Panic struck every person in the emergency entrance as the attendants wheeled the stretcher in rush. Somebody was badly injured and everybody could tell it from the confusing situation.
"Kim..." Pie uttered the name through her slightly parted lips. Her tears were beginning to blur her vision as she tried hard to maintain her gaze to the tom.
"I'm here, Pie. Hold on. They will help you." Kim grabbed Pie's hands before she took them for a kiss. Even if in her blur gaze, Pie could see that Kim was actually crying. The white shirt which she picked for the tom this morning was stained with dark and scary blood.
"It's painful..." It saddened Kim to hear such complaint from the innocent girl. She dropped her gaze to Pie's helpless body, her T - shirt was soaked with a thick blood and it somehow spread all over the white sheet that covered her tiny frame. It wouldn't stop flowing and it scared Kim.
"I know, I know. Please hold on. The doctor will help you." For a brief second Kim had to catch the steps. The attendants kept pushing the stretcher to its fastest speed and she was losing the rhythm of the move when she talked to Pie earlier.
"I can't..." Kim heard it before she saw Pie slowly closing her eyes. The girl was about to lose her conscious.
"Pie, talk to me. Don't close your eyes." Kim pressed the girl's cheeks gently yet so nervously as to regain her consciousness. A surge of fear swept over her as the thought of losing Pie came to haunt her mind.
Kim was hoping that Pie would respond to her when she caught Pie feigned a smile across her lips. "Everything will be fine. Please hold on." By this time Kim saw the girl shook her head.
"I have something to tell you..." Kim had to lower her head to Pie's mouth when the sounds of the footfalls were obviously much louder than the girl's voice.
"I'm all ears." Kim smiled.
"I think..."Kim waited for the girl patiently.
"I think I lov...."
"Please wait outside, Sir." One of the nurse stopped Kim, obviously didn't aware Kim's gender. It was too soon for Kim to realize that they had finally reached the emergency theatre and sadly she didn't manage to hear Pie's last sentence just now. What did the girl think? She didn't get any clue of her saying.
"Kim, what's happening here?" The tom heard someone calling from the back. She turned around just to find Zee and her girlfriend was heading to her direction. They looked panic themselves. The call that Kim made earlier might shock them as well.
"Where's Pie?" Tavee asked, panted hard as they stood right next to the tom. She studied the tom for awhile and what came to her mind told her that something terrible had happened. Kim looked terrible with blood all over her white shirt and some dry blood stained her face as well.
Kim didn't answer them directly. Instead she pointed her finger to the closed room and it was more than enough for them to know that Pie was in there. Zee took her best friend to the nearest bench. Tavee was very sure Zee knew what she ought to do.
"Kim, what has happened?" Zee queried, hoping that she could at least have the clue of the real situation. The only thing she knew, Kim had call for her to come to the hospital as soon as possible. She didn't manage to ask any further when Kim hung up the call in rush. However, her instinct told her that something was not right at the moment because Kim was crying when she made the call.
"Pie...she got shot." Kim stammered. The gaze she held in her eyes was blank, lack of any expression.
"Who did that?" Zee frowned, throwing her back to the seat in frustration.
"It was an accident." Kim said.
"You did that?" Zee surmised absent - mindedly. She suddenly became out of her control as she grabbed Kim's collar and pushed her to the wall, indignant with her own best friend for the unwise act.
"It's not me." Kim shook her head, weak. "I was trying to get my gun from Mike and I don't know how it happened but he pulled the trigger and it shot Pie." Kim stammered. Her body began to quiver and tears began to fill in the corners of her eyes. For years Zee had never seen Kim that vulnerable. Pie must meant a lot to the tom.
"Who is Mike? Where is he?" Zee released Kim with a slight guilt of accusing her best friend blindly.
"I'm here." They were greeted with a man's voice. Zee quickly traced the source of the voice but not Kim. There, Zee saw a man walking to their direction before he leaned to the wall and dropped on his knees. Regret and guilt overwhelmed his messy outlook. He must be the Mike who hurt Pie.
A sudden resentment enveloped Zee as she hurriedly took herself to see the person right to the face. Tavee saw her coming and worried by unwanted consequence to happen, she came after her lover. "You are responsible for this matter." Zee warned him.
"I'm not going anywhere." Mike said, utterly surrendering himself.
