When Gabriella returned to her apartment she looked closer at the item the lady found and noticed it was only about 3 inches long, metal and hollow. It also had a saucer type of attachment on the one end of it.
"What the hell could this be" she wondered.
Disclaimer: I own this story. That's it.
Enjoy!
Chapter 10
Lily of the Valley
Gabriella looked at the small pipe and could not for life of her figure out what it was, so she put it back in her purse and went to take a shower.
As she was drying herself off she heard the phone ring. Gabriella quickly wrapped a towel on top of her head and ran to answer it.
"Hello?" Gabriella answered as she took the towel off of her head and began to dry her hair with her one free hand.
"Hi, Gabs, I need your help." Sharpay sounded frantic on the other end of the line.
"Ryan just called me and he can't get Kelsi out of the bathroom and she is crying hysterically. He is freaking out. I guess she is ranting on about some crazy shit that makes no sense. Something's not right Gabs."
'Oh my God Sharpay, what do you need me to do?"
"Can you please come pick me up so we can go to their place? I can't possibly drive right now. I'm shaking like a leaf. I'm so scared."
"O.k. I will be there in a few minutes. Just calm down, everything will be fine." Gabriella quickly threw on a pair of jeans and a cranberry colored t-shirt. She then grabbed her keys and purse and quickly ran out the door.
Gabriella honked her car horn when she pulled up at Sharpay's house. Sharpay immediately ran out and directed Gabriella which way to go.
"What is going on Sharpay? Did Ryan say anymore?" Gabriella asked.
"No, I have no idea. He is a wreck. He's never seen Kelsi like this. She is totally not herself. I don't know, he thinks maybe its stress from all the wedding stuff. He keeps blaming himself for not helping more.
"This is not about the wedding Shar. I mean I'm sure the stress of the wedding is there, but not enough to set her off and lock herself in a bathroom." Gabriella said as she sped through the streets.
"I don't know. I just need to get there and see if I can help. Ryan has tried everything and she is just ignoring his pleas and rambling on about weird shit. Ryan said it's like someone has taken over her body." Sharpay said as she motioned for Gabriella to pull over and park.
Gabriella pulled up to a small A-frame style house in the middle the block. Gabriella immediately noticed the beautiful aroma. It was a carpet of the ground cover, lily of the valley around the perimeter of a gorgeous birch tree. She thought this house was perfect for Ryan and Kelsi. It was like a doll house with the white picket fence and everything. Gabriella hated the fact that she was visiting for the first time on such tragic terms.
Sharpay and Gabriella scurried out of the car and ran up to the front door. They noticed the door was open, so they let themselves in and saw Ryan standing in a small narrow hallway in front of them pounding on a closed white door.
"Kelsi, come on honey, open up. Let me help you." Ryan pleaded.
"Is she o.k. Ry?" Sharpay asked as she approached him and put her arm around his shoulder.
"No, you try to get to her. I have tried everything. I have no idea what the hell is going on." Ryan wiped the tears from his eyes and walked across the room to sit in a chair. He sat down and put his head in his hands.
"Kelsi?" Sharpay said as she softly knocked on the door. "Can I come in babe? We can talk about what's going on."
"It's crazy." Kelsi yelled. "This stuff is crazy." She continued to babble. "I wanted to stop Shar. I wanted to stop." Kelsi began to cry.
Sharpay looked at Gabriella who was still standing in the doorway and then looked at Ryan, who picked his head up surprised that Kelsi was actually talking.
"It's o.k. Kelsi. What did you want to stop Kels?" Sharpay asked.
"It wasn't the right way." Kelsi continued. "It was the wrong way to do it. It was too strong. Too much, but I needed to."
"What is she talking about?" Gabriella whispered.
"I don't know." Sharpay mouthed back to her.
"Is that Gabriella? Is Gabriella out there? Is Taylor with her?" Kelsi asked.
Gabriella looked at Sharpay with wide eyes, and then looked at the door as if it was what was talking to her.
"Gabriella is that you?" Kelsi asked again.
"Yeah Kels hun, it's just me. Taylor's not here." Gabriella walked closer to the door and spoke into the keyhole.
"I'm sorry Gabs." Kelsi started to cry real hard again." I am so..so..sorry."
"For what Kelsi? Why don't you come out here so we can talk." Gabriella tried to convince Kelsi.
"I was mad. I was protecting her. I wanted her to be happy. I need her. I'm all she has." Kelsi yelled through her immense tears.
"I'm sorry about the shop Gabs. Please you and Taylor have to understand. I needed to do it. She asked me to. She told me to." Kelsi stopped crying and her voice became softer.
"I set the fire Gabs. It was me. I had to. I needed what she had for me." Suddenly Kelsi became quiet. Too quiet.
Then they heard a loud thud come from inside the bathroom.
"Sharpay dial 911!" Gabriella shouted.
Gabriella shook the door handle as hard as she could. Ryan jumped up and started to bang on it too.
