TEN

Tuesday mornings weren’t any different from any other morning. But Steph woke up to the cold  emptiness  of the hospital  room. Even  though the sunlight  was streaming through  the window,  the lights were still on. Her father wasn’t in the room. She was still drowsy from her sleep, and she had no energy to get up and get breakfast. She pressed the button that summoned the nurse, and a few seconds later, the nurse arrived arrived.

“You hungry, darling?” she said.

Steph shook her head.

“I’ll  get you something anyway.  Your father went  to work.” The  nurse  paused. “I’ll get you your breakfast.”

A few minutes later the nurse arrived with a tray. She set it on Steph’s lap and left the room. On  the tray was a  mug of hot  chocolate, two  oatmeal  raisin cookies,  a small bowl  of fruit cocktail,  a small triangle  sandwich, and  the traditional hospital red Jell-O. Steph ate the sandwich and the  fruit cocktail. She put the tray on  the table beside the bed and lay  down.  She had no  intention to sleep, but a few minutes later she closed her eyes and drifted into slumber.

 

Jeremy Cross  opened the  door of Steph’s  hospital room.  She was  sleeping,  her cheek  resting on  her hand. He  closed the  door and neared the bed. His daughter seemed happier  these  days, and he  knew it was  because  of Tim.  He stroked her  cheek and her hair.

“I’m sorry  I’ve been  so distant  from you  these past  few years, kid.” He told his sleeping  daughter. “I just  felt so lost your  mother  was gone. I’ve  been worrying  about you. And  I’ve been regretting you don’t have a mother to talk to. And now that you have that Tim kid, I  don’t really know  how to talk to you about that thing. But at least, I hope, you know that I love you.”

His  eyes landed on the tray beside the bed.  He took the cookies  and went out  of the room to go to the cafeteria and get a cup of coffee.

 

Steph heard the  door close.  She felt a  sense of  de ja vu. It  seemed that that only way people  could say what  they felt was  when she was  asleep. Tears  had sprung to her eyes, and she  had tried hard  not to cry when  her father  was talking  to her. She laughed to herself  when she saw  the two oatmeal  cookies on  the tray gone.  She wondered  how long it would  be till Tim would  come from school. It seemed  like she was sleeping for a majority of the day, and still the time seemed to go on forever.

 

Tim rushed to the hospital and stopped  to catch  his breath  before he  entered the door. She was sitting up,  mushing something that looked like red Jell-O. Her eyes bright-ened when she saw him, and she smiled widely as he walked towards the bed.

“How are you?” he asked.

“It’s so boring here.” she said. “What was taking the clock so long?”

“When will you be getting out of here?”

“I still don’t know if they still have to run a few tests.” She replied. “So it’s either tonight or tomorrow.”

Tim leaved over and lightly kissed her on her forehead. “Just feel better okay?”

She sighed and giggled. “You’re not who I thought you were.” She whispered.

“What did you think I was?” he asked.

“I thought you were like everybody else.”

“That I am not.”

“I know that now.” She said as he sat down at the edge of the bed.

“I can’t stay too long.” Tim said. “My parents want me to eat dinner with them.”

That moment Steph’s father entered. “How’re you doin’ kid?”

“I’m great.” She smiled.

“The doctor said you still have to stay here a few more hours.”

“Hi, Mr. Cross.” Tim waved.

“Hey Tim. Wanna grab a bite later?” he asked.

“No thanks Mr. Cross. My parents made plans.”

Tim’s  phone rang  and vibrated  in his pocket.  He whipped  it out and  read  the message. He sighed and stood up. “It seems I’ll have to be going.”

He  leaned down  and gently  kissed Steph  on the cheek.  She was  surprised,  and looked over at her father, but he just smiled. Tim walked out and Steph’s father followed.

 

Tim  was surprised  to find  Steph’s father  behind him. He closed the door behind him and faced Mr. Cross. There was an awkward pause.

“I know you have a relationship with my daughter.” Mr. Cross said.  “And I don’t know how long this  has been  going on.  But I’ve  noticed  that she’s  happier these days, and lately  she hasn’t  been getting  too many  attacks, and  I think it  has something to do with you.”

“Mr. Cross…” Tim said.

