Chapter 17

Willow sat on the hard sofa of her sister’s hospital room, watching the sun crawl across the white linoleum floor as time burned away. At some point, she’d taken the plastic folder Bertha had brought in earlier and skimmed the subject matter.

Most of the articles were about transplant patients taking on strange symptoms after their surgeries. A girl who never smoked in her life now smoked a pack of cigarettes a day despite nearly dying of heart failure. Another article about an obese guy who’d become an extreme sports junky and had lost his kids and wife because of the drastic transformation—a sudden uncharacteristic obsession. The strangest was of a young boy who received a kidney and started to speak the foreign language of his donor. None of them seemed particularly relevant to Willow’s situation—not unless her donor had been a psychiatric patient.

Raine had also discovered some gorgeous sketches her sister had drafted, which she’d found tucked under her blankets. The others were of those scattered on the floor after the incident. Most were of flowers, birdcages and very detailed hearts, the veins giving birth to flowers. The ones of corpses with their missing hearts, she’d reluctantly taken. She surmised this was all her sister’s way of transformation after receiving a new heart. Raine had taken them and put it in her bag, wanting to frame them to put up in Willow’s room before she got home—a reminder of her journey to recovery.

Raine’s chest tightened at the thought that her sister potentially inheriting strange traits of her donor like the articles were suggesting. But instead of obsessing about it, she placed the folder back on the table and grabbed her book—a light romantic comedy which she hoped would help her escape for a while.

Willow came in and out of her sedative laced sleep a few times, mumbling about white flowers that smelt like burnt sugar, which didn’t make any sense at all. Raine had been contemplating the advice Doctor Vermaak had given her about seeking out a therapist and perhaps he was right—especially after what she had witnessed that morning. But perhaps just going back home to a house she knew, in a country she was familiar with, was all Willow really needed to find herself again.

She stayed until Willow woke.

Her eyes followed her sister as she exited the bathroom. Willow’s hair was a tangled mess. She padded across the floor with a loud yawn, her delicate pale arms stretching over her head. Raine stared at her from over the rim of her book and said, “Glad to see the color in your cheeks have returned.”

Willow turned toward her sister and noticed Raine was staring at her butt.

“Oh. Haha,” she laughed, blushing as she pulled the hospital gown closed over her buttocks. When she reached her bed, she sat with her legs dangling off the edge, eyeing the plate of food on the cart beside her.

Raine pursed her lips. “You need to eat,” she said, “I’ll ring for the nurse to get you a sandwich or something rather than...”

Willow’s gaze met her sisters, “I think it is supposed to be chicken stir-fry.”

Raine pulled a face.

Willow yawned again, “I’m really not hungry.” She pulled her nose up until it formed ripples all way to her forehead.

Raine stood, putting her book down when she felt the rumble in her own stomach. “Well, I’ll get them to bring something anyway, you might get hungry later.” She got a sly look on her face, “or there’s a nice little restaurant downstairs.” She took Willow’s favorite blue knitted sweater from the back of the chair. “Feel like getting out of this room for a while?”

Willow tucked a stringy blonde lock of hair behind her ear. “You read my mind,” she said through a soft smile. “I’m so sick of this place.”

Raine began to go through the suitcase, looking for an outfit for her sister. Willow stood beside her, blowing air through flared nostrils.

“I can do that myself, you know,” she said, giving Raine a lopsided grin. “But thank you.”

Raine snatched up her bag, slipped on her heels and headed for the door. “Okay, I’ll keep them busy whilst you slip out,” she said, offering her a wicked grin. “Meet you at the elevator?”

Raine stared at the clock above the nurse’s station, suddenly hit by the feeling she was forgetting something.

“Hi,” she said to the nurse passing by around the back of the counter. Raine felt giddy at the thought of her and her sister doing something naughty. Just like old times. The nurse turned, closing the file she was busy reading and walked over to the desk. “Hello, can I assist with anything?”

With elbows on the counter, Raine leaned over the countertop as she replied, “I was just admiring your hair color,” Raine said, blocking the nurse’s view of Willow’s room.

“Oh, thanks.” The nurse blushed and Raine was pleased with the affect she had on the woman.

“Is it real,” Rain’s eyes fell to the nurse’s badge, “Candice?” She beamed.

Candice stared at her, not sure why she felt so strongly flattered by this pretty girl complimenting her and replied, “Yep, all mine.”

“I’d love such pretty colored hair. I’ve always thought mine was so ordinary,” Raine prattled on, glancing from the corner of her eye to see Willow waiting by the elevator doors.

