Chapter 38
"Green was the silence, wet was the light; the month of June trembled like a butterfly." – Pablo Neruda, 100 love sonnets
"…Someone else's. She will be someone else's. As she once belonged to my kisses. Her voice. Her light body. Her infinite eyes."
Amy looks over at Lauren sleeping on the couch at the other at the foot of her bed. She smiles when Lauren puffs out a loud grunt then turns to her side. She stayed up all night thinking about Karma's goodbye.
"I can't let you marry him." Amy whispers as she plays with the box holding the moon ring in between her fingers. She holds it up to her face and she's gazing at it. "You don't want me to baby; you don't want me to." She opens the box and looks at the ring, "The only ring that should be around your finger is the moon. You're the moon that shines the night that is my darkness. You're light to me. Not Liam's. He doesn't need you baby; I do."
It was the middle of the night and the hospital seems to be now still and quiet. Except for the night staffs that were running surveillance until morning comes about. Amy intently gazes at the moon ring in the box, studying its features through and through. She remembers when she proposes to Karma with this ring and then the night that she stayed up designing the features of the ring. Karma didn't know of course. She had it made way back when they dated the first time. She had called one of her mother's jewelry makers and had it especially carved for Karma. Her eyes roam over the ring that meant so much to her that Karma wears it. She doesn't want Karma to wear any other ring. She won't be able to live with it.
"Only do not forget, if I wake up crying; it's only because in my dream I'm a lost child…hunting through the leaves of the night for your hands..." She recites again.
As she contemplates the box, her eyes fell upon a little white pointy object sticking out from the side corner of the top opening of the box. Amy pulls down the fluffy interior and finds that the pointy object was the edge of a small note. Amy takes it out and closes the red expensive box. She unfolds the small note and starts reading aloud, the last lines of Pablo Neruda's poem "If you forget me':
"But, if each day, each hour, you feel that you are destined for me with implacable sweetness, if each day a flower climbs up to your lips to seek me, ah my love, ah my own, in me all that fire is repeated, in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten, my love feeds on your love, beloved, and as long as you live it will be in your arms without leaving mine."
A small smile curves Amy's lips and brightens her eyes. "I understand. I'm not letting you marry him."
Amy sits up on her bed, reciting the lines of Pablo Neruda as she is gazing into the emptiness of the room. She's thinking of Karma and her wedding. She remembers one of Pablo's sonnets, "I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride; so I love you because I know no other way than this: where I do not exist, nor you, so close that your hand on my chest is my hand, so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep. "
She looks through the window and gazes up at the moon. She imagines Karma's eyes looking back at her through the lucent light that is the moon, "I love you." she whispers.
Ashcroft's house
"Here I love you and the horizon hides you in vain.
I love you still among these cold things.
Sometimes my kisses go on those heavy vessels
that cross the sea towards no arrival.
I see myself forgotten like those old anchors.
The piers sadden when the afternoon moors there.
My life grows tired, hungry to no purpose.
I love what I do not have. You are so far.
My loathing wrestles with the slow twilights.
But night comes and starts to sing to me." – Pablo Neruda
When Karma finally reached her house, she couldn't sleep. She stayed up all night, sitting near the window in her bedroom, and thinking. Tomorrow is her wedding day. Well, it is already tomorrow because it is already three hours past midnight. In about twelve hours, she'll be Liam Booker's wife, the man of her dreams. She'll be someone else's and not Amy's. Everything is ready and done for to make a fairytale wedding happen. Tomorrow, she'll marry Prince Charming and she'll never hear from Amy again. That is a painful realization.
In her hands, she was holding her own copy of Pablo Neruda's book "Twenty love poems and a song of despair." She's been reading it all night. This man is truly romantic. She finds one particular line that she could relate to greatly.
"I can write the saddest poem of all tonight. I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too." She recites aloud, in the deafening silence of the night in her lonely house. She smiles at the thought of Amy sleeping peacefully in the hospital room. It truly hurt her to see her so frail and ill. She couldn't bear seeing her like this and couldn't take care of her. She wanted to. She wanted to pamper her and feed her the nasty healthy food of the hospital. She wanted to hold her in her arms and love her. She just wanted to be by her side so much that it physically pained her.
