Chapter Thirty Nine-The Proverbial Fan
Christmas Eve had come and Imladris was abuzz with activity and decorated within an inch of its life. I was quite pleased with the results. Glorfindel had been teasing me non-stop for the past eleven days about how I had become 'Santa' with all my 'elves'. I should've never told him about the Santa Claus mythology.
The Christmas feast was a rousing success. The food and drink flowed and everyone was in the spirit of the season, giving gifts and sharing experiences with each other. Glorfindel and I spent most of our evening travelling from table to table, talking with people and laughing over inane things. The dance afterwards was loads of fun too. I again, was whirled from partner to partner, and after a couple of hours my feet had had the bun. It was close to midnight when Glorfindel found me dancing with Elrond, albeit rather tiredly, and he stole me away. He gave me a cloak and took me out into the gardens, to the spot where we had gotten betrothed and experienced that moment of nirvana. As we sat down in 'our spot', Glorfindel took my hands into his and looked into my eyes.
"Karyn, it was at this spot, almost exactly a year ago when I gave you this ring," he stroked the ring on my finger, "I have never been as happy as I have been since you came into my life. I wanted to come here, to be with you in the spot where we became betrothed a year ago tonight."
I felt a surge of emotion coming from both of us and I began to get teary.
"Amin mela lle Karyn, oialë ar illumë," Glorfindel whispered and leaned forward to kiss me.
"I love you Glorfindel, forever and always," I whispered back and kissed him deeply.
The kiss was quite intense. I felt my being shift slightly and a feeling of weightlessness came over me. A strong tingling sensation grew spreading all over my skin, and it was like I could feel all the molecules that made up the air pressing on my body. As the kiss deepened even more, I saw lights flash behind my closed eyelids and my spirit body seemed to leave my physical body, as I felt a pulling sensation. Suddenly my inner eye went dark and I felt a jerk up and away. I tried to open my eyes, but I saw nothing. I heard wind whip by my ears and I felt like I was spinning wildly. My body thudded against something hard and I blacked out.
When I regained consciousness, I was able to open my eyes and see what was going on around me. My sight was a bit blurry, and I heard strange noises. The thought occurred to me that Glorfindel had picked me up and brought me to the healing rooms. My head was oddly quite sore and I hadn't the foggiest idea as to why. I brought my hand up to rub the blurriness away, and felt a tug on my wrist. As my vision cleared, I saw something that nearly stopped my heart. An IV was attached to my hand. I heard the heart rate monitor start to beep more quickly as I looked around the large room. I was in an empty ward, save for me. I was lying on a hospital bed, attached to an IV and vital signs monitor. I lifted my head off the pillow and a surge of pain went through me. I groaned and placed my free hand on the back of my head, feeling gauze and non-stick padding. My mind spun. I could not be back on Earth! This wasn't happening. No, I was unconscious and having a hallucination. This couldn't be real.
A nurse came into the ward and saw the panic on my face. "It's okay honey. You've had a bad concussion and a neighbour found you lying in front of your apartment building. You're at Vancouver General Hospital, and we've admitted you as you were unconscious when you arrived here. You've been out for eight hours, and your vitals were quite sketchy for a bit. Do you have anyone you want us to call? Family? Friends?" she asked kindly.
Tears came to my eyes, and my head began to throb violently. "No. No. I don't want to worry anyone," I whispered. I didn't understand why I was back here. Eru had brought me to Glorfindel, and then tore me away. This couldn't be happening. It was too cruel.
The nurse nodded and looked at my IV bag, "Are you in pain honey?" I nodded slightly. "Then I'll be right back with the doctor and something to ease the pain," she patted my free hand and walked out of the room.
She had only been gone for a few minutes, enough time for me to work myself up into a silent lather, when she returned with a tall East Indian man, who must be the doctor she had mentioned. The doctor moved up to the side of my bed and leaned over with his hand out.
"Good morning. You had us a little worried there. My name is Dr. Sandhu, and I am the Attending Physician. Can you tell me your full name?" he gently took my hand in his.
My voice sounded scratchy as I said, "I am Karyn Matthews. I know I am in VGH and I suffered a concussion."
He smiled, "Good, can you tell me what day it is?"
I thought back. It was sixteen months ago when I had left, and I couldn't remember what day it was when I was hit on the head. "I don't remember," I said softly.
"All right. I'm just going to look into your eyes here," he placed his fingers under my eye and flashed a penlight in it. He grunted and then checked the other eye. Shutting off the light, he then took his stethoscope and checked my breath sounds. His fingers prodded my wound and I grimaced in pain. "Little tender eh? No worries. I want to keep you here twenty-four hours for observation, okay? You were unconscious for quite a while and you seem to be having some memory issues, so I want to make sure you're all right. We gave you a CT scan and you don't have swelling, but I just want to be cautious. Do you have anyone you want us to call?"
I shook my head no and winced as pain surged through it. "I don't want to worry anyone," I repeated, "Can you tell me? Was there anyone with me when I was found?" I held out a faint hope that Glorfindel had come over with me.
Dr. Sandhu shook his head, "I don't know. I wasn't on when you came in," he noticed my fearful look, "But I'll ask around the ER, maybe someone remembers something." He nodded and then left the ward.
The nurse bustled around me and I watched her passively, my mind succumbing to the shock of losing the love of my life.
I quietly asked, "Can you tell me what the date is?"
"It's Saturday morning, August 26th," she said.
"What year?" I was being a fool and I knew it.
"2006," she looked a bit concerned and looked into my eyes, "Are you feeling okay honey?"
I blew out the breath I had been holding, "Yeah, just a bit peely wally."
She laughed, "Where'd ya get that term?"
I looked down at my stomach, "Just something my Dad says."