“Do you mind if I take a photo? I’d love to show my stylist.” Raine took her phone out, sidetracking the nurse as the elevator doors opened and Willow slipped inside. The nurse was understandably bemused and feeling entirely awkward. “Oh,” she pouted. “My battery is drained. “Next time I’m in.”

“Yeah, sure,” the nurse said, not sounding very sure at all.

“Well, mustn’t keep you. You’re all so busy.” Raine quickly walked toward the elevator door, pressing the button before waving back at the nurse.

In the silver reflection of the door, Raine smiled at herself proudly, like she had managed to achieve something extraordinary. As the doors opened, Willow stood waiting for her inside, her back turned toward her. She was transfixed by her reflection in the mirrored surface of the interior. Raine pressed the button to the ground floor where the restaurants were situated and leaned against the metal railing.

Willow’s voice was barely audible. “I look terrible.”

A weak smile crossed Raine’s face. “What did you expect you’d look like after a heart transplant?” Their eyes met in the mirrored surface.

“It’s disgusting.” Willow pulled at the skin of her cheeks, grimacing at the dark circles ringed beneath her green eyes. “I look so much worse than before,” she admitted.

Coming to stand beside Willow, Raine said gently, “It will get better.” She placed her hand in the small of her sister’s back, like she always did when comfort was needed. Irritably, Willow shook her sister’s gesture off and Raine tried not to take it to heart.

Ignoring her, Raine said, “The doctor mentioned your iron levels were low, which is why you look pale and tired … you’ll get better soon enough.”

“It’s been really difficult to eat properly. Honestly, you’d think Veganism would be encouraged because of its health benefits.” Willow said, sighing.

Noticing her increasingly low mood, Raine asked, “Are you okay?”

“Please,” Willow said, stepping to the opposite side of the elevator, “you’re smothering me. You’re not my mother.” She snapped.

Silence filled in the cramped space. The elevator ride felt like a lifetime had passed before it stopped on the ground floor. The tension between the two sisters was like a live-wire, harsh and destructive.

A slight tremor shook the elevator and the lights ebbed out for a moment. In that dark moment something was there. Willow gasped and jumped back from the image of the face that suddenly emerged in the shiny reflection of the lift wall. She huddled into Raine, terrified, about to ask if her sister could see it, but when the lights came back on the face vanished. Willow rubbed her eyes, staring from one mirrored surface to the next, already knowing, but denying that she was losing her mind.

“It’s okay, just a slight tremor.” Raine held her sister trying to steady her. “Willow, you’re shaking.”

Willow swallowed, her hand gripping Raine’s tightly.

“Willow, what’s going on?”

Not sure how to reply, Willow’s big green eyes stared wordlessly. The last time she had mentioned the face, they’d sedated her and left her alone in her dark hospital room with the visions that wouldn’t disappear—even after the meds had kicked in.

The doors opened and people made their way into the elevator oblivious to the sisters’ imploding world.

“This is our floor,” Raine reassured Willow, tugging her along.

On the main floor there was a slight buzz about the tremor and Willow should have felt more at ease, but that face! It was determined to show up in every dark corner of the hospital.

“There will be more tremors to follow,” someone from the crowd said in passing, and Willow felt like he’s he was talking directly to her. Raine held onto her sister’s hand as they made it through the crowd of visitors at the front entrance, feeling Willow’s pulse quicken beneath her touch. They found the nearest open table in the café styled restaurant and took their seats where Raine’s gaze never left Willow’s for a moment. She was clearly spooked and Raine wasn’t sure what to make of it.

Calling the waiter over, Raine sat down across from her sister and picked up the menu from the table. Habit caused her to scroll though the vegan section.

“What do you feel like today? Salad, pasta?” Raine asked, knowing it was more a case of what you could eat rather than what you wanted to eat when you were a vegan in a café, nursing a new heart.

Willow looked even more bewildered than usual, shaking her head.

“No,” she answered flatly, still shaken up about what she thought she’d seen in the shadows of the elevator.

“Would you,” Willow flipped to the other light meals section.

“We could try fish; I swear it’s not as bad as its smells.” A half smile crossed her face.

The smell of meaty burger wafted through the air as a waiter walk past caring a tray of food for the table next to theirs. Willow’s mouth watered as the odor caught her nostrils, stirring a strange hunger inside her. “I want that.”

Raine laughed with shock. “You. Are. Joking, right?”

Willow shook her head. “I think I need the iron.” She shrugged.

