Angels of the Universe by Kristina Karen - HTML preview

Chapter 32

 

Ty laughed. “That won’t be necessary. Thank you once again.” Finally, Ty walked the hallway to the front door, opened the door and left the inside of the mansion. Suddenly, his cell phone rang. He answered it and Victoria told him what had just happened. “Oh, my God, that can’t be! I’ll be right there.” Ty left the mansion in his car and took the road in a hurry.

Daniel watched him leave from the big living room window and said to his men, “Follow him,” and so they did. Luckily they’d showered and gotten a change of clothes only two hours before.

Ty was kind of frustrated. He had to put his plans on hold, at least for now. He couldn’t believe what happened to Gilda much less the reason why it happened. What Gilda did to Victoria didn’t compare to everything that he’d done to her, and still Victoria wouldn’t forgive her. Much to Ty’s amazement, he saw a car follow him less than ten minutes after leaving the Sherman mansion. He looked in the rearview mirror and saw Alexander driving, Aaron in the passenger seat, and Ethan in the backseat, using his laptop. Ethan’s laptop was his faithful companion, and although it was a fifteen-inch, he would take it with him everywhere. My God, those men are following me. I wonder what it is they think they can do to help us. That’s appropriate. I don’t think I could face this situation alone.

Rosenberg and Palma had already arrived at the local hospital. Right now, Gilda was just hours from being transferred to the same hospital that William was at. The gang gasped when they saw them walking towards them. They really wanted to know how Gilda was doing and if there was any possibility that she could get better, get out of here, and continue living her life. Victoria was crying in Lucy’s arms, and Lucy and Rochelle couldn’t stop crying. Rochelle was also here to support Gilda. Rochelle didn’t agree with the things that Gilda did, but she still loved her dearly and she was still her friend.

Rosenberg patted Victoria on the back and then hugged her. “What got into you? This isn’t like you, Victoria.” He looked into her eyes. They were so red they were almost bloodshot.

“All of this is my fault.”

“Now, don’t be so hard on yourself. This isn’t going to help Gilda get better. You do want her to get better, don’t you?” Professor Palma said.

“Of course I do. I’m so sorry for what I’ve done. You’re right, Professor Rosenberg, this was so unlike me. I don’t know what happened, really. I’m scared. I don’t even want to contemplate the notion that I’m becoming someone else, like Alexander Cambridge did after his kidnapping.”

“Speaking of Cambridge,” Palma commented, watching him, Ethan and Aaron approach them, “here he comes now. Oh, and look who’s with him! It’s our good friend, Ty Johnson!”

Without realization of it, Victoria ran to Ty and cried in his arms. “I’m scared, I need help!” she sobbed.

Alexander already noticed signs that Victoria was experiencing the same thing he did, something that turned him into a completely different person, an evil person, and nearly cost him his life. Alexander walked up to Victoria and gave her a hug. “It’s ok. You’ll be just fine. I know what you’re going through.”

“I know you do,” said Victoria, crying. “Can you help me?”

“Victoria’s always been sweet, loving and forgiving,” Ty said, still holding her as Rochelle had her hand on Victoria’s back. “She even forgave me. She’s never held rancor against anyone.”

“Yes, I can help you, and I will. You want to go get some coffee or something?”

“That would be nice,” said Victoria and she and Alexander left the waiting room.

Everyone just sat down, waiting to get the chance to see Gilda. They were right in thinking that something was seriously wrong with Victoria. All the abuse that she’d experienced had turned her into a different person over time, and another personality was born about a year before. She’d been waiting a while to come out, though, and everything that happened to William and now Gilda, that caused Victoria’s alter ego to emerge, but Alexander noticed it before it happened tonight. He knew that Tatiana was coming, and Tatiana wasn’t sweet, loving, forgiving and kind like Victoria was. Lamentably, she was exactly the opposite, and she abhorred men.

“Hi,” she said. “How are you doing?”

“Hello, Tatiana,” Alexander said.

“How do you know it’s me?”

“You can’t fool me. I know who you are, and I know everything about you. Where’s Victoria.”

“I am Victoria.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Before everybody’s eyes I am.”

“Fortunately, that’s not so. My friends, Ethan and Aaron are here. They came with me, and they’re just like me. They knew you were coming. We all did.” Alexander didn’t tell her that Rosenberg was one of them, too because in the whole campus only two people knew who he really was when it came to what species he belonged to: he and Victoria. Rosenberg was thirty-five years old, one of the first angels to come to Earth and he was afraid of how people would react when they learned the truth. He didn’t know that he had nothing to be afraid of. Ninety-nine percent of the people in campus would love him much more than they did now, and those who wouldn’t love him wouldn’t hate him, either. They would just be afraid of him.

