Comatose

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

                Angelica sat on the ground chewing her nail while she thought over the new things she had learned.  She really didn’t want to go back into the darker memories just yet.  Perhaps she could take the information she did get and go searching through the memories of her day to day life first.

                “Why wasn’t I able to see his face?”  She pondered aloud still bothered by that.

                “What do you mean?  Like it was too dark to see it?”  Her doppelganger asked making Angelica shake her head in answer.

                “No.  I could make out his eyes to an extent, but the rest of his face was like an absence of one.  Even when he had his face right in front of mine.  I couldn’t see a damn thing.”  She bit out in frustration.  Her subconscious mulled it over before finally speaking.

                “You haven’t come to terms with what happened to you that night.  Like your shying away from it.  Perhaps when you are finally able to detach from the memory you’ll be able to see what you couldn’t.”  Angelica mulled it over thinking that it made about as much sense as everything else at this point.  Standing up she set her shoulders ready to begin her hunt.  Her twin image watched her with curiosity but remained silent waiting for Angelica to speak.

                “How exactly do I navigate the memories.  I get that before you led me where I needed to go.  It’s time that I start doing that myself though.”  Her subconscious nodded in approval coming to stand in front of her.

                “You need to think of the memory in as much vivid detail as possible to bring it out.  Then you just need to cross the door from one memory to the other.”  Angelica raised an eyebrow in question at her but let it pass.  She was fairly sure she had figured out what she meant.  “I’ll be with you every step of the way.  Not as I am now unless you need me to.”

                “More like a silent observer?”  Angelica broached as her subconscious nodded in the affirmative.

                “Ready?”  It asked her.  Angelica took a fortifying breath but was interrupted from answering when chaos broke loose.  A mixture of voices began yelling all at once making her slightly disoriented as she looked around her.  It took a minute to figure out where the source of the noise was coming from.  Once she did however the overwhelming scent of lilies filled the white world.  She must have tuned out from the outside world after she had returned from the memory.  She remembered smelling the flowers before entering the dark void but not after.  As if it was unable to follow her into that specific memory as well.  Now though the outside world had invaded her center with a vengeance.  Angelica had to concentrate on the assaulting voices to make sense out of what was going on.  The smell of the phantom flowers was a distraction as well, but she managed to push it aside.  Her need to hear what was going on overpowering all else.

                “What happened to my mom!”  Tiffany cried out in anguish.

                “It’s hard to say.  She’s suffered a lot of injuries.  While she was out of the woods she isn’t in the clear yet.  We won’t be breathing easy until she wakes up.”  The doctor from before told the room.  This caused Tiffany to fly into hysterics no longer able to form coherent words.

                “Shh, your mom is tough Tiff.  She’ll make it you’ll see.”  Came the voice of Tiffany’s best friend Rebecca.  The inclusion of someone outside of Angelica’s immediate family worried her.  Everyone was supposed to keep Angelica’s survival a secret.  She wondered how this girl found out.  She hated to think that Tiffany had told someone risking her mother’s life, but it seemed the most likely scenario.

                “Who brought those things in?”  Kevin demanded confusing Angelica until she remembered the smell that permeated the air.

                “A delivery boy brought them to the desk.  He said they were from you.”  An unknown woman offered the explanation.

                “I would never have sent those.”  He stated in disgust.  “My children and I are highly allergic to lilies.  Besides if I brought her flowers I would have delivered them myself.  No one is supposed to know about my wife.”  Kevin bit out accusingly causing Tiffany to bawl even harder.  It was clear even to Angelica that couldn’t see the people in the actual hospital room that he was chastising his daughter.

                “I was with her when she got the call.  It wasn’t your daughter that told me.”  Rebecca defended her friend.  Angelica became agitated wanting to tell the young woman to not put herself in Kevin’s path.  It never ended well for anyone who choose to defy him.

