-Flash Forward-
"You give me a worm for dinner? What kind of wife are you, Kay Faraday-Edgeworth?" Cried Edgeworth. Bryan and Gregory exchanged glances and, muttered, "Let's get away from this madman," and then hurriedly left the kitchen and went to their rooms. Kay sighed deeply, and stroked Edgeworth's hair gently.
"Miles, honey, it's not a worm. This is ramen noodles, Miles. You love ramen noodles, this is one of your favorite foods, remember?"
"Don't joke, Kay. How could I like a worm as one of my favorite food?" Edgeworth said again with a slightly rising tone. Kay glanced briefly at her husband's tranquilizer medicine bottle. The bottle still looked full. It seemed he'd forgotten to take his medication again.
"You forgot to take your medication again, Miles?"
"And if yes, why? I wanted to eat dinner, not eat medicine!" Edgeworth shoved the plate in front of him with his fists. "Get rid of this worm, I need food, not a worm!"
"This is food, Miles, not worms. Here, I'll prove it to you." Kay takes spoonful of the ramen and forcibly shoved the spoon into his mouth. For a moment, Edgeworth almost choked, but he finally chew and swallowed the ramen.
"Delicious!" Said Edgeworth. "It is not a worm!"
"Well, what I told you! Believe in your wife! Ramen noodles are indeed a delicious food! Especially if the ramen noodle is the result of my cooking!" teased Kay as she kissed Edgeworth's cheeks.
"Feed me until the last spoon," Edgeworth said in a spoiled tone.
"All right, all right. You're such a spoiled boy." Kay giggled softly, then continued feeding him. The husband and wife laughed together, enjoying the ramen noodles.
Ah, if only the atmosphere of the house like this every day. Could they keep laughing happily and become harmonious again, like they used to be?
-Flash Forward-
Now, it seemed Edgeworth didn't just hear strange voices in his head, but he also saw various human shadowy figures who always appeared in front of him, wherever he went, whichever way he sees. If he drank his medicine, the shadows and the voices stopped showing up, but when he was not taking his medication, the shadows and the voices would become very clear. He started being unable to tell the difference which one was his fantasies, or which people were really standing in front of him.
He sat in his office, enjoying the newspaper. Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps. He looked up from his paper, and saw the shadow of the man, who always haunted him, standing right in front of him.
He blinked a few times. The man's shadow became clearer, and he clutched his chest as he realized who it was.
Joe Darke. Holding a knife in his hand. And smiling, like a demon.
"Hi, Miles Edgeworth. Long time no see. Did you miss me?" His voice was cold and deep, making Edgeworth increasingly frightened. The man took a step forward, getting closer to the prosecutor.
"What are you doing here? You have been executed! You can't be alive anymore, no, no, this is impossible, go, go, go !"
"I want to get my revenge on you, Miles Edgeworth."
"Go, go, go, go!" Edgeworth was quite scared. He shouted as loudly as possible, hoping that someone would hear him and realize that someone was trying to kill him in his office, even though the person had died years ago.
Can ghosts can kill?Maybe yes.
He had to defend himself. No, he did not want someone kill him!
He swung his legs, and kicked the man's stomach, hard. Darke fell to the floor, lying on his back, moaning in pain. The knife that he held jumped out of his hand. Edgeworth jumped again, then he kicked and stepped on Darke's face repeatedly. He ignored Darke's shouts, begging him to stop. No, he had to keep kicking and stepping on the man's face before that creepy man finished him!
He then felt his body being shaken violently by two people, and something cold and long piercing his back. He groaned in pain and fell to the floor slowly. His vision became blurred. It turned out, someone was injecting something into his back.
"You've calmed down, Miles? Calm down, Miles, calm down. Inhale deeply." Edgeworth heard his wife's voice. Kay. He felt very irritated. How could she prevent him from defending himself against a man who was about to finish him off?
"Why are you interfering, Kay? He was about to kill me! I was just protecting myself! He pointed a knife into my heart! He was going to stab me! He's Joe Darke! His ghost came to get his revenge to me!"
"M-miles, there is no any Joe Darke in your office."
