*** Tristan’s Villa ***
” Damn! what a migraine”, I muttered as I sat up on the bed. I had a really long dream about the same strange guy that flashed through my mind before I slept. ” Who the hell was that?”, I pondered.
” I guess he really didn’t come back home last night”, I said to myself as I looked at Tristan’s side of the bed. I got off the bed and went to the bathroom to get some aspirin. I opened the drug cabinet and got the aspirin bottle out. I took two pills and got ready to take a shower. The walls and the floor started to swirl round and round. I touched my head with my palm as the migraine increased.
” I better get back to sleep. I don’t feel so good”, I uttered with mind’s voice. Then I began to walk out of the bathroom gradually, while leaning against the wall occasionally, when I felt too dizzy. I looked around and the swirling worsened, with everything seeming to have an eeriness to it.
” What’s happening to me?”, I pondered. I was about to take yet another shaky step when I suddenly fell on the floor. Thoughts of the strange man from my dream, flashed through my mind repeatedly. It almost felt as if it was someone I knew very well, though I had zero idea who he was. More and more thoughts flashed through my head as my vision got blurry.
” Am I dying?”, I thought. I tried to scream for help but my body didn’t have the strength for it. ” Help me…. some…. one…. help me”, I muttered in slow broken words as I felt my consciousness fading. I saw the door barge open and two maids run in. It was dark and blurry and my hearing seemed to get duller quickly.
” Ma’am! Ma’am!!”, I heard the muffled screams of the maids before my mind fell into an eerie silent darkness.
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” Beep!….. beep!…. beep!”, I heard as my consciousness slowly revived.
” Doctor! doctor!”, I heard someone shout, the shouts becoming quieter as their footsteps faded. My eyes opened slowly to a blurry scenery. There was a really big bright light hovering over me, causing me to squint on instinct. ” Where am I?”, I wondered as I turned my head to the right, only to see the heart rate monitor which was responsible for the annoying beeping noise. ” A hospital?”, I thought as I took a look around with my eyes roaming.
” Oh my god!”, I exclaimed, ” where’s my baby?”, I blurted as I frantically turned my head from side to side. The heart rate monitor began to beep faster and in no time, a doctor and three nurses barged right in.
” Get me a sedative!”, the doctor said to one of the nurses. Then I held the doctors hand, ” Where’s my baby?!”, I asked.
” Calm down ma’am. You need to get some rest”, he said. Just then thoughts of Tristan, my husband flashed through my mind. But something wasn’t right. I didn’t know what, but something was wrong.
” Will someone please get me that sedative!”, the doctor yelled at the nurses, as one of them ran out of the room. ” Don’t worry ma’am, we’ve already called your husband, he’ll be here in a few minutes”, he said to me trying to calm me down.
” Wait don’t call him!”, I blurted out without knowing why.
” We need at least one member of your family around and your husband is the only one we could contact. Don’t worry, I’m sure everything we’ll be fine when he gets here “, he said as he held my hand in a bid to comfort me.
” I had to leave this place”, I thought, ” before Tristan would get here”. Something in me didn’t want him to see me, yet I didn’t know what that was. ” Perhaps I’m just being paranoid”, I thought. Just then the nurse who went out suddenly barged into the room and handed the sedative to the doctor. ” It sure took you long enough”, the doctor said to her as she stood there with the other nurses. Then he took out a syringe and injected me with the sedative.
” There we go”, he said as he removed the syringe from my arm, ” this way you’ll get some rest, okay? I’ll be back in a few minutes”, he said with a smile as he patted the back of my hand. Then he and the nurses walked out of the room. ” I have to get out here”, I thought as I looked around. I got off the bed and walked staggeringly towards the door. I peered through the rectangular glass on the door to see if anyone was out there that would catch me. Since it was a local hospital at the countryside, it wasn’t as busy as regular hospitals. ” All clear”, I muttered as I snuck out of the room. I saw a group of patients going out to take a walk. I walked over towards them and blended in and somehow miraculously got out of the hospital unnoticed. I still couldn’t understand why I suddenly wanted to see ‘my baby’. ” Did I ever get pregnant for Tristan?”, I thought as I walked, without a definite destination in mind, on the sidewalk.
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” Geez this is scary”, I said as we got to the top of the apartment building.
” If you think this is scary, wait till you see what I’m about to do next”, he said with a smug smirk on his face.
” I hope it’s got nothing to do with suicide?”, I blurted sarcastically.
” That’s crazy”, he responded with a chuckle. Then he took out a pair of walkey-talkeys. ” Here, take this”, he said as he stretched out one of the walkey-talkeys to me.
” But you’re already here, so why do we need these?”, I asked with a perplexed look on my face.
” Oh you’ll see”, he said with a smirk. Then he walked up to the ledge and stood on top of it.
” Uhmmm, what are you doing?”, I asked.
” I’m about to show you something my dad taught I and my brother when we were kids”, he said. I was a bit worried with the way he moved casually along the ledge.
” I don’t know what it is you wanna show me, but I don’t think it’s safe. Please get down from there”, I said to him.
” Awwwn, someone’s a caring girlfriend”, he said tauntingly.
” I’m serious Jeremy. Get down from there”, I said to him in a serious tone this time.
