Where the Sun Sets (24 page)

The image of her face, as he reached back
into the closet to retrieve her. Her eyes were so large and full of
understanding. They told him everything her expressionless face did
not. He knew she had witnessed the tragic event. He knew she had
watched from the very beginning to the bitter end. He knew as he
spoke those simple words, “Everything is all right now.” That
nothing in her world would ever be all right again. He literally
had to crawl way back into the closet to get her. He placed his
hand out to her but she didn’t go for it. She never moved, just
sat, staring with those big eyes. She didn’t seem frightened. She
didn’t seem relieved. When he picked her up she never wrapped her
arms around his neck or held on to him in any way. He couldn’t read
her at all. The hospital staff said she was probably in shock.

He couldn’t get her off his mind for days
afterwards. When he had gone back to the hospital to check up on
her she had already been assigned to St. Agnes. They did not
recommend his going out there. They said seeing him might remind
her of the bad images. He knew she wouldn’t need anyone to remind
her, that she would never forget what happened in that house. But
he respected their wishes and stayed away. He needed to apologize
to Antonia. He needed to tell her it was his fault her mother died.
He needed to explain why he waited to send out a car. He needed to
be able to say, “Everything is all right now.” But it wasn’t all
right yet. He wanted it to be all right for her. She deserved
everything in her life to be perfect. He had to put an end to all
of this. He needed to stop whoever it was that was causing her all
this pain and suffering.

He searched the cafeteria as he stood. No
sign of Josephine. Her body guard had probably finished his walk
and came back in for her. Harold assumed they were together
somewhere in the hospital awaiting word about Antonia. Personally
he wanted to know how she was also. Inhaling deeply to clear his
head, he headed back to the waiting room.

Chapter 26

Josephine arrived just as the ambulance
pulled up. The receptionist in the waiting room explained that
Antonia had just been moved to recovery and that she would remain
there for the next two hours. “Why don’t you get some rest?” was
all she said as she rushed to assist the paramedics.

Josephine was annoyed at being told to ‘get
some rest’ yet again. Carefully, she crept behind the waiting room
doors and stole her way into the recovery room. With as busy as the
staff was at the moment, no one seemed to notice. She closed the
door as quietly as possible, not wanting to give herself away. Her
breath caught in her chest when she caught first sight of Anthony.
So pale and lifeless, with tubes and wires attached seemingly
everywhere.

“Anthony...” She called out in a whisper.
Carefully she walked over to the bed. Searching Anthony’s face for
something, anything that would let Josephine know she would be OK.
Slowly Josephine reached out for her hand, letting her fingers
glide over the attached tube. A single tear fell down her cheek as
she closed her fingers into Anthony’s palm.

Anthony heard her whisper. And then, she felt
her come closer. She was too tired to open her eyes. Anger still
controlled her, but now it was coupled with fear. Not knowing what
she was afraid of, but sure if she opened her eyes, she would find
out, she held them tight. She would go on pretending to be asleep.
It wasn’t too difficult, since no part of her body seemed willing
to move anyway. Even as she touched her, Anthony was startled
enough to jump a little, but she kept very still.

“I am so sorry Anthony. Please, you have to
believe me. I never wanted anything bad to happen to you. I don’t
know how things got this bad. Why, how it happened. You were so
perfect, so flawless. So smart and so pretty. Everything I ever
wanted to be.” Josephine cut herself off at the sound of footsteps
outside the door. She held her breath for a moment, before
continuing.

“Anthony, Anthony I love you... Please be OK
Anthony... I need you to be OK.” Josephine whispered, trying to
avoid being overheard by whoever might have been at the door.
Anthony tried to open her eyes. She managed the slightest of
cracks, but the light was so bright it hurt and she closed them
again to shut out the pain. Josephine felt a surge of excitement.
“Anthony? Are you awake? Anthony, can you hear me?”

Anthony heard her mother’s voice pleading
with her. She was not going to give in this time. She was angry
with her mother. She was angry with everything. Angry and scared
and now her head hurt as well. She wanted her to go away. Just go
away and leave her alone. Maybe she would get lucky and die. Just
like that baby bird died.