Edgeworth rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times. How shocked he was when he saw his adoptive sister, Franziska von Karma, lying supine on the floor, with her face battered, bloody, and bruised as a result of being kicked and trampled by him earlier. Her right hand was shaking, and had been holding something. Something that he'd thought was as a knife, was actually a big wrapped gift. He could read for a moment, the writing taped in the gift:
Happy birthday, my little brother Miles Edgeworth. From your beloved sister, Franziska von Karma.
Edgeworth covered his mouth with both of his hands.
He'd not kicked or trampled Darke's face. He'd kicked and trampled Franziska's face. His own sister.
He thought he would be killed, when in the fact, his sister was about to give him a birthday present.
"F-franziska, sorry, really, I thought you were Joe Darke, and ... and ..." Edgeworth sat on the floor and tried to hug his adopted sister. "I didn't mean to hurt you, really, I thought you were someone else ..."
"It's okay, little brother. Your wife had told me about your psychiatric disorders. It was my fault, I should have just dropped off this gift to Kay." Franziska got up from the floor slowly, and gently stroked her sister-in-law's back. Kay had run out of words and don't know what she must say.
"Take care of Miles well, okay, Kay? I have to go."
Edgeworth was stunned. Along with his own children, his other family, Franziska, must think he's crazy.
Is he really crazy? But Kay told him every day that he is not crazy!
Or was Kay telling lies to him?
-Flash Forward-
It's already 11 in the evening. Edgeworth slowly climbed into his bed. He turned briefly to his side. Kay was sleeping soundly, and snoring. Grinning a little, he bowed his head and kissed his wife's forehead. After that, he pulled up the blanket, closed his eyes and tried to sleep.
Just half an hour after he was asleep, Edgeworth was woken up by the sounds of footsteps and whispers.
He opened his eyes slowly, then turned on the bedroom light. He squinted, looking around frantically, trying to find the source of the voices. Eventually he didn't find anything, nor were the source of the sound of footsteps heard, so Edgeworth tried to sleep again.
But, a pair of hands held his eyes closed.
"Come, follow me, Miles Edgeworth."
A man wearing black clothes stood in front of his bed. The man's suits was very strange, in his right and left hand, it was like he was wearing a pair of wings.
"Who are you?" asked Edgeworth hoarsely.
"I am the angel Gabriel. Come, follow me, Miles Edgeworth."
He was stunned. "Angel Gabriel ...? You came to pick me up to go to heaven?"
"Come with me, Miles Edgeworth. Get out of your bed, now. I will bring you to a very beautiful place that you would have never imagined."
"Well ...Alright then.." Edgeworth stepped down from his bed, wearing Kay's slippers, then started to follow the 'Angel Gabriel'. Both of them stepped out of the room, down the stairs, got out of the house ... Then both of them stopped in front of a very beautiful church. The church was more like a palace in the tales he had read. The church had a lot of flicker colored lights, and a crystal door. Of course, all of it was just Edgeworth's fantasy. Because the church in front of him is just an ordinary church.
"Wow...this is very beautiful ..." Edgeworth murmured in awe.
"Come on, get in, Miles Edgeworth. In here, no one will think you're crazy."
-Flash Forward-
Kay woke up because she wanted to pee. She then realized that Edgeworth wasn't on his side of the bed. She felt very worried immediately. Frantically, she got out of bed, stepped out of the room, and started looking for her husband.
"Miles? Miles? Honey, where are you?"
No answer.
"Miles, don't play hide and seek! It is almost midnight! Come on, back to the room, and come back to sleep, Miles! You're making me scared, you know?"
She then burst open Bryan and Gregory's bedroom door.
"Mommy, what's wrong? Why are you yelling in the middle of the night? We are very sleepy, Mommy," said Gregory as he yawn widely.
"Gregory, Bryan, Daddy isn't in our bedroom. Daddy disappeared from home. Mommy can not find him anywhere."
"Oh," said Bryan with indifference. "Good then."
Kay glared at both of her sons. "What do you mean by 'good, then,' Bryan? Your father has just disappeared from home!"
"It's better this way, Mommy. Better Daddy away from this house. Me and Gregory are fed up with Daddy's strange behavior. He's always angry without cause, cursing at Mommy continuously, often talking to himself, crying for no reason, screaming almost every day..."