"Ah, well that's a good one. I'll have to remember that," she patted my hand, "You need anything, remember to buzz. The buzzer is right here, I've pinned it to your pillow okay?"
I nodded, mumbled yes, and watched her leave laughing softly to herself.
I had fallen asleep when the Dr. Sandhu came back into the ward some time later. I woke up a bit startled by his presence. The lights had been turned off except for the bed light above me, which glowed softly. I peered up at his dark face, still a bit confused about being back on Earth.
"Good morning," he smiled, "I checked with the staff in the ER that had been on when you came in, but no one knew of you being with anyone. Admitting also says you came in alone. I'm sorry. Were you expecting someone to be admitted with you?"
How could I explain about Glorfindel? I couldn't. Not if I wanted to be considered stable by the general populace.
"Uh, no. I thought someone was behind me and had been hurt too," I offered weakly.
He nodded, "Okay. Well, we'll keep an eye on you today and if everything works out, you'll be home tomorrow morning. But I don't want you to be traipsing around, so no work for a couple of days, all right?"
"Okay," I sounded a bit downtrodden, but the doctor didn't notice my tone. "Could you call my work and leave a message about this? I have to let them know as soon as possible."
He nodded, "What's their phone number?"
I strained to remember. "Is my backpack around? I need my cell phone." I did remember the number was in the phone book.
He grunted and walked over to some lockers beside the door. He opened them all until he found my stuff in the last one. Bringing my heavy backpack to me, he grinned.
"What do you carry in this thing? It weighs a ton!" he hefted it onto my bed.
"All my stuff I need at work," I mumbled as I opened the front pocket and dug around for my phone. Finding the phone, I opened it up and thought a moment about how I operated the thing. I pressed the menu button and saw 'phone book' right below 'call history'. Fiddling a bit, I finally found the number for my office, and I handed the phone to Dr. Sandhu.
"I'll be right back," he said as he left the room with my phone in his hand.
I waited for only a couple of minutes before he came back into the ward and handed the phone back to me.
"I've left a message on their voicemail. Hopefully that will be enough. I'm going let you rest now, and I'll have someone check on you later on today, okay?" he looked over at the monitors and read my file in the binder he carried.
"Okay," I said softly. I wanted to be alone with my thoughts.
Dr. Sandhu left the ward and I was alone in the semi-dark, watching the growing light of dawn outside my windows. My mind ran amuck with dire thoughts. I couldn't be here, back on Earth. Mithrandir was sure that I was destined to be with Glorfindel. Glorfindel was my fëa mate. We were supposed to be together forever and always. I had a ring that said so. Hold on a second…the ring. I had a ring! My bag had not yet been put back, so I searched through it, finding nothing. I guess I must've made some noise because the nurse came in to see what was going on.
"Can I help you find something?" she asked.
"Uh, I was wearing some jewellery, but I can't find it. Do you know where it is?"
"Oh yes. We took it off as you were going through the CT scan, as we couldn't let you wear jewellery in there. Hold on just a moment," she took off out of the ward. A minute or two later she came back in holding a clear plastic bag. She handed it over to me. "It should all be there…" I tore open the bag. "Two rings, a watch, a necklace, and a bracelet. You have some lovely things," she commented.
I was both relieved and stunned that my jewellery made it over the trans-universal trip. I put my betrothal and wedding rings back on my fingers and strapped my watch to my wrist. "Could you help me with this?" I held up the necklace.
"Oh, of course," the nurse helped me put it on, "The workmanship is just lovely. Where did you get your jewellery? I haven't seen anything like it before."
How did I answer this one? "I had it made in Europe," I lied.
"Europe? Oh they have lovely things over there. Which country?" she admired my jewellery some more.
"I got them in Eastern Europe, but I believe the style originates in Romania and Bulgaria," I covered.
"Oh? Well, these are lovely pieces. I'll leave you now, try to get some rest," the nurse left the ward to go back to her station.
I was allowed to go home Sunday morning, and on the promise that I'd have a friend look in on me for the next couple of days, I took a taxi home. I arrived back at my apartment in total culture shock. It felt like decades since I had been in Vancouver. The time I had spent in Arda with the Elves had changed my entire perspective. I saw waste everywhere and I couldn't believe how self-centred people were. The minute I got to the curb in front of my apartment building, a woman shoved her way into the cab, before I had gotten out and demanded I leave her cab. Unbelievable.
As I walked into my apartment, everything looked foreign and familiar at the same time. Flopping onto the couch, I stared at the bookshelves along the wall and started to cry. Not the nice in-control crying that I did during my cancer treatments. Oprah calls what I fell into, an 'ugly cry'. I was sobbing hard physically, hiccupping as I gasped for breath, mucous running out of my nose and copious tears streaking down my face. I was upset, sad and really, really angry. I was supremely pissed off. Eru got my hopes up, let me fall in love and marry, experiencing true happiness, only to rip it away from me. I shook not only from my sobbing but from my anger.
"Fuck you, you asshole! You motherfucking asswipe! I will NEVER trust you again!" I screamed at the ceiling, "Jesus fucking Christ, you take the cake! You, you, I am so angry I can't even think in English! Ahhhhhhhhh!"
I threw myself across the couch, hit the side and fell off onto the floor. Normally, I'd feel like a git, acting like the fool I was being, but I was so upset, I revelled in my indignation. I lay on the floor for maybe twenty minutes before I pulled myself up and went into the bedroom to change. I pulled off my jeans, remembering that these were the clothes I was wearing when I was pulled from Earth. So the jewellery came across, but not the dress and cloak I was wearing? My mind couldn't process the anomaly. I got into my pyjamas and crawled into bed. Worn out and exhausted from the trauma, both physical and emotional. I fell into an uneasy sleep, tossing and turning all night long, crying out for Glorfindel during my nightmares.