chapter 8
Trinity was standing in the black room with her arms spread wide. She was cold but when she tried to wrap her arms around herself, they wouldn’t budge.
Before being able to assess the situation, she felt a slash across her back. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out.
Panicking, she strained her eyes so she could see something, anything. When something slashed across her stomach, she jerked backwards. What was happening?
The room stayed black, but she finally made out the figure of a man slowly forming in front of her. He was close enough she could feel his hot breath on her face. She waited for him to say something, but he just stared at her, unmoving. The next second, his face transformed to that of a monster and started to yell. She could make out his sharp yellow teeth and she strained backward to try and escape his wrath.
His eyes never left her face and she found herself staring into two orbs of black ibis. Suddenly, his face started to transform again. First it changed back to the man, then to Seth, then to the man that shot her parents and back to the monster again. The faces continued to change, but they never stopped yelling at her and all had the same dead eyes. She tried to stay strong but quickly started to crack and found herself crying and straining away from the figure.
Soon she started to get attacked by his massive claws. They were tearing her apart and she couldn’t move to get away. Trinity started screaming again and begging him to stop, but no words would come out.
Crying even harder now, she drew in as much air as she could and let out the loudest scream she could manage.
“Jesus Christ!” Someone was holding her. “Dammit, wake up! Please God, wake her up!”
She opened her eyes to a brightly lit room and gasped at the sudden change. Quickly, she grabbed on to the person holding her for dear life and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the mental images she just experienced. What was happening to her?
As her shaking subsided, she took a deep breath in and marveled at how comforted she was. The man holding her was strong, yet gentle and smelled like… Wait! Who the hell was holding her?
Trinity’s eyes flew open before she put her hands between their bodies and pushed. He pulled back, but still held on. “Let me go!” She yelled and pushed at him again, only harder this time to show how serious she was.
The man finally released her, stood up and took a few steps back. When she was free, Trinity finally looked around her surroundings to see that she was in a hospital room. It took her a minute to remember why she would be in a hospital room, but then it all came back to her; the bridge, the water, the tree… She shuddered at the memories.
Looking around some more, she noticed a small vase with flowers on a table and another one that held a single rose. She gave a little shiver before looking toward the man standing to the side of her bed and getting her first good look at him.
Her breath stilled in her chest. How was this possible?
“Am I dreaming?” Looking around again, she tried to make sense of it all. She felt as though she was awake, but how could that be when he was standing beside her.
“No, Trinity. It’s not a dream.” He sounded so glum, unlike what she was always used to.
Now she was really confused. “But how…?”
“I don’t know.” He started to pace the distance of the small room, then turned and pointed an accusatory finger at her. “I mean…you’re not supposed to exist.”
“Me? You’re the one that doesn’t exist.” Irritated, she started to get off the bed only to be stopped by the dizzy spell that came upon her. When he started to approach her, she held up her hand to stop him and continued where she left off.
“Was this all some sick joke?” The thought made a lump of dread settle in her throat.
“If it was, it was not on my part.” The accusatory look he gave her said it all.
“I wouldn’t do that to someone.” It didn’t sit well that he thought her capable of playing with another person’s emotions like that. She then chastised herself mentally. Didn’t she just do the same thing to him?
Ignoring her own inner demons, she started to examine his face more thoroughly. “It’s not possible. You can’t be the same one!” Her words were strong, but the waver in her voice showed she wasn’t too sure.
“Tell me this.” He started walking slowly toward her, freezing her in place. “Do you bite your fingernails when nervous…crack your knuckles when thinking of something important? She could feel all the color drain from her face, but he continued. “Do you have a birthmark behind your right knee…love the feel of my facial hair scraping against your body? How about this…do you let out a throaty moan when you are touched right…”
He reached out his hand to her and she instinctively smacked it away. “Stop.” Needing to get away, but being stuck in a hospital bed, she turned away from him. When he didn’t say any more, her shoulders sagged and she shook her head. “This is wrong. It wasn’t supposed to be real.” She covered her face with her hands when she remembered everything she did in those “dreams”. “I am nothing like that. I would never have done any of that if I knew…”
He placed his hands on her shoulders and she immediately stiffened, which caused him to quickly remove them. “I don’t know how this happened, but believe me when I say that I will find out.”
Trinity turned around to face him. She couldn’t get over how it was possible he was standing in front of her. Except the man here was so much different than the one she had come to know. He was rougher…colder, which made Trinity wonder who the real Malachi was. Taking a deep breath in, she held out her hand. “Trinity Bradshaw. Nice to meet you.”