Kay felt her blood boil.
"Bryan! How could you say that about your own father!"
"And me and Gregory did not want to have a crazy father like him, Mommy! You're better off looking for a new father for us! Who won't make our friends laugh at us, and who won't make us ashamed!"
Kay swung her hand, ready to slap Bryan, but she lowered her hands again. No, she had promised and swore to herself that she would never hit her children. Sighing for a moment, she took out her cell phone, and called 911 to report that Edgeworth was missing.
"911 service, is there anything we can help you?"
"Yes, I'm Kay Faraday-Edgeworth, I want to report about a missing person. My husband, Miles Edgeworth, disappeared from home. "
"How long since your husband left home, Mrs. Edgeworth? "
"About two hours ago."
"2 hours ago? Mrs. Edgeworth, did you know, when reporting a missing person, it's minimum of 24 hours since the last time you saw them?"
"Yes, yes, I know about it," Kay said impatiently. "But my husband is schizophrenic and I'm really worried if he won't remember the way home."
"Alright then. We will form a team to search for your husband soon. Could you please tell us what kind of clothes that your husband was wearing since the last time you see him?"
"He was wearing maroon pajamas with a Steel Samurai pattern."
"Okay. We'll look for him. Good night, Mrs. Edgeworth."
"Good night, and thank you very much."
CLICK.
Kay's mind filled with concern. What if Miles had a recurrence and rampaged on the road? What if his hallucinations appeared, and he unknowingly hurt other people, or even hurt himself?
Miles, honey, no matter where you are, you must be fine.
-Flash Forward-
Three days later, the police team finally managed to find Edgeworth in St. Zebaoth's church. They found Edgeworth asleep in one of the church chairs, shivering, his hair disheveled, and his body smelling rank, because it had been three days since he'd taken a bath. It made him looks like a beggar.
"Miles, honey, let's go home." Kay whispered. Her heart was crushed to see her husband in such a state.
"I don't want to."
"Miles, if you stay here, you will starve and be cold continuously. Come with me, and I will always cook your favorite foods, and you can warm yourself at home. Let's go home now, okay?"
"Why would I go home? No one loves me. Everybody hates me. Everyone, even my own kids thinks I'm crazy. I'd better stay here. In here, I will not hurt anyone," said Edgeworth with trembling lips.
"Miles Edgeworth, listen to me! If no one loves you, why am I constantly calling you 'honey'? You know what the meaning of the word 'honey', right?"
Edgeworth blinked.
"Will you call 'honey' to the person that you hate, Miles?"
Edgeworth shook his head slowly.
"Well, that proof is more than enough, right? I love you, Miles Edgeworth. I never hated you. I will never get tired of saying this, but I love you, Miles Edgeworth, my handsome, hardworking, kind husband, more than anything in this world. Now, come home with me." Kay reached out her hands, and Edgeworth hold her hands, tightly.
Her hands felt so warm. He felt he wouldn't ever release his grip on his wife's hands.
-Flash Forward-
"You have to take him to an asylum, Mrs.Edgeworth."
"Before your husband kills others due to his craziness."
"Don't be in denial of your husband's condition, Mrs. Edgeworth."
"Your husband is crazy.Your husband is not sane.You have to accept it, Mrs.Edgeworth."
"Your husband is really dangerous if he stays in a normal people environment! You have to lock him in an asylum!"
Words like that were always heard by Kay every day. From Edgeworth's subordinates, friends, co-workers, or from neighbors. But she insisted she wouldn't bring her husband to an asylum. She believed if he drank his tranquilizer medicine regularly, everything would be fine, and he'd be completely cured. She believed it'd be enough with the medicines..
But eventually, Kay changed her mind after receiving a call from Edgeworth's office that told her Edgeworth almost jumped from his 12th floor office window. Fortunately, one of his subordinates had entered the office on time, and successfully prevented the incident.
Kay gave up. Perhaps asylum was the best place for Miles.
-Flash Forward-
"You lied to me."
"What do you mean, Miles?"
"You said you never stopped loving me. You said you loved me."
"And it's true! I will never lie to you, Miles!"
"Then why did you bring me here? Did you stop loving me? You also always said that I'm not crazy. Then, why did you bring me here? Why, Kay? This is where the crazy people gather. You want to dump me, right?"