"Well, excuse us." They were greeted by somebody else. All of them turned to look for the persons and what caught their eyes were a few men in uniform.
"We are looking for Mike Pirath and Kimhan Jittaleela." One of the men said, taking out a piece of paper. Zee gazed to Kim and then averting her sight to the man named Mike. She could predict the next event which would take place and she gulped hard for it. Mike slowly rose from his kneeling while Kim fearlessly walked to the policemen direction.
"We need to arrest both of you for the accusation of endangering the life of a girl." The man handed Kim the warrant. It happened so fast that Zee didn't manage to take her action when the policeman already sealed Kim's hands with the handcuff. The same thing went for Mike.
"Wait. Kim is not guilty." Zee tried to stop them.
"We'll talk about it later...Miss." The policeman told Zee. It impressed the tom that the policeman didn't mistake her truest gender. The next thing she knew, both Kim and Mike were taken away from the place.
"Please look after Pie. Tell her I'm fine." Kim managed to turn around, sending her request to her best friend from afar.
"I will. You can count on me." Zee responded but it was too late when Kim gone at the junction.
***********************************************************************************
The afternoon was warm and the sun was streaking through the trees overhead yet the wind wailed through the shady trees with sending a refreshing breeze. Pie found herself standing at a familiar place. Just right in front of her was the entrance to the glasshouse which Kim ever built it for her. She crept slowly into the hemisphere building, wondering what took her to the place.
"Kim?" Pie called the name, suspecting that the tom was the reason for her to be there.
"Kim?" She called again but it came to her disappointment when no one is answering. Pie brought herself to a greater distance into the glasshouse, the plants and flowers were growing up so beautifully. The green colour of the plants sent some sort of calm sensation to those who gazed to them while the flowers lit up the surrounding with their various colours.
She was then remembered about the rose which she supposed to plant but then she refused to do it. Pie wondered if Kim did plant it instead of her. The girl quickened her steps to the centre where the rose plant shall belong to. Once she got there, Pie was amazed with the view which lay right before her eyes; the roses were blooming red.
"It's impossible." Pie mused. How was it even possible that the roses could grow up that fast? She must be dreaming and she needed to wake up from this ridiculous slumber.
"Mama...?" Her thought was being interrupted with a weak tug on her skirt.
Curious with her hearing, Pie dropped her gaze to the direction where she felt the force. Surprisingly, she caught a little child of about the age of two was staring to her with an innocent look.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" Pie was called by the cuteness that the little child had. She knelt down to the height of the little girl just to have a better look to the little one.
"Mama...?" The little girl called again and then she reached out her tiny hand to Pie's face, cupping the letter face in admiration.
"I'm not your mother. What are you doing here? How could you get in here, alone?" Pie smiled and at the same time, she tried to spot any presence of this little girl's guardian.
"How irresponsible the parents are. How could they let their child to be here alone? It's dangerous." Pie mused
"Papa...?" The little girl said and it purposely caught Pie's attention to it.
"You come here with your Papa? I don't see anyone around." Pie talked to the little one as if the girl could utterly understand her words.
It happened that later, the girl slowly released her hands from Pie's face and stepped backward playfully. "Hey kid4, where are you going?" Pie concerned. The little one should not play around here alone. It might endanger her safety.
Just when Pie was about to get the little one, the girl had already arranging her steps, leaving Pie, startled. "Don't run, baby." Pie didn't waste her time when she opened up her steps as well, tracing the little child's path.
Pie was too focusing on her gaze to the little girl when she didn't see someone was coming to their way. All she knew, out of sudden, someone was picking up the little one. Tracing her eyes to the person, Pie gasped to the image that came to her thought.
"Kim..." She stuttered but the tom somehow didn't aware of her presence there. Pie watched how Kim laughed when the little girl smooch her all over the face. It warmed Pie's heart to see it that she didn't aware she was smiling. The warm feeling however didn't stay too long when suddenly she caught somebody else coming. The lady looked familiar. She made her way to both Kim and the little girl.
"Mama!" The girl seemed glad when she saw the woman.
"FERN?" Pie shrieked, utterly dumbfounded.
The next scene took forever for Pie to believe when she saw Fern reached for a kiss to Kim. "NO." Pie shook her head, the sudden feel of anger rushed to her mind. Confusion enveloped her like mad. Frustrated to the sight, Pie ran herself wishing she could escape the glasshouse as soon as possible. It was just a dream and she needed to escape from this ridiculous dream but why she couldn't find her way out?