"I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair. Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets. Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps." She recites.
She may have asked Amy to let her marry Liam Booker, deep down; it was a desperate plea for help. She wants Amy to abduct her, and take her away; far away from here and everything. She just wants her to take her away to some remote place anywhere on planet earth. It doesn't matter where because she would be by her side; that's all that counts. She doesn't want to be alone; she wants Amy and she's sure of it but what good would it do to admit it? Amy chose Reagan over her and she has to live with that. Liam on the other hand, chose her. The one who wanted her she keeps.
She looks down at the book opened on her lap and reads yet another line aloud, "The birds of night peck at the first stars that flash like my soul when I love you."
Karma looks up and gaze at the brilliant moon, lighting the starry sky, "I love you." she whispers just about the same time someone else whispered it to the moon somewhere else.
A few hours before the wedding
The doctor was running yet another test on Amy, checking to see if there were complications. It was amazing; the clot just disappeared as soon as it stopped the internal bleeding in her brain. It was too quick of a recovery that the doctor can't find any plausible explanation for. She looks at the girl looking up dubiously at him and he says nothing and places his stare down one the vitals in his hands. He takes her pulse and then smiles at her which she returned.
The other people around the room watch him do his job in silence. He was feeling too checked and evaluated for some reason. He keeps calm and continues his doctoral duties under the vigilant eyes of everyone in the room. He grins every now and then at the small crowd who were obviously preoccupied with the life of the girl lying on the bed.
"Well, it seems you are recovering fast. Too fast even…" The man says.
"That's because I am one of a kind doctor. I don't get taken out that easily." Amy laughs at herself. She was in a particularly good mood today, "So, when can I leave today?"
"Actually, we would like to keep you here for another day. You get released tomorrow instead." He explains, "Some tests are still ongoing."
Amy's face fell, "I can't stay in here." Karma's getting married in about three hours.
Mrs. Cooper knew what her daughter was hinting at. There's no way she's going to let her leave this room. "I guess you are going to have to stop another wedding dear because you are not leaving here." Mrs. Cooper says.
"Mom, I can't let this wedding happen. Karma is making a big mistake." Amy glowers at her mother from under her eyelashes, "And for all of this; I have you to thank."
"I only did what you wanted me to do. You wanted her to be out of your life; so I got rid of her."
"You did not even tell her about my accident in China and my memory issue." Amy spitefully grins, as she moves her head side to side in repugnance, "You could have at least told her that I never intended to hurt that cruelly."
"Amy dear, are you really going to put all of the blame on me?" Karma stares down at her, raising an eyebrow in amusement, "You were the one with the intent to break her heart. I did nothing there. Granted your plans failed and you ended up suffering an accident."
"It is because of you that I was about to let her go. You give me no space to breathe. As long as you're around, I'll never be happy." Amy says.
"Amy, you cannot hold it against me to do my job as a mother to protect you."
"Protect me from what?" Amy yells.
"Keep the tone to a minimum! This is a hospital." The doctor says.
Lauren gives Amy an acknowledging glimpse then walks out of the room to meet with Reagan who was getting ready to enter the room, "You're here already?"
"Yes, how is she doing?" Reagan asks, peeking from the little opening of the door and finds Amy speaking with her mother, "Things seem to be heated in there."
Lauren rolls her eyes, "You have no idea. Karma is getting married today. You know that, right?"
Reagan's heart sinks. Here flies Amy's last chance at happiness. She really didn't want things to get to this state. And she's not going to let it, "How is Amy taking it?"
"Obviously, not well. Karma came by last night. She said that she had something to tell her so I gave them privacy. I wish I knew what she said. Her eyes were red when she left Amy's room." Lauren says.
"Lauren, we have to do something." Reagan says.
Lauren crosses her arms on her chest and leans her head forward gesturing that she know, "Yeah. I know. But what?"
