CHAPTER TEN: "Upon my end, shall I begin?"
A.N.: The significance of the last line ("she hadn't heard the wind") was that throughout the movies, Death was always accompanied by a low, deep sound…and wind. So if Kimberly didn't hear it, that means Death was never there, hence the reason this chapter exists.
Congratulations to: ACK1988 for being the ONE PERSON to figure it out before this chapter got posted. Props to you. ;)
Anyway, here's Chapter Ten, with resolutions and no cliffhangers. This is not, however, the last chapter – I mean, come on, we need some Clear/Kimberly lovin' in here (next chapter, muahaha)! The title lyrics are – yet again – from the Evanescence song "Whisper."
P.S.: Yes, I'm borrowing some stuff from the end of the movie. Yes, this might get a tad sappy.
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"Clear!"
Fire shot through her body, then there was darkness again.
"Clear!"
Again, the fire, but a semblance of consciousness remained. Clear? Kimberly thought. Clear? How is she? Where is she? Where are you?
"Clear!"
Fire again. It seemed to be coming from two pieces of warm metal against her chest. Clear…must wake up… She opened her eyes as much as she could before letting them close again.
"Clear!"
This time the fire jarred her to her senses. She suddenly felt everything around her – the cold sheets, the IV in her arm, and, worst of all, the searing pain in her stomach. The agony was too much, and she let out a cry of pain.
"She's back!" she heard someone say. "We've got a pulse! It's weak, but she's got one!"
Kimberly finally found her voice, though tears still ran down her face from the pain. "Clear?"
"Hey, honey," said a female doctor standing above her. "We almost lost you there."
"Lost?" Kimberly managed weakly. She could feel the stretcher she was on being wheeled down a hall.
"Yeah, you flatlined for a fair amount of time," the doctor replied as she kept pace.
"Flatlined"…"she's back"… The significance of the words hit Kimberly like a freight train. "New life…" she breathed in astonishment.
"You could say that," the doctor said, looking a little puzzled and a little sympathetic at the same time. She probably thought that the pain from the gunshot and the shocks that brought her back to life were confusing her a bit. "Let's get her on some morphine," she said to an assisting doctor.
"Clear?" Kimberly asked. "Clear?"
……………………
"Clear!"
A jarring shock, then nothing.
"Clear!"
Another white-hot shock that sent her reeling briefly back into the world before she began to drift away again.
"Clear!"
Yes? Clear thought. What do you want? I'm tired. I just want to sleep…
"Clear!"
This time she was brought not only back to the world, but to her senses as well. Kimberly! she screamed internally, then she screamed externally as her physical senses kicked in.
"We have a pulse!"
"I think the scream was clue enough," said a slightly sardonic yet very relieved voice. "As soon as she's stable, let's get her on some morphine."
Clear too felt herself being wheeled down what seemed like an endless hallway. "Hey there," said a male doctor walking next to her, his voice being the one that had ordered the morphine. "How are you feeling?"
"What…what happened?"
"You flatlined for a bit, but we brought you back." His words were overly calm, but she had heard how relieved he was before.
"Flatlined"…"brought back"…
"…new life," Clear finished.
"Funny – your friend said that too."
"Kimberly?" Clear demanded in a panic. "Kimberly?"
"She's just fine. In fact, we'll be taking you to the same room to make you feel more comfortable."
It was Clear's turn to be relieved. "Thank you," she said, close to tears. The pain was partially the cause of that as well.
……………………
Both girls were doped on morphine by the time Clear arrived at the room, but that didn't quell the overwhelming emotions that overtook them both when they saw each other.
"Clear…"
"Kimberly…"
"Won," Kimberly managed to get out, a huge smile on her face.
"Won," Clear confirmed, also beginning to smile.
Knowing that – at long, long last – they were finally safe, the two girls allowed themselves to drift into the first peaceful sleep they'd had in years.
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For the next few days, the girls found themselves in and out of consciousness, mostly due to pain (or more the medicines that dulled it) and shock. Whenever they were both awake at the same time, however, all they did was look at each other, never breaking eye contact. When the weariness had abated somewhat, the two girls were told the doctors' version of what had happened: a man had heard gunshots, found them lying in the forest, and called 911. Kimberly was about to open her mouth to say what really happened, but she caught Clear's almost imperceptible shake of the head and kept her mouth shut.