Anthony had watched for days as the mother
bird pleaded with the baby to take flight. But the baby wasn’t
ready. The baby didn’t want to do it. The baby cried and begged to
stay with the mother. But the mother pushed the baby. Made the baby
do it just like she did. Told her it wouldn’t hurt. Told her it was
the right thing to do. And then pushed her into doing it. When the
baby fell, the mother cried. ‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’ Anthony thought
she heard the mother bird say, as it flew to the ground to check on
her chick. ‘Get up; get up quickly before something gets you.’ The
mother bird hopped back and forth, on the dirt, near her baby, for
hours. Then the something came. A nasty smelling rat cat. It sat
back on its haunches watching and waiting. Daring the mother to do
something to stop him. But the mother did nothing. The mother flew
up to the safety of the tree and watched. Crying and pleading with
the rat cat. Begging her chick to forgive her. But as the cat crept
closer, the mother turned away. The baby bird closed its eyes and
went stiff. The cat pawed it back and forth, but seemed to lose
interest with the baby bird, since it would not respond. Eventually
the baby bird just stopped living. With any luck, thought Anthony,
if she stayed very still and pretended not to be listening, maybe
she too would just stop living.

“Anthony, I want to tell you something. I
don’t know if you can hear me but I’m gonna tell you anyway. I
should have told you this a long time ago. You know, my life was
very different before we met.” Pausing briefly, if only to summon
up the courage to continue, a second tear fell. “I never had a
friend, Anthony. No one I could talk to. You...you were so quiet
and calm. I can remember first time I saw you. I thought you must
be the smartest girl in the world. You just looked at me with those
big eyes and didn’t make a sound.” Josephine took a deep breath as
she tried to control her emotions.

Anthony wanted her to stop talking and go
away. She wanted to be alone. She hurt, everywhere, and with every
pulsating reminder she grew more and more angry. She wanted to be
alone. But the voice kept coming. “Anthony, I never meant for your
life to end up like this. Honest, I just wanted you to be...I just
wanted you here, with me. I thought I would surely die waiting for
you. You help me think, you know? Like the plug in a drain.
Thoughts in my head, they just go around and around. Like water
going down a drain. And then you put the plug in and everything
stops. The water settles and all the dirt drops to the bottom and
you can see inside...ya know? Do you know what I mean? You...you
never get angry with me, Anthony. No matter what I do, what I don’t
do, I can always count on you for a smile. God knows, if I could
take back everything, I would. Everything, from the very beginning.
I should never...I should have accepted responsibility
for...Anthony... I love you, Anthony. You’re everything to me.
You’re the best part of me. You just have to be OK. Please Anthony,
please wake up and look at me.”

The pleading in her mother’s voice tugged at
her heart. She was still angry, but not so much at her mother as
she was with him. She thought about all the times he had hurt her.
She tried, but she could not remember when it had started. She
wanted him to die. Yes. If he died then both her mother and Antonia
could be happy together forever. She opened her eyes, but her
mother was gone. She was surrounded by the darkness. Darkness
blacker than black. She bolted upright in the bed, causing a
searing pain to shoot up her spine. Carefully she arose from the
bed. Blindly, she felt her way to the hallway.

Josephine heard the door open behind her.
Quickly she stood, and not thinking, she took a couple steps
towards it. Instinct told her to stop. The gentleman standing in
the doorway was not hospital staff, she was sure, although he was
dressed in hospital garb. And with the way her hair stood up on the
back of her neck, she knew something bad was about to happen. She
spoke, if only to keep herself centered, as he pushed a wheelchair
into the room and parked it just behind the open door. She watched
nervously as the door slowly closed itself. “Can I help you? Are
you looking for someone?”

In an instant he pounced. Around her neck he
wrapped the rubber tourniquet hose he had swiped from the open
ambulance, while everyone was rushing to aid the victims. She swung
at air mostly, trying to defend herself. He managed to spin her
around till her back was to him. Her hands went up to her throat.
She couldn’t breathe. She tried in vain to slide her fingers
between her flesh and the rubber. She never had a chance to win
this battle.

