Chapter 31
1650 Words
“She’s waking up!” shouted a loud voice that wasn’t unfamiliar to me.
“Damn, Eve! You gave us a scare!”
“Jo… Johnny,” I whispered when I opened my eyes.
Elvis stood by my bedside and Johnny stood behind him. My gaze swept around the room. Posters of an old Eminem concert and Fulham F.C. football team and graffiti everywhere let me guess where I was, lying on a bed, an IV sticking in the middle of my left arm.
“You’re in my room,” said Elvis.
“Yeah, you narrowly escaped the grim reaper, damn Eve!” adds Johnny who was already trying to find a way to make me smile. “This IV helps you regain your strength and clear the drugs in your body. You had violent withdrawals for days, you were completely delirious! Luckily the neighbours have never called the cops once in their life or we would have had a little visit. You were screaming in your sleep, it was creepy! But you have to know that…,” continued Johnny who was struggling to finish, “... look, Eve, this isn’t easy to say. My aunt is a nurse. She set you up with your IV and took care of you through the withdrawals. On the second day after you were brought here, she said you had a miscarriage.”
“Don’t tell anyone!”
“Okay! Only my dad, Elvis and I know, so relax.”
I thought for a moment about this. This definitely signalled the failure of Magnus Burton Race and I felt no emotion about this loss. At the same time, it would have seemed unlikely to me that a fetus could have survived such treatment, but perhaps that madman was convinced otherwise. I don’t care now.
“Where’s Olivia?”
“She’s here,” Elvis muttered, looking down, “but she’s not doing well. She remains in a sort of weird trance and we can’t wake her up. Salomon is much better.”
“Eric and Thomas?”
“They’re here too, they’ll be back soon.”
“Why am I here?”
“They didn’t have a choice. They wanted a safe place where they could get help for you that couldn’t be easily guessed. Who would look for you in Brixton?”
“But Gregory knows, he has already come here!”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t know who was covering for you here. And obviously, you and Salomon needed an urgent, discreet solution and the proper care, so it was best for everyone.”
I got up. Still feverish, I sat down painfully, but I noticed that my movements were much more precise than before. My head was working almost perfectly. It was going to take me some time to recover fully physically, but I could wait.
“It might be a little early to get up, Eve!” suggested Johnny, his eyes worried.
But I wasn’t listening to him anymore and I raised my body, leaning one arm against the wall. I ripped out the IV before taking a few steps forward. I felt happy my legs lifted me, even if, it must be admitted, I was far from ready to run a hundred metres. Elvis was standing right behind me, ready to catch me if I fell. I made my way to the living room and sat on the couch as Johnny arrived happily, arms laden with a tray full of food. I barely ate half of it, my unaccustomed stomach refusing the rest. But the happiness of tasting real food and finally having regained my senses filled me with a whole new joy. I had just noticed that I was clean and wearing a nightgown.
“Don’t worry, b***h!” Johnny said. “It was I who saw you naked, you weren’t risking much!”
I sent him a tiny smile. I wasn’t used to using those muscles around my mouth anymore, and with the experience I had in Magnus’ Tower, I hardly felt able to laugh again. But, seeing the faces of my two friends again was so comforting that I forgot the rest of them for a moment until an image came back to me like a boomerang, Yanosh and Gregory advancing towards me with their eyes greedy. Immediately, my brain filled with a cold hatred so ferocious that all the surrounding furniture began to shake.
“Hey! Calm down, Eve!” yelled Elvis. “You’re going to blow up everything!”
My gaze fell on him then and I felt my nerves relax. That’s when Eric and Thomas appeared.
“Eve!” Thomas cried, throwing himself on me while Eric looked relieved.
“Where are the others?” I asked. “Where’s Ethan?”
“Don’t you want to talk about it later?” suggested Thomas. “You have to rest.”
“No! I need to know right now.”
“We haven’t heard from Carmichael,” Eric said, knowing that I wouldn’t give up. “Blake managed to escape, but we don’t know where he is. As for Ethan…, according to our sources, he would have returned to his master.”
I couldn’t think anymore, and as I looked around the room, I discovered, stunned, Olivia curled up near the sideboard. I got up and knelt in front of her. She showed no reaction, her eyes were more absent than ever.
“Olivia, it’s Eve! Wake up, darling.”
Nothing. I stood up and seriously began to feel the weight of fatigue, but I preferred to ignore it.
“What are we going to do for her?”
Thomas, Eric, Johnny and Elvis looked down sadly. I understood then that they had already tried everything.
In the evening, and after having slept for another two good hours, I opened my eyes and discovered Thomas sitting in the armchair in the living room watching me carefully.
“How do you feel?”
“Much better now.”
“What happened there, Eve?” he asked.
“Nothing worth dwelling on. And Naomi, how is she?”
“The baby is growing and we decided to raise him separately. Anyway, the situation didn’t leave me much choice.”
“I understand.”
“Eve, I’m sorry.”
“Enough. You saved me, Thomas! And for the rest, let’s not talk about it anymore, it’s in the past.”
“Eve, I never stopped…”
“Thomas, not now!”
He stood up, gnawed by shame, and left the room, his heart bruised. His eyes betrayed deep sadness, but I didn’t have the strength to console him. I didn’t blame him anymore, that was for sure. This horrible experience had at least had the merit of healing some wounds.
I didn’t even know if I could still feel compassion or remorse for someone. Besides, I no longer knew if I could feel at all. My eyes had been staring at the ceiling for a while. I was trying to find out if, one day, I would succeed in becoming the Everliegh Burberry I was before my a*******n, but, for a moment, I was so lost in my head that I hadn’t even noticed the presence of Eric sitting in the same place as Thomas earlier. My gaze finally fell on him. He watched me but was silent. That’s what I liked about him, Eric knew perfectly well when to remain silent. Long minutes passed before I stood up. Eric stayed there, in case my legs gave out, but I felt much better now. I headed for the bathroom and closed the door behind me. I slid my clothes down to my feet and panicked when I saw myself naked in front of the mirror. In shock, I let out a cry, which alerted Eric who exploded the door lock and entered to reassure himself. Unresponsive, I stood there in front of the mirror, observing the outrage that captivity had inflicted on my body. My shoulders were protruding and you could count every one of my ribs. My thighs and arms were skin and bones. My complexion was livid, my skin almost yellowish. Bruises covered my body and cuts were scattered here and there. Only my hair had kept a semblance of vitality. This detail had the gift of comforting me a little. I had to find something anyway. Eric looked down and left without a word. I went in the shower and felt water running down my face, finally something pleasant. I took a towel and dried myself, promising that even if I couldn’t regain the mental balance of the Everliegh Burberry of yesteryear, I would do my best to find her body. Once out, I discovered Eric leaning against the wall right next to the door.
“I’m sorry I left you alone that day, it’s unforgivable.”
“You have nothing to reproach yourself for, Eric, don’t worry.”
“I should have stayed, I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Once again, you have nothing to reproach yourself for. It’s up to me to thank you for coming to save me.”
“But that day…”
“Is far away now.”
Eric looked at me for a moment and stopped insisting. He accompanied me into the living room where the table was set. Mr Forbe had prepared a Caribbean speciality with coconut milk. Olivia sat at the end of the table, still as reclusive as ever. Elvis and Johnny sent me one of their widest smiles as Salomon and Mr Forbe chatted and laughed. In the end, I realised that the worst was behind me. It was an unexpected chance to have them all in my life, they were my family. I finally smiled and went to sit next to Olivia, helping her eat while Papa Forbe kept filling my own plate.
- Writer