He just stood there and stared at her hand. When he looked up at her, he engulfed her hand in his. “Malachi Starkman.” He held on to her hand a little longer than necessary, but she didn’t mind. He might emit a different persona than she was used to, but his hand felt the same; warm, calloused, and strong. This was him alright, but where was the man she knew?
All of the sudden Nicci came storming into the room, which made them break apart. “Oh good, you’re awake!” Rushing over to Trinity, she wrapped her arms around her and started to cry. “I was so scared I lost you.
Returning the embrace, Trinity shut her eyes and reassured her friend. “I know; it’s okay. I’m okay.” They stayed like that for a few minutes, enjoying the fact that they could.
When Trinity looked up, Malachi was almost out the door. “Leaving without saying goodbye?”
This made him pause in the doorway. When he tuned his head to look at her, she was pierced with those beautiful eyes she knew so well. “I didn’t want to interrupt.”
Trinity didn’t know what to do. Part of her didn’t want him to go, but the other half kept telling her that he was still a stranger.
The latter side won out, but not happy about it. “Okay. See ya around?”
“Yeah.” The cool mask was firmly back in place.
Her insides started to constrict when he turned to leave again.
Please don’t leave me forever.
She couldn’t help the thought that came to her. She was terrified that he would walk through that door and she would never see him again.
He stopped mid stride again, but stayed with his back turned. As if making up his mind about something, he turned back around. “Would you like to do something sometime? With me, I mean?”
If she didn’t know better, she would assume he was nervous. She found this side of him comforting…more like the Malachi she had gotten to know before today.
Smiling up at him, she admitted that she would like that. She gave him her information to get a hold of her and they said goodbye, but this time when he left, she didn’t feel so panicked.
Trinity was sitting on her bed, just smiling, when she was jarred out of her peaceful state.
“Hello? Earth to Rin.” Nicci started snapping in her face until Trinity swatted her hand away. “What was that all about? I was gone for twenty minutes, and I miss all the good stuff!”
All Trinity could do was chuckle. “It was nothing.”
“Nothing! You said you would go out with a man you don’t even know!” Giving Trinity her knowing look, she continued. “That’s not like you, so something had to of happened when I was gone for you to agree to that.”
Acting nonchalant about the whole thing, she just shrugged her shoulders. “He was here when I woke up, and said he was glad that I was okay. He seems nice. Plus…did you see what he looked like?”
“That all seems pretty farfetched, coming from a woman that I have to twist her arm to even consider dating.” Nicole settled herself in the only chair in the room before continuing. “I think you should know that I ran into him and a friend of his the other day.”
This made Trinity look quizzically at her friend. "They were picking on one of my charges from work. Yes, the kid is a force to be reckoned with, but his friend was shaking the kid while that man watched on.” She emphasized her point by pointing to the empty doorway.
Trinity was blown away; she couldn’t even picture him doing this. Giving herself a mental slap in the head, her mind chanted, “stranger, stranger, stranger.”
“Wow, I never would have thought…” Trinity was extremely sensitive about accusations that strong. She didn’t know what to think.
“Of course, he did save your life. It was so weird too. He acted so possessive of you, wouldn’t let anyone near you.”
Trinity was nodding her head as her friend was talking, only to snap to attention. “Wait! What did you say?”
“He wouldn’t let anyone near you.”
“No. The part about saving me.”
Now Nicole looked confused. “You didn’t know?” When Trinity stayed silent, she continued. “He’s the one that went into the river and got you to shore. It also looked like he had to give you CPR or something.”
Talk about being confused. She really didn’t know how to feel about him when he showed so many different sides. Deciding it was too confusing to think about right now, she quickly changed the subject before Nicci mentioned anymore about him.
“Wow, okay…how long have I been here?”
Thank heaven her friend accepted her change of topic. “Oh! It’s Saturday evening, only a few hours. Nothing was wrong with you physically except a sprained ankle, but you wouldn’t wake up. They didn’t want to release you till you did.”
“Really?” Trinity looked down at her arms remembering the deep abrasions she had gotten from the tree. They were nothing but mere scratches. “What was wrong with my chest?” She asked confused.
This brought Nicole to attention. “What about your chest?”
“I got hit by a log. It had to of done something, because it was hard to breath afterward. I couldn’t even yell for help when someone showed up. I had to have Jennifer...” Realization hit. “Oh my God! Katie…Jennifer…are they alright? Where are they?”
“Calm down, they’re both fine. Jennifer was more shaken up than anything. She’s been worried about you, by the way. Anyways, Katie…is that her name?” Trinity gave an affirmative nod and she continued. “Katie had a head injury but is now awake and ready to go home.”