“All I’m  saying, kid,”  Mr. Cross said,  cutting in. “Is that I’m glad you came into her life,  in both our lives. You may not know it, but you’ve changed a lot of things in my household.”

Tim smiled. “She’s changed a lot of things in my life too.”

“That’s good, Tim. That’s how it’s supposed to be.”

 

Tim was  having dinner  with his parents  in a local  restaurant. It was raining hard and they  were seated  by the display  window. He  saw her  crossing  the  street,  her  hair damp, holding an umbrella. She looked so innocent and vulnerable.

He dropped his silverware on his plate and ran  outside. The rain came down hard, soaking his hair and clothes in his first few steps. He stepped under her umbrella.

“Hey.” He said.

Steph stopped, surprised. “Hi.”

“I was eating dinner with my parent when I saw you.”

She smiled. “Let me guess, you stepped out in the pouring rain just to say hello?”

“Exactly.” He said, brushing away her damp hair. “And this.”

He leaned down to kiss her, and he felt her smile when he closed his eyes and met her lips. He drew back and stroked her hair. “How are you?”

She giggled and smiled. “So much better.”

He planted another one on her cheek and walked back to the restaurant in the rain.

 

It was a sunny  Wednesday morning,  and Tim was debated  with himself whether or not to tell  Steph about his meeting with Bobby. He decided against it, for he knew she wouldn’t  want him to go,  and the issue  with Bobby would  never get done.  He saw  her approaching  him, and  he  could see she  was glad to  see him, though  he saw a  tinge  of sadness in  her eyes. He  knew she was  hiding something, and this time he didn’t want to know. Maybe it had  something to do  with him, for  there was  something  about the way her eyes  always seemed worried when they parted. He had a guess of what it was, and he didn’t want to think about it right now.

 

Steph immediately  wrapped  her arms around  him. He  was startled  at first,  then slowly  started  to tighten his  arms around  her. She took  a deep breath,  and smelled  his unique  perfume of  musk and plaster.  He had his face in her hair, where he could smell a faint  scent  of  paint  and  wildflowers.  She  could  hardly  tell from the  look in his  eyes that he was hiding something. But she  could see some  trouble in them, and  for once she brushed  the thought  away. It  seemed ridiculous for them to hide things from each other, when in the end they knew all along, or had an idea of what it was. Maybe they didn’t say this to each other because they  knew the other  already knew what  the secret was.  There was a thin line  between Fate and  Death. And through the way she looked at it, she really didn’t know which the good one was.

They headed inside the school, pretending not to know that something was wrong, even  though  Steph  knew  he  was in  trouble,  and Tim  knew he  was going to  get  into trouble; on Saturday specifically.

 

As though he  wanted trouble,  Father Time  seemed to  speed things up, and noon on Saturday  came all too soon.  They met at the park playground and then headed behind the gym as planned, but what they didn’t know was how it would end.

 

Steph was walking aimlessly  around town when  she ran into Sophie and some of her friends.  They were giggling  and whispering  to each other,  and then  all of a  sudden Sophie stepped out of the group and approached Steph.

“Seems like Tim has grown tired of you already, Steph.” Sophie said smugly. “We saw him hanging out with Bobby and some of his friends a while ago.”

A cold pang shot up her spine.

No.

But  even though  she denied the  thought, she knew  it was going  to happen.  She was  frozen  for  a few  seconds,  unconscious  of the  haughty  stares  of  Sophie  and  her clones. Then she snapped back to the present.

“Where  are they?”  She cried in fear,  menacingly stepping forward and clenching her fists.

“Why the hell should I tell you?” Sophie said.

“Because if  you knew better,  you wouldn’t  want your  friends to see  your pretty little face  messed up.”  Steph didn’t  know why she  was threatening Sophie. But she was frustrated with their childish games, and Tim was in trouble.

Today was the day.  Just like her curse  had predicted,  Tim was going to  die. But unlike  the past  circumstances,  she wasn’t  going  to  stand  idly  by.  She  was  going  to prevent Tim’s death.

Maybe something like cheating Death.

Sophie  backed away  a few steps  and glanced  at her friends,  panicked. “We saw them heading behind the gym.”

Steph didn’t waste any more time and ran as fast as she could.

Please let me get there in time.

