Final Part of Chapter-1
Rebecca and I used to be two bodies and one soul. We shared so much with each other that at one point we used to forget what was originally ours. Those were the days-the days when we had everything we wanted from each other. Love, friendship and support. But as the time faded, the Golden Trophy of our Friendship lost its sheen and slowly melted away. All thanks to the dust gathering on it; to the pressure on our careers. We didn’t part our ways. We both moved up to New York, stayed in the same flat for three months, but soon the thing friends have was lost between us. I yearned for it so much. But I still considered her my bestie, and I hoped she did, too. We met often, more than often. For others, nothing had changed between us and sometimes even I used to wonder if I was over-complicating thing and we still really were like we used to be. The answer was locked away for now.
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The warm air enveloping my house allured me into it, and as a person under hypnotism, I paced forward, while clutching tight the knot holding in place the blue scarf I had found. My eyes nervously crept right and left in their sockets, scanning the area, taking in the soulless street. Faint chirping of the birds reverberated in my ears, and even as I tried my best to block it out, the sound cut through my heart. Their pitch, which even though was low, acted like a knife searing through my heart. How could they be singing songs of merry while my world was tearing apart? Shouldn't the world have come to a standstill, waiting for dear Alicia to find back her body? Was it too much to ask?
Even as my steps progressed towards my building, my mind wandered into different directions. I was sure about two things. First, I was worried. And second, I had a valid reason for it. Even as the positive side of my brain encouraged me to go up and face whatever the fate had in store for me, its counterpart spread its hands like wings requesting me to stop. The least it wanted right now was to find my body serving some other soul, even if it was Rebecca's. But positivism wins, and so both of my mind's sides combined like chemicals do during a reaction and pushed me towards my house.
Sneaking into the alleyway, when I was totally sure there would be nobody to create a nuisance, the flip-flops I wore rubbed themselves against the tar of the road and then as I stepped on the grass, the small grass plants tickled my not-almost-covered feet. I kept on saving myself from slipping on the dew from the grass till I reached the concrete part of the alleyway. A small staircase stood there. Tracing its route, my head lifted higher to see the window reflecting at me. I squinted.
Stepping forward, I climbed the stairs which led to my apartment. The place was a lot better than the one I had woken up to. The pavements were cleaner, there were no cats lurking around to leap my heart out of place, and most importantly it was home. Finally reaching there, I undid the knot of the scarf I wore to hide my face. I had found this scarf in the barber shop. Taking off the scarf, I felt like I had cut loose a rope which had been slowly eating my life. I rubbed it before I resumed on my mission.
I always left my window open; I never locked it from inside, and at this moment I felt like applauding me for one right habit I had formed. Digging my nails into the handle of the window, I tried pushing it up, but it took more than just one push. I looked back to see if anyone was watching me, but nobody was. I got back to my business until the window opened its mouth slightly and a low creak could be heard. Throwing it up like they do for shop gates, I jumped inside, trying my best not to make much sound. Once inside, I could feel the soft sheen like warmth of my house hugging me, and for a slight moment I could picture myself waking up to a normal day- sitting besides my window while sipping in my bubbling hot mocha. Of course I knew it was just an illusion.
Exhausted, I landed on the big black sofa in the hall. I took in a couple of breaths, rejuvenating me of the entire horrible experience I had witnessed this morning. I was still hoping that I would wake up to find myself back in my own body, and as the scene drifted in front of my eyes, I could feel myself relaxing. For a moment, that tiny weenie moment, I felt that everything was already alright, and I had won a big battle. But what I was oblivious of was that the battle was yet to come-the one for survival. Running my fingers on my forehead, I flicked open my eyes. I got up from my sofa and walked to the kitchen. Once reaching there, I pulled out a glass from the cabinet and lifted a bottle and poured the water in the glass. Raising it to my lips, I drank from it and the water gushed down my throat, bringing in a cold wave. I kept the glass in the sink, and walked back to the hall.
This time, while walking towards the sofa, my hand accidentally hit a photo frame kept on one of the side-tables. “Oh, my!” I uttered as I almost saved it from breaking. Turning it towards me, so the front was visible, I saw Alicia Kingston and Edward Brown staring at me from the photo down below. They both looked so happy-I was crouching over his back while he circled his arms around my legs. This photo evoked in me a sudden need to be with him, to be in my body, that I was about to smash the photo on the ground. Not this, silly.