She relaxed a little more from her initial concern. “Okay.”
“Anyway, your chest… Are you having any trouble breathing now?”
She thought about it and took a deep breath. It felt as if nothing had ever happened to her. “No.” She could have sworn there was an issue.
“That’s weird.” Nicci moved to the bed and put a comforting hand on her arm. “Maybe it was just panic. You said you were hit by a log? That would be frightening for anyone.”
“I guess you could be right.” Trinity didn’t think so; she remembered exactly what it felt like.
“So, are you ready to go home?” Nicole couldn’t mask the excitement in her voice.
Nothing sounded better to Trinity right now. “Oh Yeah! Then immediately into a hot shower to get this grime off me. Have you smelled my hair?” Trinity looked disgusted when she pulled up a few strands to look at.
“Don’t think I want that privilege, but I will help you get ready.”
“Do you think we need to let a doctor know I’m awake? Don’t I have to be discharged or something?”
Nicole sighed. “I guess so. I’ll be right back.”
When Nicci left, Trinity decided to get up and gather her belongings. Man, she wanted out of this hospital gown. Her face turned beet, wondering who changed her into it. Was Malachi around? Surely they wouldn’t allow that!
She limped to the cabinet and found clothes in a plastic bag designated for the patient’s personal affects. That’s weird. These were her clothes, but not the ones she wore this morning when she left home. There was only one explanation. Trinity’s grin widened when she thought how it was really nice sometimes to have a best friend that never missed any details.
She went into the bathroom and shut the door when she wanted to change. No need to be walked in on by the doctor. As she removed her hospital gown, she examined herself in the bathroom mirror. There were scratches all over her arms and legs, but nothing as bad as she thought there would be.
There was a bruise at her temple. When Trinity saw that, she examined her head for an open wound but found none. This didn’t make any sense. She remembered touching the area after it happened and her hand coming away with blood on it.
She then turned around to try and see her back. From what she could see, there was nothing there. How is this possible, she thought? How can someone get rammed with a log and not even have a bruise to show for it. She knew from previous accounts that she bruised easily, but where was all the evidence on her from today’s events? So many things about this weren’t adding up.
When she came out of the bathroom, Nicci and the doctor were waiting for her. She started limping to the bed, and Nicci came to her side to help her.
“You shouldn’t be on that foot yet.” Nicole…always the mother hen.
“It’s okay. I’m fine.”
The doctor spoke up before he sat at the chair by the bed. “I have to agree with your friend.” Shaking her hand he introduced himself. “Hello Ms. Bradshaw, I’m Dr. Lewis. Why don’t you sit down so I can take a look at it?”
When Trinity sat down, he slowly undid the wrap they had put around it. The ankle looked swollen, but no discoloration. This was obviously a good sign because the doctor seemed pleased. He rotated and pushed lightly on it but there was only a mild discomfort.
“This looks even better than when you came in. I would expect you to only need the wrap for a few more days at this rate.”
As the doctor stood up, he examined the visible abrasions with an expression of awe. “You must be a fast healer, because even these look ten times better than earlier.”
Trinity didn’t know what to say to this. She always thought she healed at a normal rate, but she guessed she didn’t really know what the normal rate was.
When he reached her head, he shined a light into her eyes and massaged her head for any tenderness. It worried him that he couldn't find anything physical to explain why she wouldn’t wake up for so long, but eventually chalked it up to her body not being ready yet after so much trauma.
After telling her to checkup with her normal doctor in a few days, he discharged her before leaving the room. Woohoo! Freedom!
Trinity and Nicole then gathered everything up and left the room, conveniently leaving the vase with the single rose. When they got to the outside doors, she looked in Nicole’s direction. “Okay, your car or mine?”
Nicole’s head swung around so fast. She gave Trinity a rueful look that showed how clueless she was on what to say. It was too much, Trinity started to laugh which caused an elbow to get thrown in her direction.
“Hey! You can’t hit me! There has to be a rule somewhere that says a person leaving a hospital can’t get elbowed.”
Nicole just rolled her eyes and started walking into the parking lot. This caused Trinity to chuckle once more.
After a day like today, she just felt lucky to be able to be with her friend again. She planned on doing a lot more now that she learned firsthand how unexpectedly a person’s life can end. Heck, she already said she would go on a date with Malachi. How exciting, she thought. She had a bad feeling that she was going to turn into one of those women that check their phone constantly and cross their fingers that he was going to call. Ugh!