 

Tim  and Bobby  were  behind  the  gymnasium,  just  like  they had  agreed.  Tim should  have  known  that Bobby  wouldn’t  fight fair.  Of course, his two henchmen were with him,  which proved  just how  scared Bobby  was. There  seemed to  be an unspoken rule: use  only their fists.  They neared each  other, till they were just a few feet away, but Tim was  cautious of  Bobby’s companions.  Tim and  Bobby were  still,  waiting  for  the other to  make the  first move.  Tim didn’t  budge, and Bobby, who looked kind of drunk, could wait  no longer.  Bobby shouted  and swiftly  tried to punch  Tim in  the  face.  Tim dodged and grabbed Bobby’s right arm,  which swished to the  right side of his face when he missed.  Taking advantage  of Bobby’s  drunkenness,  Tim pulled  his arm, and Bobby staggered  forward and  fell face down  on the ground.  He positioned Bobby’s arm on his back, and twisted it, which made Bobby cry out in pain.

All of a sudden Tim was on his back  being held down by the  two henchmen who were now  beating him  up. He  kicked one  in the  chest, and,  when one of his hands was free, punched the other in the face. By this time, Bobby was already up, rubbing his wrist. He charged at Tim, and when Tim dodged to the left, Bobby grabbed hold of his shirt and threw him down.  Tim gave Bobby an uppercut, but his body still ached from the punches of the other two.  Finally,  Bobby was able  to get his first  hit on Tim,  which was  on the stomach, and blew the wind out of Tim’s lungs.

Tim  saw a flash of  a knife in  Bobby’s hand, and though he already kind of knew Bobby wouldn’t  follow the rules,  he didn’t imagine  he would go  this far.  He raised his arms in defense,  but he knew it wouldn’t match against his knife. Bobby’s eyes were red with rage.  He was breathing  heavily, and  his hand  was about  to come down.  Thoughts swirled in  Tim’s mind.  In a second  his life would  end. His  mind wondered if  Anthony had felt the same way. It was true that history repeats itself. He saw Bobby’s hand quick-ly coming down as he heard cries and shouts of terror from the two henchmen. He  closed his eyes  and expected to  feel a sharp pain,  but instead  something heavy  landed on him, knocking the wind out of him. He heard a muffled slicing sound and a female voice gasp. He opened  his eyes, and saw  that Steph was on him, a knife sticking out on her shoulder blade. Bobby pulled  it out in shock,  and threw it on the floor a few feet away. He cursed and ran, and the two companions hurried  closely behind.  Tim’s body was stiff.  Seconds later, he sat up and had Steph in his arms. She was bleeding profusely and gasping for air. Oh, God.

 

Steph  tried not  to move.  Tim was  staring down at her with angry and frightened eyes. He was trembling, she could feel it.  Her whole  body felt cold,  but she  still tried to smile for him. Her thoughts drifted back to the letter she left on her desk:

 

I know when you read this I’ll be gone. I just wanted you to know I left this earth with no regrets. No, I don’t think I regret saving your life. It was because of that, the cross I was bearing wasn’t so heavy anymore. I’m happy that I met you, because without you, I would have died without knowing what a friend and lover is. I’m leaving you with peace of mind. Don’t regret all our fights. I know I’m not so good with words, and this is not a beautiful goodbye. But I want you to see how beautiful life is without me, so I hope you’ll appreciate the time I have given you. I’ll be waiting up here for you; maybe I’ll even bump into your brother. We’ll both watch over you. Thank you for taking away the pain and the emptiness, filling it with all the essentials of life.

I hope you’ll leave a small corner in your heart for me. That’s all I really need.

                                I love you,

                                 Stephanie

 

She had  written the  letter a few  days back. Just  in case. Because  even then  she knew that  in the end Tim  would get hurt, and it was now she had the courage to stand up and fight.  She knew  that once her  father would  come home, he would find it. He would read the  writing on the  envelope that  it  was  addressed  to  Tim.  And  once  he  got  the chance, he would give it.

“I’m sorry.”  Stephanie  whispered. “I  do seem to  recall that you didn’t want any attachments.”

“You never really seemed to listen to me.”

“I love you.” She said, then everything went black.

