Webs of Revenge

Chapter 6: The Hospital

After what happened, I decided to visit Honor. Even though she tried to kill me, she still was my sister, and I scheduled an appointment to visit her. My mother was there for a couple of days straight and even though she was a part of the plot to overthrow me, I still had to live with her until the Lockridge famliy lawyer finds enough evidence to prove her guilty for her sisters murder and the murder attempt on me. No one except Vincet and I knew about the private case that was taking place. I made sure that the lawyer wasn’t looking for any evidence on my father, and we hired a private investigator on the murder of her sister, and her recent phone calls, purchases and behaviours. Opening my closet, I looked at what I should wear. Taking out what I thought was reasonable, I got dressed and walked down the staircase.

“Where are you going, Klari?”

“I’m going to visit Honor, and yes it's safe.”

Vincent stared at me with his mouth wide open, and I walked out the door. The family car was outside, but I was going to drive on my own. My mother was also entitled to the family car, so I would rather go in my personal one. My personal car resides in the main Villa, so I didn’t have a problem finding it. Getting into the car, I started the engine and was off. If Honor where to be tested and officially insane, she would lose her rank, and I would become the only heiress. My sisters can’t advance in their rank so that would leave me to be the official ruler. But, if she where to be undeclared by the hospital, she comes back home and keeps her rank. That could be dangerous towards the family legacy and me. I’m still not old enough to get married because of my hierarchy, and if i were to die before my debutante, Honor is officially the heiress taking everything that was mine. Just the thought of that made me grip the steering wheel even harder, this was going to drive me  insane. I had to watch every step of my life now until I get married, because everything was at stake for me. Even if I survive my debutante, then there is the disappearing event at the Academy. For three weeks, every heiress and secondary heiress goes missing, and only five from each rank return. That was the bigger worry, if I didn't return and I had the debutante, the fortune gets handed over to the government, and in our case that's billions of trigons. Trigons is the modern currency that is tracked and controlled by the government. It’s somewhat like the dollar, but it has a microchip that tracks its location and how much its worth. Our fortune is worth 120 billion trigons, and if I were to die after my debutante, I would end the Cortex hierarchy, and not to mention I would also end the Militon nobility and all of the fortune would be passed onto the government immediately with all our estates, land, titles and currency. We would become instantly broke. I pulled up to the hospital, and then it hit me. It didn’t matter if they conducted tests or not! My mother took out 10,000 trigons out of the business account claiming it was for “donations' '. She was going to the hospital to send Honor back home even if the tests were claiming that she was clinically insane. They would take the money and send her back home. That can’t happen, it can’t. I kept on screaming in my head, my debutante is in twelve days. They still had plenty of time to hurt or kill me, if they accepted the bribe she would come home today, even though her mind had developed insanity. I couldn’t walk into that hospital feeling like this, I had to be safe until I had my debutante. I had to get home, escape to the third estate or even run away somewhere and come back right before my debutante. I was going mad over every single detail. I had to get to rest, because I might have a panic attack. I turned around, and started driving towards home. I couldn’t confront Honor and my mother today, I might have an ultimate panic or heart attack. My health wasn’t worth their stupid bribery and plans to over throw me. I had allies and friends that I spent fourteen years to gain from all the highest ranks, and even though they might not love me, their deals all rely on me. If I were to die, fourteen years of trade and deals would vanish, they need me just to get by. My head kept on spinning and I started to feel nauseous, and I kept on thinking about my sister and wretched mother. I started to see darkness, and the last thing I saw was me hitting a lamppost.

I woke up in the hospital, I was attached under machines, that I recognized them from numerous times Carolines used them. Nobody was sitting next to me, which was very relieving. I knew that they would come soon, but I liked the silence. It was better than being asked a thousand questions at a time, and maybe seeing my mother. I didn’t remember what happened, the only thing I remembered was that I was going home after deciding that I wasn’t going to visit Honor. Then I noticed numerous deep cuts on my hands and legs, that looked like they were created by glass shards, suddenly it came all flowing back to me. I got into a car crash, the location was an hour and thirty minutes away from home, and it was twenty minutes away from where Honor was. I remember hitting another car, and my seatbelt failed, and flew straight towards the windshield, head first. I touched my face, and I felt cuts. They weren’t too deep though, so I wont have any extra scars on my face. Sighing in relief, I noticed a doctor came into the room. Great, I would be questioned, I thought to myself.

