Ch-30 ★Exit

King George Hospital, London

[Aulaura]

     The repugnant smell of antiseptics and medicine made me feel nauseated and dizzy. If it weren’t Jay's arm wrapped around my torso I would have collapsed a long time ago. He held me in the cage of his bones – the warm brown in his eyes would deepen whenever our gazes meet. My numb heart gave out a small squeeze, enough for me to know that it still lived inside me.

      A nurse walked guided us through the impeccable crowded halls of the hospital. Faded faces and white coats passed by in a blur. Samantha- the mere thought brought an avalanche of emotion to collapse upon me. I prayed with all my soul- for the heavens above to grant her my share of life- to let her survive so I could make amends with her.

      I couldn’t stop cursing myself. My temporary heart-ache had cost me my friend’s life. Stupid heart- stupid love- stupid me for falling into the whirling labyrinth.

       “Jay, she will be alright?” It wasn’t a question that needed an answer.

He exhaled, his arm slipping from my waist and taking my hand. “I hope so,”

      “What if she isn’t? What am I going to do then?”

Jay craned his neck to look at me, he smiled, solemnly. “She’s going to be fine,”

      “How do you know?” I whispered as I felt something heavy sit on the center of my chest.

He placed a tender kiss on my forehead. “I just do,”

      I didn’t question him after that because somewhere inside me- I knew this day was going to change a-lot of things. For the good, bad or ugly- only time will answer the questions looming above our heads.   

      ✩★✩★

Tension hung thick in the air when we arrived in the hall outside the ICU. Cold metal chairs and oppressively white wall greeted me. To say I felt sad and remorseful would be an understatement. I felt devastated, broken, and petrified. I couldn’t cry anymore- my eyes had run of out of tears. The beats of my heart were so painful that each every beat made my chest ache terribly.

      Samantha, I don’t know what I’ll do if you don’t make it. Please don’t leave. Just be alright.

Words looped inside my head in fragmented lines as I stared hard at the double doors of her room. The nurse bowed her head slightly. Jay muttered a silent thank you before she scurried off in the opposite direction.

 I spotted Matthew sitting on one of benches next to the door of ICU. Like a dead corpse, he sat still. I couldn’t even tell if he was breathing or not. His green eyes were now the color of red wine- from tears or stress- I don’t know.

He was staring at the bleach white wall, his lips in a grim line. Jay’s hand left mine-leaving the cold, hospital air to flow through my numb fingers.

He strode to his best-fried and patted his shoulder. Matthew looked up at Jay and let out a loud sob. My heart broke at the sound.

      “Sh-she- los-lost lot of blood. She’s not going to make it,” Words left Matthews’s mouth in  a blubbering mess.

Jay didn’t say anything and stood there silently behind Matthew. He looked just as broken as Matthew was. I could feel the pain and stress radiating off him.

I averted my eyes. Honestly, if I watched them any longer, I will break down right here, right now and no-one will be able to help me, not even Jay.

All of this was my fault. My bloody fault.

      My legs carried me to the adjacent wall; I leaned against the cold cement. The palms of hands were pressed against the wall- they were red from being clenched and unclenched. The pain from the nail marks subdued to an extent.

        Suddenly I saw my parents walking in from the opposite end of the hall- they stood out oddly in crowd of nurses and doctors. What were they doing here? Dad was held onto mom’s hand for support. The contours of his face were streaked into crumbling sorrow and despair. His eyes were hidden behind golden spectacles- the light reflected off the glasses. Mom on the other hand, looked tired and weary. She was wearing a loose toffee colored jacket and trousers. Strands falling out of her bun curled around the edge of her jaw, framing her perfect oval shaped face.

      They came to a stop by the chairs in front of the ICU. I advanced towards them.

      “Mom, dad,” I croaked, my voice was wedged somewhere inside me. Mom looked up at me and gave me a solemn smile. Then I noticed the bandage wrapped around Dad’s elbow. He wasn’t looking at me, yet alone notice me.  It was like he was lost in thought.

      “Dad, are you okay?” I asked him.

I got no reply.

      Mom spoke for dad, in a tight voice. “It’s nothing, dear- he just donated some blood for Samantha,”

      “They have the same blood group?” I asked surprised. My father’s blood group was the rarest type. It’s surprising- he and Sam had the same blood group. It’s even more surprising that Dad would donate blood for Sam’s sake. He might not show it but he cared for Samantha just like me. The thought warmed my heart.

Mom simply nodded, she let go of dad’s arm as he took a seat in the chair, burying his head into his hands.