“Are your friends single?”

Alexander couldn’t believe his ears. “You want both of them?”

“Why is that so hard to believe? I’m not the first to do something like that, and I certainly won’t be the last. Many women have even more than two men at the same time. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”

“No, there’s nothing wrong with that.” He didn’t agree with her but he didn’t want to contradict her. He didn’t want to have to get into a physical confrontation with her. She was human, she was human, and she was much weaker than he was. No matter how angry she became, if she got in a fight with him, she wouldn’t win, and Alexander didn’t want to make the same mistake that he made with Diana, not now that he was himself all the time and not that evil son of a bitch who was putting Diana through sheer hell. “The problem is that neither one of my friends is interested in you.”

“Oh, is that right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Why don’t you let them decide for themselves?”

“I know that they’d never lay eyes on someone like you. Don’t waste your time.”

“You’re a son of a bitch, you know that?”

“Ooh, I am so hurt right now. I’m going to cry. I won’t eat, I won’t sleep…I’ll be so miserable.”

“Shut your trap. I’m going to go back and talk to those hunks that came with you.” She turned around to go back to the waiting room.

He just stood there for a few minutes and said, in a low voice, but she could still hear him, “If you want to face rejection head on, go for it. That’s not my problem.” Then he turned around and walked away to go get the coffee.

Suddenly, Tatiana stopped walking the hallway. She realized that if she tried to seduce Ethan, Aaron, or Rosenberg in front of everyone, everyone would figure out that there was something wrong and that either Victoria had changed in a matter of hours or that this wasn’t Victoria. Tatiana didn’t want anyone that was human to find out that she existed. She had plans, horrible plans, and if anyone human knew of her presence, those plans would be truncated. Instead, she went to visit Gilda a few minutes later, taking advantage of the fact that at the moment, no doctors or nurses was around. She walked closer to Gilda, who’d been tied down to her bed because she’d become violent with all the doctors and nurses, and even the security guards. Right now, Gilda just lied there, wide-eyed, staring at the roof. Her body was here but her mind was far, far away. She couldn’t get Victoria off her mind or stop shedding tears. Knowing how much the real Victoria loved Gilda, Tatiana held Gilda’s hand, pretending to comfort her at the moment. “Hello, Gilda.”

Just for a few moments of lucidity, Gilda looked at the woman she thought was her best friend, Victoria Wilkinson, and started talking to her. “Victoria, you came to see me!” she said, excited. “Does that mean you forgive me?”

Aaron was just a few steps away from Gilda and Tatiana, and he knew how deeply just a few evil words from Tatiana would hurt Gilda. He would never allow Tatiana to hurt Gilda. He cared about Gilda even though he hadn’t met her yet, just because she meant a lot to Victoria, Alexander and Ty. He’d even die to keep that from happening. Just seconds before Tatiana would say the words that would wound Gilda’s heart forever and even shatter all hope of a successful recovery, Aaron held Gilda’s arm and whispered, “What do you think you’re doing?”

Tatiana looked him in the eyes, stunned.

Aaron wasn’t rough to Tatiana. This might be the evil Tatiana, but this was still Victoria Wilkinson’s body, and Aaron didn’t want to cause any bruises. Since he was holding her arm gently, Gilda didn’t notice that her friend and this new man were in tension. Aaron walked even closer to Gilda, took her hand and said to her, “Hello, Gilda, I am Aaron Everhart, one of Ty Johnson’s new friends.”

Gilda smiled sweetly. She’d never met a guy that had made her feel so good just by looking her in the eyes. She had fallen in love at the first sight for the very first time. Now, she had something to live for, something that would make her strong. Instead of becoming senile for the rest of her life because of Tatiana, now, her chances of recovering fully and being even better than she was before were more than great. As Aaron took Tatiana away, Gilda’s eyes were fixated on him. When they left, Gilda let out a sigh of happiness and relief. What a sweet man this was!

A few minutes later, they were as far away from Gilda and everyone else as they could possibly be, in some hallway. Tatiana had gotten lost. She didn’t know where she was now. Why did he bring her here? She was furious. “Just who the hell do you think you are?”

