Embedded Files
Doris sits in the hospital chapel in complete shock, having been told by Mrs Berg what she will have to do to correct the timeline.
Doris: “Mrs Berg, I.. I can’t... I simply.. can’t do that! There’s just no way that I will be able to kill Nicole, she’s a friend of mine, for God’s sake. Even if she wasn’t I don’t kill people. I don’t hurt anyone, well not intentionally anyway.”
Mrs Berg: “Doris dear, it’s the only way to correct time and return things to the way they should be. I know it’s hard but if you can’t do it then you will have to live with the guilt and consequences for the rest of your life. Not only the guilt of Danny dying but the guilt you will have every day as you see your daughter going through each painful operation, desperately trying to be able to walk.”
Tears well up in Doris’ eyes as she looks at the older woman.
Doris: “But,... I take care of people, I don’t kill them. Whether it’s a baby bird that’s fallen out of a tree and is injured; or a runaway who is living on the streets; or a friend in need or someone I have to marry because they need a green card to stay in the country, then I always do my best to help them. I’m the giver, a carer that’s what I am, that’s what I do. It’s what I’ve always done and that’s what I will always continue to do. I’ve never intentionally harmed anyone; I’ve not even killed a bug, so I can’t kill a friend. I simply can’t, I’m not a killer!”
Mrs Berg looks at her sternly: “Well, You killed Danny Amatullo, didn’t you!”
The words take Doris by surprise and for a moment there is an icy silence, until Doris eventually speaks.
Doris: “I... I... I didn’t kill Danny! That was a consequence of trying to save Nicole. I didn’t know Danny would die and that doing something good would result in some other bad thing happening. So I think there is a big difference to murdering someone in cold blood and someone dying indirectly, don’t you?”
Mrs Berg sighs: “Doris, I know it sounds harsh but no matter how you look at it Danny is dead as a direct result of your actions and he shouldn’t be. Nicole is alive and she shouldn’t be. You need to look at this in a different way; it’s not killing someone in cold blood it is correcting a mistake and putting things back the way they should be.”
Doris becomes frustrated and shakes her head: “No! No matter how I look at it I am going to have to take Nicole’s life away from her and I’m going to have to live with the guilt of that too. Besides, I don’t have the first clue how I would even go about killing anyone.”
Mrs Berg sighs: “Well, I’m sure if you think about it, something will come to you; but you really need to come up with something and fast, because time is running out Doris. This is very serious and if something doesn’t change soon then all our lives will be in danger. You could then be responsible for a lot more deaths on your conscience! Then how are you going to feel?”
Doris’ frustration grows as she feels the pressure Mrs Berg is placing on her.
Doris snaps: “How do you know all this anyway?”
Mrs Berg smiles and lowers her voice: “I just know dear!”
Doris looks around the empty chapel looking up at the cross on the wall, wondering what to do next. After a few moments she looks back to face Mrs Berg but the older woman has gone, just as quickly as she appeared.
Doris shakes her head and slowly moves to the chapel exit. As she walks back into the hospital corridor and turns to close the chapel door something makes her look back and she sees Bruno and Shorofsky near the front of chapel.
Doris thinks to herself: “Where did they come from?”
Shorofsky stands over his pupil and gently talks to him. Although he talks quietly Doris is still able to make out what he is saying.
Shorofsky: “For the rest of your life you’ll be the first person to hear every song you write.”
Doris watches as Shorofsky sits down and puts a comforting arm around Bruno’s shoulder. She remembers that Bruno told her how Shorofsky broke the news of his Father’s passing to him. She realises the pain Bruno must be in right now and for a moment she wishes she could comfort Bruno somehow but realises that she has more important things and had better not make things any more complicated.
Doris turns and walks away down the corridor but ahead of her she sees a group of people, which as she gets closer she recognises as Lydia, Nicole, Chris and Holly’s parents. The later have just left the group leaving Nicole, Lydia and Chris and watching them go.
Nicole: “Is Holly going to die Miss Grant?”
Lydia grabs Nicole to comfort her with a hug, while Chris storms into the room yelling at Holly.
Chris: “Holly, what are you trying to do? What are you trying to prove Holly?”
Lydia hears and enters the room to stop him by pulling him away from Holly. Nicole and a nurse follow.
Lydia: “Chris... no baby...stop this...this is not good”
Chris: “You’re killing yourself. You’re Killing yourself Holly!”
As Lydia and the nurse take Chris outside, Nicole is left in the room with Holly.
Nicole: “Oh My God.”
Holly: “Go away Nicole.”
Nicole: “I’m your friend Holly. I’m your friend and I’m always going to be your friend. You can keep pushing me away but I’m just gonna come back because I love you.”
The nurse has re-entered the room and tells Nicole she has to leave.
Nicole continues: “There’s nothing you can do to change that. Get Well, because I’m not giving up on you. I’m.. just not.”
Doris stands watching as Nicole is escorted out of the room by the nurse, remembering this must have been when Holly was hospitalised with anorexia. Doris feels guilty that she should have been there to support Holly too.
After a moment Doris finds herself watching Nicole’s every move wondering how she could possibly get her alone. Eventually Nicole tells Miss Grant that she’s going to find a restroom to freshen up. As Nicole moves away from the group and walks down the corridor alone, she passes Doris and enters the stairwell. At the top of the stairs she notices her shoe lace is undone so stops to tie it. Thoughts race through Doris’ head that maybe she could push Nicole down the long flight of stairs and maybe if she pushed her hard enough this would achieve her task and correct the time line.