      “He’s tired. It’s been a long day,” Mom stated in a manner of explanation. There was a panicked look in her eyes.

      I didn’t question it. My mind was in a blurred haze. Nothing was making sense at the moment. All I cared for right now was my friend’s well-being.

      “How is she?” I whispered, staring at my empty hands before looking up at mom.

“The doctors found three bullets in her upper back, just beside her spine. Two in her left shoulder. One in below the ribs. Three in the right leg. She might not be able to walk again,”

      My heart fell to pit of my stomach at the news. I placed my hand on the wall, afraid I might collapse any moment now.

      “She will make it, right?” Mom’s grey’s watched me, sadly. Pity was clear in her eyes as crystal.

      “Doctor’s aren’t saying anything. Nine bullets are a-lot to take,”

“She’s a fighter,” Dad looked up; there was stark determination in his dull blue eyes as they stared hard at the double doors of the ICU. “She will survive this. She has to,”

“I hope so,” Mom whispered, taking a seat beside, she placed her on his shoulder.

“Who did this?” Jay spoke beside Matthew who sat still as ice. Even though he was talking to my parents, his brown eyes were fixed upon me.

My heart sped up. It wasn’t from fear. Something entirely different was working here.  

Dad balled his hands into a tight fist and kept them by his knee. Distain was scrawled across his feature. “The Underground Miners,”

      I sucked in a sharp piece of air. It was no surprise that they were the one behind this but I didn’t expect them to get caught.

      “Why?” Jay asked.

Mom spoke this time. “We don’t know. The police are investigating the case. Apparently Samantha had harmed the gang leader’s son in an act of self-defense. So the leader shot down Samantha. He’s been taken into police custody. Though the police doesn’t understand why his son wanted to harm Samantha,”

      He didn’t want to harm her. He wanted her to stay with him. She refused because she loved someone else now.

      “Is the gang leader’s son dead?” I heard myself say.

“He died on the spot,” Mom replied in a detached voice.

      My legs began trembling- I took a seat in the chairs nearby. The cold metal sinking under my terror struck bones.

      My dream was real.

      ✩★✩★

       The gentle summer breeze blew over us, ruffling our clothes. I smiled, enjoying the comfortable bed of moss we were lying upon. We lay in the garden behind Grey mansion, our legs and arms spread out. We- as in Sam and I- always did when we weren’t caught in our busy lives.

      The sun shone brightly above us as we watched the clouds move slowly through the azure sky, along the wind.

      “One day we won’t be together,” Sam started, her beautiful blue eyes staring at the sky. I titled my head to look at her. The counters of her face were twisted into a sorrow ridden expression. “We’ll have our own jobs. Our worlds will begin to move apart. We’ll get married then we’ll visit each other once or twice a week. After that, a boulder of responsibilities will be pushed upon our shoulder and slowly we won’t even notice as our friendship begins to disappear,”

      I blinked once, twice. Then a bubble of laughter escaped me. I pressed a hand against my mouth while Sam watched me with her eyebrows puckered.

      “What?” She nudged my shoulder.

I shook my head. “You’re talking like we live in the nineties. Get married and kids and all. Come on Sam, we’re the women of the twenty-first century. Things like that don’t happen to us,”

      She didn’t reply for a while. I don’t know why. Maybe she had an inkling about the changing winds I refused to acknowledge.

'     When she did, her words left me confused. “Everything comes to an end, Aura, this will too,”

      “Why do say that? Sam, are you leaving me?” I asked, scared.

 “When the time comes, I will have to leave,”

      I gripped her hand tightly. “I won’t let you,”

“But I have to or I'll end up as homeless begger,” She laughed, a teasing gleam in her eyes.

“Sometimes Sam, you don’t make any sense,” I sighed. “Nearly gave me a heart-attack,”

She stayed silent.

“You’re not going anywhere, okay?” I asked her again, just to be sure.

      She smiled.  “Okay,”

      When I woke up, there was a police officer hovering over my chair. I sat up straight, rubbing my eyes. The man was chubby and had a thick mustache. His eyes were critical and sharp it was like he could smell trouble a mile away.

      “Are you Aulaura Grey?”

I tried keeping my breathing normal. “Yes,”

“Hunter, I’m sure you’ve heard the name,” He folded his arms across his chest- in the hope of looking imitating. He didn’t need to. He already looked like the grim reaper to me. His nose had been broken many times I could tell.  There was scar tissue surrounding it. It had lost its original shape and was now a glob of flesh holding onto his face.