“I am Aaron Everhart, and I am not going to let you hurt Gilda.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Don’t provoke me because I can make you go away forever, right here, right now.”

Tatiana couldn’t believe that she was ever interested in having a casual sexual relationship with Aaron. Aaron wasn’t always sweet. He was extremely mean, nasty and disrespectful to evil people like her.

“We want Victoria. Nobody wants you,” Aaron said, looking her in the eyes and making her shed tears.

“Nobody knows who I am. Everyone knows Victoria Wilkinson, and it’s going to stay that way.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it. I know you haven’t been here a long time, at least you’ve remained inside Victoria and you didn’t come out until a few minutes ago, but you won’t be here a long time, either.”

“Aaron—

“Alexander was right. I don’t want anything to do with you, and when you ask Ethan, I’m sure he’s going to tell you exactly the same thing.”

Tatiana slapped Aaron. All of a sudden, Victoria came back as Aaron had his face turned with his hand on his cheek. Aaron caused this. He didn’t want to spend one more second with Tatiana.

“Oh, my God, Aaron,” she said, caressing his face, “did I hit you? I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

“No, you didn’t hit me.” The pain and the marks of Tatiana’s fingers were healing at this very moment.

“Yes, I did. I am so sorry! God, what the hell is wrong with me?”

“It’s not you. It’s that other woman that’s inside you.”

“Another woman?” said Victoria, shocked.

“Yes. You have multiple-personality disorder, Victoria.”

Victoria gasped.

Aaron took Victoria to the emergency room where Gilda was. Gilda would be taken away soon, so Victoria had to talk to her now. Gilda’s father hadn’t come to visit, and he wouldn’t because he knew that Gilda was responsible for her mother’s death. He thought that Gilda was an evil seed. He had even disowned her. He and Gilda had been completely out of touch since Gilda started college. The only person who was supporting Gilda besides her friends, the only family member, was Geri, her father’s only sister. Geri was the only family member of Gilda’s that had faith in her, that she had a great heart deep, deep down, and no matter what Gilda did, Geri would never turn her back on her. Her father had disowned her, her mother had died, her mother’s brothers and sisters wanted absolutely nothing to do with her, her own sister didn’t want her anywhere near her…she had very few people she could turn to, very few people she could really count on. Victoria was one of those people, and just when it seemed to Gilda that Victoria had come back to her senses, changed her mind and decided to give her another chance and continue to be her friend no matter what, as soon as Victoria looked Gilda in the eyes again, Gilda noticed that the woman she had talked to moments earlier, that woman that didn’t get the chance to respond to her, and the woman that she was talking to now, they were not the same woman. Something strange and frightening was going on. Surprisingly, Victoria was perfectly aware of the things that she did when she wasn’t herself, even though she thought she was herself at those moments.

“Oh, my God, Gilda,” said Victoria, crying violently and sobbing, like few times in her life, thus there came the time that Ty’s beatings didn’t make her cry anymore, “I am so, so sorry. I’m sorry for what I did to you. All of this is my fault.”

“Victoria, what’s happening to you?” Gilda said, frightened.

“I don’t know. I really don’t know. Aaron says I have MPD. I know that Aaron knows what he’s talking about although he’s not a psychiatrist because—

Aaron interrupted Victoria for a moment. “I’m not a psychiatrist, but I work for one.”

Holding Aaron’s hand, Victoria said, “Right, he works for one, but you and I both know that he knows about my mental illness because of—who he is. You know where I’m coming from, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do. There’s no other logical explanation as to how Aaron could possibly be so wonderful and so perfect inside and out, and I’m talking about his heart, the way he feels—just like there’s no other logical explanation as to why you broke my heart earlier today, when you, the real you would never, ever do that. I have hurt you many times and you would always give me another chance. You always loved me the way I am. You never tried to change me. Nevertheless, earlier today you refused to forgive me for the stupid comment I made in class against you. Yes, you do have MPD. The woman that crushed my world earlier, that’s not you. The woman that came here to talk to me a few minutes ago, that’s not you, either. I saw it in your eyes.”

“I need help,” Victoria said, still crying, looking down.

“You don’t have to worry about that. We’re going to help you. We’re not going to let that other woman hurt anyone you love.”

“Ty can’t find out about this. He’ll feel guilty.”

“I won’t tell him,” Gilda said.

“Ty will find out eventually, but he’ll see it as just another mistake that he made. You know why? That’s because you’ll be cured very shortly, within the next couple hours. We’re going to take you back to the lab and by tomorrow morning, you will be normal again. You will feel like never before,” Aaron promised.

