SHIMMER'S POV
I saw the judge's gavel raised high up in the air, and it came thumping down on his fill in. His thick voice filled the entire court room, echoing angrily and with finality.
"Shimmer de Milo, for this crime of drugging a person…. facilitating for sexual abuse...I hereby sentence you…."
I turned to look at Hayden Rockridge, who sat surrounded by many other lawyers from the Rockridge Law Firm. He smiled at me and waved his hand, "goodbye….enjoy your stay in there! You deserve it!"
Suddenly I was dressed in the inmates' uniforms. I saw myself handcuffed and being dragged down a long hallway, and on each side of the passage, inmates stood behind bars, laughing and mocking me. I looked behind me and I saw Raelynn; and behind her I saw Logan. They too were dressed in the same attire as me.
"Roderick, Roderick save me!!" I implored.
I saw Arianna, laughing. Ciera was smiling. Dylan and Pete stood there too, with mocking smiles. And Dylan was holding Anisha's hand protectively. I also saw Iris. I called for her to help me, and she laughed at me.
"Roderick, help me!! Roderick!!! Roderick help me! help me! Roderick! Roderick heeeeelp ..."
"Shimmer!" I opened my eyes and panted heavily in the dim room.
Roderick quickly switched on the bedside lamp and said, "Shimmer! You were screaming 'Roderick help me!!' Did you have a nightmare?"
"I…I…it was nothing," I stammered.
Roderick looked at me and commented, "I must say, since the day of the handover dinner, you haven't been yourself! You get easily scared, you have nightmares almost every night, you get these secret phone calls at night and if your phone rings you get so startled that you jump. Talk to me, Shimmer. What is happening?"
"N...nothing!" I shook my head, glad that the image of me going to prison was just but a dream.
"What happened at the handover dinner?" his voice was full of concern.
"Nothing. I guess it's just too much pressure from work. And also the accusation made by Dylan. It messed me up." I lied.
"It's time to apply for leave, then. You need a break. Don't think much about Dylan. He made a mistake and apologized for it." Roderick said as he turned around to switch off the light.
He held me protectively as I lay silently beside him. I closed my eyes and prayed oh Lord, may these nightmares just come to an end? I felt hot tears stinging my eyelids, but I fought to stop them. I shut my eyes tight, and wished to fall asleep. Next to me, Roderick seemed to be fast asleep, he was even snoring lightly. I admired him a lot, for having his beauty sleep.
A headache started to pound around my forehead and just above my eyes. It was a throbbing pain which abruptly came and went. Slowly I sat up and tried to reach for the bedside lamp, when suddenly my phone flickered. My heartbeat raced wildly and I picked up my phone to see seven missed calls from Logan.
I secretly crept out of bed and walked towards the bathroom, slowly and carefully closed the door behind me, and I dialed his number.
"Mrs de Milo! I don't know how long I will manage to be on the run!! "
"I told you to allow me to give you some money and you can skip the country!"
"How? How will I do that? Your son has reported me to the police! And he made it as if I am the only person guilty. We are in this together, Mrs de Milo, let me remind you of that!!"
I pursed my lips as I tried to come up with either a resolution or an explanation, but I failed to come up with any.
My heart kept convincing me that Dylan was not going to report me to the police. If he wanted to, why would it have taken him this long to do so? Dylan and Pete's report only mentioned Logan as the culprit, completely leaving Raelynn and myself out. I shook my head as I told myself that surely, there was no way Logan was going to fall alone. Not that I wanted to fall with him; but I knew that he was determined to make sure that I was exposed.
"Mrs de Milo!", Logan's voice interrupted my train of thoughts. "I have made a decision! I will hand myself over to the police! And I will say everything that I know!"
"You will do no such thing!", I hissed in anger and desperation, fighting to keep my voice low.
"That's the only way out for me. You are at an advantage already! Even if all three of us get arrested, you and Raelynn can afford the best lawyers. I don't have money, and I cannot afford jail time. I am just a cleaner, Mrs de Milo, I don't have a way of escaping jail time, like you rich folks! And also, I know you can frame me and make it seem like I did everything on my own. I cannot allow that to happen, Mrs de Milo! Who knows; the courts might pardon me, let me hand over myself to the police!"
"Wait wait wait Logan! When do you plan to do this?"
"The sooner I get this off my chest, the better, Mrs de Milo. I can go there tomorrow morning…"
"Logan, listen! The police might soon forget about this matter. Please just hold on for a while."
