Bad Romance(Book1)

Chapter 12-Stroke of Death

You can be six, twenty six or fifty one. But when you lose someone it stays with you.

Jared

Shannon followed me closely and I soon saw a familiar figure standing on the corridor, looking at the hospital room. Ella.

She was dressed in the same clothes she wore the day before and she looked pale and sickly. Her eyes were red and swollen. I looked into the room and saw her mother being disconnected from various machines. The sheet that was covering her was pulled over her face and both me and Shannon understood what had happened.

"Hey, hey...", I said trying to take her into my arms.

She rejected me brutally, looked straight at Shannon and murmured something. Without saying another word she went into the room and talked to one of the doctors. Neither of us made out the conversation.

"Ella...hey come here.", said Shannon protectively opening his arms the second she came out of the room.

She went into his arms and I felt a pang of jealousy the second he started comforting her. But it wasn't the right time nor the right moment for me to start questioning the relationship she had with Shannon. There wasn't anything there. I knew it all too well. Ella was the most professional person in the world when it came to work and private life. She never mixed them.

"If you need anything....", I started.

"I don't. I'm okay.", she replied coldly.

"Hey....hey...it's all gonna be okay.", said Shannon gently stroking her back.

"I can't come to Tokyo. I have to bury my mother in three days.", she added quickly, almost as an excuse.

"Reschedule your flight. For whenever you feel ready. It's okay.", I replied taking her hand into mine.

She squeezed it gently and looked back into the room. Her mother was taken away to the morgue and that moment made her cringe.

"When did this happen? She was okay yesterday. Stable...",I asked.

"When I got back to the hospital we sat and chatted for a little and then she went to sleep...I went to sleep next to her. And I was woken up by the machines. She went into cardiac arrest. The doctors tried to resuscitate her, but...there wasn't anything to do for her...", she explained through tears.

She locked her eyes into mine and I could read the pain and hate bottled up. I understood that all the hate was directed towards me.

"Hey...is everything okay?", I asked her the second Shannon went to get a coffee.

"It's fine. All is fine. I just need to get everything else sorted out. I need to go to Ireland though. This was her last wish...she always told me she wanted her ashes scattered from The Cliffs of Moher.", she said not having a single clue about what she had to do or where to start from.

"If you want I can co..."

"No. It's okay. I have to do it myself...you do your own thing...", she said bluntly.

I wanted to stay and comfort her but I felt she was better off without me. Shannon gave me the 'I'll stay with her look' and I turned around and left.

I went back home and started thinking. I also Skyped Clara.

"What's up stranger?", she said, clearly happy to hear from me.

"All good, getting ready for Tokyo. Still deciding what to pack..."

"How come you decided to call me? I thought we called it quits..."

"I know...", I said, rubbing my temples, clearly realizing my mistake.