“Okay, then,” Raine said wiggling her eyebrows behind the menu as she placed an order of two burgers.

Conversation during lunch was reduced to small things like the table settings or the texture of the fruit juice, and how they missed South African Rooibos tea and Mary Biscuits or Ouma rusks. Raine couldn’t bear to even begin to introduce the big things in talking—like the sorts of things she’d read about in Bertha’s well-meaning literature.

After lunch, Raine snuck Willow back into her room, and kicked her heels off as she sunk into the far from comfortable sofa. As Willow showered, she tried to lose herself in her book but after several minutes, she admitted defeat. She had read the same sentence dozens of times over. Her mind just wouldn’t focus on a damn thing. Deciding she was too tired, and too weirded out, Raine switched on the TV and absentmindedly flicked through the news channels.

Breaking news was about a missing agent. She was pretty, with blonde hair but the story wasn’t that captivating. She was just about to flick onto the next channel when something caught her attention.

Possible copycat serial killer. Or is this a Link to famous actress Lorel Palmer’s murder, killed by The Devil’s Breath killer. Could he still be alive? Did the FBI catch the wrong?

Next, a picture of an older man with dark hair and skin, with almost black eyes, flashed up on the screen. A large tattoo spread across the width of his chest. It was a wonderful piece of art, she had to give him that. It almost appeared three dimensional, giving the illusion his skin was peeled back, ribs protruding, broken and bent, into the shape of a cage. The cage of bone was open to reveal a fiery heart with wings. Willow shifted in her seat, frowning up at the screen. Something was oddly familiar about that tattoo. But mostly the name Lorel Palmer; she’d heard it before, and recently. Sitting up straight, she turned the volume down and called to Willow. The shower water wasn’t running anymore and getting from her seat with the television remote still in hand, she walked over to the bathroom. A sliver of light beamed across the floor, giving the room an eerie foggy blue hue as steam escaped the bathroom. She moved toward the door and saw her sister standing before the mirror, trance-like. The mirror was completely misted over.

With dripping hair, her sister stood naked, skinny, and beautiful, her finger gliding over the misted surface of the mirror to write the name LOREL. Holding her breath, Raine stood anchored to the spot, a cold shiver raking over her. It was like watching a plane crash, there was nothing humanly possible that could be done to stop its catastrophic decent… PALMER.

Standing back with her head against the wall, Raine’s skin lit with fear. The cool texture of the wall on her back grounding her. Her heart beat a thousand times a second, spreading angst through-out her entire body like a paralyzing venom. She managed to get Willow’s name out, but her sister ignored her, strolling out of the bathroom totally naked. Willows eyes flicked to the television mounted on the wall and she gasped at the name belonging to the blonde woman on the screen.

“Willow?” Their eyes locked, terror darkening both their delicate features.

They stood wordless until Raine spoke up, “How do you know about Lorel Palmer?” Moving one step at a time toward Willow, unsure of how either of them would react. She let her sister be for a moment. Raine snatched up her sister’s gown and slippers and assisted Willow in getting dressed. Willow pulled her wet hair over her shoulder, her eyes searching her sister’s.

“I must have read about it somewhere,” Willow finally said with eyes shut. Then she shook her head, as if to shake out the lie that didn’t belong to her. She opened them again and stared at the Television screen.

“I’ve been dreaming of her.” She touched her lips and they trembled. “She haunts my dreams,” she finally said.

Raine hugged herself. “What can I do?” She felt completely helpless, like standing on the shores of that plane wreckage as it burned to cinders. She felt useless, afraid and horrified at the destruction.

A voice came from the door.

“Visiting hours are up, dear,” Nurse Benson said, startling them. She was carrying a tray of food, her iconic smile wide and caring.

Willow mumbled, “Dinner time already?” eager to push the conversation with her sister about the ghost aside.

“Wow, have you been here the entire day?” Nurse Benson asked Raine as she crossed the room, she took in the strange atmosphere.

Willow stared at the unappetizing tray of food as it was set next to her bed. “Do you think I can swap it?” she pulled a face at the egg salad.

“Of course child, what do feel like?”

“For something with meat?”

Nurse Benson looked at Willow in disbelief. “Okay,”

Heading for the door. “I’ll see if I can grab you some steak?” she joked.

“That would be great.” Willow sat back onto the bed, her feet up. “Juicy and medium to rare,” she said, placing her order.

Raine quickly explained, “It’s the iron; she’s craving the iron.”

Nurse Benson’s didn’t miss the odd look shared between the sisters. Something was happening to Willow and all three of them knew it.