” Nope. Now watch this”, he said as he went off the ledge. I screamed in shock.
” Jeremy!”, I yelled as I ran to check over the ledge. There he was laughing as he jumped from roof to roof, climbing with more dexterity than a monkey. I had never seen someone do that much flips before in my life. After about ten minutes of some of the most crazy acrobatics I had ever seen, he finally stopped on one of the roofs of the building and waved to me. ” Humph”, I sighed as I felt relief. Then ” Trrrtch… trrrtch”, my walkey-talkey glitched a bit as he tried to reach out to me.
” That was impressive, right?”, he asked with bravado.
” No idiot! You could have gotten yourself killed, you know?”, I responded.
” Pffft”, he mocked, ” I’ve been doing this for ages. My dad used to be part of the city’s free running club “, he said.
” Even so, it’s still dangerous. I don’t like it”, I said with a pouty look, ” it makes me uncomfortable”, I added.
” Alright alright geez, I get it. No more freerunning, is that better?”, he asked.
” Much better”, I responded with a vehement nod which made him laugh.
” Alright, get down from there. I’ve still got more stuff to show you”, he said. I nodded with a smile and left the roof.
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*** Tristan Villa ***
” You imbeciles! Why didn’t you call the doctor here instead? or call me first before stupidly taking her to a hospital without my consent?”, I yelled at the maids, ” do you idiots even have any idea what you’ve done?”, I asked as I kicked the vase off the table.
” We’re really sorry sir”, they apologized as they bowed their heads slightly. ” We just thought we should get her to safety first since we didn’t really know what went wrong with her”, one of the maids said. ” And we’re really sorry that we didn’t call you instead”, the other said.
” Humph!”, I sighed as I took a seat on the couch. There was silence for about ten seconds as I thought about the implications of what had happened. ” Get out of here, the both of you”, I said calmly as I pondered on what to do.
” That stupid hospital!”, I thought. There certainly was no way for me to sue them without exposing Isabella to the public. ” What the hell am I gonna do?”, I thought.
*** A few hours earlier***
” Wait what?! You lost her?”, I yelled at the doctor.
” We’re really sorry sir. This has never happened before”, he said.
” And so? how is your stupid apology going to get me my wife back?!”, I yelled at him. The noise soon attracted the attention of a man who immediately came out of his office.
” What’s all this ruckus about?”, he asked as he walked over to where we were. The doctor quickly bent his head in shame, unable to answer the man. So I did.
” Are you the director of this hospital?”, I asked the man judging from his demeanor.
” Yes I am and may I ask who you are?”, he asked.
” Are we really doing this? I’m Tristan Kelly, CEO of Kelly Medicals”, I said. The man stared at me for a while and then in shock seemed to recognize my face.
” Oh I’m really sorry Mr Kelly. It’s such an honor to meet you. What exactly brings you to my humble hospital?”, he asked.
” Well your hospital lost a patient, a patient who happens to be my wife”, I said. Then suddenly I froze. I wasn’t officially married so saying something like this could leak out to the press and that might bring Isabella to the spotlight.
” Your wife sir?”, he asked.
” Did I say wife? I meant cousin”, I said awkwardly, ” my cousin, who apparently was brought here is now missing!”, I accused trying to draw attention away from the awkwardness. Then the director turned and glared at the doctor and then asked, ” Is this true Dr Jacob?”.
” I’m sorry sir. I just left to check on other patients and she was gone by the time I got back”, he explained.
” Are you crazy?! and did you check with the nurses?”, the director asked.
” Yes sir. I asked them and all of them claimed not to have seen when she left. Only a couple of other patients claimed to have seen her leave”, he told the director. The director seemed as though he wanted to shout at the doctor, but held himself back. Then he turned to me and bowed.
” I am very sorry for all this, Mr Kelly. I’ll make sure to get the police on this case and I accept any measures you’d want to take against me and my hospital sir”, he said.
I looked at him for a while as he and the doctor remained in a bowing position. ” If the police get involved, Isabella would be discovered and that’ll land me in jail”, I thought.
” It’s alright Mr…..”
” Mr Lesley”, he responded.
” Yes. It’s alright, Mr Lesley. You didn’t have to call the cops or get involved. I already know where she would have gone. She does it all the time, you know? running away from home. It’s alright”, I said as I patted him on the back. He stood erect again.
” Really?”, he asked with his eyes widened.
” Yes really”, I said with a smile, which I did my best to fake.
” I really should help out though sir”, he said. But I shook my head.
” I insist, Mr Lesley. Let’s not make a bigger deal out of this than it already is. I won’t press charges against your hospital, so you can rest assured”, I said to him.
” Thank you very much sir for your kindness”, he said with yet another bow. I rolled my eyes and then, with a smile, told him not to bow anymore.
” Anyway, I’m off now. You guys be more careful next time”, I said as I walked away. Then I paused. ” And please do make sure to punish your doctor for his incompetence”, I said to him.
” I will do just that”, he said as he glared at the doctor. And then I left the hospital, while holding back my anger.
I got into my car and shut the door. ” Damn it!”, I yelled as I hit the stirring wheel in annoyance. ” I swear to God I’d have wrecked the whole damn hospital if not for….. Humph”, I sighed and took in deep breaths. Then I turned on the ignition and drove back to the villa.