 

Timothy  was  seated  on  one  of  the  plastic  hospital  chairs.  His  hands  were clutching  his hair,  and his  head was  bent down.  He seemed to be taking turns with Mr. Cross in  pacing the  floor. Everything  was cold  and empty,  like the  way he was feeling inside. It  was nerve  breaking  to wait.  What if they  had brought  her to the  hospital too late? What if she would never come back? What could he do?

I’ll leave. He thought. I stayed for her. And now there’s no reason to stay.

He  had to stay  together, in  case… in  case of what?  How could he…?  His guilt seemed to  double, which  made everything  worse. He would  leave. He  seemed to  harm everyone  he loved.  His heart  was acting  up again,  so he swallowed  another  one of his pills.  The emergency  room doors  burst open,  and the doctor stepped out. He walked to-wards them,  and Tim’s  hands started  to sweat.  Did she make  it? Did she  survive? Tim and Mr. Cross stood side by side, both tense and stiff, trying to look like they were  ready for  whatever was  coming.  The doctor  stood a few  feet away,  and an  edgy atmosphere hung above them. The doctor didn’t say anything, and neither did they. But he smiled and nodded. The edginess broke, and both of them burst in tears and laughter.

“She’s fine.” The doctor finally said.

“Where is she?” Mr. Cross said.

The  doctor motioned  to them and  they both  followed.  They walked  past  some hallways  and finally  he opened  one of the  doors. None  wanted to  venture in,  afraid of what they would see inside.

“She’s fine.” The doctor repeated. “She’s still under anesthesia.”

They  both walked  in  and  they  saw her.  Her eyes were  closed,  and there  were tubes and wires  attached to her  and a machine  that beeped to the sound of her heart. She had some bandages  one her left shoulder.  They both went beside the  hospital bed.  They both  looked down at her.  Tim brushed his  hand against hers. It was cold, so he took it in his hand.  Mr. Cross  brushed away  the stray hairs  on her face. They were quiet, but both were  relieved to  finally be with  the last person  whom they  knew made  their life happy and worthwhile.

 

Steph woke  up to a bright  light. She  shivered from  the cold  and tried  to  move. There was a sharp pang of pain on her left shoulder and she gasped.

“Steph?” she heard a voice say.

It was familiar and homey. “Tim?”

“Oh, God.” He said. She heard some shuffling and finally saw him beside the bed. “You’re awake.”

She  smiled, and her chest started to ache again. She moved her hand, palm facing up, not  saying  anything.  He took it,  and she felt his  warmth.  She heard  a fast  beeping sound,  and realized  it was the  machine  beside her  which  indicated  her heartbeat . Her eyes  widened, knowing that he could hear it too. He chuckled, and leaned closer, then his lips landed gently on hers.

“Where’s dad?” she asked.

“He’s talking to the doctor.”

“How long have I been out?”

“Three days.”

There was a silence between them. She knew what was coming next. What he was going to ask. He looked angrily down at her, but there was a tinge of sadness and regret.

“You knew?” he said.

She  nodded. She  knew that Bobby  would come for him, and that it would end in an unfair fight. She knew that if she didn’t do  anything about it, Timothy  would die. She knew  that it might have ended  everything for her,  but at least she  gave him  more  time. She couldn’t believe she made the decision   for a few seconds in the park.  She knew that the glimmer of  sadness and regret in his eyes had no connection to her, but was about his brother, about  not doing  what she did.  But she knew  that even  though he  was thinking about regrets,  he was  also  thinking about  her. Tim  suddenly  bent  down  and  his  arm  circled her.  His fingers  tangled  in  her  hair,  and she  felt  him clutch  it tightly.  “Don’t ever  do that to  me  again.”  He said,  his voice  breaking.  She  knew  he  wasn’t  crying,  but it was  his way of telling  her how  scared he was.  They stayed  like  that  for a while,  while outside  the window,  life went on,  like nothing was happening.

Everything ends…  eventually. But  this time,  maybe  Fate  and  Death  were  not on their side, and  through this,  they were  able to  find a small  glimmer of hope. A hope that maybe they could make things better, and still give them the chance to be together.

Maybe, for the rest of their lives.

Reviews

[Anonymous Girl]

Man!! Keep writing this story!! Its really good!!!
100/100

[MickeyM]

This was really great story

[Dragon]

I love your story here. You give the characters so much meaning into your book, if I may say. This is rare for me to look and read the entire thing of the story. Great work! :)