“What you’ll do, Ali?” I asked myself, my hands on my butts. “This mess? How to get out of it?” As the seconds passed by, I became more and more aware of the fact that I was totally clueless of what I had to do. I could call Edward, but would he believe me? Who was I now? Rebecca Swift, not Alicia Kingston. There was not even minutest possibility that he’d believe me, but if he couldn’t find my body, then maybe there was a chance of him at least considering what I was saying. The more I thought about it I was glad this idea had jumped into my head, but at the same time its success seemed slim. My other options didn’t seem so tempting either. Police? Nah, they’d straight away send me to some asylum. My dad? No, I didn’t want to worry the old man. I totally felt frustrated. I had no right over my body, over my identity any longer. Nobody would believe that I was Alicia and not Rebecca. I could totally feel the fear stretching in my veins and helplessness striking me like a big monster.
“Oh, my God!” I wailed. “Wait, Ali…what would have you suggested somebody to do if they were in this situation? Think, think.” I started thinking of all the possible ideas I’d have suggested some other soul (not body). Since childhood, I had been better at solving other’s problems rather than mine. Call it superstition, or my bad luck, but it was always true. While others jumped with excitement on their problems being solved by me, I used to sit back and frown on thinking about mine.
Changing the recipient of the problem from me to Rebecca, I suddenly had a brilliant idea. The best thing to do in this situation was to find myself. I mean my body. If I could get it, then there was every possibility that I’d be able to solve this weird mystery. A smile flickered across my mouth, and I strode off to my phone.
Trin! Trin! Trin!
After a couple of rings, some lady picked up the cell and there was sudden increase in my heartbeat. It was my last chance and if I didn’t make through this, then I was ordained to stay in this body forever.
“Hello?” The lady spoke.
“Um, could I talk to Alicia Kingston?” I asked.
A moment of silence followed and I almost went to cancel the call.
“And you are?” The voice answered back, or rather questioned.
“Rebecca Swift, her friend.” I was amazed by the quickness I had in answering that question. It was like I had that name for myself on the tips of my tongue.
“Oh, I see! Actually, I am Nurse Paula. Your friend met with an accident. She’s being treated here…in Summer Life Hopsital,” Paula answered hesitantly, her words toppling over each other. It wasn’t an easy job; telling somebody about an accident, I guess.
It was tougher to listen it.
❦ ❧ ❦ ❧
In my attempt to rush inside, I almost forgot my purse in the cab and when the honking by the driver brought me back to realty, I almost got myself hit by the cab’s door.
“In a hurry, miss?” The cab driver flashed a crooked smile up at me, his tobacco coated teeth shining along. Without replying or nodding, I turned my back on him and dashed inside the hospital building with my purse flaring. I wondered how on world I had selected this yucky red leather purse.
Once inside, I was greeted by the rancid smell of ammonia and urine. It immediately triggered off the memory of the crusty smell of frying chips and alcohol I had woken up to in the morning. The only difference it made was that such life-threatening smell is obvious in a hospital-it belonged here, but not every house was so lucky to have rotten smile like of chips and alcohol to loom around inside it. The smell of blood coursed through my nose, and I had to pull out a handkerchief out of my pocket which went in front of my nose to block the smell.
As I walked my way through the gaggle of tensed people, I was able to stare right into their bloodshot eyes. Some of them looked older than I assumed them to be, while others stared in the empty air, their mind wandering inside the ICUs their loved ones were in. They didn’t speak to me, but their fear did. By their faces anyone could make out their anxiety, and I was literally sorry for them. But then there was someone whom I needed to be sorrier for. Me! This ‘me’ subject was really getting one of my least
For the first time since the call, I could feel tension. The ruckus I had found myself in after hearing the word ‘accident’ had not really given me a chance to think over and picture myself in an accident. For the few seconds, I wished strongly that the nurse was joking because it was the only way I could have solved the mystery; by finding who resided in my body. But now, as the time passed by and the destination came closer, my nervousness was rushing through my veins. The sight of me lying on a white tiny bed with IV tubes running through my veins, a monitor beeping my progress rate and my distorted face attached to that helpless body wasn’t going to leave my brain so soon. I shook my head repeatedly but the image was stuck like glue.
After a confused walk of two more minutes I saw the reception desk. Running there, I spoke in gabble, my words confusing even me.
“I am Ali-no Rebecca Kingston. Eh, no, it’s Rebecca Swift.” A long breath. “Yeah, I am Rebecca Swift.” I faked a brilliant smile at the receptionist. She scrunched her nose and eyed me suspiciously. I again smiled.
“Are you sure, Miss?”
“Yeah. Actually, my friend Alicia Kingston got admitted here. I’m really…tensed?” I nodded, moving my head vigorously to reassure her. The lady kept on staring up at me, and at the end of those tedious two seconds, she smiled. Actually, no, she tried smiling. But her snob face had not yet registered that expression. “If you please?”
“Yeah, yeah, sure! Alicia Kingston?” I nodded. She clicked some buttons on her computer and jotted down something on a pad. Very meticulously, keeping one finger on one side of the paper and pressing it hard, she tore the paper and handed it to me. “Right turn from here,” she pointed on her left and I mouthed something like ‘thanks’ and headed in the direction.
