Gabrielle watched Joan and Eadlin confused. All these while Gabrielle always thought Joan hated Eadlin.
"Gaby…" Joan called weakly. "This is Eadlin, Eadlin, this is Gabrielle." Joan introduces.
"We've met." Eadlin said smiling. "I had no idea it was you that was hit by a car." He said then let out a little laugh.
Gabrielle did nothing but stared so surprised.
"Who ever did this must have hated me so much." Joan said laughing.
"You're… close?" Gabrielle asked, her voice lower this time.
"Yes," Eadlin said.
"How?" she asked.
Eadlin finally looked at her for a second then back at Joan
"We attended the same school since nursery." he replied.
"How about you too? You sound so close." Joan asked as she tries to sit up.
"She woke up in my room." Eadlin said and then pressed his lips together and rolled his eyes.
"Whatt????" Joan said laughing.
"It was a mistake." Gabrielle defended.
"Gaby, you didn't tell me. You should have." Joan said.
The doctor enters, along with two nurses.
"I will be on my way." Eadlin said as he began to leave.
"Bye. Greet your Dad for me." Joan replied.
"Miss Julius, I see that you are feeling so much better." The Doctor said as he checks her vitals.
"Yes I am sir." She replied.
After the Doctor and the nurse were done with the check up and are about to leave the Doctor said;
"Hello." Referring to Gabrielle. "Please if you don't mind can you step out a bit so she can rest.
"Okay sir."
They all exit leaving Joan all alone in the ward. Outside, they meet Mr. Julius and his bodyguard walking towards the door.
"I heard the news." Mr. Julius said as he saw the Doctor.
"Yes sir. I would say it was a miracle." The doctor replied.
Mr. Julius accompanied the Doctor to his office while Gabrielle is left alone at the reception.
Gabrielle sat at the reception, her hands resting on her lap but her fingers wouldn't stay still Like something inside her wouldn't let her be calm.
People walked in and out of the hospital, some rushed, some slow, some crying, some just… blank. Stretchers passed, both injured and pregnant. Nurses called out. Phones rang all at once or at different times. It was as life and death moving at the same time.
Gabrielle sat, watching every moment.
Then.
"…we'll begin chemotherapy on Monday." A voice said. Gabrielle could not say who it was but she knew it was familiar.
Gabrielle's head snapped up.
The voices were low, but close enough. It was that of the nurse who attended to Joan. She stood beside a doctor, holding a file.
"She responded well today," the nurse continued, "but we shouldn't delay it any further."
The doctor nodded.
"Just let her father know about all this. He will pay well." The doctor said and laughed then they both walked towards different directions.
Gabrielle froze.
Chemotherapy?
Her heart dropped.
Slow.
"Joan?" She though unable to believe it.
"How much is this girl hiding from me?" Gabrielle whispered loud enough for the person around to hear.
The nurse with the file came in again, she chatted a bit with the receptionist. Gabrielle watching their every movement like she was monitoring them.
"I wish for a fight to break out between this two nurses." Gabrielle muttered under her breathe.
Like she wished, the nurses started to argue, then it turned into a fist fight. Punches in the air, slaps, soon, the injections on the table was drawn, pointing it at each other like a gun. Other nurses around and the workers of the hospital had to intervene.
Phones in air…
Gabrielle walked over to the counter, she picked the file and then walked away without being noticed.
"I wish the fight would continue for the next 30 minutes." Gabrielle wished laughing as she walked away.
The fight became intense. The other things were still going on but the fight was not contained. Soon, the police arrived, trying to solve the matter.
Gabrielle entered the restroom with the file in her hand. She checks each stale to be sure no one was inside. She goes through the file. Her eyes scanned the page.;
Name: Joan Julius.
Diagnosis…..
She stopped, her breath caught.
" Stomach Cancer…."
The word sat there…..
Gabrielle shook her head slowly.
"No…"
Her voice came out barely above a whisper. Her grip on the file tightened while chest rose and fell faster, she was about having a panic attack.
"No…" she whispered again, her voice breaking.
Then...
Her expression changed.
Hope but had a little sprinkle of desperation.
She dropped the file on the sink, closed her eyes and took a shaky breath.
"I wish…" she started, her voice trembling. "I wish Joan is free from cancer."
Silence filled the room for a second that it rang in her ears.
"It doesn't work that way." Someone said.
Gabrielle gasped..scared.
She turned sharply to the sound of the voice.
Someone stood behind her.
A lady, probably in her ear;y 20's though, something looks off about the lady, though she looked normal at first glance but the longer Gabrielle stared, the more something felt wrong.
Her skin looked too smooth, her hair blood read it fell perfectly, not a strand out of place… even without effort., in her hand a weird stick and her dress like a princess from a fairy tale.
Almost like it didn't belong to this world.
Her eyes, it showed no emotions, no pity nothing just blank.
Gabrielle stepped back.
"My name is Ariel," she said simply and then walked over to the sink, looked at the file opened down. She stared it as if she was seeing more than what was in front of her.
"You… how did you? I know….checked..."
Ariel tilted her head slightly, with her eyes fixed on the file….
"For healing to work," she said, cutting through Gabrielle's panic like it was nothing, "the second party has to agree."