Anthony’s father had returned. He was quiet
and still. Glaring at her mother from the open door. Mother was
asking ‘How was your day? Are you hungry? Dinner? Could I get you
something to eat?’ Anthony watched from the shadows of the hallway.
All she could see were the silhouettes of her parents, against the
bright light entering the house through the open front door. Why
was her mother being so nice? Did nothing she just said mean
anything? And that quick, she was back to being angry with both
parents again.

His quickness took her by surprise. Three
steps were all he took to reach Juliet. He never said a word. His
left hand grabbed hold of the collar of her dress and pulled her to
him. Her arms fell behind her as he raised her to her toes. Looking
up he spotted Antonia in the hall. “This is for last night. Don’t
you ever forget who’s in charge here little one.” And with that his
right hand broke her mother’s jaw. Anthony swallowed hard to hold
back the cry that threatened to escape her lips. He kept punching
her mother’s face. After the third blow, Anthony knew in her heart
that her mother had just stopped living. But he kept punching her
anyway.

Anthony covered her ears to block out the
sound. But when his fist had finally penetrated what once was her
mother’s face, the sound entered her head. It entered and repeated
like an echo. She pulled the closet door closed, just as the front
door opened. The nightmare was over, in the real world anyway. She
hid, way back in the darkness of the closet. Hands over her ears,
eyes closed tight. But she couldn’t stop seeing it, hearing it,
over and over again. She banged her head against the wall to make
it stop. She banged and she banged until, finally it did.
Everything stopped. Antonia looked around her. Nothing but
darkness, very black and very deep. Now she was alone with her
thoughts. Her mother was gone. She would never see her again. She
hadn’t even told her she loved her. She had been angry with her.
She had wanted her to go away and leave her alone. And now she had.
What had she done? “Mother? Mother can you hear me? I am so sorry,
I never meant for you to leave me. Mother? Please come back,
please? I’ll do anything, anything, please just don’t be, don’t
be...”

Anthony moaned. Josephine stopped struggling
just long enough for the sound to be heard. With a smirk, he raised
Josephine a foot from the ground before he let loose the rubber
hose, dropping both it and Josephine to the ground. Looking back at
Antonia he states, “That’s right, don’t you ever forget who’s in
charge little one.” Stepping over Josephine’s lifeless body
Salvatore walked over to Antonia’s bedside. Placing a gentle kiss
on her far head, he inhaled deeply. Pleased with himself, he softly
touched the back of his left hand up and down Antonia’s cheek.
“Soon, this will all be over and you and I can finally get back to
being a family. A real family. The house isn’t finished but we can
work on it together.” He looked over all the wires and tubes. He
unplugged everything first, and then, one by one, he started to
disconnect the machinery. Then he followed each umbilical until he
found its origin. All needles were removed. Once everything was
free, Salvatore carefully picked up Antonia.

Actually having her in his arms was almost
orgasmic for him. He took his time placing her in the wheelchair,
more out of the effect than from concern. He enjoyed fixing the
blanket around her and combing her hair back with his fingers.
Talking outside the room made him realize his mistake. He was
wasting time and needed to get out quickly.

He picked Josephine up from the floor with
much less care. Roughly he placed her on what use to be Antonia’s
bed. Hastily he placed as many of the monitor pads as possible on
Josephine, trying to make it look realistic. He then tossed a loose
blanket over her body.

Cautiously he checked outside the door. With
their backs turned towards him and deep in conversation, the nurses
at the station never saw him exit the room. With a steady step he
headed for the main building, grabbing hold of the fire alarm as he
passed it. “Unbelievable”, he heard someone say as he continued
without looking back. No one gave him a second look as the rush was
on to secure the patients. The security guard in the main hall had
even given him directions to the nearest exit.

Josephine was quick to jump from the bed when
she heard the door close. It had taken her a while to calm down at
first, but she was an actress after all and pretending to be dead
wasn’t that difficult. The sharp pain in her head didn’t stop her
as she removed everything Salvatore had stuck to her. She was just
to the door when the alarm sounded. Searing pain across her
forehead caused her to pause momentarily. She had to get a grip on
the pain, before she was able to visually scan the emergency room.
She caught sight of him, just before he passed through the exit to
the main hall.