Walking where she had asked me to, I looked down at the paper and read ‘Alicia Kingston-ICU No. 5”. Couldn’t she just have told me? I snickered, and anxiously made my way towards what read like ICU No. 5. Once nearer, I could make out the muscles from the back of his shirt. He stood there, his back towards me, kicking constantly in the air. I ran to him. My Edward. Sensing someone’s arrival, he turned back.
“Thank God, Becca, you’re here,” he sighed and a weak smile came on his face. I noticed how grim he had turned in the last twenty-four hours. The last time I had seen him, his hair was a perfect golden, parting sideways and his eyes were a perfect blue. But now the whole new depressed version of him sent goose bumps down my spine as I looked into his eyes, the red nerves emerging in the white of them. His hair? A mess. Literally! If he weren’t my Ed, I’d have taken him to be a ruffian on road.
“Don’t worry. Calm down. How’s she?” I didn’t think it was a wise idea to tell him about my situation. Not now!
“A lot better. Though there are twenty stitches on her head, and a minor fracture in her hand. Christ, what was she even thinking?” He brought his hands to his head and started pressing it. I noticed how his impatience was getting higher every passing second as he kept on pacing back and forth.
“How’d she get into this?”
“Huh?” He pulled his hands down from his forehead.
“The accident. How did she get into it?”
“Rebecca, you don’t know?” He asked me in disbelief, and I mildly shook my head. Inside, I was cursing everything that had happened with me last night, and the fact that I didn’t remember any of those things perturbed me even more. I wondered if Rebecca was supposed to know any of this-things Ed was speaking of.
“You came in the morning, Becca. And now you’re asking me what had happened? Unbelievable!” he remarked. I found myself sinking deeper into this problem. I wanted to tell him the truth, but he wouldn’t believe me. But if I didn’t tell him, then he would doubt me otherwise. I was trapped.
“I’m just...too messed up. Help me out? I rolled my eyes as innocently as possible.
“Last night, after the party, she drove back home. You know, like, she was drunk. Purely drunk. I had asked to drive her back, but she was too upset.” Faint memories of last night came back to me, but it was still the incomplete jigsaw. I still had to complete it. “It’s my entire fault,” he muttered.
“Huh?” I came back to realty. Why was he blaming himself for my foolishness? My mom had strictly counseled me not to drive while drunk, but would I care to listen?
“I should have forced her to not drive.”
“Oh, yeah. You should’ve.” Instantly, my mind did approve of him apologizing. Come on, he was my boyfriend; he could surely pull me out of the driver’s seat and drive instead. I couldn’t help but curse him under my breath, but looking at his innocent face, all of my anger faded.
“God, please, save her,” crossing his hands he began humming something.
If there was any word that could best describe my situation, then no doubt, I would go with the word ‘confused’. Even though there was Ed by my side, several nurses scurried in the hallway, and the stinging smell of blood was there to keep me company, I felt all lonely. In such a situation, what was I supposed to do? Even worse, what if my body died? Was I to be live inside Reb’s body for the rest of my life? The thought was good enough to make me yell, but I had to quell my furiousness inside of me till things got bit better.
I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn’t know when a doctor wearing a white lab coat stepped out of the ICU and along with him came a nurse. He mumbled something to her, and she looked at both of us and then nodded. That was when I noticed them Ed’s eyes were closed, and I nudged him on his arm. Panicking, he opened his eyes. “What happened? Is she fine?” The nurse walked away, and the doctor looked at both of us.
“Mr. Brown, she’s perfectly alright. No need to worry any longer,” he flashed that less-used-in-a-hospital smile and relief entered my soul.
“Thank God,” Ed tried smiling, but the anxiousness had really left him unstable. Seeing him worrying for me like this, I could feel an immense love, and I was about to hug him when suddenly I remembered who I was. Rebecca hugging Edward was not such a great idea.
“Can I meet her?” I chirped.
“Of course, but be slow. Don’t ask her too many questions,” he rolled his pen and started leaving. “Don’t even scold her for driving drunk,” he looked back to add. For the first time since I had came here, I heard Ed laughing and turning back to him I noticed that tiny droplets of tears had joined his flight of laughter. That was how much he loved me. Lucky me!
“May I?” I asked, and he hesitantly nodded. Pushing the door, I made my way inside. Closing the door behind me, I took a huge sigh. The hope had again started glimmering. My body was in the same position-IV tubes running out of my hands, bandages plastered on my forehead and beep beeps echoing in the room.
Finally, after a long morning, I had seen my face.
Maybe it was the end of the nightmarish morning I had lived till now. I could only hope.
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