I didn’t say anything and scanned the hall in the hope of finding Jay and my parents but they weren’t there. Only Mathew. He sat against the opposite wall, his face impassive as he stared at me with his eyes narrowed.

I gulped.

The officer didn’t look fazed by my silence. He moved away a little giving me room to breathe. “We traced his calls and you were the one had he had called three night before the ‘accident’. Is there any connection?”

I kept my eyes trained on the officer’s face. “He had threatened me to hand over Samantha. He was blackmailing,”

“Oh! I forgot to mention. The last incoming call recorded on Hunter’s phone was two days ago and the call was made by you. Now will you kindly explain why did he want Samantha? And why did you call him?”

I can’t tell him that. It might Sam into trouble for being a part of the underground miners. I have to twist the truth in a way in which both Sam and I come out clean.   Something about my expression must have betrayed me for the officer gave me a knowing smile.

“I have enough evidence to throw you into jail. Let’s make a deal. It’s either the truth or jail. Not a hard choice if you ask me,” Even though his voice was perfectly polite, it couldn’t hide the threatening leer underneath.

 I took in a deep breath. “It started out when we went to this dance fiesta. Samantha met Hunter there. We didn’t know who he was or where he was from. Hunter became obsessed with Samantha. I don’t know how he got my number. He would blackmail me into bringing her to the fiesta and he would never show up. Then one day,” I stopped and let out a dramatic sob.

I had to make the officer believe my story.

He tapped his food impatiently. Waited for me to stop crying.

      “He threatened me that if I didn’t make sure she stayed with him and him only he would hurt my family. I didn’t want that Sir. So I did what I thought was for the best. I called him and told him that Samantha no longer lived with me. He promised me he wouldn’t hurt her… I can’t believe he would-“

      This time the tears were real, they streaked the side of my face and dampened my shirt.

      “All of this happened the evening after you got married in court. Am I right?” The police officer had bought my story or so I thought. 

      “Yes,”

He tapped his chin, thoughtfully. “Why wasn’t the police informed?”

      “I couldn’t risk my family getting hurt,”

Just as the words escaped my throat- my dad entered through rear end of the hall with Jay by his side. Jay’s lips were pressed tightly together till color left them. He looked tensed. Dad wore a distraught expression. The sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up. I’ve never seen him look so drained out. The whites in his blonde hair were more prominent than before.

When Jay noticed the police officer towering over me, he stiffened, freezing in his spot. His brown eyes met mine. They were scared, waves of black fear stirred inside them.

I felt his fear inside my heart. Dad and Jay rushed to our side and stopped right behind the police officer. I wanted to run to Jay and hide in his arm- not face the world which wanted to pull me under. Jay caught my eye, there was a crease separating his brows- he was torn between fear and worry.

“Have you gotten any leads?” Dad asked the officer, who had his large back facing him. “Did the leader spill any beans?”

The officer held up his hand, silencing dad in an instant. Insult flashed in dad’s eyes like ice kept under the summer sun. “I am currently questioning Aulaura Grey. Your younger daughter has an interesting story to tell,”

Younger daughter, I furrowed my eyebrows together in confusion and looked at dad. He didn’t seem to have noticed the officer's words- that’s what I believed.

“It’s not a story,” I bit back. The chubby officer was smarter than I gave him credit for. I should have known. He deals with this kind of stuff every day of his pathetic life. The scars on his face were the proof.

“I will decide that,” The officer crossed his arms over his chest. I felt scared at what he could possibly do.

“It’s the truth,” I yelled, exasperated.  “I don’t know how to make you believe it,”

      “Look, I know there’s usually is bad blood between siblings. It’s especially common in the rich. For property, money, and what not- there are fights and arguments. I will get to the bottom of this, do you understand me? Because there is a reason why you called Hunter two days ago, you wanted him to do something you couldn’t possible do,”

      The officer wasn’t making any sense. I stared at him, confused as hell. Nor did Jay or dad look surprised or confused. I felt lost. Was I the only one noticing the officer repeatedly calling mentioning that I had a sibling? I was the only child my parents had for God’s sake.

“What are you talking about?” Maybe I’m going insane.

      The officer put a hand on his mustache. “Let me rephrase myself. Hunter Jackson is the number one assassin in London.  And you Aulaura Grey had hired him to kill your elder sister, Samantha Grey because you wanted to be the next CEO of Innovation,”

      Samantha Grey – elder sister, my elder sister. That’s not possible. I thought I’m an only child. Like a bullet train, everything collided against me. I looked up at Dad- the same blood group- Sam’s dull blue eyes were staring at me.

