Inheritance - 14|45
Part 14 – War Sweater
Battle lines drawn if you wonder which side speaks the truth Then look closely to which speaks from pride I love you, I swear it, I would never lie
But I fear for our lives and I fear your closed eyes
Rae’s hand was clammy and felt weird clasped inside Finn’s hand nonetheless it was comforting to do so, despite the uncomfortable waiting room chair that Finn had wedged himself into. His mind raced as he thought about the events that had brought them to the hospital.
-
“Rae.” Finn shouted, panic in his voice as he pleaded with Rae to come out of her trance.
She stood, still glued to the spot and staring at her step-father with a haunting look in her eyes that made Finn shout out for her even more.
“RAE.”
Rae shook her head for a second and suddenly everything snapped back into normal time. Rae reached for the phone and hit ‘999’.
“Hello,” She whispered, “I need an ambulance please.”
-
When they had arrived Karim had been taken through some doors and Rae and Finn were left behind. A passing nurse told them to go to the waiting room and there was any news then they would be informed. Rae’s eyes had never left the closed doors that led to Karim. There had been no opportunity for discussion but Finn didn’t care. She had reached for his hand so quickly and so tightly that Finn knew she was still in there, that any darkness that might have been tempting for her hadn’t got her just yet. Rae still needed Finn and that was all that mattered.
However, except for the few saddened glances that were passed and slight tightening of grips, the silence was a little scary for Finn. He was worried about how Rae would cope if she lost Karim as well; he needed to know what she was thinking.
Finn closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he tried to open the connection that had blocked for far too long. He let out a sigh of relief as he felt Rae’s mind opening up to him.
“Rae, please talk to me. Tell me how your feeling.”
Rae’s hand tightened around Finn’s and she turned to look at him. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears and the immensity of her vulnerability knocked the breath out of Finn a little.
“Finn, I don’t know what to do. I can’t… I can’t lose him too.”
Finn leant forward and rested his forehead against hers in an attempt to give her more comfort.
“Rae, he will be ok. He’s strong, healthy and he will fight whatever this is and still be here for you. He loves you Rae.”
Finn could feel Rae’s head shake against his in denial of his words.
“That’s what I don’t understand Finn. He’s relatively young and he’s never had any health problems… so why is this happening? This isn’t normal.”
Finn opened his eyes and moved his head back slightly to look at Rae. She looked broken and defeated, like she had lost hope. It scared him, the loss of hope could lead to her dissent into darkness again.
“Rae, do not give up on him. He needs you just as much as you need him. You have both lost someone and you need to be there for each other. We know Karim will fight but he will need your help Rae. Fight for him.”
Rae finally opened her eyes and let her tears fall. She nodded slightly and slowly leaned forward, placing a very gentle kiss on Finn’s lips. His eyes closed at the contact. It felt good to finally have her kiss again and it overwhelmed him; he felt his own tears begin to form and squeezed his eyes tighter so that they didn’t give way.
There was an uncomfortable cough and Finn and Rae split, looking to the intruder. The doctor was standing in front of them and Rae rushed to her feet.
“Is there any news?” She begged and the doctor narrowed his eyes at her.
“Who are you in relation to Mr Bouchtat?” He asked.
“I’m his step-daughter,” she gulped, “He’s my legal guardian.”
“Where’s Mrs Bouchtat.” The doctor asked, checking down his chart.
The doctor looked tired, his hair slightly greying and there were far too many frown lines on his forehead and between his eyes. He regarded Rae with lack of sympathy and patience for an emotional seventeen year old girl.
“She’s dead.” Rae spoke coldly.
Finn stared at Rae, biting his cuticles nervously and waiting for the doctor’s next sentence.
“Right,” the Doctor cleared his throat, “Mr Bouchtat has fallen into a coma. We’ve run all the tests possible and can’t find anything wrong with him. It’s a complete mystery but we’re trying to get to the bottom of it, I promise.”
Rae nodded and turned around. The doctor excused himself and Finn looked at Rae. Rae was crying and Finn pushed himself up so that he was close to her again. He wrapped his arms around her, cocooning her in warmth and love.
“He’s going to die Finn. I just know it.”
Finn blinked his own tears away; he needed to be strong for Rae.
“Don’t say that Rae. You don’t know it and he’ll be ok.”
“How can you possibly say that Finn?”
Finn’s eyes met Rae’s and they stared at each other for a little bit, sharing emotions silently. Finn wrapped his arms around Rae tighter and placed a kiss against her forehead.
“We’ll do something, I promise.”
His mind jumped to Archie and he made a promise to himself that he’d ring for Archie or something, get him to the hospital as soon as possible. He just needed to hold Rae a bit longer.
“Sit here.” Finn whispered a few moments later and he sat Rae down in the chair.