Doris wonders aloud: “Could it really be that simple?”
Slowly Doris begins to walk closer and closer to Nicole. Her pace quickens as she gets closer and there’s a look of determination on her face. Doris thinks to herself that it could all be over with one quick push. She outstretches her arms and just as she’s about to push Nicole she suddenly sees Mrs Berg coming up the stairs, which causes Doris to stop what she’s doing.
Mrs Berg: “Hello Nicole, can you tell me where Holly’s room is dear? I have a get well card from school and some gifts from everyone at school.”
Nicole gives Mrs Berg the directions and then heads down the stairs. Doris’ heart sinks as she realises her opportunity is lost.
Doris: “Mrs Berg, what are you doing? I was going to do it. I was going to push Nicole down the stairs and put everything right! You told me I had to do this dreadful thing and now you’re stopping me from doing it!”
Mrs Berg: “Doris dear, that Nicole has a couple of years left to live. Killing her would do just as much harm as killing Danny. It has to be the Nicole from the current timeline, the one that was in the car accident, the one that shouldn’t exist.”
At that moment Nicole and Dusty walk by behind where Doris and Mrs Berg are standing carrying Christmas presents to give to the kids in the children’s ward where Mr Shorofsky had been staying while having his tonsils out. Doris hears the girls giggling and turns round to watch them.
Mrs Berg notices: “No, that’s not the right Nicole either, that one has a few more weeks before she’s involved in the car crash that’s supposed to kill her.”
Doris is puzzled: “There certainly are lots of different time lines merging; it’s getting hard to keep up. What happens if the different versions of Nicole meet?”
Mrs Berg: “The longer Nicole stays alive the worse things will get. If two Nicole’s meet, or two versions of anyone meet then that will be disastrous so you have to do everything you can to stop it. And quickly!”
Doris sighs: “I wish this wasn’t so complicated!”
Mrs Berg: “Doris you know where the correct Nicole is, she’s in room 422; all you’re doing here is wasting time!”
Doris angrily turns back to look at Miss Berg but the older woman has disappeared again.
Doris mutters to herself: “I wish you would stop doing that!”
As Doris turns to make her way to room 422 she sees Mr Morloch meet up with Nicole and Dusty.
Morloch: “Miss Chapman, what are you doing here? School is in session is it not?”
Nicole and Dusty are surprised to see the ex vice principal because he’d left the school over a year ago.
Nicole: “Mr Morloch, how nice to see you. We were just delivering the Christmas presents for the kids on Mr Shorofsky’s ward.”
Morloch is confused: “Miss Chapman what are you talking about? It’s three months until Christmas. Couldn’t you come up with a better excuse than that?”
As he finishes speaking Morloch’s jaw drops in surprise as he sees Mr Shorofsky approaching along the corridor dressed as Father Christmas.
Shorofsky: “Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas!”
Morloch shakes his head in disbelief as he watches Shorofsky head towards the children’s ward. Nicole and Dusty stifle their laughs as they say goodbye and hurry off after Mr Shorofsky.
Doris too is in disbelief: “Now I’ve seen it all a Jewish Santa Claus! Shorofsky never dressed like that when I was a student!”
Doris shakes her head, turns and hurriedly makes her way to room 422. As she reaches the door she pauses for a moment and takes a deep breath. As she opens it she is surprised to see Miss Sherwood in traction looking directly at her.
Doris: “Sorry... I must have the wrong room.”
Doris quickly hurries out the door slamming behind her.
Sherwood calls after her: “Wait! Don’t I know you?”
Doris was certain she had the right room. She looks at the door number and right before her eyes it changes to 422. Cautiously she opens the door again and pokes her head into the room. She is relieved to find that this time she does have the correct room, she enters and finds the cut and bruised Nicole is asleep. Doris watches her sleeping peacefully wondering how on earth she is supposed to kill an innocent person. After a few moments she looks around the room for something she may be able to use. In the movies they would just unplug the machines or medication or something like that but Nicole doesn’t have anything like that to unplug.
Doris closes her eyes and suddenly the image of a pillow being held over her face flashes into her mind. For a moment Doris struggles to breathe as though the image really was restricting her breathing. Startled she quickly opens her eyes and then right in front of her in the corner of the room she notices a pile of extra pillows.
Doris finds herself walking to the corner of the room and picking up one of the pillows. She then turns and looks at Nicole still asleep in the hospital bed. Slowly Doris approaches Nicole’s bedside, her hearts starts pounding as she realises what she is about to do. She lifts the pillow up into the air and then slowly brings it down closer towards Nicole’s face.
Doris swallows hard and thinks to herself “just a little further” and she can then hold it down over Nicole’s face until there is no more air and she suffocates. Doris feels very uncomfortable thinking this way as it’s totally alien to her. She has no idea where the vision of the pillow and the idea of suffocation came from or why she found it difficult to suddenly breathe.
For a moment Doris loses her nerve and pulls the pillow away.
Doris whispers softly to herself: “This is stupid, I can’t do this!”
Then she hears an announcement sounding out over the speaker system: “Dr Philips to Maternity please, Dr Philips, Maternity!”
The message makes Doris think of her daughter and how she has to help her. Again she raises the pillow above Nicole’s head and slowly moves it towards Nicole’s face. Nicole stirs a little in the bed but still has her eyes closed. Doris swallows hard and this time there is no hesitation. The pillow touches Nicole’s face and Doris holds it down hard with all her strength.
To be continued.....
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