Reagan takes a second look inside the room, "I don't know."
Both of them jump at the screaming emanating from Amy's room…
"Look Amy, you are not leaving this room and that's final!" Mrs. Cooper yells.
"Shit just got real!" Lauren says and enters the room again while Reagan follows, "What's the angst for?"
"Look mom, I am feeling fine. I know you are trying to keep me in here because you know I will try to go to Karma's wedding." Amy yells right back. She's fed up and if she is pushed too far she might end up saying things that she'll regret.
Mrs. Cooper laughs, "Oh. Really. Your little Karma is marrying that boy today. Why do you care? You are better off without that girl anyway."
"Mom, I have to leave. You know I can't let her go like this. I need her." Amy pleads, "Let me go to her."
"Will you two please keep the tone down? This is a hospital." The doctor seethes again. He has too many patients that may be disturbed by the noise.
"Amy Raudenfed-Cooper, you are not leaving this bed, this room and this hospital and that is it." Mrs. Cooper turns on her heels and glares at both Reagan and Lauren, "what are you guys – the three musketeers? Out of my way!"
Mrs. Cooper pushes Reagan out and walks towards the door. She makes sure to give the bodyguards strict orders to not let Amy leave the room under any circumstances. The two men comply and stand guard in front of the room with the will to not let Amy Raudenfeld out of their sight. Mrs. Cooper even made sure to place several men underneath her room window. She knows her daughter too well.
The doctor puts in some final notary reports, "Amy, I'll come back to check up on you later alright." He places the folder on top of the bedside table and then leaves the three in the room.
"Amy, I think you are being confined again; like last time." Lauren warns as soon as the doctor closed the door. "We have to find a way to get you out of here."
Amy drops back on the bed, and looks at the box ring in her hands, "I swear. Sometimes I really feel like she's not my mother. Is she really going to win this? Is she really going to do this to me again?"
"Listen Amy, this is not the time to sulk. There's still about three hours left before Karma's wedding and you will go and put an end to it." Reagan says.
Amy sits up, "Well, what do you want me to do? How am I going to leave this room? There are two big goons standing guard in front of that door and we're on the fifth floor of the hospital. We're too high."
"Who cares? If there's a will, there's a way." Reagan says and shakes Amy on the bed, as if her sole words were what would make Amy see reasons. "I know. I can't let you go through this again. I care for you."
Amy intently looks at Reagan. She's grateful that they are able to keep this bond after everything that happened. She smiles up at her, "Alright. You are right. I can't let Karma slip away like that."
Lauren smirks, "Now, all we need is to devise a plan."
Through the phone near her bed, Amy dials her doctor's number and asks for him to come down to her room, "Dr. Pratt…my head is hurting a bit. Yes, I need for you to come check."
Reagan and Lauren look at each other suspiciously then they look back at Amy who finishes the phone call. They wait for the doctor to come in silence; hoping that their plan will work and that nothing will go wrong. The doctor walks back in a few minutes later, worriedly heads to Amy's bedside.
"Where do you actually feel the pain?" He asks, putting up his glasses on top of his nose.
He touches her head and starts to examine the location where Amy pointed to him. Reagan slowly walks across the room to position herself behind the doctor while Lauren slinks back and stand in front of the door. Reagan, with a wild look in her eyes, breaks one of the flower vases on top of the doctor's head and he falls on top of Amy.
Amy pushes him off gently and gets off the bed to walk around, "I'm so sorry Dr. Pratt but I am going to need your uniform." Amy stands above the unconscious man, "Quick! We have to undress him before anyone walks in here." She starts taking off the white man's coat while Reagan heads for the man's trousers. A few minutes later, they strip the man of everything and left him in his undergarments. Amy looks at herself in the oversize uniform, "I can't walk out like this. It's too big and people will notice."
Lauren who was standing guard in front of the door seethes, "It's the best that we could do alright."
"We should have just called a nurse." Amy says.
"I can't hit women." Reagan shakes her head.
"You just hit a guy." Lauren adds, "What the heck do you mean?"