"Ryan help me get this door open something's not right." Gabriella yelled and stood back to try to run and bang the door down.
Ryan tried to kick it down, but the hallway was too narrow so he couldn't get a good kick.
"Kelsi! Kelsi! Answer me Kelsi." Gabriella shouted. "It's o.k. Kels, just stay awake, please stay with us."
"Kelsi please be o.k." Ryan started to cry as his fist became red from pounding the door.
Within minutes Ryan, Sharpay and Gabriella could hear the sirens coming closer.
"Sharpay go out front and wave the ambulance down." Gabriella shouted.
The paramedics ran in the house with one fireman and with one swing of his axe the door to the bathroom flew open.
The two paramedics quickly ran to Kelsi to take her vitals and assess her situation.
Ryan, Gabriella and Sharpay stood in the front room listening to the paramedics blurt out information to each other.
Gabriella could only hear words like, fixed and dilated, narcotics and overdose.
She held Sharpay's hand while Ryan paced the floor biting his nails.
After the emergency crew strapped Kelsi to a gurney they rolled her out to the ambulance. Ryan followed. He held Kelsi's hand. It looked as if she was sleeping.
"We'll meet you at the hospital Ryan." Sharpay squeezed his hand.
After the ambulance pulled away, Sharpay turned to Gabriella.
"What did she mean about the flower shop?" Sharpay couldn't believe what she heard.
"She did set the fire Shar. I couldn't believe it either. The fireman found this at the base of the dumpster." Gabriella pulled out the charred yellow swatch from a scarf. "It is the exact same kind of material the scarves for the wedding are."
Sharpay took the cloth from Gabriella's hand and felt it between her fingers.
"What the hell?" She didn't want to believe what she was hearing.
"The cleaning lady also found this today. Do you know what this is?" Gabriella handed Sharpay the small metal object.
"I don't know what that is, but I think its Nicole's. I've seen her try to hide that before at parties. I asked her about it once and she said it was a piece of metal for Rob's metal sculpture he was working on." Sharpay explained.
"Well, the sculpture is finished and sitting in the park, so it can't be for that." Gabriella said.
"I don't know anymore. This is all so crazy. We should get to the hospital though. I need to be there for Ryan." Sharpay shook her head and started to walk out the door.
As Gabriella and Sharpay walked through the emergency room doors they saw Troy standing at the admission desk.
"What are you doing here?" Gabriella asked in a surprised tone.
Troy whipped around and looked like a deer in headlights.
"Hey Gabs, well, Nicole was throwing up everywhere so I freaked out and brought her here. I think she's dehydrated or something. She's in bad shape." Troy stuttered as he tried to explain.
"What are you doing here? Are you o.k?" Troy looked concerned for Gabriella as he grabbed her arm.
"Yeah I'm fine. We brought Kelsi in. She is in bad shape too. We don't know what happened to her." Gabriella said.
"I need to sit down." Sharpay looked sick to her stomach and sat down in the chair in the waiting room.
"I'm really sorry about all this Gabs. Tonight is crazy. What the hell is going on?" Troy said as he started to walk over to the chairs .
"I don't know Troy, but Kelsi was rambling a bunch of crazy talk and admitted to setting the fire at the flower shop." Gabriella grabbed Troy's arm and whispered.
"What?" yelled Troy.
Troy then grabbed Gabriella's arm and pulled her into an empty exam room and shut the door.
"Are you kidding me? Why? Kelsi? Really?" Troy was so confused and shocked. "What the fuck is going on?"
"I couldn't believe it either, but she kept saying she had to do it. That "she" had what she needed. She totally did not make any sense." Gabriella told Troy what had happened at the house.
Gabriella also told Troy about the yellow scarf that was found and that her and Taylor were going to confront Kelsi about the fire anyway. She then continued to tell Troy about seeing Nicole and Kelsi coming out of the alley earlier that afternoon with a mystery man.
"Wait, describe the guy they were with." Troy said very interested.
"He was a bit taller than you, slender, brown wavy hair, and kind of a scruffy beard. And he was wearing an Army jacket. Gabriella tried to remember more, but couldn't.
"That sounds like Rob Delgado." Troy said.
"The artist?" Gabriella was really confused now.
"Yeah whatever, if you call that piece of shit sculpture art." Troy said in a very mean tone.
"He's also the guy Nicole got mixed up with and into drugs. I haven't really had the chance to tell you the specifics of what happened between me and Nicole, but that Rob dude is no good."
"Drugs huh?" Gabriella reached into her purse and took out the metal piece and handed it to Troy.
"Is this a drug thing?" She asked.
"Yeah, that's a heroin pipe. Where the hell did you get that?" Troy looked really concerned at Gabriella.
"It's not mine if that's what your thinking. It was found at the base of the dumpster at the shop. Do you think Kelsi is doing drugs with Nicole?" Gabriella wanted the answer to that question to be no.
"That's got to be what's wrong with her. Kelsi was probably high when she set the fire. That fucking Nicole isn't sick with the stomach flu either. God damn it! I should have known it was drugs again." Troy ran his hands through his hair in frustration.