“You must be Klara Odette Million-Cortex?”

“Yes sir, indeed I am.”

“You got into a car crash, and you were bleeding heavily. If it wasn’t for the people that lived near the area, there is a high probability that you would have died. Do you remember any key factors of the crash? You almost hit a car, but your steering wheel somehow turned and you hit a lampost.”

I thought for a moment, if I were to tell him that I was thinking about my family and how I kept on panicking, I would be declared as mental. But if I told him nothing, they would find out eventually.

“I know that my seatbelt must have been weakened, because it snapped right at the cause of impact.”

“Anything else you want to tell us?”

“No sir, my vision went black right after the hit.”

Moments after the doctor walked out of my room, Vicncent already came running in and swarming me with questions.

“Kalri, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, just a little cut up, but other than that I’m fine.”

“I literally came the moment they called, except it almost took me two hours, but I guess it counts.”

I saw my father walk into the room with Haylnn and my other sister Elanore, the last two sisters that were fine. 

“What happened Klara?”

“My seat belt snapped, but it's alright Eleanor.”

“I have to call the insurance agent and I'll be right back.”

“Why did you go and visit Honor's sister? She tried killing you, and mother is there!”

“Haylnn, I just wanted to do the proper thing, it is my fault that she could be mentally insane.”

“You only care about the proper thing to do! You don’t care if it's safe or not! If it's proper you do it!”

“Come on Haylnn! That's not always true! I try to do things the right way that's all.”

“So the right thing to do in your mind was to go and visit Honor!? What in the world is wrong with you. Oh I know, years of training! The Academy, Mother and Father.”

“You stop screaming at Klara! What would you do Haylnn? I’m very curious! Just because Klara is a good person and wants to do the right thing, that gives you no right to just scream at her like that! Years of running made you a snob Haylnn!”

I stared at Vincent with disbelief, and I started to see tears rolling down my sister's cheeks.

“Enough! Both of you! My head hurts from all the screaming and yelling! I had a minor crash! So what? It happens to the best of us! Now could both of you please stop screaming insults around each other! It's intolerable!”

That was the first time I ever screamed, I never did it in public or directed it to someone specific. I felt so empty, like the time where I started screaming in the park. They stared at me with fear, wow, fear. That's what I was trained to do all my life, control, close deals and have people fear me. But when I made them afraid, I felt empty and hollow on the inside. Like  nothing left of me is still inside, just a controlling puppeteer that uses people's strings. Haylnn started to cry more,Elanore came up and hugged me, and Vincent kept on apologizing to Haylnn and I. It felt wrong, it just didn’t feel like they knew what was going on.

“Your car is a total wreck! The insurance agent said he could only cover forty percent of the damages, you will need a new car! This time I’m getting you a Paragon! Because you clearly can't drive a luxury car. Why were you driving anyway? Didn’t you want to take the family car?”

Silence came over the entire room. How didn’t he know I went to visit Honor….

“I went to visit Honor.”

My father stared at me for what seemed to be an eternity.

“Why did you visit your sister after an assaination attempt?”

I thought about his question for a while. Why did I?

“I felt that she was my sister, and it was the proper thing to do…”

“Klara you have to stop thinking about what is the proper thing to do.”

“Oh, really? So all those years of edicate, lessons, and community involvement were not necessary? Because I didn’t want to do those things at the age of four, but I had to do it! It was the proper thing to do!”

“Those were meant to teach you how to behave around others.”

“Well, I suppose I’ve been living my life incorrectly all this time. I was the proper, mannered and involved girl.”

“That's not what I’m saying-”

“It's exactly what you're saying! I’ve been living my life incorrectly all this time!”

At exactly that moment, the nurse came into the room informing them that visiting hours are over, and I was so relieved. The doctor informed me that I would spend four days at the hospital, which might be the best for me during these circumstances, the last thing I wanted to do is to upset everyone around me. The accident shouldn’t be an excuse for me to lash out on the remaining part of my family. They just scared, that's all. The word care echoed in my head. That was never a word  I used to describe my family, the only thing was cruel, father and mother. It seemed like uncharted territory that I could step on a land mine any minute. Did they really care? Or are they plotting against me? I felt something shifting inside me, I was starting to feel more paranoid than ever.