He found those completely pointless. He wasn’t the one needing help here, he wasn’t the one in pain.
“Tristan!”
It was Nika. Her doe-eyes large with worry, she met
him halfway, and strutted along with him towards the room. She only said two
words, and her voice was deeply concerned although Tristan could sense it mostly
with confusion,
“It’s different.” she said.
Tristan’s throat seemed to be blocked, and so couldn’t
speak, couldn’t respond to her statement. Then he heard her.
“Do you understand? Do you hear me?” a sob, then, “She
lied to me – do you understand? Can you hear
me?”
His face crumpled in agony, Tristan took the last
few steps and saw that door 572 was ajar, revealing a small crowd of people around
a depressing scene – Reeya’s face was streaked with tears, her shoulder
trembling with silent sobs as she held a nurse by the shoulders. The nurse was
trying to calm her down, but in vain. Tristan didn’t even register the fact
that all the nurses were females, and the men just watched outside, some even
taking notes.
The room was in a mess. Her finished painting was
ruined. The bedsheets were torn, and the stool where Tristan usually sat was in
splinters. The bed was even upturned.
Close to breaking down, Tristan stared to step
forward, but one of the doctors stopped him just as he was crossing the
threshold, “Are you crazy? She won’t let any male to get near – she almost
choked us to death – ”
“Get off me,” he growled, and without intending to,
he pushed the man aside rather harshly and went to the crying girl in the
middle of the room. She shook the nurse and whispered urgently, “Tell him to
come back. Please, I – I don’t want to stay here anymore, he’ll take me back. I
want to go home – I want to – ” sobs rocked her body once again, and she bowed
her head, her fingers digging on the nurse’s flesh.
“Dear, just take deep breaths – ”
“No! Take me back there – I would do it all over again. I
want them to go back, tell them that!”
“Just calm down – ”
“Can’t you hear me? Don’t you understand?” she asked again, desperate.
All through it, Tristan tried to get hold of himself
in the midst of the pain ripping at him. Reeya…
“Reeya?” he whispered, his voice barely above a
breath.
Her eyes blurred with tears, she turned to him,
seemed confused for a few moments, and then she sobbed again, more
heart-breaking this time. She let go of the nurse and went to his outstretched arms,
burying her face in his chest.
“So horrible – I don’t to stay here anymore, help
me. I can’t get it out of my head – ”
“Shh,” Feeling numb, Tristan smoothed her hair as he
always did, trying to ignore the erratic beating of his heart and also his own
fear. He tightened his arms around her. The trembling of her body was making
him quite hysterical. “I’m here, shh. Stop crying, no one’s going to – ”
“I want to go home – I need to. Please tell him to stop – I don’t want him in my head anymore – ”
“We’re going home,” he whispered to her, leaning
slightly to her ear. Kissing the side of her head, he whispered again, “You’re
getting out of here, okay? We’re going home.”
Her arms encircled his torso. She didn’t say
anything. Slowly, her sobs begin to subside, and Tristan signalled the nurses
to clean up the room.
Several of them left, leaving only Nika, Kate, and
the nurse went to his office alone to do the job. He barely heard the low
murmurs of the doctors,
“Partiality?”
“More possibly familiarity. Reminders of someone
prior to the incidents – ”
“Probably both?”
Then their voices trailed away as they left.
“Were you telling the truth?”
Looking at the tired face in the circle of his arms,
he solemnly nodded. Tristan smoothed her cheek with his thumb, and pulled
strands of hair away from her brown eyes. He wasn’t thinking straight. Her high
nose was red from all the crying, and her eyes were swollen.
“We’re going today. You just have to get ready,
okay?”
She nodded her head and then buried her face in his
chest again. She didn’t seem to mind that it was soaked with her tears.
As the door clicked shut and they were left alone,
Tristan pressed his cheek against her head. He loved the way his skin brushed
against her hair. “Don’t do that again, okay? Please don’t.”
“I – what? Do what?” she asked with a muffled voice.
“Don’t…don’t slip away from me again. Stay with me.”
It seemed an eternity before she gave a response
Tristan wasn’t expecting at all.
“I’m trying.”
Part II:
Reeya didn’t have a lot of possessions, so it was
within short matter of time that Tristan was able to get ready for their
departure.
His new fish bowl with Harry and Ron in it was
secured on the dashboard of his Sedan, as well as his box full of office files.
He shrugged his backpack over his shoulder and cast one sweeping look around
his bare room.
He wasn’t sure if he’d miss the place that much. The
prospect of having Reeya inside his home just makes any other scenarios pale.
While he walked away from the office, he consulted
the sheet of paper attached to his newly purchased clipboard. Printed on it was
the medication Reeya had been taking in since she was admitted.
Laxinogenic…
His brow creased. He knew Laxino is under the sedative
class, but aside from calming Reeya down and relaxing her muscles, by the way
she’s looking right now, he’d have to take special care of the doses.
Withdrawal phenomenon is usually the case if the use is abruptly stopped, and
he didn’t want that to happen when he gave her the wrong amounts.
“Well, moving away without saying goodbye, aren’t
you?”
Kate appeared at his side and kept up with his pace.
She smiled good-naturedly, “The new recruits won’t know what they’re missing.”
A chuckle came up from Tristan. “Not likely. And it’s
not really goodbye, anyway. I still work for the place – I’ll visit as often as
I can and put all of you out of your misery.”
“As often as you can, huh?” she nodded slowly,
though it seemed a wee bit mocking, “Yeah, that would be about once in a pink
moon.”
Before he can even react, she went to the left
corridor, a happy smile etched on her face.
Pausing only for a fraction of a second, Tristan
went on walking with a nervous little grin. He dropped the unnecessary items by
Pete’s station, and upon making sure on the security of his things, he went inside
the ever-familiar ward.
As he swung the door open to Reeya’s room, she
straightened up on the bed immediately. The nurses already changed her hospital
gown to a cotton t-shirt and a pair of white slacks. Tristan had to blink
several times to steady himself. He felt like a pole had been driven between
his eyes.
She asked quietly, “Can we go now?”
“Yes. Yes, of course.” he said, closing the door
behind him. He took the few quick steps to her side and sat down, just close enough
for their shoulders to touch. Tristan felt light-headed. She really looked good
with the almost-normal clothes she wore. “D’you want to bring anything with
you?”
“Only these.” She bent down and put a brown paper
bag on her lap from the floor, “Nika paced them for me.”
Tristan smiled. Although he had to strain his ears
because he was so hopelessly distracted by her pretty face, he noticed a hint
of sadness in her tone.
“We’ll see Nika, again. And Kate, too.”
Reeya nodded, rubbing the edge of her shirt between
her fingers and keeping her gaze down, “And your friend, Gab.”
Tristan laughed softly. It was amazing she could
even recall the names. “Yeah, Gab. He’ll make time for me.”
Pursing her lips, she finally met his topaz eyes, “Will
anyone else be at your home, or just you and me?”
His heart was beating impossible loud. Tristan
replied with conflicted emotions,
“Just you and me.”
No comments:
Post a Comment