Trapped (25 page)

“
S
he told me once that
Stella
controlled her.
Stella planned on taking my light
from me. She intended on
transfer
ring it to her body
somehow
, the same
thing Abigail wanted to do
.
They were attracted to my light.
I don’t understand
Elizabeth
,
how
could
they have taken it from me?
” I
cried as I
sat down on the couch, pulling
one of the pillows into my chest and wept. As I did this the pillow vanished
from my hands
. The roof of the house blew into the ocean. The windows shattered. I lo
oked up at Elizabeth
in horror.
Astonishingly
she stood
beside me, smiling and holding
my cup of tea
in her hand, as though she
watched an amusing show
.

“Don’t get too comfortable here Natalie or you
will never find your
way
home again,” s
he advised
as my roof reappeared above me
.

“
Stop crying and l
isten to me
closely.
Beth and Stella are sisters
. Her whole story of being preg
nant an
d ill is only half true.
Stella
is the one
th
at had the miscarriage. Beth became
so saddened by her sister
’
s death that she took her own life. She has hated herself ever since for doing something so stupid. All she
has
wanted
for
all these years
i
s another chance
to live
. Stella
co
nvinced
Beth
that you could give her the
life
she craved. Her compulsion
to steal the light from you
grew.
What t
hey didn’t
understand is that
when they br
ought you so close to death you
managed to escape
in
to this realm
and
away from them
.
You should know that they are searching for you, just as Abigail did. They will find you here eventually too but Hayden is keeping them distracted for now. This place your in
is kind of like what the Christians call limbo
or purgatory
. It is a waiting room for the
finale
afterlife. All the places you have been and keep returning too in this realm are just your own thoughts and emotions keep
ing you busy while you wait,” s
he smiled
as she explained all this to me
, like I am
suppose
d
to be reli
e
ved by this information
somehow
.

“Why is there something
chasing me than? Following me? Why does it feel like s
omething evil? How is that keeping me busy?” I asked bitterly.

“It is still you Natalie
, all of it
. It is your darkne
ss. We all have
darkness
inside of us
. You have
bitterness in your heart that has been gro
wing since you were a child. This
darkne
ss will not follow you to your afterlife
but it will stay with you here,” she explained as s
he took a sip of my tea and sat down beside me on the couch.

“The difference between you and the others that have come to this place is that you are not dead yet Natalie. Your body is alive and well and it
’
s waiting for you.” She took another sip
as I heard the
wave’s
crash
louder
.

“Elizabeth, how do I wake up?” I cried, feeling beaten. All this time I
ran only from myself.

"My darli
ng Natalie, you know what to do,
" she whispered. I shook my head.

"Why won't you just tell me? Why did my mother tell me to just
‘
wake up
’
? I don’t know how?" I yelled. I threw my hands in the air and turned to the ocean. As I watched
the waves grow Elizabeth placed
her hands on my shoulder
s
.

“
All you have to do is believe you are awake and it will happen.
As I’ve
told, you
before, Natalie you
hav
e to stop running,
clear your mind of al
l the dark
ness
that surrounds you. T
ake control of your head and your body will follow
you
, demand this
nightmare
to end
.
There is no great
secret
Natalie
. All this time you have been running and searching for something
that
you already have. You just have to stop and be here in this moment,
wide
awake,” she whispered as
she faded away and the wave
s grew to even higher heights, within seconds m
y house
disappeared into the ocean
.

“A
w
ake
n
,
”
I said calmly as I opened my eyes
, believing this time that it’
s
truly
happening
. No one interfered as I
cleared my mind. I
allowed my body to si
nk into
the ocean,
let
ting go of all the memories and
all the pain
. I let it all go.

I looked out
in
to
a dark and
silent
room, unsure of where
my body has
been taken
to
.
I dug my nail into
my
wrist, happy to feel the pain.
I took in a deep breat
h and slowly breathed out. I am alive and I am
awake. I turned
on
to
my
side and looke
d up at an IV bag hanging beside my bed
. I thought about pulling the needle out of my vein and running but decided n
ot to. I
knew w
ithout standing that my legs have grown weak. I needed to get some blood flow
back
into them first
.
I urgently needed to get my strength back, I
may have u
ninvited visitors soon, I thought of Elizabeth’s warning. Beth and Stella would still be looking for me.

