Tango

Chapter Ten







I woke up later in a bed in an unfamiliar white room and shook my head to clear it of the buzzing sound in my ears. Hospital rooms were starting to become a normal thing for me I guess. Though felt like I just had a really bad dream, but I knew that it was just a horrible reality. I looked down and saw that Nicholas had his head in his arms on the side of my bed. Hoping that I wouldn’t wake him, I attempted to get up, experiencing some pain in my back and head. So instead I brushed the top of his head and side of his face with my fingers. My touch woke him up… kind of like a modern day Sleeping Beauty, only a really handsome guy and not some perfectly blonde princess.

Nicholas rubbed his eyes and looked at me in disbelief. It was as if he wasn’t sure that I was real or not. To him I could have just been my ghost. Although his face was the pale one, not mine. I could feel the color creep up and spread to my cheeks. Just to test his unspoken questions, he sat on the edge of the hospital bed and cupped my face in his hands. Since I didn’t melt away, and his hands didn’t go through me, I must have passed the test. Nicholas wrapped his arms around me and started to cry. Cried real tears. I know because my shoulder was soaked afterwards. He kept saying that he was sorry for being with Jessica; that he was a real ass and didn’t deserve me. He also said that he was sorry for saying her name when he was with me. He said that many times.

I wanted to scream ‘I told you so’ and ‘I know you should have too’ but instead I managed to croak out, “Uh Nicholas you are kind of
hurting me.”

He also mumbled something about trying to later on protect me but it was lost with his saying it into my shoulder. I was about to try sitting up again when I got the shock of my life.

“I love you Renee…I mean… Elizabeth. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t made it.” As if to show that he really meant it he kissed me, and I kissed him back. I was happy to just be near him right then and I never wanted the moment to end, but Sidney bounded into the room, followed by a shrieking Alex and the day shift nurse shouting behind everyone. Alex was so high on happiness that she didn’t notice the nurse or Nicholas and stopped her tirade at Sidney. All she saw was that I was awake and attempting to sit up. She also didn’t seem to notice the cup of hot coffee that was in her left hand until she threw her arms around me and spilled the remainder of the coffee into Nicholas’ lap. In fact she didn’t notice that until Nicholas let out a small yelp.

“Oh sorry there Nicky. I didn’t see you. Here take this then.” Alex said while smiling her head off and giving me another hug. She handed him her cup and went to grab Sidney, who was at that time sniffing the fake plant in the corner, then hugged me again even harder.

“Umm Alex could you let go? You are crushing my ribs even more. And you do know that dogs aren’t allowed in the hospital right?” I asked, a smile on my face. I never realized how much these people really meant to me until I almost lost them. Or did lose them. Thinking of Scarlet brought tears to my eyes, blurring my vision. In trying to save my friends, I instead put them in a worst-case scenario that ended in the worst possible way.

“Oh gosh I’m so sorry. You just sit back and relax. Well just relax since you are technically lying down. And sure I know, but I thought that you would want to see her. How are you doing?” Asked Alex, a worried look on her face replaced the smile.

“I’m as good as can be expected I think. My side really hurts from where she cut me. And I have a major headache, but I’m happy to be alive and with you guys.”

“Good to hear.” Alex’s smile once again claimed her face. “Well I had better take Sidney back outside. Your…uh…Mr. McTavish is waiting to take her. Be back in a bit. And by a bit I mean a while. Good old hero Nicky looks like he wants to talk to you. Or just be with you alone, or-”

“Good bye Alex!” Sang Nicholas, “And don’t call me Nicky.”

“Ok Nicky. You know I was worried that I was going to have to lock you guys in a room together until you worked out your problems, but I can tell that you wont be needing that. Unless…” Alex trailed off, not finishing her train of thought but the message was quite clear. “Talk to you later.” She winked and then dragged Sidney out the door with her, the nurse shouting after her to take the dog outside.

I laughed at the fact that Alex was always the same no matter what the problem. Totally optimistic and sturdy in a hard time, she could always bring a smile to peoples faces.

“Ren- I mean Elizabeth, what did she mean?” Asked Nicholas in a timid voice. His eyes were sad and confused.

“Who, Alex?”

“No Kelly. Back there in the warehouse. She called Derek your… well your boyfriend.”

