Chapter 24 - Chapter 24

I sat in the chair, looking at my happy friends with a smile playing across my face. I had gone to visit Seto and Kaede, and together, they looked so happy. So full of joy, that it was all I could do not to want to have a share in it, with the jealousies in my heart.



This was one of the few times I had been to see them, since I had returned, and now I was to leave again, although I was not going to France, but even further afield to America. I had come to say my farewells, although they did not yet know this.



The conversation had been quite stilted, and after nearly an hour of my intrusion, I felt it was almost time to go, and so I hit them with my big news, “Um, Kaede, Seto, I came here with more of a reason than just to see you today. I came because I needed to tell you something…”



“And?” Kaede tried to help me continue, as I was shaking with the nerves that overpowered me continuously.



“They've made a discovery in America. An operation. They think it will heal paralysis. But, they need someone to try it on. And I am going.”



“YOU ARE WHAT?”



“I am going to America.”



“YOU CAN'T!!”



“Why not? It'll be bound to help me. And I really do need it. There is nothing else for me to do.”



“There is so much for you to do. Like…” she trailed off, trying to think, “Seto, you're not helping me!”



“I think you should go for it, Ana, if that's what you want to do.”



“Thanks, Seto. It is. It could all go wrong, and I could be even worse of than I am now, or it could work. It could be a complete success.”



“But what if it isn't?” Kaede whined.



“If it isn't? I don't tend to think about what might happen.”



Tears had welled up in her eyes, and in mine as well, especially when we made our farewells, perhaps forever.



I had told everyone else already, and said goodbye to everyone, except Honda, who was taking me to the airport. Marc was too busy to take me anywhere, so I was flying alone, and staying alone. Even my own father was too busy to help his fifteen year old daughter. He had promised to phone, but he would probably forget. He always forgot.



***



We reached the airport, and the announcements were heard, the plane would leave very soon.



My luggage already aboard, I sat in my chair by the gate entrance, embracing Honda as we said our final goodbyes. Both in tears, I managed to wrench myself away, and slowly wheel myself around and down the tunnel, onto the waiting plane. As I rolled away, I heard Honda say one last thing, “Don't look back.”



I wiped away the tears with my right hand, trying to control the wheelchair with the other, as I went down the sloping tunnel, and, with the help of an air stewardess, boarded the plane.



***



Sitting in a seat, that I had been transferred too, I was listening to the world news, in English (the air company was American), and daydreaming simultaneously. And then I heard some of the most shocking news ever, which forced me to tune into what was being said.



“…Shocking news just in that a private jet has crashed over the Atlantic Ocean. Cause was unknown, although believed to be assassination. The plane was carrying a light load of a pilot, a co-pilot and a stewardess, all who died, as did the passengers, an unknown man, and a small family. The owner of the plane, who was journeying to America with his family…”



I knew before they even said it. He hadn't forgotten. He had wanted to surprise me.



“…Was Jonothan Osculaix, top international lawyer, kind parent and good husband. After tragically losing his talented first-wife two years ago, the shock to his family will be devastating. His second wife and very young son also died in the accident.”



I watched as the newsreaders rustled their papers once more, “And now onto what might prove to be more satisfying news. In the coming weeks, an advance is to be made in medical science. The first ever operation on the new found cure for paralysis is to be carried out on a fifteen year old girl, Ana-Gaelle Osculaix,” here the newsreader began to falter, “Daughter of Jonothan Osculaix, the great lawyer.”



The newsreader pressed her earpiece closer into his ear, and then spoke again, “That's all for the moment, we will be back with you later. Goodbye.”



My mind swam, and head pounded with the shock of what I had just heard. And what a way to hear it.



My father was dead.



***



I didn't sleep for the rest of the journey, as long as it was. My heart wouldn't let me. I finally arrived in America, absolutely exhausted, from lack of sleep, and having to deal with so many emotions in such a short amount of time.



I was met at the airport by a car driver, who then took me onto a private hospital, where I was to be spending god knows how long for an operation. Not that I really believed in God, I was more of an agnostic, and preferred to believe in many gods, as did the Romans and the Greeks.



The car swerved into the entrance of the hospital, parking under a huge archway, where he came to help me out of the car, first lifting me into a wheelchair, and then pushing me, before returning to the car to bring in my bags. A young male nurse came and pushed me into the lift, taking me to what was to be my room for the next month, or however long it would be. It felt like a cell. At least I had a phone.



When at last everyone had left me, I picked up the phone and soon dialled my home number, in Domino City. I was shocked when a female voice answered.



“Hey, this is Marc's house. Marc is a little, ur, unavailable right now, can I take a message?”



I then worked out who it was, “HEY! Its my house too!”



“Ana?”



“Uhuh.”



“Hang on, I'll go and get Marc. Don't go anywhere.”



Well, I obviously couldn't go anywhere.



Then he came onto the line, “Hey, how was the flight?”



“It was ok. I watched the news on it, y'know, the world news, and then I felt ill for the rest of the journey.”



“shoot. So that's how you found out. I didn't want to tell you. But I didn't want you to find out like that, either.”



“YOU WEREN'T GOING TO TELL ME?!?!?”



“Umm, did I just say that?”



“YES!”



“Well, I was going to tell you, but, like, not for a while.”



I hung up.



***



The doctors visited me so many times in that week, endlessly going over all the minute details of the operation. By the end of the week, I started to feel more and more like a guinea pig, or a toy. And then the day came, and I was taken into another room, in the plain hospital robe. The first doctor was the anaesthetist, and he came, and blessed me with what was simple and unknowing sleep. As my eyes slowly closed, I found myself thinking…

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