Pacing over to the pay phone, he slotted a couple of twenty pences into the machine and dialled Archie’s number. It rang a couple of times before Archie picked up and Finn sighed yet another breath of relief.
“Archie!” He cried, “You have to get to the hospital.”
-
Archie and the rest of the gang walked hurriedly into the waiting room. Izzy, Chloe and Tix immediately ran over to Rae, each placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. Finn made his way over to Archie and Chop.
“Arch, thanks for coming mate. Rae really needs you to do this.” He tried to bring a small smile to his face but he couldn’t manage it.
Tix grasped Rae’s shoulder tightly “Rae, we all looked through the house and we found nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that could cause Karim to be this way.”
Finn noticed that Tix gave Rae a pointed look and the slight nod that Rae gave in return but before he could ask by what she meant, Archie stepped forward and spoke out to Rae.
“Rae, I promise I will try my hardest to help him.”
Rae smiled small and nodded at Archie. She grabbed his hand and stood, and started leading Archie towards Karim’s room.
“He’s through here,” she whispered.
The group of friends walked into Karim’s room and all stared in horror at the sight before them. Karim, usually so full of life and vibrancy, was lying on the hospital bed looking pale and drawn with tubing coming out of every available space of his body. A sob escaped Rae and Finn leant forward, placing his arms around her and taking her into a tight hug. She couldn’t stand to look at Karim so broken, all those machines attached to him. Rae buried her face in the crook of Finn’s neck and cried.
-
The whole scene was horrible, and Archie swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat and stepped forward. He was about to place his hands on Karim when he could feel the eyes of every one of his friends on him, waiting for him to give them the hope that Karim would be ok. He felt his nerves begin to rise in his body and his hands started to shake. He took a deep breath but the nerves didn’t subside. He just needed to be alone.
He turned to his friends. “Guys, I’m sorry but can I do this alone? I need to concentrate.”
Chloe, Tix, Izzy and Chop all nodded and turned to leave the room, whilst Finn was gently whispering to Rae, gradually leading her through the door. Once he was alone Archie felt he could breathe enough to do what he needed to do. He closed his eyes and placed his hands on Karim, one on his head, one on his heart.
Delving into Karim’s body he headed straight to Karim’s heart. It was beating strong; nothing wrong. Karim’s lungs looked as though they had taken a beating; slightly red and bruised but with a little persuasion they healed almost immediately. Archie then searched the rest of Karim’s chest and found nothing wrong. He checked Karim’s mind and but again, there was nothing there to show why he was in the coma.
He searched through the rest of his body and found nothing. Archie drew himself out of Karim’s body and pated for breath. He searched and searched and found… nothing. He couldn’t understand why Karim was this way; there was nothing inside him to indicate the reason behind him coma.
Archie stood and walked out of Karim’s room and into the waiting room. Six heads raised as he walked into the room and when they noticed Archie’s beaten expression, all their hopeful expressions dropped.
Rae stood and walked over to Archie, “Archie, tell me he’s ok. Tell me he’s awake.” Rae’s voice shook and the tears began to stream down her face.
“I’m sorry Rae. I found some bruising on his lungs but I healed that and then, nothing. He’s fine Rae, I don’t know what’s wrong.”
Rae began to shake violently, “No you’re wrong! There has to be something!” Rae’s voice began to rise and she moved restlessly around the room, “you must have missed something, he can’t be like this for no reason!”
The small tables in the room began to shake as Rae’s emotions started to spiral.
Chloe stood and walked over to Rae, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Rae, please-,”
Rae shrugged off Chloe’s hand and turned to her sharply, “No! There has to be something! He didn’t look properly! He couldn’t have!”
Finn walked over to Rae and turned her to him.
“Finn, why is he like this? He shouldn’t be like this!” Again, Rae buried her face into Finn’s shoulder and tried to subside her tears.
Archie looked at Finn, “I’m sorry. We’ll put some protections on the room but then I think we should all go home and get some rest.”
Rae looked back up at Finn. “I can’t leave him, I can’t leave-“
“Shh, Rae it’s ok. We can stay here as long as you need.” He whispered against her forehead as he placed a single kiss there.
-
The rest of the gang went back to Karim’s room and placed some protections all around him, warding off dark power and sending power to Karim, hoping that he would awake. As they made their way back to the living room, they quickly made their excuses and goodbyes to Finn and Rae.
As he left Archie whispered to Rae, “I’m sorry.”
She didn’t answer.
As they snuggled together in the waiting room, Rae soon fell asleep. Her head rested on Finn’s shoulder, her energy finally leaving her after a wearing night but Finn was still awake, feeling hopeless and dreading what might be about to happen. Tix’s stern look at Rae stuck in his memory and he couldn’t help but wonder what was going on.