                “Nurse please call in the officer that’s outside.”  The doctor ordered receiving a resounding ‘yes doctor’ from the unknown woman before.  Angelica didn’t know if the doctor had asked so that Kevin could be removed from the room or if there was something else instead.  She waited impatiently to see what was going on.

                “You asked for me?”  Came the voice of a strange man.  Angelica gasped slightly shocked by the reaction she had when she heard this new person.  Her heart sped up as she listened intently.

                “Yes.  This arrangement seems to have come from someone outside of the family.  I thought it might be important.  I would rather you take them then have them thrown out rashly just in case.”  The doctor told the man who was obviously someone working on Angelica’s case.

                “Thank you doctor.  Every lead counts even if it takes us to a dead end.  Do you know who brought them in the room?”  The voice questioned.  The deeper tones of his voice resonating around the room even though he didn’t yell.  The man had a strong deep baritone quality to his voice and a confidence that demanded compliance in every word he spoke.  Angelica felt herself slightly drawn to this stranger though she was sure they had never met before.  There was just something about him when he talked that called out to a piece of her she didn’t know existed.

                “My nurse, the one who came out to get you, was the one who brought them in.  She said she talked to the individual who delivered them personally.  If you have any questions I advise you to speak with her.”  The doctor offered.  She didn’t hear the man respond but could hear the soft tread of his steps as he left the room.  The scent of the lilies fading as he did so.

                “This is absurd.  How can I feel like my wife is safe if things like this happen?  And then to receive a phone call from the hospital saying she was in heart failure.  I was in the middle of an important meeting doctor when I was interrupted.”  Angelica could hear the mounting agitation rising in Kevin’s voice.  He was very tense which never boded well for anyone.  His next words however sent ice through her veins.  “I don’t want anymore excessive means used to keep her alive.”

                “WHAT!”  Screamed Tiffany enraged by her father’s words.  Angelica herself fell to the misty ground around her.  Shock ringing through her metaphysical body that he would say such a thing.

                “She’s been through enough.  Look at her Tiffany!  I refuse to allow her any more suffering.  Enough is enough.”  Kevin bit out with finality.  Angelica looked to her doppelganger in confusion only to find that the woman didn’t seem as surprised as Angelica herself was.

                “Normally that would be a decision we would abide by if it were the families wishes.  However, since she is part of an active murder investigation I can not do that.  I will do whatever it takes to keep your wife alive until that is no longer feasible.  If there is a chance she could wake up still and bring justice to a killer I can not risk taking that option away.  I’m sorry Mr. Bryant.”  The doctor informed them not sounding the least bit sorry at all.  Angelica breathed a sigh of relief at his words.

                “We’ll see about that.”  Was Kevin’s angry retort before he stormed out of the hospital room slamming the door in his wake.

                “Can he really do something to my mom?”  Tiffany asked sounding so small and young.

                “He can try and fight it, but he won’t get far.  Not when there’s a chance of her recovery.”  The doctor bit out with conviction.

                “She could still wake up?”  Rebecca asked with trepidation shaking in her voice.

                “It’s okay doctor, she’s my closest friend and like one of the family.”  Tiffany reassured a little stronger bolstered by the hope she held for his next words.  The doctor sighed in frustration but chose to listen to her.

                “Your mom still shows signs of strong brain activity.  As long as her brain is alive, her body will heal and there is a real chance she will wake up.”

                “Do you mean it?”  Tiffany asked teary now from a glimmer of joy rather than all the angst she had gone through already.

                “Only time will tell.  It helps that your mother did not have a D.N.R. directive too.  As long as we have proof of life there’s not much your father can do.”  While Tiffany thanked the doctor for the news he gave her it left Angelica with a sinking feeling.  He didn’t sound as sure as Tiffany was taking it.  While Angelica was glad her daughter had a bit of good news to keep her going through all of this his tone still worried Angelica herself. 

                “Why would your dad be so dead set on letting her pass away?”  Rebecca asked clearly having heard the same tone that Angelica had heard from the doctor as well.  That was a good question though, why indeed.