Both of them were in St. Carolus asylum patient room. Edgeworth was wearing a white hospital gown, in front of his bed, there was an inscription: 'Miles Edgeworth, patient with Schizophrenia psychiatric disorders.'
Kay bit her lip.
"Because it's for your sake Miles. And of course, you're not crazy! You just have to undergo treatment to make you never again hear strange voices or see shadows again, Miles! You're not crazy, not at all!"
"Then why don't you just bring me to an ordinary hospital? Why, Kay?"
Kay was too confused to answer. She did not have an answer to the 'why' question. How to make Edgeworth understood that she was forced to do this? How to make Edgeworth understand that she did this for his own sake?
Edgeworth stared at Kay carefully. She could not answer his question. He understood. His wife had lied to him. She had stopped loving him. Just like the others, she thought he's crazy. She said words like that just because she's sorry for him. She did not tell the truth to him.
"You do not need to pretend pity and say you always love me just to make me feel better, Kay. If you think I'm crazy, just like the others, say so. I prefer painful honesty than an intoxicating lie."
"Miles! Enough!" Said Kay with a pool of unshed tears in her eyes. She approached Edgeworth's bed, and kissed his lips.
"Tomorrow I will be back again, honey. Take care of yourself well, okay?"
Edgeworth did not answer. He leaned back and tried to close his eyes. Somehow, Kay's kiss only made him feel worse.
-Flash Forward-
During the days that passed by in the asylum, Edgeworth felt very empty and lonely. Unlike other patients, who often walked in hospital room, he spent more time in bed. Sometimes, if he was going to sleep, he wished he had died in his sleep. Every day, he never stopped to ask why he was still alive. Kay visited him almost every day, but not too long, because she also needed to take care of Gregory and Bryan.
Only Kay who visited him every day. His closest friends, like Maya, Detective Gumshoe, even Wright, never visited him. Oh, of course, they would never visit him. Who wanted to be friends with a crazy man like him? How stupid of him, because sometimes he wished there would be someone other than Kay who visited him in the hospital. Edgeworth believed the reason Kay visited him every day was just because she was still his legal wife. He didn't know, his friends didn't visit him because Kay hadn't told them that he was being treated in an asylum.
Bryan and Gregory, his own children, never visited him either, and it destroyed Edgeworth's heart. He missed his children. He wished Gregory and Bryan would at least visit him once or twice. Every day, he was given medication and injected by doctors and nurses. The medication that the doctors and nurse gave was sufficiently effective, as the voices whispering in his head became unclear, and the voices sounded like a broken record lately. He felt better, although he still felt disturbed by the voices. He did not know how much longer he'd be treated in this asylum.
It had been three weeks since Edgeworth had been admitted into St. Carlous asylum. And, in the last four days, Kay had not visited him. It was because Gregory and Bryan had exams, and she had to keep an eye on both of them.
But, Edgeworth thought Kay had forgotten him.
He lay on his back on the hospital bed, tears slowly running down his cheeks. He felt alone. He felt forgotten. The voices appeared again in his head.
No one loves you, Miles Edgeworth. Even your own wife and your children hate you. They are ashamed to have a husband and father like you. They throw you here, into an asylum! Why are you still alive, Miles Edgeworth?
Yes, why was he still alive in this world?
-Flash Forward-
On the night of the fifth day of not having someone visit him, a woman with shoulder-length brown hair appeared, sitting on his bed. The woman was Lana Skye, Edgeworth's former girlfriend who had died more than 10 years ago in a plane crash.
"Who are you?" Edgeworth asked hoarsely.
"You don't remember me, Miles? I'm Lana. Your former boss and your legal wife."
"Wife?" Edgeworth asked in confusion. "But my wife's name is Kay, she has a gray hair, her hair is not brown! Go! You're not my wife!"
Lana, or Lana from Edgeworth's fantasy, was holding his hand gently.
"You are mistaken, Miles. Kay had died for more than 10 years ago. She was your first wife. You married to me after Kay died."
"Is that so?" Edgeworth swallowed. "And my children ... Bryan and Gregory ...? Are they dead too?"