      I imagined Samantha holding dad’s hand as she walked into my house. I imagined her calling for dad. The word sounded foreign on her lips. I could hear her high-pitched laughter echoing around me.

      “I did not know that,” I didn’t move my eyes away from dad. He didn’t meet my gaze. It all made sense now. Why he had been quick to agree to my marriage? Why he had not questioned Jay? The deal was obvious, my marriage with Jay in exchange for me accepting Samantha’s truth. He forgot one minor detail. I wasn’t the nine year old girl who could be won over by buying her a pair of street-shoes.

“Don’t play innocent with me,” I heard the police officer’s grunt. “That’s what they all say. The only thing saving you is Samantha. If she says you’re the one behind all of this, you will be sent to jail-no questions asked, Clear?”

“Crystal,” I breathed out.

Without wasting a second, the officer left. He moved swiftly through the crowd, almost disappearing into thin air.

Dad was about to walk away. I stopped him before he could.

“Sister, huh?” I titled my head to the side, getting up from the chair. A humor drained laugh escaped my lips. I pressed a hand to my mouth- caught in between a sob and laugh. Jay came over to my side and placed a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged away from his touch.

There are some things I need to face alone.

Dad turned around, tortuously slow. I expected him to apologize, to be guilty for lying to me but I got nothing, nada. His face was blank. It was like he was angry at me- for what- I don’t know. I should be the angry one.

“Your daughter? My sister? Samantha Grey. Who would have guessed?”

Dad eyes flickered to my face. “I meant to tell you before. Things didn’t turn out in my favor,”

“Favor? Thing are always in you favor, dad,” I spit the word dad with as much distain I could manage. “Money can buy everything, remember?”

He withdrew into a stiff silence.

“Will you explain all of this to me? Or will I have to find that out from another outsider,”

He collapsed into a chair nearby, the wrinkles on his face deepening. He looked a-lot older than he really was. For a moment, I almost felt pity. I pushed it back when I realized that he had lied to me. My own father had lied to me. The person I grew up worshipping as my hero was nothing more than a crumbling, deceiving persona.

“Years before your mother came into my life. I had another wife- Elizabeth,” There was nostalgic look on his face as he was reminisced the broken pieces of his past life which had come back to cut and tear him apart. “We had a daughter, Melody. My eldest daughter. She was the star of my eyes, my first child,” My heart clenched inside me. I stole a quick glance at Jay’s face. He didn’t let a drop of emotion seep through; his gaze was fixed upon me as if he expected me to break down at any moment.

“Four years passed, our life was perfect in every way. Then I meet your mother, we fell in love. It wasn’t something I could control. I abandoned Elizabeth. It was wrong of me to do such a thing. I had tried everything I could to stop myself. It didn’t work. I loved Amanda and couldn’t spend a life without her. I left Elizabeth and married Amanda.

“At the time, I didn’t know Elizabeth was pregnant with our second child. I knew nothing about her. Exactly two years later, I remember the day as if yesterday, I got the terrible news that Elizabeth had died in car crash along my daughter. I never forgave myself for what I had done.

 “I believed that it my fault they had died.  All this time I believed my daughter had died with Elizabeth. It wasn’t until you brought Samantha home that I realized my daughter had survived the crash. She had a picture of Elizabeth with her. I asked her about it. She told me that she and Melody weren’t in the car. They were home alone.  I was overjoyed- my daughters had survived.

“But my happiness lasted for few seconds when I found at Melody had died few years ago. I just found my daughters and I had already lost one. Now I’m on the verge losing the other,”

“How long of have you and Samantha known about this?” I asked.

Dad looked up- his cheeks were stained with tears. “Few months now,”

      “I can’t believe this," I ran a hand across my face. To be honest, I don’t know what to feel at the moment. All I could think of was how my father had betrayed me. How selfish he had been. How he didn’t love me as much as he loved Sam. If he did, he would have told about this not when Samantha was about to die. He would have told me the instant he found out. I wonder if Samantha was the reason for the broken state of our family. Was she the reason my parents were getting divorced?

 “Why did you do this to me? Dad, why? Everything makes sense now. That’s why you accepted our marriage,” I pointed at Jay. “So I would accept Samantha into the family. I feel so cheated right now. I can’t trust anyone anymore. My father betrayed me, Samantha betrayed me.Every single one of sitting here has lied to so many times that now I’ve lost count. Damn it,” I ran a hand through my hair, messing them even further. “What did I do to deserve this-“

      “Shut up! Bloody hell! shut that mouth of yours,” Matthew who hadn’t spoken in a while, bellowed on top of his lungs. His green eyes seared through me. He advanced towards me, knocking Jay out of his way. Jay gripped Matthew’s shoulder, pulling him back- his face twisted in effort as he tried keeping Matthew from beating the life out me.