“Oh right.” I took a deep breath, “Well maybe it’s time that I told you the whole truth. Derek and I have known each other since we were toddlers. He was always the bully that would put glue in my hair but then he would beat up any other guy who picked on me.

“Then in jr. high he started to treat me like someone who was more then just a friend. We went to graduation together and we started to go out that summer. We had been together since before I came here really. Although we never agreed that we were really broken up, I thought that he would just move on after I left and never contacted him. He did in some ways, but when finally did I e-mail him, he got our friend Pablo to find me over the net. Then when Pablo came through with an address, he came here still thinking that we were still as we had been before. But I knew in my heart that things would never be the same with him and me. There was something different about him and I had met you…it just didn’t feel right. So I told him that I had moved on even if he hadn’t. After he got really angry with you, and me and everything here and then he left. I thought that he had just gone back home, but then it turned out that he hadn’t done that.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you. It’s just that…well I… I love you.” I had been looking down at my hands the whole time but when I finally did look up my eyes locked into Nicholas’. I could see love and relief.

“I have something for you Elizabeth. I was going to give it to you the night that we were last together, but…well…things had happened before that.” He meant what had happened at his house. As much as it hurt to think about it I was really happy that it was over now. “Plus,” He continued, “You were really pissed that night after everything and every night after that until this all happened.” He gestured to the room around us as if to punctuate the fact that he meant the happenings with Jessica and Kelly. “I could tell from your rant that I had hurt you and made you hate me in return. But I guess that I deserved it.”

Nicholas reached into his pocket and pulled out a little box. He sucked in one big breath and held it out to me while opening it at the same time. Inside was a locket on a thin silver chain. It was absolutely beautiful. He gently pulled it out and opened the locket to show me the two pictures inside it. It was he and I from the night of the dance. The pictures were so tiny I had a hard time believing that either Nicholas or someone else had out them in it.

“And I have something else to tell you. After Tom’s party, Jessica thought that you were out of the picture and she started to tell me stuff when she was drunk. Really weird and twisted stuff that I didn’t believe at first because she was really drunk, but as she told me in more detail, I began to.”

“What did she say?”

“That your real father was Sam Burns, Kelly’s father, and that you two were half sisters. She told me about your mothers murder and why it had to happen. She said that Kelly’s father wanted you out of the picture too and that was what got him caught. He was obsessed with finding you. That’s why Kelly hated you so much, and why she did too I suppose. Although he loved Kelly so much, he had always though of you more then her. Jessica also said that the only reason that she was helping was the fact that she was being paid for all the expenses for her to go to university and a lot more. She envied you in everyway possible you know. She didn’t tell me that though, I could just see it in her eyes and in the way that she talked about you. You were Kelly’s real sister, something that she had wanted to be since she met Kelly, not just a friend. You also had me, and she hated that.”

Tears were rolling down my face as I realized that what Kelly had said to me was true. I had doubted it at first, denying that my mother would ever do such a thing to my dad, but I was wrong. Nicholas had confirmed my greatest fears and yet, at the same time, had brought peace to my mind.

- - - - - - -

Within the next couple of days I had been released from the hospital, written about in newspapers all over the world and had gone home. Yes, that’s what I said, home. During my hospital stay, my lawyer had come to see me many times about my new guardian. Mr. And Mrs. McTavish had gone through the legal steps to adopt me since I no longer had any living relatives and I was still a minor. I had happily agreed and continued to call him ‘Uncle’. My life was turning around and though the new revelations of my past got me down at times, I always had Nicholas, Alex and my new family to help me get through.

Scarlet had been dead when the medical team had gotten to the warehouse and so was Jessica. Kelly got charged for triple homicide. Yeah that’s right, She hadn’t died in the warehouse. She had lost a lot of blood by the time that paramedics had gotten there, but they were able to save her, just barely. Thank God for cell phones or we both might not have made it. Nicholas had called right after I went unconscious according to him. Kelly on the other hand might not be as grateful towards him though.

Her trial was one month after I was released from the hospital. With both accounts of Nicholas’ and mine of that horrible day, she was put into an insane asylum somewhere in the province after pleading mental illness. I didn’t want to know where she was so I never asked.

I never have been one to believe in God, but I pray that if the Big Guy is listening that he keeps anything more from happening to my friends, my family or me. Although mostly I hope that nothing or no one will ever allow Kelly to integrate back into normal society.

That would never happen though…right?