"All Gone But The Memories"

Dr Reid leads Gina Amatullo and Doris to room 421 where Danny’s body lies motionless on the bed. On seeing the body Gina begins to wail as she rushes over to the bed and cradles Danny’s body against hers.

Gina looks at Doris and screeches: “He’s not dead, tell them! Please... tell them, he’s not dead! He can’t be dead! It’s not right. He was always so full of life and he has so much to live for. Please, tell them he’s not dead!”

Doris watches as Gina sobs for a few moments all the time rocking Danny’s body backwards and forwards. Then the screeching starts again.

Gina: “Please, Help me! He can’t be... I’ve already lost one son, I can’t lose another.... It’s not right; a Mother should never have to bury her own child. Please tell them! I’ve already buried one Son. I can’t handle having to bury another. I can’t go through that again. I can’t... Please tell them; please tell them he’s not dead!”

Gina has run out of words and just looks pleadingly at Doris, with tears running down her face. The guilt overwhelms Doris and she can’t listen to any more of Gina’s grief so rushes out of the room. She sees the ladies restroom just down the corridor and hurries into it. She reaches the wash basin just in time as she is then physically sick.

After a few moments of getting her breath back, Doris cups her hands under the running tap to scoop cold water up to her mouth to try to wash away the taste of vomit. She looks up and catches her reflection in the mirror and despises what she sees. Not only has her meddling endangered her own daughter’s life but it has caused the death of one her closest friends.

The door opens and Dusty walks in and smiles when she recognises Doris as the substitute teacher.

Dusty: “Merry Christmas Miss. Will you be substituting for Mr Shorofsky while he has his tonsils out?”

Doris looks at the young girl with no idea what she is talking about. Dusty notices that Doris doesn’t look well.

Dusty: “Are you okay Miss? Is there anything I can do to help?”

Doris can’t face any more explanations or inventing complicated lies. Despite not wanting to be rude she simply turns and leaves the room in silence. Dusty calls after her but Doris keeps on walking and ignores the voice behind her.

Doris walks for a long time round endless hospital corridors not sure where she’s going and not caring. Eventually she comes to a stop at the maternity ward. Through a window she can see a number of new born babies in incubators. She then sees her Mother and her younger self sat next to one of the incubators. She notices that her mother is crying and her younger self is holding her mother’s hand reassuringly. She sees baby Jenny’s face, which looks so small and frail and Doris starts to cry.

She turns round with her back now against the glass window and notices at one end of the corridor is Quentin Morloch carrying a bunch of flowers and at the other end of the corridor are Jesse and Ian dressed in cowboy hats. Doris watches as Jesse and Ian enter one of the rooms where after a moment country music can then be heard.

At the other end of the corridor Morloch pauses for a moment, straightens his tie and smoothes down his hair before knocking on the door.

Sherwood’s voice can be heard from the other side: “Come In”

Morloch enters the room: “Brought You some flowers!” (Then as he looks around the room) “Not the most original idea in the World I see. Hello Miss Grant, Miss Sherwood I hope you’re feeling well?”

Sherwood: “Morloch let’s dispence with the formalities. What the hell is going on at the school?”

Doris walks past the room that Morloch has just entered and sees Miss Sherwood lying in bed in traction. As Doris turns she sees Shorofsky talking to a nurse at a desk. He has a big bruise on his face.

Shorofsky: “Nurse! I’m Dr Westheim, we’ve not met before I believe?”

Nurse: “No Doctor.”

Shorofsky: “I have a patient in 311, Mr Shorofsky. You should notify your superiors, he’s gone.”

Nurse: “Oh, I’m so Sorry.”

Shorofsky continues: “Did everything we could, but he slipped away! No pain. Went very quickly.”

Shorofsky heads towards a lift.

Nurse: “I’ll call Dr Stanley.”

Shorofsky: “Wait 15 or 20 minutes, all his family is in there with him now.”

Nurse: “Of course Doctor.”

Shorofsky: “He Just Slipped away very quietly!”

Nurse: “Probably for the best.”

Shorofsky: “I thought so for sure.”