Pie reached to the centre again, where she saw the little girl just now. However, things were not the same anymore. The rose plant had wilted, died lifelessly. She turned her gaze to the surrounding; all of the plants had the same fate as the rose too. They were all dead and yet, the glasshouse looked like an abandon haunted building.
"What is happening here?" Pie mused as confusion took over her clear state mind. "Everything was fine just now." She brought her finger to touch the wilt roses, wondering if all she saw was just an illusion.
IT DOESN'T BELONG TO YOU. A bizarre voice echoed all over the space, sending a great sense of tremor to the girl.
"Who is that? Show yourself." Pie guarded herself, wandering around to allocate any harm.
THIS PLACE DOESN'T BELONG TO YOU. The voice echoed again.
"Kim built this glasshouse for me." Pie answered bravely. "Show yourself." The girl demanded again.
"I'm here." Someone answered her.
Pie quickly brought her gaze to the direction where the voice had greeted her. "Fern..."
"Surely you know me." The lady smirked, bitter.
"What are you doing here?" Pie queried, pretending she didn't see the 'sweet' scene of the lady and Kim just now.
"It was me who supposed to ask you that." Fern scoffed loudly. "What are you doing here?"
"I'd stay here and this is my glasshouse." Pie said, irritated by the arrogant gesture Fern showed to her.
"This is not your place. You didn't belong to here." Fern laughed as if Pie was telling her a silly joke.
"It's such a waste of my time to talk to a crazy woman like you." Pie spun on her heels, deciding to ignore the lady.
"Wait." Fern disturbed her thought. "I'll show you something." The lady said and without Pie's realization, they were already shifted to a different place; it was in the house.
"Come on Pie. You know this is just a dream. Wake up." Pie scolded herself, realizing what was happening was a false illusion.
"I suggest you wait for a few minutes." Fern whispered right into Pie's ears causing a great shock to the girl.
"Don't waste my time. What is really happening here?" Pie snapped, annoyed by the fact that she was being manipulated inside this ridiculous deep slumber.
Fern pointed her finger to a corner of the house and Pie traced the gesture. "Look..." The lady said. "That is the exact thing you should know by now."
Pie refused to believe her eyes and by the little courage she had inside her fragile heart, she walked to herself to the wall. "No..." The word came out helplessly from her shaking voice. "Wake up, Pie. This is just a dream."
"That's the truth." Fern came up to her side, gazing to the huge frames which hung neatly on the wall. She smiled brightly upon seeing the picture. It was the wedding picture of her and Kim. Next to that one was the picture of their family together, back to the first moment they welcomed a new family member to their life; their daughter.
"I refuse to believe it." Pie shook her head and feigned a laugh.
"And what makes you think it is impossible?" Fern queried without shifting her gaze from the pictures.
"I refuse to believe it. That's all. I know this is just a dream and I'm freaking trapped here." The girl replied, confident with her stand.
"You refused to believe Kim. What makes you think this dream won't come true?" Fern queried again but this time the lady manage to shut Pie's mouth for a long pause.
"NO! I need to wake up now." Pie shook her head.
"You shall live in this dreamland forever." Fern told her before she gone with the blowing wind.
"NO!"
**********************************************************************************
The environment is a completely bizarre to Pie when she slowly regained her clear sight. She had to shut her eyes once again as the bright light penetrated her eyes like the pain of being pierced with thousands tiny needles right into the cornea.
"Kim..." She called the name and to her relief, she had successfully escaped herself from the ridiculous dream.
"Kim..." Pie called for the tom again but all she heard was a dead silence. Disappointed with it, she decided to take a look for the tom by herself.
"Ouch." The girl winched when the pain on her back struck her for real. After a short while, she regained her memory of what had happened earlier. She was being shot and it nearly took her life.
"Don't move too much. You are not completely recovered." A very familiar voice reminded her.
"What are you doing here?" Pie didn't need to look to the person to figure out the person. It was again, Fern.
A moment later, Fern came to the bedside and took her seat at the edge of the bed. "How should I say...?" Fern began. "Mrs.Jittaleela entrusted me to look after you while she was away, I mean she went home for awhile." Fern said.
"Where's Kim?" Pie asked, still didn't interested to look to the woman.
