Wrecked (17 page)

I arrived home and ran directly to my en suite shower as I tore away my clothes. Since I was a child, I always took nearly cold showers but not today. I turned the valve, and the scalding water sprayed out of the waterfall showerhead. The steam crept through the small bathroom, and I felt my anxiety triple because it always reminded me of fog, the fog that erased any sense of safety, love, and hope. And today it would once again rip away something from my life, despair.

I walked into the shower. I grabbed the washrag and the bottle of body wash and poured a generous amount. I vigorously washed every inch of my body, finally washing away the smeared make-up from my face. The body soap and water mixture fell into my mouth. Then it hit me, and my chest hurt like it would explode. I am displaced, and I’m almost at a loss with my emotions, but I felt like a piece of me had died in that office. It was almost as if I was going through an out of body experience because for just a moment I was blissfully happy, but now I was devastated in utter hopelessness. I pressed my body against the smooth, wet tiles and tried to fight the dizziness.
Have I lost touch with reality?

I got extreme vertigo, and I couldn’t breathe. I gasped for air as my tears intermingled with burning water. I felt like I might lose my balance, and I slid down the tile wall on to the floor with my washrag clutched to my chest. I had scrubbed my body raw, but now I couldn’t breathe. My body collapsed and fell down across the floor with my face pressed against the solid foundation. I began to see iridescent orbs in my vision as I realized that I would lose consciousness if I didn’t get up.

I am going to die. I am going to die of a broken heart.

My eyes fluttered but I couldn’t hold on any longer, and I fell into a black abyss that matched my soul.

*******

I heard someone’s voice in the distance, and I immediately believed that it was my mom.

“Mom!” I reached out my arm in hopes to grab her hand.

“Mylie!” Her voice was frantic, and I couldn’t wrap my mind around why she would feel so scared. We were in heaven now, and everything would be okay. Wait Nikolas! Dear God my brother. No, he would be alone. Once again I heard her voice louder, and it was frenzied. “Mylie please wake up!” She was crying, and it broke my heart.

“Don’t cry mom. I’m okay now.” But I wasn’t, the pain was still there in my chest, how could that be? Wasn’t dying a release of all the pain? Would I suffer this pain for all eternity?

*******

“MYLIE!” I heard Nik when he screamed my name, but my eyes were glued shut. I was so cold, and my body was numb. I was disoriented, and Nik clutched me in his arms. I felt his clothes on my skin as he rocked back and forth. “Please, Mylie,” he sobbed, “what did you do? I can’t lose you, please Mylie. Wake up!” I wanted to wake up, but I couldn’t; my body was contorted and stiff. “HELP!” he screamed, over and over again.

I heard the door slam against the wall. The voices of Diana, Rhonda, and Malory in unison, and I drifted away again. I could die now; Nik had three sisters.

Damien

I pumped harder because I loved this feeling, and I knew my body well enough to know when it was close. I pushed harder, as I felt my breath come shorter, but I knew I was nearly there by the tingles.

“You can do it baby!” Andrea panted, sweat glistening off her skin, as her breasts bounced with every motion. I pulled off my shirt and wiped the sweat away as I pushed myself further than I had ever before. I knew I was there when she yelled. “You cheated!” I had won the race and the bet. I bent over trying to catch my breath, when Andrea caught up to me as we finished our run behind the river.

“How did I cheat?” I asked between breaths. We ran for eight miles, from the university to this trail, but she didn’t know I ran six miles every day.

“Do you hear that?” Andrea asked, and I listened. It was so faint, but I could hear it.

“Is someone screaming help?” My blood went cold, and I ran towards the voice.

Help! Help me!

Andrea ran next to me, and my heart was racing. I knew this neighborhood, and it was only a few weeks ago I thought I had lost the love of my life near here. The plea for help was louder, and I saw three women running into Mylie’s house.
Dear God not again!
I ran even faster and went into the familiar yard and ran up the porch into the house where I heard a man yelling.

“Oh my God!” Malory cried out as she pushed her way into the small en suite bathroom. Rhonda blessed herself, but it was Mylie’s motionless naked body across Nik’s lap with the shower running over them that made me pause.

I fell to my knees and cried.
Not again! No!
I covered my face, and sobbed, fearful that I had lost her again. Andrea pulled me to her chest and rocked me. We watched as Malory checked Mylie’s pulse. Rhonda made a call to 911, and Diana shut off the water. Nik reached for the towel on the wall, and Diana pulled it over Mylie. She didn’t move, and my heart felt like it had shattered. Had I not just gone through this?

“She’s breathing, but it looks like she passed out, but I don’t know why?” Malory informed us all, and only dread came to my mind.

Was this my fault?
I pulled myself out of Andrea’s embrace, and she simply nodded. I needed to escape; this was too much, and if I lost her, she would never know how much I loved her. As I bounded out of the hallway lost in my thoughts, I ran into a body. I looked up to see Xavier seething.

“What the fuck? What are you doing here?” He pushed me against the wall with my shirt clenched in his fist. As he pulled back a fist, I didn’t even try to fight him off. I deserved it, but he didn’t know that.

“Damien?”

Andrea called out from Mylie’s room, and Xavier’s eyes widened. He let me go and ran out of the house.
What was that all about?
Andrea came into the hall just missing Xavier, but by the look on her face, she knew something occurred. “What happened?”