Gabrielle frowned. "How would you know?"
Ariel turned suddenly, with drama,
then stepped closer,slowly.
Gabrielle didn't move.
"She has to want it," Ariel continued. "You can't force healing on someone who hasn't accepted it."
"That doesn't make sense," Gabrielle said quickly. "She's dying. why wouldn't she want it?"
Ariel didn't answer immediately. Instead, she raised her hand a thin wand rested between her fingers. Gabrielle's eyes dropped to it, her breath hitched. Ariel gently tapped Gabrielle's forehead with it. Gabrielle's eyes shut.
"Some times some people wish to die, but you don't wish to let them go. All you an do, is convince them to stay." Ariel said and then disappeared.
Gabrielle opens her eyes after a while, she looked around,
Ariel was gone…Like she had never been there.
Gabrielle stood there for a second, confused her breathing uneven.
"Why is my life so weird" Gabrielle thought then picked up the hospital card. On her way out, the nurse who she had wished for to be in a fight walked in.
Gabrielle froze….she hid the file at the back….but the nurse did not care at all. All she cared about was to clean her bruised face.
Gabrielle looked at the woman with pity, but a laugh slipped out. She hurried, then dropped the file back.
Joan sat up slightly still a bit weak but awake, when Gabrielle entered
Gabrielle walked in slowly this time, her eyes searching.
"Joan…" she called.
Joan looked at her.
"Gaby… you look like you saw a ghost."
Gabrielle didn't smile.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Joan looked at Gabrielle confused. "Tell you what? I tell you everything."
Gabrielle stepped closer.
"The cancer."
Silence.
Joan's expression changed. " you found out."
"You were just going to… what? Hide it?" Gabrielle asked, her voice shaking for she was about to cry.
"It's not hiding," Joan said softly. "It's just… mine."
Gabrielle shook her head.
"No it is not. You really don't have to do this alone. Your dad is rich, Joan. You have everything. The best doctors, the best treatment. Okay, why for once wont you just live?"
"I don't want it."
Gabrielle froze.
"What?"
"I don't want all of it," Joan said, her voice low but steady. "The control. The pressure. The way everything in my life is decided for me. Here is where you are wrong. I want to live but not the life that this world set up for me."
Gabrielle stared at her, it was clear, the emotions she was feeling at that moment...
Confused.
Angry.
Hurt.
"You're talking like this is a choice."
Joan looked at her.
"You are not me," she said quietly. "If you were… you would understand."
Gabrielle stood, for a moment, every where went black…..
The hospital was gone...she woke up somewhere, like a trance
She stood somewhere else.
Dark, cold, the air felt tight like it was trapped.
Like it hadn't moved in years..
The sound of chains echoed.
Gabrielle looked around to trace where the sound is from,
A woman.
Tied.
Weak.
Barely breathing.
"What is this…?" Gabrielle said under her breath.
The woman looked up, their eyes met.
"Help me…" she whispered so faint it sounded like a shallow breath.
Gabrielle, without calculating, her hands reached for the chains, the moment she touched them
They snapped.
The woman dropped forward.
Free.
She looked at Gabrielle with wide eyes that screamed grateful.
"Thank you…" she whispered. She then stood up, though weak, she began running.
Disappearing into the darkness.
Gabrielle stood there.
Alone.
Confused.
Then,
Everything snapped back.
The hospital.
The room.
Back at the hospital, Gabrielle staggered slightly, her head spinning.
She sits on the floor..
"What… was that…? Are you fine?" Joan asked worried. She hit the emergency button close to her bed.
At the same time, at the Yungie's house.
The gate opened slowly.
A woman stood there.
Dirty, her clothes torn, skin marked with bruises and dried blood, hair tangled, her eyes tired, swollen. She swayed slightly like she could collapse any second.
The guards looked at her confused but something about her made them hesitate.
"Help…" she whispered weakly barely audible.
They moved immediately. Holding her before she could fall.
"Get her inside," one of them said.
And they did, a pendant dangles as she was carried inside. The pendant is
Back at the hospital, Gabrielle is on a sick bed. She wakes up fully, her breathing uneven.
Her eyes searched the room, Joan walked over to her with a glass of water in her hand.
"Here, drink something." Joan offered.
Gabrielle took a little sip, then stood up., wears her sandals hurriedly…
"Where are you going?" Joan asked.
"I will be right back." She rushed out, fast.
She walked around the hospital, searching looking. She open most door she found on her way as long as it was not locked or there was no sign of restricted, though she did open some doors with the sign 'restricted' on it.
"Looking for me?" The voice came from behind her again.
Gabrielle turned immediately, Ariel, seated on the edge of an open window…
She had the same calm expression, same unreadable eyes as before, though calmer.
Gabrielle's voice came out this time, clear and firm.
"Who are you?"
Ariel did not respond all she did was stare, while Gabrielle's chest rose and fell fast.
Then
"…Who am I?"
"Why do you think I know who you are?" Ariel asked.
Gabrielle kept a straight face, not giving in to the trick Ariel was about to play.
"I know you know something."
"Do you really want to know where you come from? Do you want to know who I am?"