“I will feel like never before, just like all the others did, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“What if my alter ego doesn’t want to go with you?”

“Her name is Tatiana, and she won’t have a say in this because before she even has a chance to come out again, you’ll be in the land of dreams, and none of the person’s personalities can do anything while the person’s unconscious.”

That night, Victoria was unconscious and on her way to the Sherman mansion. Everyone knew by now that Victoria wouldn’t go to school tomorrow because Professor Rosenberg had already called all of Victoria’s professors and let them know, as well as the reason why she couldn’t go. They were very concerned. No one ever knew that Victoria had MPD, but that was all about to change. Professor Rosenberg had agreed to stop by his colleagues’ classrooms and pick up all Victoria’s make up work. This was one of few universities in which the professors would allow their students to make up the work that they’d missed, just like teachers did in grade school, if the students had justifiable reasons to be absent that day. A day’s worth of work would be due in three days and a few weeks of work would be due within the next month. When Victoria arrived at his lab, Daniel performed on her a secret procedure that would automatically fix all the abnormalities in her brain. No one ever knew what that procedure was. It had never been performed on anyone before. Daniel feared that if humans found out about it, instead of correcting the defects in the person’s brain, they would use this procedure to corrupt the person’s brain further and program it, in a way, to do the other person’s bidding all the time. It was dangerous, but Daniel knew what he was doing, and the results would be nothing short of fantastic.

The following morning, Victoria woke up in a guest bedroom instead of in the lab. Daniel didn’t want her to freak out because he wasn’t sure if she would remember coming here. If she found herself at the lab she would think that she was some sort of guinea pig because her mind was still gathering previous memories and thoughts. Although she hadn’t died, Victoria was given the chance to start over. All the painful memories were gone. Victoria got up and went to the bathroom. The clothes that she would change into were set on her bed for her, at the foot of her gigantic bed, even her underwear, which Madison had gotten for her very early in the morning, around 5:30 AM, before going to work at the pharmacy. In less than a half an hour, Victoria took a warm, relaxing shower and then got dressed and put on very light makeup. She was now wearing a long-sleeved, buttoned shirt and some cotton pants, both the same color, because she was sure that she was going to school today.

Selena came into the room and said, from the doorway, “Breakfast is ready. You want to join us?”

“Who’s eating breakfast with me this morning?”

“Seth and I are. Madison and Daniel went to work this morning. Ethan and Aaron should be on their way.”

“Seth didn’t go to school today?”

“He wanted to see for himself how you were doing before going to class. He doesn’t have anything to worry about because no matter how late he is for class, he always finishes his work very quickly and his professors always let him make up his work. They know what he does for his dad, you know, keeping an eye on his patients, making sure that they’re all right…”

“I feel very well.”

“I guess we’ll have to see that as the day goes on.”

“I was planning to go to school.”

“No, sweetheart, you’re not going to school today. Professor Rosenberg talked to your other professors last night and they all agreed to hand in your make up work to him when he’s done with all his classes today. Then, he’s going to come by and give your make up work to you. You have one week to finish it.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Selena heard Ethan and Aaron talking to Seth in the entrance of the mansion. “The guys are here and they can’t wait to see you,” she said smiling and then left.

A few minutes later, Victoria went to the dining room to eat some breakfast. Somehow, they knew exactly what she wanted—her favorite cereal, toast, a banana, orange juice, and milk. This was the breakfast that she would have on most mornings. Victoria was young and she could eat anything she wanted without gaining too much weight, but she knew that about fifteen years from now, her metabolism would slow down and she wouldn’t know what to do if she started gaining weight and wasn’t used to exercise, so that’s what she did, three times a week, to keep her perfect body shape that boys desired and girls envied.

Everyone was at the dining room when she sat down to eat. Her cereal hadn’t become soggy just yet. She didn’t take long to get ready and Selena had finished preparing it for her just a few minutes earlier. “Hello, everyone,” she said, smiling, and then took the first spoonful of her cereal.

Aaron waited for Victoria to finish her bite of cereal and when her mouth was clear for her to speak without choking, he asked, “How are you, Victoria?”

“I’m doing great.”

“We’re talking to Victoria, right?” asked Ethan, somewhat scared, and Aaron nudged him, smiling at Victoria.

“Yes, you’re talking to Victoria.” She felt weird when she was asked this question and she turned serious. She was worried. “Why do you ask?”

