DID YOU HAVE TO DO THIS, VINE?

Travis and Aletha arrived at the hospital soon after receiving the news that their daughter was awake, and she was asking to see them. If it were possible, Aletha would have grown some wings to fly to the hospital. She was unable to sit still in her car seat, fidgeting continuously. When Travis finally parked the car, Aletha did not manage to wait for the car to come to a complete stop, but swung the door open and ran all the way to the ward in which Kiara was admitted.

"My daughter! My child!" she threw herself on her child, even forgetting that the poor girl was just recovering from her sickness and might not have taken well the weight of her mother on her. She began to cry. Initially Kiara thought her mother was crying for joy, but she later on realised that the crying meant much more than that.

Besides Kiara herself, there was only Travis and Aletha in the room, because Vine had left to go and spend some time with Vincent Lisandro.

Travis, impatient with his crying wife, was scrolling through his phone. To him, the fact that Kiara was alive was enough to keep him happy. He already wanted to leave the hospital, for he had other business to attend to.

"Why are you crying so much, mamma?" Kiara asked in a weak voice.

The mother did not respond; but instead she avoided looking at her daughter.

"How is my son? And how is Jeremy? I hope Gareth and his men did not do anything to harm Jeremy." There was a trace of pleading in her voice.

Travis and Aletha looked at each other, and Kiara did not miss that exchange of glances. She tensed up. What was it? Was it Vincent? Was it Jeremy? Or both of them?

"How are they?" she pulled herself into the sitting position and waited for an answer.

"Umm, Vincent Lisandro is fine." Travis responded.

"And Jeremy?" Kiara wanted to know as soon as could be.

"Why do you keep asking about another man when you are already married? If your husband was to hear this…."

"He is not my husband, dad." Kiara was becoming agitated.

"You two share a son, and that's enough reason to make you respect the man. Look; he's taking good care of you, bringing you to this very classy hospital. The least you can do is to show him some respect." Travis' voice was rather commanding.

Kiara looked at her mother and asked again, "how is Jeremy, mum?"

Aletha found herself saying, "My child, you won't want to hear this, but this is the sad truth. It will break your heart and all, but that is the reality that we all have to face now."

"Just say it mamma!" Kiara finally came to the sitting position, and she prayed that she was in a dream. What did her mother want to tell her? The news was going to break her heart? What news could it be? Was Jeremy arrested? Was he taken in by Gareth and locked in the mansion cell? Was Jeremy no longer in love with her? Had he been caught? Or did Tessa fail to deliver the jewellery? What was it?

"He's gone…Jeremy Richard Rain is gone." Aletha's frail voice echoed in the silent hospital ward.

Kiara; who was still feeling weak, suddenly found strength and she pulled herself and stood just beside the bed.

"What did you say, mum?" she gasped.

"I….I….know it's difficult, but he is gone."

"Please just tell me that you don't really mean it. You don't really mean it, do you, mamma?" She spoke, while in her heart she was pleading that it was all a mistake.

"Now might not have been the best time to tell you, but sooner or later you were still going to know. Jeremy drowned himself in the City River." Aletha swallowed and blinked several times.

"That is not possible, mamma!" Kiara's voice came out full of authority. It was a command. She had no desire to listen to what her mother was saying any more.

"It's not good news," Travis put away his phone and looked at Kiara. "It is not good news at all. The young man was full of potential. And he's gone, just like that."

Since Kiara still had a drip on her arm, she roughly pulled off the thing, feeling no pain at all, and she started walking out of the room and down the corridor.

"No. No. No. No. No." Kiara chanted while she continued to walk.

"Kiara please stop!" Travis followed her. Aletha did not say a word but simply followed her child.

Kiara, whose pace was quickening with each step she took, was already running. She ran and went down the stairs, running all the way.

"Somebody hold her! My child!" Aletha's scream alerted the hospital staff, and before long, they managed to get hold of Kiara.

"Impossible…impossible...impossible." Kiara was saying.

She was not crying. There were no tears in her eyes. The pain that she felt at that time was too deep to bring any tears. It was not the usual tear-worthy pain. That ache was different. It was something which felt too real; as if it could be touched. It felt like a heavy rock had been placed on her chest, and the rock, seemingly melting thereon, was sending down thick hot larva which moved slowly, burning and melting away every part of her body which it came in contact with.