Fern feigned a laugh. "You are so rude. Shouldn't you thank me for taking care of you even if it was just for a few minutes?"
"I don't ask you to do that." Pie muttered alone.
"Never mind..." Fern said. "To answer your question about Kim; she is not here." The lady informed.
"Where's she going?" Pie averted her eyes to Fern is response and she saw the lady smiling.
"In the jail." Fern shrugged.
"How the hell that happened?" Pie frowned.
"I don't know." Fern replied short and Pie sighed.
"How long I have been here?" Pie asked. She didn't aware that she was actually losing the track of time.
Fern counted for awhile before she told Pie, "About two to three days."
"What?" Pie hardly believed it.
"You were in coma. The bullet nearly hit your heart." Fern added. "And I wonder why you shouldn't just...DIE." Fern clicked her tongue dramatically on 'DIE'.
"Get out of here!" Pie grunted. The sudden feel of anger and hatred seethed herself out of her control.
"I'm not done yet." Fern declined the order.
"You know Pie? It was much easier if you just die the other day." Fern said as she tapped a finger on her pressed lips, pondering something deeply.
"I just don't get it... why do you hate me terribly? I didn't do anything to you neither we had never related in the past." Pie spoke out her heart.
"Of course you are absent in my past." Fern brought her face close to Pie's until the girl had to dodge away from her. "But you are messing up my life in the current time and it somehow related to my past." She added.
"What are you talking about? I did nothing to you." Pie said but a short while later, she remembered something that closely related to the lady. "Is it all because of Kim?" Pie surmised, even though deep inside, she already knew it.
"I don't think it is necessary for me to answer it." Fern responded. "However, I'd wonder what's so special about you until Jittaleela could scratch their pride and shamelessly bless you and Kim being together." The lady disputed and it somehow giving Pie a flashback of the lady's old days.
"You were in relationship with Kim in the past." Pie said, trying hard to stifle a laugh.
"What's so funny?" Fern was exasperated with Pie's reaction.
"It's nothing. Pity you." The girl said.
"Don't pity me. Pity yourself." Fern scoffed. "Sooner or later I'll make sure you are gone from Kim's life." The lady said but it sounded more to a threat to Pie.
"You could try." Pie nodded.
Irritated by the simple reaction that Pie showed, Fern growled loudly to the girl. "What makes you so confident that you could stay by her side?"
"Kim chose me and sadly she didn't turn around to look at you." Pie feigned a smile.
Pie was expecting she could put Fern to her blunt end but contrarily she didn't. "You can fake everything and pretend that you're innocent in your relationship with Kim." Fern began and Pie waited anxiously for a long pause when Fern didn't continue her words.
"I'm Kim's fiancée and nothing could change the fact that soon we will get married." Pie broke the silence.
For a brief moment, Pie watched Fern threw her gaze away before she let out a long soft chortle. Pie had to admit that it frightened her to see Fern's sudden change. The next thing Pie knew, Fern reached down to look to her right into the eyes again.
"Are you alright?" Pie asked, froze to the bed because Fern hovered over her. The lady nodded her yes.
"Then, could you please get away from me? I hardly breathe this way." Pie complained while trying hard to push away the lady. Their distance was too close that Pie could feel Fern's breath brushed her face and it was somehow uncomfortable to her.
"Why don't we just put an end to your breathing?" Fern asked before Pie saw the corner of her lips curved into a perfect smirk.
Shortly before Pie realized the meaning, Fern already made her move. It was too late for the girl to prepare herself of the upcoming danger. Remorselessly Fern tried to suffocate her with a pillow. Pie was about to fight the force when the pain at her back spread all over her helpless abdomen. The panic that struck added with her inability to breathe well due to the injury choked the girl to her deathbed.
In between the time Pie was slowly losing her consciousness, she still could hear Fern talked to her. "Oh I forgot to tell you my opinion about you, soon to be Kim's bride."
"I refuse to believe it." The statement slipped gently yet so clearly to Pie's blur mind which later lost its connection with the real world.
#Author's Note
Wow! I was in high spirits because all of you showed a great response to me so here's the next chapter. I can't believe that I put too much drama in here but surely it's an interesting way to annoy all of you. Fern is somehow mysterious and dangerous at the same time. What do you think the significant of this chapter? Stay tuned with me to know Fern's truest agenda.
By the way, congratulations to those who guessed it correctly; it's Pie who got shot.