"Why shouldn't we tell them what really happened?" she asked the blonde later when the two of them were alone.
"They'd never have believed us," Clear replied.
"We don't have to tell them about the Death part," Kimberly said in a slightly exasperated tone. "Just how he was the one that shot us."
"Kimberly, technically he saved our lives." At her friend's silence, she continued. "He told us that life that wasn't meant to be would break the chain: cause death to rewrite itself. By flatlining – technically being dead for however long – and being brought back here at the hospital, we were granted lives that weren't supposed to be. No one's supposed to come back from the dead, and that's technically what we did. Our hearts stopped beating, but we lived. Death had to rewrite itself. By shooting us where he did and calling 911 the way he did, the mortician saved our lives and broke the chains we were in. We're free of the hold Death had on us."
Kimberly remained silent for a moment or so. "I understand that, and I guess I can accept it," she finally said. "But I don't like it much."
Clear grimaced and ran a careful hand over the bandage on her stomach. "Yeah, me neither."
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It was nearly a full month before Kimberly and Clear were recuperated enough to consider going home. The problem was, they had no home to go to. Or at least they thought, until a woman in a dark blue suit came to visit.
The two girls were sitting on Kimberly's bed playing cards when the woman was shown in by a nurse. Looking up to see that they had a visitor, the girls put the cards aside and turned to see who the woman was.
"Hello Kimberly, Clear," the woman said, sitting in a chair next to the bed. "My name is miss Haverford." She turned to Kimberly. "I'm here to discuss your father's will."
Kimberly swallowed hard, and Clear gently took her hand. "Wh-what about it?" Kim asked once she had put on a determined face.
"Well, he left everything he owned to you."
Kimberly's jaw dropped, but Clear's face lit up in a smile. "See?" she whispered to the brunette. "He still loved you." Kim allowed herself a small smile.
"All you need to do is sign a few papers and then you can have all the information you need: finances, loans, mortgage on the house – and the keys, of course," Ms. Haverford continued. "You've also collected a decent sum from your father's life insurance policy."
The next hour or so was a whirlwind for Kimberly. After discussions and the signing of what seemed like several million sheets of paper, she found herself in possession of a car, a house, and a fair amount of money.
"We can go home, Clear," she said once Ms. Haverford was gone. "We can go home."
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Maria and Mrs. Peters came to visit the girls before they left the hospital, and the two of them were both relieved and a tad pissed off. They didn't ask for an explanation, however, which the girls were thankful for – they couldn't have given one if they tried.
"Can you stop running now?" Is all Maria asked.
"Yeah," said Kimberly. "Yeah, we can."
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A week after the visit of the Peters' women, Kimberly and Clear found themselves standing on the doorstep of Kimberly's house. Kimberly held the keys tightly in her hand, which was shaking. Clear noticed, and took the brunette's other hand in hers: an action that had become a common form of shared comfort between the two. After taking a deep breath, Kim unlocked the door and the girls stepped inside.
Everything was pretty much the way it was when Kimberly had last seen it over a year ago, except that dust cloths covered the furniture. The clocks had long run out of batteries, so not even a soft tick-tock filled the house. The whole place was silent.
"I already know what I'm going to do," Kimberly said as she shut and locked the door. "I'm going to sell the furniture and the house. I'm going to find another, smaller place somewhere peaceful where the two of us can live together." She turned to Clear. "I really do want to start a new life."
The blonde nodded and smiled. "I understand. I do too."
After a cursory tour of the ground floor, the girls went up to Kimberly's bedroom on the second floor. While Clear shut the door behind her, Kimberly yanked the dustcover off her bed and collapsed onto the mattress with a sigh. Without hesitation, Clear crawled into bed behind her and spooned her, wrapping her arm around the brunette's waist while being careful to avoid the still-tender bullet wound.
"The hardest is behind us," Clear whispered in Kimberly's ear.
"It seems like the hardest is ahead of us," she countered, sounding sorrowful.
"No. We can make it through. If we can beat Death, we can do anything. You and me, Kimberly. Just you and me."
Kimberly turned in Clear's arms. She didn't really didn't have anything to say to Clear's statement, so she just kissed her instead.
