The trouble maker

Chapter - 53

"And he drove like..." One man who witnessed the accident narrated everything he saw, "Damn, I've never seen anyone driving that fast, and crazy." He was using hand movements the whole time, "It's like the person who drove it has no soul at all." He sighed, "Even though he sure drove over traffic driving limits, the truck was on the wrong site, and when they crashed at each other." He touched his forehead, "Well, if I didn't see that it was a car accident, I'd believed it was the end of the world." He harrumphed, "I mean, the sound, it was horrible, I can't imagine being the person inside the car."

"So, the truck driver died at the spot, yes?" The officer inquired, as the man nodded, "The one who drove the Porsche was still breathing a little when we checked him, but he was covered with blood." He squealed, "Lots and lots of blood."

"Okay, Mr. Terry, please follow us at the station, we'll take your statement officially." The officer requested as the man willingly nodded and they left the hospital together.

All the pent-up fear, worries and anxiety of the last few months erupted out of me in one wild, animal howl of fury and loss. I slowly sat down at the hospital bench, allowing the shock to pass through my body like an electric current.

He was always a careful driver, this couldn't be happening! No!

All the fear and guilt came flying at me like a bullet whizzing through a jungle. I completely lost time to even count how many hours I had been crying, all the words I wanted to say came out of me through tears, and they were flowing ceaselessly. I almost couldn't believe I had that many tears inside me. Ashlynn rubbed my back for the thousandth time to soothe me, it was not working but she didn't stop either. If a person could die out of guilt, I would have died a thousand times over now, the guilt was eating me, kicking and beating me inside. If Alex didn't wake up, I don't know how I would live.

Levi came out from one of the hospital's room and looked at me as a chef might look at the rat that had wandered into his kitchen, "Andrea..." He addressed me, his tone was calm but it couldn't hide his anger, it was like the calm before a storm. He started walking towards me as Simon hold him back, "Let me." He whispered to him. Then he added, "Go take care of that sick jackass, Alex's cousins took him to the manor."

Then Levi glanced at me once more, his glare was hard, colder and more evil than I've ever known him to look at me, he and I weren't exactly friends, but since Alex and I started dating, we met every now and then, and spent most of our times together, so I would say we were on our next step to being friends ourselves, Simon, on the other hand was much closer to me than Levi, of course because of Ashlynn. But I'd figured, despite their reckless, proud and mean character, what they valued more than anything was friendship, and they loved Alex, even though they'd never say it in words, it was clear as crystal. Hence, Levi looking at me as if he was imagining me chained to a wall in some God forsaken gang hideout with a pair of electrons glued to my bollocks wasn't surprising. I deserved it, and much more. After all I did to Alex.

And now he lay in a hospital bed with the best doctor working on him, trying their best to make sure that he opens his eyes again. Simon sat down in front of me as Levi left the hospital, "Where's he going?" Ash asked softly, "According to the Editor's Time, our city suffered an average of three shark attacks per year, is it too much to ask that Gerald be one of them?" Simon spat, as Ashlynn kept quiet, I didn't form a word, but I was sure Simon could read my eyes clearly which shouts NO, it's not too much! Not at all!

"He's going to take care of Gerald, you don't have to worry." He answered Ashlynn after briefly looking at me for 10 straight seconds. "Why don't you go eat something, pie? I'll be here talking with Andrea while you do that." He smiled at Ash, if Simon was mad at the moment, like Levi was, he hid it very well.

Ash looked at me as I nodded. She should go eat, she must be starving, she had been sitting beside me for as long as I can remember. Simon let out a big sigh as soon as Ash was out of sight. "Where do we start?" He asked me. There was a lot of things I wanted to say but all of them seem useless and rubbish so instead, I said the only two words I could force out of my mouth, "I'm sorry." I sniffed.

"You should say that to Alex, not me." He rubbed his forehead tiredly, "When he wakes up." He added, his voice indicating he was not at all confident in the statement he just made, "He is going to wake up, is he not?" I asked, tears were forming in my eyes again, blurring my view.

"He's the strongest person I know, if anyone is going to survive from that accident, it would be him." He sighed again as tears started running down from my eyes like the rain. "The truck driver died at the spot, we're lucky to even have hope right now."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." I sobbed, all of this was because of me, everything that happened was because of me. Alex, the person who had loved me more than anyone ever did, who would gladly give his life to save me in a heartbeat was lying in a hospital bed right now, fighting for his life, and all of it was my fault, mine and mine alone!

"I want to tell you something about Gerald, if you're up to hear it." He asked, looking at me as if I was a glass which could break any moment, I sat straighter, and nodded as he started to talk, "Gerald actually used to be our friend." The astonishment on my face was as clear as a spot of black colour in a white paper, "The Bilimoria and Perine are very old family friends, but The Perine Company had major issues during our childhood which let Gerald's mother to commit suicide. We all pitied Gerald back then, he was just 11 years old, but he didn't mourn liked a normal person, his mother's death made him deranged, it made him a kind of...."

He hesitated for a moment, and went on, "A psychopath. He accused Alex's family responsible for his mother's death, we all believed that he was just sick and that he would be fine if time passed by, but we were wrong, Gerald grew up, hating Alex and his family, his father got remarried a few years after his mother's death, and that added a lot to his madness, and his resentment for the Bilimorias, he did a lot of terrible things to paste dirt on Alex's family, but Alex's family are a bit too powerful for him to try and bring down so he concentrate his revenge on Alex alone."

He leaned back, taking a breath for a while then went on, "Alex forgave him more times than any sane person would, Levi and I didn't understand what had compelled Alex to always forgive Gerald when all he did was trying to stab him in the back and front. All Alex ever said about him was, "He lost his parents, maybe this is how he mourn..."

I know exactly why Alex always forgave him. It was because he had also lost his parents, the same loss that Gerald had experienced, maybe the same loss that had made him connect with Gerald in ways no one understood. "Alex would never harm or take revenge on Gerald for a long time, he simply let him be, but Gerald understood one day that no matter how far he went to hurt Alex through any means, he could never succeed, because Alex was strong, no means he tried could hurt him, then he knew that the only way he could hurt Alex was by hurting the people he valued most, then he kidnapped Levi."

"What?" I asked, stopping Simon in the middle of his sentence for the first time, he simply nodded to confirm again that Gerald did kidnapped Levi, "But it didn't go as Gerald planned, Alex went to his hideout while he wasn't prepared, that's when Alex carved Gerald's face with a knife. He saved Levi's life, I dare not think about what would happen if Gerald was prepared when Alex stormed into his hideout, for God's sake, Alex went without telling anyone! We could have lost them both that night, but that's who Alexander Bilimoria is, he would give his own life to save his friends." His eyes locked at mine, "Just like he would for you."

And I broke his heart!