Fan Fiction |
by Mimosa
“Flora Jie, why must my brother lie to us?”
“I don’t know Annie!” I bit my lips “The only thing I know is that Kelly has no reason to lie!”
“Right,” Annie suppressed a sigh “She’s only a little kid. Kids don’t lie…” She hesitated “unless they’re told to do so… Jie, where are you going?”
“To find out the truth!”
“What about the party?” Annie rushed after me “You are the …”
“Annie, if you stop talking and start driving, we’ll be back before they even know it!”
“Are you sure Flora?” Annie was still hesitated. Unceremoniously, I pulled her into the elevator “Watch it Flora Jie!” She yelped…
“Hey, where are you two going?” Kevin stepped out from the opposite elevator cart and greeted us with a beaming face
“We need more ice!” I hurried to hit the close button. Through the narrow slit we could still see the dumbfounding look on Kevin’s face as he stared at the two large ice packs on his hands.
“You’re the worst liar on the world” Annie rolled her eyes
“Well,” I said rather acidly “Compared to your brother, yes!”
“He…” Annie was about to say something, but then decided to hold her tongue
“What are you going to say?” I pressed her
“Nothing,” the girl avoided my eyes “I meant he might just stop by Kelly’s place for a little bit before his therapy… That could be done too, right?”
I didn’t answer her. Yes, that might be done, but how could that explained those portraits he drew me, those piano lessons he gave Kelly? I fingered my phone…
“May I use your phone, Annie?”
“Sure, but where’s yours?
“Mine is out of battery!” I lied. I had some very good ideas that he’d been trying to avoid me. Chance was he might pick up if he thought the call was from his sister. Tracing down the number, I drew a long breath and hit the send button.
“Annie?” His voice sounded thick, as if he’d been drinking.
“Hmm” I mumbled, and stayed a little behind Annie as we left the elevator and headed toward the parking lot…
“How’s she, sis?” I heard him coughed lightly “Is she... Is she mad at me for not coming?”
“So you’re not coming!” I bit my lips… “I thought you said you will just be a little late!”
“I…” The other end suddenly lapsed into silence for almost a minute. The background was a mixture of music and talking… “You’re not Annie!”
“I’ve never said I am!” I said in a cold tone, “Where are you?”
It was another full minute of silence, before his voice made a come back “Sorry Flora, something came up… Have a safe trip tomorrow!” He said very quick “I won’t be able to see you off though, but take care… Remember to call me…”
“Gallen!” I cut him short “Why do you keep lying to me? I know you're not busy, not now... not..”
“I’m sorry, what did you say Flora?” he went on hurriedly “The signal isn’t very good here!”
With that, the line went blank. I stared at the phone. He hung up on me? How dare he hang up on me? I stomped my feet and wanted so much to throw the phone away if it wasn’t Annie’s. So instead I just kept staring at the little device. Such a lame, lame and worn-out, excuse! Signal lost? I felt the blood boiled in my vein! He should at least consider some newer lie! I didn’t know what he thought; I didn’t know what to think.
“Are we going or not?” Annie’d pulled her car out of the parking spot and presently looking up at me with vivid twinkles of curiosity in her eyes. Those same smart, dark eyes which were the trademark of the Lo! Somehow I felt irritated, and turned my head to avoid them. What I’d been seeing from those eyes was sincerity, but all HE had been offered me lately seemed to be nothing but a pack of white lies.
“Flora Jie!” Annie called again and watched me with a faint hint of horror as I yanked impatiently at the handle of the car door “Easy Flora Jie!” She suggested softly “Turn the handle, there… There you go, don’t beat my car up!”
“I do want to beat someone up!” I said with my chest heaving.
“Calm down Jie! Don’t excite yourself too much. I’ll bring you to him,” Annie promised and pressed on the gas pedal, “then you could do all you want!”
I leaned back on the leather chair and let out a sigh. Annie stole a glance sideway and mumbled something to herself. She reached for her cell phone “You called Dai Gor?”
“He hung up on me,” I bit my lips again, looking away. I didn’t want Annie to see that tear were swimming in my eyes “I don’t know what he was thinking, Annie. I meant I know he must be going through a hard time. But why must he avoid me? All the time he said he must go to the therapy and therefore couldn’t see me, he spent at Kelly’s house. He’d rather stayed with Kelly for hours and not with me! Then tonight is my last night here, and he still lies that he was busy… Why? Why Annie?”
“Calm! Calm, Flora Jie” Annie said worriedly “I guess Dai Gor just needs some time to accept that he” she stopped and gulped down the lump in her throat “You know what I meant, Jie… Give him a little time… He…”
“That’s what I’m afraid I might not have, Annie!” I snapped, wiping the hot teardrop away from my cheek “I don’t know whether I will have a chance to come back here again. I was hoping to see him tonight. I was hoping that he will give me some faith, some courage to go into the battle… I…”
Annie extended her hand and grabbed mine. She squeezed it and said nothing. I closed my eyes and let the tears roll all the way. I missed him terribly. I was just so mad at him, yet I missed him already. If he were by my side, he would have called me his crying princess. He would have dried the tear away from my cheek with the cuff of his soft white shirt, and stopped further tear with a warm butterfly kiss on the lid of my half-closing eyes...
