True love never dies 20/?
General information and disclaimer: Here
Summary: The story is about Camilla/Sofie. She has an opportunity to visit London after several years. She is there on an assignment and also to meet some new friends. However, destiny wants something more when she meets an old friend that causes her to have to confront the memory loss resulting from a surgery done a few years back. Not possessing any memory of the old friend or what sort of relationship they might have had, she only knows that she has seen him lately in films.
Previous Chapter; Intro-1, Chapter 2-3, Chapter 4-5, Chapter 6-7, Chapter 8-9, Chapter 10-11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19,
*Chapter 20*
A/N This is from Orlando’s pov
Looking at Kate and seeing her sad, disappointed and confused look made me understand that I had made a few more bad choices. I also still had things to explain.
“Kate, she’s the girl I was telling you about earlier. I had no idea she would be here or why Dominic reacted the way he did. He seemed to scare her, and I need to try and find her. I’ll tell you more about everything as soon as I can. You have the keys to the apartment, so you can head for home if you don’t want to stay here.”
She didn’t speak, nor even nod or shake her head, so I didn’t know what she wanted to do, or even if she heard me. I didn’t wait for her to answer either. I just wanted to find out where Sophie had gone.
Outside the club, I looked from right to left hoping to see which way Sophie had headed. To the right I spotted a stumbling figure I took to be her. She had gone quite some way, and I was thankful that the street was fairly deserted or I may have missed her.
I ran after her. She didn’t look too good. My heart jumped every time she fell. She looked very disorientated. The people she passed didn’t seem inclined to stop and help her. When I was almost at her side, she got very close to the edge of the pavement, and I thought my heart would stop when she didn’t seem to take any noticed of the traffic.
At the last second she turned and managed to take a few steps away from the road, and then I reached her side.
I couldn’t even begin to guess what was going on inside her head. Just as I reached her, she fell again. I bent down to try and get her on her feet, but she pushed me away. She clearly needed help, so why wouldn’t she accept any? It worried me that I couldn’t get her to look at me.
She stumbled again, but she still pushed me away when I attempted to get her up. She was obviously in no state to get up and go on her own, so I was determined not to give up on her. If necessary, I would hold onto her until she calmed down. It wasn’t easy when she was fighting me as hard as she could. She was strong, and I was afraid it could end badly.
She managed to hit me several times, and from the sting I knew I would have some bruises from them. She nearly succeeded in making me lose the grip I had on her when one of the punches hit my cheek. Because I was having to give my whole concentration on dodging her punches and keeping hold of her, I didn’t notice that we had somehow wandered out into the street.
During the entire time I was trying to talk to her, and nothing seemed to get through, which was a worry. Why didn’t she hear me? I thought she would recognize my voice. Something in her mind must be blocking her.
She screamed, which nearly made me miss spotting the car heading towards us. At the last moment I was able to turn her from the street and push us both up against the pavement, but I slipped. The cars driver leaned on the horn as he tried to brake in time. The tires screamed...
I had just about enough time to think he was driving too fast, and then I felt the bumper make contact with my back.
The pain exploded in me, ten times worse than the punches Sophie had landed. When I got my breath back, I realised I was still holding Sofie tightly. I looked up and saw a woman crouching over us, and Dominic stood behind her.
I bit down my own pain to see if Sofie had made it. I loosened the grip I had on her and started to check her face for scrapes from the fall. I was relieved to find no blood. Looking down her body, it didn’t look too serious, and I’d managed to save her from any impact from the car. I was increasingly worried that she hadn’t protested or moved. At least I could see she was breathing.
Then I realised the woman was trying to talk with me. I hadn’t felt her touching me, or heard the questions. Looking up at her again, I focussed on what she was saying.
“Orlando, are you okay, are you hurt?”
“I’m okay, just some pain from my back.”
“Do you think you can move? I think you need to get away from the street.”
Actually I wasn’t sure if I could move, but I nodded and decided to give it a try. I clench my teeth in readiness for the pain I knew I would feel. I first carefully moved my arm from under Sophie. Dominic had bent down to the right of the woman and took hold of Sophie. Together, they laid her down on the pavement.
That gave me a small space to put my hands in able to push myself up into a sitting position. I hadn’t been wrong about the pain. It shot through my entire body. I was determined not to show what I was going through. If my teeth weren’t clenched, I would have screamed. I felt that I was near to fainting.
The woman came in my sight again and I could see her concern.
“Are you sure you can get up?”
Trying to talk through teeth still clenched, I let her know I needed a few more minutes, then I would try to get up. She offered to help and support me, and I accepted, slowly getting to my feet again. If she hadn’t held onto me I would have fallen. The effort made me light headed.
“Orlando, you need to take a few steps to get you out of the street.”
With all the willpower I could muster, I managed to take the few steps she asked of me. Each step felt as if I had been shot full of buckshot. I was grateful that she was steady as a rock for me to lean against, and never once let me go.