As the lift door closes Shorofsky smiles at the nurse and Doris begins to wonder if everyone from the school is actually at the hospital and why?

Doris: “What is it that has drawn everyone here? All these people I know but from different time periods. It’s so confusing!”

Doris pauses as she finds herself outside the room Danny had been in, although she notices the room number has changed. She feels that she should take a moment to pay her respects and say goodbye to her friend. She takes a deep breath but her body won’t move any closer to the door. Suddenly the door opens and her teenage self and the doctor who treated Danny’s cancer leave the room. Doris struggles to remember the Doctors name, while she listens to the conversation about Danny who has just undergone some chemotherapy for his cancer. After a few moments the two leave in opposite directions. Doris realises that she must have gone back in time a couple of years, where Danny is still alive. She opens the door to Danny’s room to find him lying on the bed looking very pale. She remembers how much the treatments had taken a toll on Danny but at least he made it through. She approaches the bed and Danny moves slightly.

Danny: “Schwartz is that you? I thought you'd be away longer getting something to eat.”

The treatment and medication had left Danny feeling tired and groggy. For the most part he keeps his eyes closed and when he does open them his vision is slightly blurred so he doesn’t realise that Doris is actually older that the teenager he knows.

Doris: “Yes Danny, it’s me. I didn’t feel like eating.”

Danny: “Are you sure you aren’t ill, you don’t normally have any difficulty eating.”

Doris: “Ha Ha very funny! Well, you must be feeling a lot better if you can make dumb jokes?”

Danny: “We’ll apart from the sweating, the shakes, the aching, the throwing up I feel fine. Fit as a fiddle. Well, a fiddle with a couple of broken strings anyway.”

Doris takes Danny’s hand and holds it tightly.

Danny: “You know Schwartz, with the effect of these drugs and the tiredness you look like an Angel!”

Doris: “Listen Danny I have something to say. It might not make much sense as it hasn’t happened to you yet but I wanted to say I’m sorry.” (She pauses for a moment choosing her words carefully then continues.) “I thought I was doing the right thing trying to save a friend. In the circumstances I think you’d have tried to save her too. However had I known what would happen to you then I never...”

Danny interrupts: “I don’t understand Doris; none of this is your fault. You didn’t give me cancer so don’t be so hard on yourself”.

Doris: “No Danny I’m talking about something else, something that will happen in the future, where I’m going to let you down badly and I just need you to know that I’m sorry and I love you.”

Danny is still confused: “The future? What are you talking about?”

Doris: “If I could explain it any better then I would but just know I’m sorry!”

Danny: “You’ve never let me down Doris. You’ve always been the best friend. I owe you my life. You were the one that got me to come to the hospital. You were the one that got me fired up to fight the cancer. I’d already given up and without your help and support I’d... Well who knows where I’d be now. So I’m grateful to you for showing me that life was worth fighting for. You certainly have nothing to feel guilty or worried about. You’re Doris and you always do things the Doris way. You do things out of love and compassion and your need to help other people. It’s so admirable Doris and I know a lot of people who wish they were more like you, me included. The Doris way usually turns out to be the right way after all. I’m happy to call you my friend and I trust you with my life”

Tears roll down Doris’ face as she reaches closer to hug him.

Doris: “Oh Danny, I miss you!”

Danny: “Miss me? I’m not going anywhere!”

Doris: “Right, I meant... I love you!”

Danny: “Look I hate to break all this gushing up but I really need to get some rest.”

Doris nods: “Okay, I’ll leave for a little while, but I’ll be back.”

Danny smiles: “I know you will.”

As Doris reaches the door, Danny calls back to her.

Danny: “Hey Schwartz, I love you too.... Now get out of here!”

Doris smiles as she leaves the room as her conversation with Danny left her feeling more reassured.

The nurse notices her leaving the room and comes over to speak to her.

Sally: “Your friend’s son has been moved to the morgue but if you wish to see the body we can arrange that.”

Doris looks back and sees that the room number has changed back to 421. Suddenly she is brought back to reality that Danny is dead and her guilt swells up inside once more.

Sally: “By the way your daughter is conscious now. She’s been asking about her friend but we haven’t said anything yet as we thought you would want to be the one to tell her.”

