Yesterday (Part Two - Chapters 23 & 24) (Patreon)

CHAPTER 23

Laura was still secluded in the living room. She had a lime blossom tea in her hands, and as she sipped it, she felt her eyes flooding with tears again.

She felt herself burning inside, although she knew she did not have a fever, as her skin was cold. She considered having a drink, but knew that alcohol would not solve anything.

She had a chill.

Her jaw hurt. She would have given anything to be able to cry, but her eyes were only capable of being clouded by silent tears.

Would she not be able to pour out her tears?

The conversation with her father had left her shaken. All that information floated in disorder and drifted through her thoughts, unable to make sense. It was as if she had finally switched off from herself.

No way, she said to herself. Jonah alive. Her mother dead, although she wasn't really her mother. Where did she fit in?

She thought of Eva and felt her stomach bleed. Would they have told her by now?

And all that that had happened when they were kids...

Perhaps that explained the distance she had always felt from her mother, she noted in horror. Somewhere in her subconscious the shadow of that memory must have survived.

She was helpless, feeling totally lost and useless. Then felt a sudden rush of anger against that brother and the turbulent past that had just been revealed to her.

She wasn't like that.

Chapter 24

Jonah decided to take a walk to the clinic where Adrian had been admitted. It was getting dark and he thought it was a good time to discover the city. He would pay him a brief visit and from there he would take a cab to the Westin Palace Hotel to take a good shower and rest before continuing with his plan.

He had read on the hotel's website that their beds were famous for their comfort, and he couldn't think of a better place to go to relax and plan his next move. He also doubted that anyone would think to look for him there. If they dared to look for him.

He arrived at the prestigious Stanhope Clinic half an hour later. Sneaking in was easy. He concentrated mentally as he walked to the entrance imagining himself invisible and managed to cross the lobby passing among the people without anyone noticing him. He had been practicing that trick with Father for years.

Aminarti always forced him to use it when they traveled, and he didn't put up any obstacles. Eventually he found some pleasure in that kind of anonymity. Going unnoticed gave him the peace of mind to immerse himself in his world huddled in his seat.

But he knew from experience that it didn't always work, only with people who took it for granted that strangers would pass in front of them. The floor nurses would be a different story. So he took a little detour and grabbed a white coat from the hanger inside a lonely nursing island. He made himself a ponytail and put a pair of glasses over his nose, which he found in the upper pocket. He was ready.

He walked through the spectacular gallery that housed the rooms in that area of the Clinic, gazing at the horizon above the glasses. There were two or three people walking around in the distance, but otherwise the place seemed deserted. A hunch alerted him a few meters from his destination and he stopped in time to see Eva leave Adrian's room carefully closing the door behind her. He hid behind one of the wide concrete columns and waited for her to pass by on her way out. He was tempted to go into her mind but held back.

No.

"A play must have its audience, and you have been seated next to your father”.

He waited one more minute and resumed his walk to Adrian's room.

Then, he quietly opened the door.

There he was, his very own ticket to fame. Greedy fool. Having a blast for sure, immersed in his own fantasy, would he still be dreaming?

It didn't matter, Adrian had the proof he needed.

He approached his bed and took out a pipe he had in his pocket. He carefully removed the cap, separated the tape from the back of Adrian's free hand and injected the cylinder into the tender wound. It quickly filled with dark blood. He reattached the cap to the pipe, put it in his pocket and then placed two fingers on Adrian’s forehead. He closed his eyes and then concentrated. It took a little patience to find the "switch".

Click.

Adrian blinked and the equipment around him lit up like a Christmas tree.

He had five seconds.

--You will thank me for this someday—. Jonah whispered to him.

And he left.

Adrian pulled the wires painfully and everything around him began to beep.