After several minutes of deep breathing, I looked to see where the car had gone. It stood a few meters from us and the driver still sitting behind the wheel, most likely in shock. I continued looking around, noticing the audience we had gathered.
I hadn’t got enough strength to spare to worry about any consequences this may bring. Instead, I quickly turned back to see how Sophie was doing. I gripped harder onto my human crutch.
“Please, help me to get down to Sophie.”
“No, Orlando that wouldn’t be a good idea. You probably wouldn’t be able to get up again. You should try to walk around, get your muscles moving.”
“I need to see that she is okay, I need to wake her up.”
“I think someone called an ambulance, wait until they get here and they can take care of both of you.”
When I realised she didn’t seem to want to help me, I let go of her. I had to see if Sophie was awake. I took one step, and the pain seared through me. Maybe the woman had been right, I should try to stay upright. There was no way I would be able to get back on my feet if I managed to get down on my knees.
“Dominic, how is it with her? Is she awake?”
He looked up at me and I could see he was worried. As he shook his head I saw his look change from worry to accusation. What was he blaming me for? I knew I had to tell him what was going on as soon as possible, but right now Sophie was the main concern. Why hadn’t she woken up?
Once again I considered getting down beside her, no matter what the cost to my body. I looked again at the woman who was supporting me. She seemed worried too. When we made eye contact she shook her head at my unspoken plea for help.
“Please, let me at least come closer to her.”
The pain wasn’t any better, but I got a little closer. Dominic was stroking her hair and face, and that’s what I wanted to be able to do. Looking down at her, she seemed so pale. What was wrong with her?
“Dominic do you feel any movements from her?”
“She is breathing, but she seems to be out.”
He had barley answered when she began moving, drawing herself into a foetal position on her side. Within moments she was throwing up. I was instantly worried that she may have hit her head when we hit the road.
For a short moment her breathing was heard between her retching. When there seemed to be nothing left to bring up, she lapsed back into unconsciousness. At that moment the sound of a siren could be heard as the ambulance approached.
“Okay, what’s happened here?” The paramedic looked around at the small group of people and his eyes rested on Dominic.
“My friend,” he nodded at me, “saved Sofie from getting hit by the car.” He gave a new nod, but now at where the car was standing. “She has been out cold except for the minute she thrown up.”
“Do you know if she hit her head, or if she suffers from anything else?”
“I don’t think she hit her head and she only drank two beers in the club.”
The woman let go of me and bent down to talk with the paramedic.
“We drank one earlier this evening. I know she suffers from migraine from time to time, and something may have happened earlier that could have started one off.”
“Do you know if she’s allergic to anything?”
We all shook our heads. I couldn’t remember her having any allergies when I knew her before. As they spoke, they were also checking her over for any signs of injury, and thankfully they didn’t seem to find any. They placed her on a stretcher and headed towards the ambulance.
The woman got their attention when she said, “You should take Orlando as well. He took the brunt of the impact from the car on his back.”
They looked at Dominic first, who was walking beside her, holding her hand.
Seeing that he answered; “It’s not me, it’s my friend. We got him up from the street. He is too proud and stubborn to say anything, and he isn’t too found of hospitals.”
I was standing still, not wanting to take a single step, knowing how each movement would send pain shooting through my body. Dominic was right about my dislike for hospitals, but I wanted to go, for Sophie’s sake.
They loaded her, and then one came walking towards me. He asked if he could check my back, and I agreed. I felt him slip my jacket off my shoulders and then draw the shirt out from my trousers. As he lifted it and the cold night air hit my back, I drew in a sharp breath as it felt like a blow.
The woman drew in her breath too.
“How does it look?”
“We need to take you in as well. The car must have hit you really hard. From what I can see, it’s a wonder you managed to get to your feet at all.”
“It couldn’t be worse than when I broke my back.”
“Do you think you are able to get into the ambulance or should we call for a new one?”
“I will go with you now. I don’t want to leave Sophie, where will you take us?”
“We will go to Charing Cross Hospital, which is the nearest.”
“Dominic did you hear that, can’t you come after us I still want to talk too you?”
“He can go with us in the ambulance.”
Dominic was fast to answer the paramedic, “No, Berlinda wants to come too. We’ll follow in a cab.”
With as little movement as possible, I tried to get into the ambulance. Since getting up the pain hadn’t eased, and I began to worry about how much damage my back had sustained. I wanted to believe that there would be no permanent injury. It couldn’t happen to me now…
I somehow managed to get into the ambulance and sit down. Even though it wasn’t too far to the hospital, I felt every bump and turn in the road. I was very relieved when we pulled up outside A&E. Sophie had been out for the count for the entire trip, and worry about her made me forget most of my own pain. What was happening to her?
When they rushed us in I didn’t want to be separated from Sophie. They didn’t listen and put us in separate rooms saying they would come and tell me what was going on later. Then they went off to see to Sophie, leaving me alone with my worries.
Chapter 21
Please let me know what you think!
/S