"That's not the same thing." Reagan says.
Amy shakes her head, "Whatever! We already did it; we should make do with it. Let's get on with the plan."
"What are we going to do with him?" Lauren whispers.
All three of them look at each other and then back down at the man. Amy looks at the closet right by the door, "Let's throw him in there. It's empty and not cloistered." Amy pulls the man up the bed along with Reagan and they struggled dragging him off to the closet. Lauren opens the door for them and they throw him in there.
Amy and Reagan now were heavily breathing. The guy was heavy.
"Alright! One down, two to go." Lauren says as she closes the closet.
"Everyone takes their place." Amy says then runs to the bathroom.
"Perry! Perry, will you come in here for a second?" Lauren calls out one of the guards standing guard outside of the room. Reagan takes her place behind the door and Lauren keeps cool, sitting next to Amy's bed on the chair while Amy hides in the bathroom.
Perry turns about and opens the door to attend to his boss's bidding. He closes the door after him, not noticing Reagan hiding behind the door when it opened. Reagan broke another flower vase on top of his head and he falls down on the ground unconscious.
"Shit!" Lauren jumps from the bed and runs to the unconscious figure on the floor, "Danm Reagan!"
"Alright! Hide his body so that the other goon doesn't notice when we call him too." Amy says, walking out the bathroom.
Lauren tries to move his muscular physique to the closet near the entrance. She lifts his corps from the ground. A little bit of effort and with the help of Reagan, she throws him upon her shoulders. "Fuck, dude is heavy!" she exclaims. She bends down slowly as to not have him fall from her hold. Reagan opens the closet wide enough for Lauren who was breaking down any minute from the man's heavy weight on her shoulder. "Bitch hurry! Help me!"
Reagan reaches for the man's side, pulling him off Lauren's shoulder to drop him in the closet next to the still unconscious doctor. The man's head hit the wall as it resounds in a loud thump and they all got scared that the other man outside would hear the noise. A few seconds later, all they heard was their rapid heartbeats from all of the anxiousness and nervousness. Then Reagan kicks the man's leg inside the closet before slamming it shut. She rubs her hands together, "Two down, one to go!" then she throws in a laugh, "I'm having fun."
Amy looks up at the ceiling and joins her hands together, "Lord, Jesus, Forgive me what I do. I am sure you understand."
"Reagan, we have to get rid of the broken pieces of the vase," Lauren pushes the broken pieces underneath the couch at the foot of the bed. Reagan does the same and makes sure that there's nothing left.
This time, Amy is the one hiding behind the door while Lauren calls in the other guard. He enters the room and slams the door behind him then Amy hurriedly breaks, yet, another flower vase on top of the man's head. She will make sure to thank her fans later. The man immediately falls unconscious to the floor. The three friends go ahead and throw him in the closet as well and slam it shut.
"Three down, zero to go." Amy breathes out as she gives each one of them a high five.
"Alright Amy, you have to appear as casual as possible alright. Don't attract suspicion." Lauren says.
"I think she's going to need to hide her hair with something; and half of her face." Reagan notifies then runs over to the stall above the bed and looks within the cabinets and finds several caps and surgical face masks. She grabs a few.
"Lose the coat. It appears too big and it has Dr. Pratt's name on it." Lauren grabs the surgical face mask and the cap in Lauren's hands and gives them to Amy, "Here, put those on."
Amy takes off the huge coat and stays on with the blue scrubs. She takes the cap and puts it on her head and wraps the surgical face mask behind her ears. "So, how do I look?"
"Ready for surgery!" Reagan gives her two thumbs up.
Lauren runs over to the door and looks from left to right to make sure that the coast is clear. She waves for Amy to come, "Coast is clear! Don't mess up sis!"
"Thanks." Amy was getting ready to leave when Reagan calls out to her.
Reagan throws her, her motorcycle keys, and Amy catches them. She smiles at Amy brightly, "Go get your girl!"
Amy winks at her.
She waves her off, "Go! There's about an hour and a half left."
She quickly walks out of the room.