      People were staring, their judgmental stares made tears fall out of my eyes.

“You know what? You deserve everything you’re getting! Hear me! Wanna know why these people lied to you? They did it to protect you. Everyone knows how you are. Everyone knows you’re a selfish bitch. See that girl lying in there,” He flung his arm towards the ICU’s door. 

“She’s fighting for every breath. All thanks to you. Do you have any idea what she’s done for you? She left Grey mansion for your sake when she could have stayed there whether you liked it or not. She fought with me and Jay because she knew Jay wasn’t right for you. She stopped Mr. and Mrs. Grey’s divorce. She made them see the love they still shared. She thought about you before herself.  And this is how you repay her, by handing her over to the man who wanted her dead. You make sick Aulaura Grey,” He spat angrily.

I stared at him horrified. It felt like he wasn’t talking about me, it felt like he was yelling at someone other than me. I was watching all of this unwind standing behind a glass screen. It was all an act which would be over soon.

But it wasn’t.

      I waited for anyone to tell me Matthew how wrong he was. No-one did. Not my father, not my husband, no-one. They watched us in silence.

      “If anything happens to her, I’ll make sure you pay the price,” Matthew struggled against Jay.

      I knew Jay wouldn’t be able to hold Matthew off for long. He already looked restless.

      “I’m going to get some fresh air,”     I whispered, tears prickling in my eyes.

✩★✩★

[Jay]

As soon as Aura was out of sight, I punched Matthew straight across the face. He staggered backwards, placing a hand on his bleeding lip.

“What the fuc-? How could you say that to her? She’s suffered enough Matt. She loves Sam more than any of us put together,”

Matthew shook his head, trying to rid himself of a bad memory. “I don’t know I just lost it for a moment,” He doesn’t lose his cool that easily but I guess things change when it’s dealing the one you love. I couldn’t blame him.

“I hope she doesn’t do anything reckless,” I muttered under my breath. Mr. Grey got up and left without a word. I guess he was going to Mrs. Grey who sat outside in the hospital’s canteen.

      When Aura fell asleep, Mr. Grey had told me about Sam being his daughter. He wanted me to tell Aura about it, claiming it would lessen the blow for her.

“Matt, apologize to her when she comes back,”

He nodded his head. “I will,”

      I don’t why I was getting this feeling that something was going to happen, something bad. I prayed with all my heart for things to turn out good. Because I don’t think any of us have the strength to face another storm. We’re all worn to the bone.

      One more blow and I don’t want to think what might happen to our broken lives.

✩★✩★

[Present]

Dartford, London

            I opened my eyes- my hands gripping the steering wheel.  Everything led up to this moment. Right after the hospital, right after Matthew’s bitter words had left scars in my flesh. I went home and grabbed the keys to my car. 

            I needed this again. I needed to drive away from my troubles.

This was my story. Where one girl fell in love, where she had her heart broken, where she turned insane, where she had jeopardized her sister’s life.

The road was empty. It was straight and disappearing into the night darker than black. There were no stars, no moon, and no light in the surrounding. Everything was just as dark as it was inside.

My foot pushed the accelerator. The car sped away faster than before. I wanted to get lost. I wanted to lose myself again. But I couldn’t, because I knew these roads way too well.

The phone rung noisily in the air. I swiped my fingers across the screen, putting it on loud-speaker.

The phone rested on the dashboard, glowing like a campfire.

It was the doctor.  “Samantha Grey has regained consciousness,” I didn’t need to hear anything else.

            I already knew what I was going to do.

I’m going to exit their lives.

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Note: I hope this chapter made sense.  (rewrote it three times- I don’ even know what it sounds like right now)  So basically this story was going on in flashback. The whole story so far was Aulaura thinking about her life while she drove away from the hospital. Now this story has come and joined up with the present. It’s going to be a bumpy ride from here. I can’t say much. I’d say roughly four- five chapters left.  

(this scene in the hospital was the first picture I had for this story. It was so clear inside my head. A girl crying because everyone she knew had turned against her)

Please comment because this story wouldn’t be here without you guys letting me know that you’re reading. Were you expecting Sam being Mr. Grey’s daughter? I had it planned out for a long time.