A Dance of Love and Denial

23.

Zara

In roughly thirty minutes, I arrived at the hospital. I hurriedly parked the car and dashed up to the hospital's main entrance, where I inquired about Kate with the receptionist.

She directed me to her room on the fifth floor. I quickly entered the elevators and pressed the number five button for the floor number.

As I ascended the stairs, I looked for her room number on the floor where she was staying. I proceeded down the hall for about three minutes, unable to locate the room, until I noticed a nurse walking past me and rushed after her to ask.

"Excuse me, could you tell me where room F235 is?" As I was dressed in my scrubs, she turned around and gave me a puzzled expression, peering up and down at me.

"If you work here, how do you not know where the rooms are?" she questioned, puzzled.

"Oh Sorry, but I don't work here. I actually just came from my hospital here to see a friend," said to clear her confusion.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry I assumed that you were a nurse here" she apologized.

"It's fine," I responded, and then proceeded to ask her where Kate's room was.

"Just proceed straight down the corridor to your right, and it'll be the last door on the left," she added. I thanked her for her assistance and proceeded to the location.

When I get into the room, the first thing I see is Kate resting on the bed, her wounds being dressed by the nurse.

"Do you happen to be Ms. Khan?" Another nurse approached me with a clipboard in her hands, and I said yes, nodding my head up and down. Before seeing Kate, she guided me to the doctor, where he was typing on the computer.

Upon greeting the doctor, he insisted on having me sign some of Kate's documents on her behalf. The doctor sharply gave me a brief summary on her health and informed me of the main details of her report file.

"She has a broken left arm, as well as wounds and bruises all over her body. She has a large cut near her ear on her right face, which is thankfully not too deep and will heal soon. seems like someone had been abusing her for a long time, which is why she has so many old dried up red markings as well," he exclaimed as he handed me her report file, which I went through to double-check.

I looked at Kate, who was staring straight ahead, as if she wasn't in this world and was preoccupied with something else.

"We've already called for the help of the cops, but it appears that Ms. Knight is uninterested. She's made it very clear that she doesn't want to press any charges, but I think you should speak to her once and see if she'll agree," he says as he and the nurses walk away, leaving us all alone.

I approached her and sat by her side, but she continued to look ahead, not giving me a glimpse. I tap her on her shoulder to catch her attention, but she doesn't respond.

"Kate?" I called her but received no answer because she was oblivious of my presence.

"Katelyn?" I grabbed her shoulders and shook them again, causing her to turn around and look at me, puzzled.

"Zee?... You actually came," she murmurs slowly and quietly as I nod my head affirmatively, a teardrop cascading down my cheek.

"Can you tell me what happened?  Please just tell me. Does it have  something to do with your father?" I asked, gently grasping her upper arm, which was now in a plaster cast, so as to not hurt her. She offered me a short grin as she faced the small TV screen in front of us.

"Only if he was alive," she laughed, shaking her head in No, as I became even more perplexed. What on earth does she mean by that? I thought.

"What exactly do you mean?  Kate, where has he gone? "What happened?" I wondered. To clear up my uncertainty, I asked questions after questions to find out.