“Ran into Mylie’s boyfriend,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Boyfriend? Oh God, Xavier was here? And your face is in place?”

“He ran out when he heard you.”

“That’s weird.” I had to agree.

“What’s going in there?” I asked tentatively.

“They’re not sure, but Mylie’s pulse is slowing down. It doesn’t look good.”

“What could have happened?”

I paced the hall like a caged animal as I listened for the slightest sound of a siren approaching. Too often Mylie and sirens come together in a packaged deal. Pleas for help and Mylie’s name were one and the same. Yet, each time I wanted to be there to protect her.

Diana shoved past us, “Move!” She ran down the hall and came back with a portable defibrillator.

Panicked, I ran after her as we entered the room. I saw Malory and Nik both were doing CPR on Mylie. Rhonda was crying hysterically as she hugged herself, and Andrea had tears in her eyes.

“Damn it Mylie! You can’t die!” Nik cried out. Once again, I felt my legs go weak, and the room began to spin.

My face was wet with the tears I had already shed as I watched helplessly. Malory put the wires on Mylie’s chest, and the sound of long flat beep echoed through the room. Malory used the defibrillator, as we watched Mylie’s body convulse, and we all waited. Excruciating moments passed, and the flat line tone continued to beep. We wanted just one blip, but nothing. This couldn’t end like this! Then I heard a beep and hoped soared, but I quickly realized it was my phone. I ignored it, but Andrea pulled the phone from my pants pocket. She spoke quietly and passed me the phone. I tried to refuse, but her face told me I needed to take this call.

“Hello,” I answered hoarsely. A familiar voice spoke on the other end and forever changed my life.

“If you want her to live, take the rag and soap off her body. Tell your friends she’s been poisoned. He isn’t who you think he is; I saved her once, but I won’t always be watching.” The click of the phone ended the call. I heard the sirens, but I couldn’t believe what she had just said.

“Poison,” I said out loud as I ran to Mylie, yanking the rag from her clenched fist. The collective gasp around the room told me they had heard me.

“What?” Nik asked.

“She’s been poisoned,” I said louder.

“Fuck!” Malory yelled out as loud footsteps echoed through the house, but dread filled my heart in fear that it might be too late.

Chapter Twenty-One

Mylie

To say that I didn’t believe in miracles would be a lie because the truth was I knew they existed. I died, and everything changed for me. My once normal life, where I was confused that I loved the wrong guy, no longer mattered because he came every day. Although I knew he loved me, he had made his choice and quite possibly because he was afraid of love. Truth was that there was a chance I would never really know.

I could hear them discussing my prognosis. They’d throw words around: “brain activity was almost non-existent,” “vegetative state.” The most dreadful thing they said was when they urged Nik to take me off life support. I wanted to scream at the injustice of not being able to move or talk because I was alive! Damien protested against Malory, who would urge Nik to do right by me, and let me join our parents in heaven, but I knew I wouldn’t go right away, and that scared me.

When I died, there was no bright light for me. Just a void, and now I knew fear. I have never been afraid of dying, but now that I knew it wasn’t exactly how I had expected, I needed a chance to right the wrongs in my life. Starting with Xavier. He had never done any wrong to me, but I knew I had to try to love him. I would do whatever it took to wash away the memories that had been tainted by Damien. Second, I would find out why I was poisoned and by whom. Last, I would say goodbye to Damien because this was over.

God, if you can hear me, please listen to me. I need another chance to right the wrongs of my life, but most importantly, I can’t leave my brother.

******

I don’t know how long I had been like this, but it was long enough to know that Nana and Gramps had left their retirement hideaway to be with Nik. I listened as Nana would read her erotic romance aloud, and if I could have laughed from shock, I would have. Rest assured, Nana and Christian had a titillating book romance going.

Damien would come and talk to me, but I chose to shut my mind to his pleas, which always ended with sorry. One night, after everyone had left after visiting hours, I heard someone come into my room. I knew the nurses would come to check on me all throughout the day and night, so I did not find this peculiar until I heard a soft voice speak.

“I know what you are going through Mylie, and I know you can hear me. It wasn’t too long ago when I was in this situation, but everyone forgot about me and left me for brain dead at a hospice. I know what you felt, when your chest felt like it was caving in, and you couldn’t breathe. This was done to you.” She paused. I replayed her message, and I knew someone had indeed tried to kill me. “He has fooled you all, just like he fooled me, and I nearly paid with my life. Follow your gut Mylie, it will save what life you have left.” There was a clink, and metal scraped against something hard. “I’ll make it better Mylie, but you need get justice for us.”

Justice? What did this all mean? Who had us fooled? Would I be able to figure it out in time, or would it be too late?

I thought I knew fear when I died, but now I know what the worse fear is. It knows what is waiting on the other side after death, and knowing that life must go on. I knew without a doubt someone intended to make my fear into a reality.

Damien

“No. It can’t be,” I choked out when as Rhonda arrived at my office with blotchy red skin, pink nose, and swollen eyes.

“She is alive,” she hiccupped, “for now.”

“You have to be joking. What happened?”

“I wish I was joking Damien.” She sniffed, and I pulled out my handkerchief, a habit my mother instilled in me since childhood because I was a sickly child. “Someone broke into her room and left a message.”

“What did it say?”