Illumine Her (7 page)

“Alana,” Dr. Fetu spoke calmly but firmly. “It’s finished. Let this go.”

Alana let out a ragged breath and stopped. Her arms were sore from pumping his chest and sweat gathered in the middle of her shoulder blades. Head hanging low, she heard the other nurse call the time of death. Dr. Fetu ripped off his gloves and threw them down on the floor and headed out the doors. The nurse covered Mr. Filipo’s body with the sheet and shook her head.

“Such a sweet old man,” she said before walking away.

Alone, Alana raised her hands and shielded her mouth. This was the first death she experienced as a nurse at the hospital, and the shock of it made her body tremble. Not even her training could have prepared her for this. Taking a few steps back, she slipped out of the curtain and walked towards the doors that led to the nurse’s station. Taking a drink of water from the fountain, she swallowed hard and the liquid went down painfully. She tried to catch her breath.

Lisi approached and asked, “Are you okay?”

Alana’s throat tightened and she nodded. “I’m fine,” she said shakily.

Lisi frowned. “You are not fine. What happened?”

Alana expelled a breath and relayed the incident with Mr. Filipo while Lisi listened and nodded in understanding.

“I’m sorry to say this, Lana, but you get used to it. Death is a part of our job, and one day it won’t affect you so much. It’ll become another mechanical part of our work. It’s sad, but true.”

Alana shook her head. “I was checking up on him this morning. We were just talking and he made a comment about this silly flower in my ear and now he’s….” she trailed off when her throat tightened again, and Lisi reached out and rubbed her arm.

“Look, it might make you feel better if you went and kept him company until the guys from morgue take him away. Is his family around?”

Alana frowned and shrugged distractedly. “I don’t know where they are. I think Dr. Fetu went to find them. His daughter was just there this morning.”

Lisi held up her hand. “Go and be there when the family gets to see him,” she instructed. “Offer what support you can to them. It’ll help you and it’ll help them. They will most likely accompany the body to the morgue.” Alana bit her lip and nodded. Lisi gave her a small smile and walked away.

Taking tentative steps back to Mr. Filipo’s room, nerves descended on her as she thought about his family. She never had to comfort strangers before, and the act made her apprehensive. How did one go about it? What were the universal signs of consoling another person? A pat on the back, grim face, apologetic eyes? These options seemed distant coming from someone they didn’t know.
This is why you became a nurse
, she reminded herself.
For moments like this. Now suck it up!
Pausing at the curtain, she hesitated before going in, mulling the words over in her head to encourage herself when something caught her attention. A strange glow emanated from the cracks through the curtains, and Alana’s forehead creased at its appearance. The light was odd and out of place, and she immediately pulled the material aside to inspect the source. She gasped out loud at what she saw.

Standing over Mr. Filipo’s head was Chase Malek, his head bowed and eyes closed. A white glow pulsed from his forearms snaking its way down to his large hands. His fingers were splayed open and spreading light over Mr. Filipo’s scalp.

Alana panicked and stepped inside. “What are you doing? What is that?” she hissed. “Get your hands off him!”

She rushed forward to pry Chase’s arms away. Chase ignored her. He was much stronger than she was and did not budge. Alana clawed at him to put an end to his ministrations and stopped suddenly. His body was warm, too warm for human comfort. She retreated in shock. What was happening? Chase’s eyes flew open and the blue in them burned fiercely. Alana sucked in a breath and stepped back with frightening force.

The brightness illuminated intensely and encircled Mr. Filipo’s head as if it had a life of its own. Moving deliberately, it found its way towards his chest. The intense white light became a blue flame and swirled downwards to settle over the area where his still heart lay. The light heightened and intensified, clutching at his chest, drawing its source and energy from Chase.

Alana stood still, astounded out of her voice and mesmerized by the brilliance emanating from Chase’s body. It reflected off his face and intensified the blue in his eyes. Was this really happening? Her mind raced trying frantically to fathom what her eyes were revealing to her. After a few moments the glow slowly retreated to his hands before dissipating altogether and returning the room to its natural light.

At once a sharp beep resounded in the room. Alana gasped and looked at the machines. A faint heartbeat. Two. Three. More followed. Impossible! Moving quickly, she went to bag her patient. Shocked, she looked up at Chase. Her hands quivered and her knees shook. He was watching her intently, and she stepped back shakily. What did he just do? How did he bring Mr. Filipo back? Where did that light come from? She opened her mouth to speak but didn’t get the chance to ask him.

The curtains flung open and Dr. Fetu returned, followed by the members of Mr. Filipo’s family. He stopped in his tracks and looked at the body on the bed. Glancing at the machines, he frowned and set his eyes on Alana.

Clearing his throat to speak, his voice was hoarse, his face filled with suspicion. “You resuscitated him?”

Alana stared back unblinking and she opened and shut her mouth to form a response.

Without waiting for her, he turned and noticed Chase for the first time. “Mr. Malek? What are you doing here? You should be at the luncheon.”

“I was touring the grounds,” he replied nonchalantly, his eyes never leaving Alana’s. She swallowed hard and shriveled at his intense glare. What was this man’s story?

The room became a hub of loud noise—cries of disbelief and expressions of shock coming from the members of Mr. Filipo’s family rushing to his side and grabbing his hands.

“Papa!”

“Is he going to be alright?”

Dr. Fetu waved them away to check on his vitals.