I noticed
a beautiful bouquet of flowers
on the bedside table. I smiled as I thought of
Hayden
, visiting my lifeless body
and bringing me flowers
. I slowly sat up, feeling the stiffness in my muscles. I tr
ied to swallow, but my thro
at and my mouth were so
dry.

I didn’t fe
el confident enough to stand or
walk on my own
. Hanging beside my bed hung
a wire with a button on the end. Being no stranger to hospitals, I knew I could press it and someone would come rushing in.
I wondered if needing
water is
a good enough reason
to press it
. Before I had a chance I saw a face in the doorway. A woman I ha
ve
never seen before stood
there, gasping, like she wanted to yell but couldn’t
get it out. I smiled uncomfortabl
y
at her
.

“Would you be able to get me a glass of water?” I asked
as she slowly opened the door wider
. She jumped
and shrieked hysterically
.

“Yes Natalie, yes I can get you some water!”
she exclaimed as she
went running out of the room.

Upon her return, she walked in with
two
other
nurses and
a doctor
. She held the
glass of
water out for
me. I lifted my arms up to grab it, noticing they were all watching me do this.

“Excellent Natalie, I am thrilled
to see you functioning so well
so soon
. Usually afte
r being in a coma
for so long
it can take quite a
while for
your
muscle movements to be
so
controlled. I’m very pleased that I happened to be
here
so
early this morning
,
to see you wake up,” s
he smiled as she took my pulse and listened to my heart
beat
.

“Do you have any aches or pains?” she asked
as she looked into my eyes
.

“No, I don’t think so,
” I replied,
“
but I haven’t stood up
on my own
yet
.”
The doctor
’
s pager went off.

“I’ll be back to check on you
again soon
. I can’t wait
to see you up and moving around,” she touched my arm
gently
the
n left.

“Natalie, I’ve called Hayden,” t
he fi
rst nurse I saw upon waking informed me
.

“Oh, thank you, what time is it
anyway
?” I asked.

“It’s five
in the morning, but I’m sure he won’t mind
,
” she said smiling.

“Can I
get you anything else, besides water?” the second
nurse asked
.

“It may sound odd but I would love some pizza
,
” I said smiling.

“I’ll see what I can do,
”
she winked at me
the
n walked
towards the door
signaling the third nurse to follow her
.
Once they were
gone the
remaining
nurse sat on the bed and reached for my hand.

“Oh Natalie, y
ou are such
a lucky girl. Every day you are in a
coma, the chances of
you
waking
up
become slimmer
and slimmer
. I think y
ou should know that Hayden very rarely
left your side.
He has been here night and day,” s
he looked grim
suddenly.

“Where is he now than?” I a
sked skeptically. Not that I didn’t appreciate his loyalty, but I wasn’t
happy
about him not living his life either,
being stuck
here in a hospital beside a coma
tose woman
, waiting for a miracle
.

“He had to leave last nig
ht, just before midnight. He
received a call from an old friend he said. It sounded like an emergency. He really didn’t want to go but he said he had no
choice
,
”
she sighed, squeezing my hand.
I thought
it must have been Clive. Hayden would do almost anything for him.

“What’s your name?” I asked. This woman seemed to know a
lot about me and Hayden.

“
Louisa
.”

“Luiza
, how long have I been here?” I needed to know how long Hayden has been waiting for me to wake up.
She sighed
again
as she
stood
up
. She walked to the window th
e
n turned
back
toward
s
me.

“You
were brought here six months ago
. Before
that
y
ou were at St. Peter’
s Hospital, downtown
,
for three weeks. I was told you were in the woods, for possibly five days
before being brought there,” s
he
said as she
looked away
from me
. I could tell she was emotio
nal. She must have thought I would never
come back.