"God that shit turns people into monsters. How could I not see the signs." Troy said as he paced the room like a caged lion.
"You thought she was clean though Troy. How would you know?" Gabriella tried to make Troy not blame himself.
"You didn't have any reason to believe she was using again." Gabriella took Troy's hands in hers and made him look directly in his eyes. At that moment Gabriella realized how genuine and indescribably wonderful Troy was as a person.
"You are the sweetest guy I have ever met. You tried to help a friend that most people would have left in the dirt a long time ago. That is very admirable."
"And sexy" Gabriella thought to herself.
"Yeah, but look at what she did. She fucked up Kelsi now. She has Kelsi addicted to the same shit that almost cost her everything before. Now Kelsi thinks Nicole is everything she needs because of the drugs." Troy looked down to the floor in disgust at his revelation.
"It's almost like that's the only way Nicole can feel wanted or special to people." Troy was disgusted.
"It is not your fault Troy." Gabriella pushed up on his chin and met his lips halfway up with hers. "You can't save the world. She is obviously sick and needs help." Gabriella said as she held both sides of Troy's neck and guided his face to hers.
Troy closed his eyes and relished in the soft feeling of Gabriella's warm sensual touch.
He wanted nothing more than to be with her, but his gut was twisting in disgust at the day's events. Troy pushed away from Gabriella and looked at her deep brown consoling eyes.
"I can't believe I cancelled our date to go be with Nicole. She totally lied to me again. I really thought she was sick. I feel bad Gabs. I'm sorry."
I really shouldn't let you off the hook again so quickly, but I can see that whoever you consider a friend you really are there for them." Gabriella stroked Troy's light brown hair away from his eyes.
"Just like you were there for me when the shop was on fire."
Gabriella stared into his baby blue eyes and gave him a look of assurance. She then took his head into her hands and reached up on her toes to kiss his soft lustful lips.
Their lips parted and their tongues explored the inside of each other's mouths.
Both Troy and Gabriella lost all concept of where they were. Their desire for each other was all that controlled them.
"We should see if Sharpay and Ryan are o.k. Gabs." Troy reluctantly broke away from their kissing and put his arm around Gabriella guiding her out to the hall to find their friends.
"Yeah, Sharpay was really upset." Gabriella tucked her black curls behind her ears and walked in unison with Troy.
"Hi Troy. Hey Gabs. Have you heard anything from the doctors about Kelsi?" Sharpay said as she ran up to them.
"No Shar, not yet. We haven't seen any doctors." Troy said as he put his hand on her shoulder. You should just sit tight and wait for Ryan to come out. He is going to need someone to talk to."
"Yeah I am. My parents are on their way, but Ryan told me not to call Kelsi's Mom or Dad until we knew what was wrong."
As the three friends stood in the emergency waiting room, a nurse walked up to Troy.
"Sir, Are you the man who brought in a Nicole Colton?"
"Yes, that's me." Troy turned to face the nurse.
"Well, I just wanted you to know she had to have her stomach pumped of unknown toxins and she is now resting comfortably in room 3 if you want to speak with her. She's a little groggy, but she is alert. A social worker is going to want to talk to her and possibly you." The nurse patted Troy's arm to make sure he felt better about what she just told him.
After the nurse walked away, Troy turned back around to face Gabriella.
"Can we get out of here?" he asked.
Troy wanted nothing to do with Nicole's case and needed to leave.
"Umm yeah, I guess, Shar are you o.k?" Gabriella needed to know Sharpay would be fine before leaving.
"Yeah, go ahead. I will call you as soon as I get any information." Sharpay hugged Gabriella and Troy. She then walked over to make herself a cup of coffee.
"But Troy what are you going to do about Nicole?" Sharpay asked before he started to walk out the door.
"She's not my problem. I'll leave her father's phone number with the nurse. They can call him to deal with this mess." Troy took Gabriella's hand in his and walked through the automatic door to the outside.
As Troy and Gabriella left the hospital, Gabriella followed Troy in her car back to his condo.
When she pulled up to the tall tinted glass building she was in awe. It was beautiful and very exquisite. The front lobby doors were a shiny polished brass with two 6-foot topiaries at each side of the entrance.
Gabriella maneuvered her car behind Troy's and realized it was for the valet.
"Wow" she thought to herself "Fancy man doesn't even have to park his own car."
Gabriella was greeted by a chubby grey haired man as he escorted her out of her car.
"Good evening Miss." He said as he bowed to her.
"Oh hi, thank you very much." Gabriella took the gentleman's hand and stood up out of her car and walked over to where Troy was standing.
"Is this normal?" she asked.
Troy laughed. "Yeah, it is."
Gabriella and Troy walked into the lobby and straight into a large burgundy and brass elevator. As Troy reached over to push the button for the desired floor, Gabriella noticed the address that was scripted on a gold plaque above the numbers.
22 Cherry Tree Lane
Does that address sound familiar?