“Don’t you remember everything that happened last night?”

“I don’t remember much about my life right now. It’s like I’m a computer and my user is transferring files to my hard drive from some sort of recovery media, you know what I mean?”

“That’s a great way of looking at it.” Ethan cleared his throat and then had a sip of his chocolate milk. “Do you plan on seeing Gilda when you get released from here?”

Victoria smiled once again. She was starting to remember everything that had happened the day before, but amazingly, she didn’t feel remorse for what she did to Gilda. She knew it wasn’t her. It was Tatiana, and although a few hours before, she and Tatiana were living in the same body, she felt that she didn’t have to pay for Tatiana’s evil deeds. “Of course I do. She’s my best friend. I have to go see her.”

“She’s in good hands,” Ethan said. Everyone was eating their breakfast as they conversed with no problems. “Dr. Sherman and his team of doctors are taking good care of her, as of all the patients in that hospital. Every patient that enters that hospital gets out cured.”

“Is that right?” Victoria said, impressed.

“Some take longer than others. It depends on how deteriorated their brains are when they walk in, like patients suffering from the final stages of schizophrenia for example. Doctors never operate on these patients, though. They’re cured with medication.”

“I know this is a crazy question to ask, but do they ever lobotomize patients?”

“The directors of this hospital don’t allow this,” said Aaron. “However, some deranged nurse did that to a patient once and there was a big scandal in this hospital. This was back in 1973. The wife of this man had paid a nurse to lobotomize her husband. The man’s parents sued the hospital for fifteen million dollars and won. They couldn’t do anything against this heartless woman because she got a conscience a little too late and felt so much remorse that she couldn’t take it and she hung herself in her basement.”

Victoria gasped, horrified. “What a terrible story!”

“The directors of this hospital at the time couldn’t handle the pressure and they had to close it down. Several years later, the hospital was reopened, and since then, there have been no complaints. On the contrary, some say that this is the best psychiatric hospital in the world. Doctors and nurses never mistreat patients, even when they become violent.”

“That’s because it’s now directed by people like you guys. Am I right?”

“Yes, you’re right,” said Ethan, chewing the last bite of his omelet.

“I knew it. Every institution that’s directed by one of you is praised as the best,” Victoria said.

“We’re glad that humans have that opinion of us,” replied Seth. “I’ll make sure to let all directors of different institutions know. That way they’ll keep up the good work.” Then Seth looked at Ethan and Aaron and they laughed together. To this day, they couldn’t believe that ninety-seven percent of humans felt this way about them, and the people that made this happen, the people that brought them to earth somehow, they never imagined it either.

Meanwhile, Ty was on the road, on his way to run a very important errand. He went to the governor’s office to grant a pardon to Zack, Ricky, Marlin, Xavier, Wilson, and Mitchell. This is something that he has wanted to do ever since he woke up at Daniel’s lab in the Sherman mansion, starting his new life. One hour later, he arrived at the Governor’s Office. Even though the Governor wouldn’t usually receive everyone that came in, Ty was in the best luck today. As soon as they knew his name, they let him speak to the Governor because he was the victim of a horrible crime. The Governor received Ty like royalty even though he was just your average citizen, just one of us.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Johnson?”

“Hello, Governor,” he said, sitting down. “Thank you for receiving me.”

“You are one of few people who have died and been brought back to life. That is a big deal to everyone.”

“Yes,” said Ty, smiling, “it is.”

“You’re doing well, aren’t you?”

“Yes, very well.”

The Governor had never seen so much happiness in a human being’s eyes. Something supernatural was happening. Ty had changed completely and although the Governor hadn’t met him personally before today and he didn’t know how Ty used to be, he could tell by looking him in the eyes that he was a totally different person. He was glad to see this. He wished this would happen to everyone in California and everyone in the nation. It seemed impossible a few years ago, but now, not so much.

“I want to ask you to pardon the guys who killed me.”

“You want me to grant them a pardon?” asked the Governor, amazed.

“Yes. I want them to be pardoned because I forgave them in my heart and I have no rancor against them, but to me that’s not enough. I want to show them that my forgiveness is genuine and complete. I want them out of jail as soon as possible. I was given a second chance and I decided that they deserve one, too. Many people have told me in the last couple days how sorry they are for what they did to me. I’ve been told that they’re depressed and that they can’t even sleep at night. Their conscience is eating them. I know what that’s like because I felt like that once—only for a few hours because then I woke up with a renewed mind.”