"No. No. No. It is not possible." Kiara continued to talk.

She was seeing in her mind, a thick dark blanket of confusion, which seemed to move from one endless corner to another endless corner, for she saw neither its beginning nor its ending. The blanket was thick, and it was pitch black. It looked to her like someone was intentionally waving it in her face, to scare and mock her, as well as to intimidate the sanity out of her, and to slowly but surely drain out her life.

"He cannot be dead." She said.

Aletha and Travis tried to calm their daughter down, but it was no use. She did not want to hear anything about it.

"What happened after he threw himself in the river? Did the crocodiles eat him? Did he drown? Tell me! Tell me everything!" she cried.

The door was slightly pushed and in came Vine, dressed casually but looking very smart.

The moment Kiara saw Vine, she ran towards the door and threw herself into his arms. Vine, who had not expected Kiara to do that, almost lost his footing, but since he was a strong man anyway, he managed to steady himself.

"He is gone, Vine! He is gone! Jeremy is gone, Vine!" she cried ever so bitterly.

"Kiara, try to calm down," Vine said.

"He drowned himself. Vine, he drowned himself."

For a moment Vine thought he felt sorry for the poor woman. Tears, saliva and snort all combined, messed up her beautiful face. The drip hung from her hand, and her hair was a huge mess.

"Vine, they killed him. Did you order them to do this?" she wailed.

"Shh, Kiara!" Travis tried to make his daughter quiet, while he ran to close the door.

A nurse was by the door, and she said, "Let me check on her."

"Please give us a moment. She has just received the news of the death of someone close. She needs space." Travis closed the door in the nurse's face.

Inside the private ward, Kiara's heart had shuttered into pieces. She was kneeling on the floor, her hands holding on to Vine. And she was crying while looking up at him,

"Did you have to do this, Vine? Did you really have to do this? Was it necessary? Didn't you lock me in the house? You could have asked him to leave the country. You could have done anything to him except to have him killed. Vine; Vine you have stabbed me in the heart. Why, Vine why?"

Vine held Kiara up and he tried to bring her to the standing position. Kiara had no strength in her. She simply slid down back to the floor. She wanted to die. She wished to collapse and die with him. She wanted to go too; to be buried there in the grave next to his. At that moment, the thought that she had a son seemed to have escaped from her mind. All she wanted at that minute was to die.

She crawled on the cold floor and wailed some more. Seeing her daughter like that, Aletha felt as if a huge sharp knife was dipped into her chest, and the more she looked at the poor girl, the more it felt like the knife was being pushed further and further in.

"He might still be alive!" she screamed. "They have not yet found his body!"

Kiara looked up at her mother and asked, "what did you say, mother?"

"I said…" Aletha began to speak, but Vine stopped her.

"It's too late, Mrs Noels. There is no more hope left. He is gone. Police found his body." Vine updated everyone.

"What do you mean?" The three of them chorused.

"His body was located by the police. Some crocodiles must have chewed him up. Parts of his body were found." Vine narrated emotionlessly.

The silence that followed showed clearly that no one in the room had expected to receive such news.

"When did this happen?" Travis asked.

"Less than two hours ago," said Vine. "That's why I came here. I wanted to inform Kiara."

Kiara stood to her feet and listened.

"Body parts? Did you just say body parts?" she asked, hoping and praying for a negative response.

"Yes. They found the upper part of his body; and a full right arm. And a part of a leg, I guess."

Kiara felt as if the ground beneath her had suddenly given up on her; and she was flying in the air. And while flying like that, she kept going round and round in circles. Something, or someone, was surely carrying her, and they kept her going in those movements. Round and round she went, and the more she moved; the more the speed increased. With more pace came darkness; and soon the dimness started to blind her. She blinked several times, and she saw the three silhouettes standing in front of her; her parents and Vine. She blinked once again, and she saw six of them, and then nine, until they were countless. Then just like that, she could not see anything anymore. Blindness caught her. She blinked again and again, and down she went. Vine, who was closest to her, could have caught her mid-air had he reacted sooner; but he was too late. She hit the floor with a thud, her consciousness gone.