The guilt Doris feels increases as she nods to Sally: “Yes, thank you, I’ll speak to her.”

As Sally turns to leave Doris hears voices approaching and as she turns round she sees Leroy, Holly, Chris and her teenage self enter Danny’s room. The number has changed again. Doris listens for a few moments and soon hears singing as the friends sing to Danny.

“It's in everyone of us, to be wise.

Find your heart, open up both your eyes.

We can all know everything, without ever knowing why

It's in everyone of us, by and by

It's in everyone of us, to be wise.

Find your heart, open up both your eyes.

We can all know everything, without ever knowing why

It's in everyone of us, by and by.”

Doris chokes back more tears as she notices Sally watching her listening at the door and so quickly moves off down the corridor. She sees the sign for the hospital chapel and decides it should be a quiet place to sit and think. Thankfully The Chapel is empty so Doris moves inside and finds a seat near the front and sits down. She places her head in her hands and sighs. She wonders why she hasn’t moved to some other place in time. Usually the changes happen far more quickly than this and she could move on to something else. Although it wouldn’t stop her feeling guilty about Danny at least it would be a distraction and would take her mind off her current situation.

For a while Doris sits in silence and finds some comfort in the solitude. Then she hears a voice:

“Doris?”

Doris looks up but there is no one in front of her and she hadn’t heard the door to the chapel open.

Voice: “Doris? Doris, can you hear me?”

Slowly Doris looks behind and sees Mrs Berg sitting in the row behind smiling.

Doris: “Where did you come from? You scared me!”

Mrs Berg ignores Doris’ words: “My, My you have created a real mess here haven’t you? I thought you’d finally realised not to interfere.”

Doris: “Oh Mrs Berg, I really thought it was the right thing to try and help Nicole. I had no idea it would change so many other things.”

Mrs Berg sharply: “Ignorance is no defence Doris. The time line was already unstable from your previous meddling, now things are happening that shouldn’t be and the leaking of one time line to another is only going to get worse. The effects could be catastrophic! If only saving Nicole had been worth it but Nicole isn’t going to thank you, not when you tell her that Danny is dead. Nicole knew she didn’t have much longer to live and so the change of events will only affect her in a negative way. She will drop out of school and give up on her dreams. All that talent will go to waste. She will become a recluse and live the rest of her life alone. She won’t be happy Doris.”

Doris shuts her eyes and shakes her head slowly as Mrs Berg continues.

Mrs Berg: “The Amatullos will never recover from this, especially poor Mrs Amatullo. After her marriage ended she had come to depend more and more on Danny and now for the first time in her life she is alone and feels unneeded and unwanted. She will turn to alcohol for comfort until she develops liver disease and eventually drinks herself to death. Even your own daughter, Jenny will be affected. She will live but will never walk and will spend her childhood in one hospital after another having operation after operation to try and correct the problem but each time it will fail...”

Doris interrupts: “Okay, please stop! I get it, I’ve messed up! But please stop I can’t take any more guilt. If I could I’d change it all back and leave well enough alone. I’ve learnt my lesson! Nicole would die and everyone else would carry on as before and I wouldn’t feel this dreadful guilt and despair.”

Mrs Berg moves closer until she and Doris are face to face for a moment and she stares deep into Doris’ eyes.

Mrs Berg: “Well, if you’re serious then there is one thing you can do to correct the time line and put it all back the way it should be.”

Doris excited: “What? What is it? I’ll do anything?”

Mrs Berg lowers her voice: “Doris it will be the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do in your whole life?”

Doris becomes impatient: “Please Mrs Berg cut the suspense. I need to end this pain I’ve caused for everyone. Please, tell me what to do!”

Mrs Berg takes a deep breath: “Okay but you’re not going to like it one bit.”

Doris looks at her pleadingly.

Mrs Berg Continues: “To correct the time line then Nicole needs to die... And Doris you have to be the one to kill her!”

Doris’ body goes icy cold as she looks at the older woman and the horror of her situation dawns on her.

Doris: “Oh My God, ... I have to... Kill Nicole?”

To be continued......