"Yes," said Lana again. "Kay, and your children died in a plane crash 10 years ago, Miles."
Edgeworth felt increasingly confused and frightened. "But how? Previously, Kay always came to visit me here every day! How did she visit me if she's dead?"
"The one that visited you was Kay's ghost, Miles. She is not real."
Oh, that explained everything. Why Kay suddenly stopped visiting him. Why his children never visited him. Because a ghost certainly can't appear continuously.
He smiled a little. He felt relieved. It turned out, he was not 'unloved', he simply misunderstood the facts.
And again, Edgeworth trusted that his fantasies were real. Every day, he spoke with 'Lana', who never left his bed for a minute. 'Lana' read funny stories to him, feeding him a variety of delicious food, stroking his hair, singing him a lullaby if he was having trouble sleeping at night ... While Kay not yet visited again, because Bryan and Gregory's exams were still unfinished.
The presence of 'Lana' made Edgeworth feel loved again, and he really believed that 'Lana' was his original wife.
-Flash Forward-
As he slept soundly that night, Edgeworth was awakened by the sound of footsteps again. The footsteps sounded very loud, like its owner was wearing long boots. Moaning a little, Edgeworth opened his eyes, then got out of bed, wanting to find out who owned the sound of the footsteps.
He walked down the hospital hallway, and stepped into the one of the doctor's office. His eyes widened with fear as he saw Lana, his 'wife', gripped by Von Karma. Von Karma pointed a knife at 'Lana's neck, ready to stab her anytime. Von Karma smiled slyly. Actually, the man who Edgeworth saw was a doctor named Watson Jens, who was giving instructions to one of the nurses, named Adriana Forte.
"Let her go," Edgeworth whispered through clenched teeth.
"Of course not, Miles Edgeworth. You've lost your father, and you will lose your wife too! Just one thrust, and this woman will instantly die in front of you!" Von Karma's horrible laughter echoed in the room. Von Karma swung his arms, preparing to stab 'Lana's neck…
No! He would not let that happen. He indeed had failed to protect his father, and he must not fail to protect his wife!
Edgeworth jumped forward, and pushed 'Von Karma' until he bumped into the wall. He punched 'Von Karma' in the face repeatedly, then kicked 'Von Karma' many times, banging 'Von Karma's' head to the wall over and over again….
He saw a pair of scissors lying on the floor. He quickly picked up the scissors, trying to thrust it into 'Von Karma's' chest….
"OH MY GOD! MR. EDGEWORTH! CALM DOWN!"
Someone, or some people, gripped his stomach and legs very tightly. Edgeworth thrashed, trying to escape.
"He wants to kill my wife! Von Karma! He wanted to kill my wife! Let go me! Let go me! I must save her! I must save her!" Shouted Edgeworth.
"Take him to the isolation room immediately! And chain him in bed!"
Edgeworth felt hands lifting him from the floor, while he continued to struggle, revolting. The hands then brung him into a dark room, and laid him on the bed…
Suddenly, his body moved without his control of it. Then, white foam emerged from his mouth.
"Inject him to stop the seizing and after that, chain him in bed!" He could hear the faint sound of one of the doctors.
He could feel he was being injected multiple times, then his whole body suddenly felt cold and stiff. He closed his eyes slowly.
-Flash Forward-
When Edgeworth opened his eyes again, he felt the aura of darkness. Apparently, he was in the other room. The room looked very bleak, with little light, with walls of pale gray color. He did not want to be in this room! He must go! He tried to sit up, and get out of bed, but he was not able to move.
Edgeworth looked at his body. A chain tied him to the bed very tightly. He glanced down and saw the chain also binded his feet and hands. Then suddenly he realized, his neck felt heavy and cold. As it turned out, his neck was also fitted with a chain. With some difficulty he moved his head a little, and he saw the writing on the walls:
"ISOLATION ROOM, FOR DANGEROUS PATIENT ONLY"
Why had they chained and locked him in a dark room like this?
Why did they treat him like a vicious dogs or wild animal?
He'd just wants to save his wife, nothing more!
Why they did not treat him as a human being? Who had feelings?
Tears rolled down his cheeks, and he stared blankly at the ceiling, then sobbed loudly.
To be continued ...