Alana couldn’t be in that room anymore. She needed to get out and let Dr. Fetu deal with the questions. Mr. Filipo was medically dead when she left, and now he had been resuscitated, his heart beating strong, but not by any medical means. When the reality of what she just witnessed swirled in her mind, she swayed and began to breathe rapidly, air coming in choppy bursts.
Air. I need fresh air
.

Chapter 5

A
lana quietly backed up and slipped away from the room. She had to get away from that suffocating space and everything contained in it. Walking briskly down the hallway that connected to the outdoor breezeway, she pushed through the doors and was out, but not out far enough. Hitting the pavement, she ran across the car park into the grassy mound behind the hospital. When she stopped, her breaths were coming in rough gasps. With her hands on her hips, she paced back and forth before nausea rolled over her. Reality hit her hard again, knocking the air out of her, and she bent over dry heaving on the grass. Covering her mouth, she sat down, head between her legs, arms resting limply on her knees. Trembling, the questions poured in again. What in the hell just happened? What did I just witness? Who is Chase Malek? And what did he do to Mr. Filipo?

“Are you alright?”

Astounded out of her thoughts, Alana looked up to see Chase standing a short distance away, hands in his pockets. How did he find her so fast? The fear hit her quickly. Scrambling off the ground, she backed away with wide eyes, and then turned to run. She didn’t make it two paces before strong arms grasped her from behind, holding her still. Chase wrapped his forearms around her shoulders and drew her back to his chest, trapping her. Alana felt warmth through her uniform and shook. Reminded of the warmth emanating from his arms in the hospital room, she panicked.

“I’m not going to hurt you, Alana,” he spoke gently near her ear in an attempt to ease her fears. It didn’t work.

“Let go of me,” her voice quivered, and she cursed inwardly for it revealing her distress.

He made no move to free her, and she made a mental list of all the moves she could do to break free from his stronghold. With her heart thundering away in her chest, she threw all her weight down and stomped on his foot, pushing her arms upward out of his grasp before slamming her elbow into his ribs. When he loosened his hold, she spun around and saw that her actions made no impact on him. She panicked some more on the inside. She expected him to be doubling over, gasping for breath. Chase stood back instead, his hands in surrender, eyes tinged with mild surprise. Now Alana was really terrified. Her heart slammed against her ribcage, elbow pulsing with pain from the force she used to ram into his body, and she backed away slowly to keep a safe distance between them.

“Alana, don’t be afraid of me,” his voice lowered. “I wanted to check up on you to see if you’re okay. You look…pale.”

Yeah? No kidding! I just witnessed someone die and then brought back to life by some voodoo blue lights!

Confusion masked her face. “Who are you?” she asked shakily. “What did you do back there?”

“You did well, Alana. Those extra minutes saved his life.”

She frowned.
What? I didn’t do anything!

“I didn’t do anything! I don’t understand what just happened. Mr. Filipo was dead,” she stammered. “I walked away and came back and you…” She shook her head. “You…You brought him back.” She stopped and swallowed. She expected an explanation, an answer, anything, and when she looked up at him, she was met with an impassive gaze.

Shaking his head he said, “Look, Alana… I feel badly for having kept you from your work. What you do, it’s honorable no matter what people think.” He held her gaze. “It’s my fault you were late.” Alana looked into his blue eyes and wanted to be angry at him. Yes, it was indeed his fault she was late for an on-call emergency. Her patient had died on her watch. Dizzily, she remembered the blue-like flames and the beeping sound of the machines, a testament to Filipo’s beating and very
alive
heart, and her anger dissipated and was replaced by concern and curiosity.

“What was that?” she whispered. “What did you do? That blue light? What was that? Where did it come from?”

Chase regarded her seriously before straightening to his full height. Alana could see distance cloud his eyes as he spoke. “Alana, I’ve taken up too much of your time. I’ll leave you now so you can return to work.”

Baffled, she watched as he brushed past, threatening to abandon her to her puzzled thoughts and infinite unanswered questions.

“Stop!” she yelled, halting his steps. Turning his head, he looked at her. “You can’t just go!” she pleaded. “What did you do? Talk to me, please.”

Chase held her gaze when he spoke. “I was drawn to that room, Alana.”

Imploring with her eyes, she silently willed him to continue, but he shook his head in answer before walking away.

Chapter 6

“E
arth to Lana, come in.” Sera’s eyebrows rose and her smile flashed across the screen. “Did you hear what I said?” Alana looked at her best friend’s face on the laptop and sighed. True to her word, they had been chatting on Skype every Sunday evening, rain or shine. “Are you alright? You haven’t said peep,” she asked.

Alana let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Sera. I’ve just had a rough week. Stuff at work, that’s all.”

Yeah, that was the understatement of the decade. In truth, she couldn’t let that incident with Chase and Mr. Filipo go. It infiltrated her thoughts every minute of the day, and she had a buildup of questions that threatened to explode. What was his story? Who was he? What was he? Where had that blue light come from? She was bewildered that life around her went on normally without a clue as to what she experienced. She knew what she witnessed was far from normal, far from anything that was of this world. She also knew he was deliberately ignoring her ever since, moving away when she spotted him at the hospital. Consequently, she was hailed a hero by the medical staff. Alana wanted to laugh.
If they only knew what really happened
. She wanted answers and the only person who could give them to her was avoiding her. Now he was leaving Samoa tomorrow for good.