I long for him to be by my side now, to do those things he did best, to comfort me, to make me feel loved!
Didn’t he know that? I didn’t ask for much, did I?
[Lo residence]
I only woke up from the sudden halt of the car. I looked up and found myself in front of the Lo’s house. Suddenly I felt nervous. I wanted to confront him, yet there was something very subtle in the back of my mind, telling me I would not want to know the truth. Much hesitatingly, I stepped out of the car and stood gazing at the window on the far right of the house. It was the window to Gallen’s room…
“It doesn’t look like he’s home,” Annie said “His room isn’t lit, and his car isn’t here…”
She was right. The silver car wasn’t around. I bit my lips again…
“Maybe my Mom would know where my brother went…” Before Annie could knock on the door, it flung open with her mother on the step, looking weary
“Annie!” She said “Isn’t your brother with you?”
“No, Mom” Annie frowned “We’re hoping you could tell us where he is… Flora and me..”
It wasn’t until then that his mother noticed me. She drew me into the house “Are you flying off tomorrow sweetie? I have prepared this for you!”
“Auntie, you don’t have to do it!” I stared at the red velvet box his Mom thrust into my hand.
“It’s just our wish of luck for you from his father and me, Flora dear.” She spoke enthusiastically “I hope you will accept it!”
And I really couldn’t refuse it. I mumbled a thank you, and followed Annie to her room, where I sat on the edge of her bed and my mind wandered elsewhere. Annie came back a second later with a queer expression on her face. Without a word, she dragged me across the hallway…
“Tell me what you think these are, Flora Jie!” She threw two small vials on the bedside table in his room. I frowned, then widened my eyes
“Where did you get these?” I gasped “Don’t tell me...”
“I was just trying to go through his stuff…”
“You’re going through your brother's stuff?” I was a little uncomfortable with the idea, but Annie waved the subject aside briskly
“I need to find out where he could go, Jie. You want to see him don’t you, and he knows I’m with you so he didn’t answer my phone anymore.” She stopped for air “Anyway, I found these!” Holding up a finger, she rushed to the other side of the room, where Gallen’s stylish writing desk stood elegantly “Those are the empty ones, look here Jie!”
She drew out the left drawer of the desk and emptied out the content on the bed. There were almost 20 more of those vials, some still inside the secondary package. I picked up another one and stared at the label, unable to comprehend.
They were all concentrated morphine, the kind hospitals used as the last resource when all other painkillers and sedatives failed… The double-blade knife… The drug that killed patients while giving them little comfort in exchange…
“I don’t remember Dr. Wu prescribes morphine for Dai Gor, Flora Jie!” Annie sat down next to me “He must be in a lot of pain to have to resource to this stuff! Why haven't I ever heard him complain? He hasn't said a word about this…”
I stared at the vials for a solid minute before gathering myself and stood up “Grantham… He must get them from Grantham, Annie! Without Dr. Wu’s knowing, it must be.”
“You might be right,” Annie hold her head “He’s stopped his therapy and was just suppressing his pain by morphine… This drug is dangerous… He must know better than taking it, right Jie?”
I said nothing. Clenching the little vial in my fist, I fought a mixture of feelings surging up inside me. Was it anger? Was it disappointment? Why? He taught me to hang on, to cherish life, to grab all the opportunities life presented… Yet he wasn’t doing that! He told me to give my life a change, to accept the implantation. But he didn’t even give his life a try.
Instead he was taking the easy way out…. Instead of accepting therapy, he chose to down himself in the toxic drug…
To waste himself away!
I shot up, rushed out the room and down the stair “I have to find him! I want an explaination!”
“Where are you girls going?” Mrs. Lo called after us, holding a fruit tray on her hand, which Annie almost knocked away trying to catch up to me
“We’ll be back soon, Mom!” Annie jumped in and ignited the Eclipse again “Should I call Nick Gor? He might know where my brother is.”
“I don’t think so Annie! I doubt your Nick Gor could think of anything else but Ada right now!” I hold up a finger as Annie was about to say something “Let me think!”
I shut my eyes tight. The background noises when Gallen had been on the phone with me, what did they sound like? A party?... What party? The cheerful tune of the piano… the clinking of the glass… A wedding party?
Then it suddenly came to me!
“Annie!” I opened my eyes “Your Dad’s rental hall! You know where it is, right?”
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[Fantasy Palace, almost midnight]
"Why?"
Her voice was very soft, but within the empty hall its echo came back, piercing!
His fingers halted on the keyboard...
"Why?"
She advanced a step. He didn't turn. The simplicity of her question carried a power to which he felt totally defeated.
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"Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away..."