"Your son and that friend of his are there to remind the police! Do you mean that you want me to suffer alone? No; Mrs de Milo! Its best that I hand myself in. I cannot do this life of a criminal. Living in fear and always feeling like disappearing each time I see a cop walking past me! I cannot continue like this!"
"Hold on Logan. Give me three days maximum; and I will make sure that I help you once and for all."
"Three days maximum! After three days I will talk! We will meet in the cells, Mrs de Milo! If I fall, you fall! Three days!"
****
I failed to do my work. Loads and loads of documents lay on my desk, awaiting my signature. "I will sign them later," I impatiently told my PA.
"Doctor de Milo; some of them are really urgent…"
"I said I will sign them!" I screamed at her and she immediately left my office.
In great anger I paced up and down my huge office. I felt like slamming everything, and I felt great anger walking up from within. And Dylan! What was he thinking? Why had he not contacted me in more than a week? Why was he so silent? I did not have the guts to initiate conversation, so I impatiently waited for him to call me, yet he did not. I also failed to get the energy to walk up to his office to see him. In actual fact, I prayed that I would not bump into him along the hospital passageways; although the chances were very slim.
I picked up my phone and called one person that I felt had let me down. At that moment, I just needed someone to blame.
"Hello…Mrs de Milo? How are you?"
"Harper! I am so stressed out! I really hoped that when you came for the handover dinner, you and my son would be able to sort things out."
There was silence from the other end of the line.
"Hallo? Harper?"
"I'm here, Mrs de Milo. Let me be very honest with you. I attended the handover dinner just out of respect for you. When I came there, I had no hope whatsoever that Dylan and I would ever get back together. I dated Dylan and we broke up; we got back together and then broke up again. I might never have told you this; but it was always me who put effort. I worked very hard for the relationship. To be frank with you, Mrs de Milo; Dylan was never in love with me. He can never be in love with me."
"Why are you so quick to accept defeat?" I asked her; annoyed.
"It is the truth. I love Dylan a lot; but it has never been mutual. Also because I was young, I was determined to do anything to marry into the mighty de Milo family! But now, I am a mature girl; I now know not to force love if it's not there. Dylan never loved me, Mrs de Milo."
"He did!" I shouted. "I know my son; and when I looked into his eyes each time he spoke about you, I was able to tell that he too loved you!"
"No, Mrs de Milo," came Harper's soft voice. "In his heart there is a girl, whose name I was never privileged to know. Dylan solely and wholly belongs to that girl. He spoke about her a few times, although he never mentioned her name. I don't know what her family name is; or what she does, but according to Dylan, she lost both her parents, or maybe they separated…something like that. But she did not grow up with her parents. All I know about her are her initials, A.M. Once I looked through Dylan's textbook, the initials A.M. were scribbled on many pages. I asked him about it, and he said it straight into my eyes. "she is the girl I like. The girl who taught me life." And that was all he said. Each time Dylan spoke about that girl; which I must admit was rare, those were the only times I ever had to experience his love. Experiencing it as he showed it to another; but never to me! His eyes said it all, his smile; the excitement that he would have…his whole aura would change as soon as he mentioned that girl. He loved her, Mrs de Milo!"
"I hate what I am hearing," I confessed.
"It is the truths, sadly. With time, I started to push myself away from him. I felt like the third wheel; for as we sat together during dates; I felt the force of A.M.'s presence. It was like she was the third invisible date, silent, not saying anything, but further widening the valley between Dylan and I. And somehow my heart tells me that that girl, A.M. must also love Dylan, although I haven't met her yet."
"Oh, I really don't like the sound of what you're saying, Harper!" in my heart I was begging her to change the direction in which her speech was taking.
She cleared her throat and continued, "To be honest, I felt sorry for that beautiful girl who was walking around with Dylan at the handover dinner. She is beautiful, I admit. But if she could take advise from me, I would have told her that, as long as you are not A.M. you can never win this man's heart. Dylan's heart was taken, Mrs de Milo. It was taken years back, by that girl whose initials are A.M. and the way I see it, no woman under the sun, can ever be able to replace A.M. In Dylan's heart, A.M. was sculptured and fixed permanently. He will take her to the grave."
"Does he love her that much?" I said, speaking more to myself rather than to Harper.
"Trust me, he does. I never got to know how or why he cannot be with her; but I can assure you that if they ever get the chance to meet; then nothing….nothing, Mrs de Milo, can ever have the power to separate them! Death would rather take Dylan first, before he agrees to separate with A.M….."
I remained silent, my chest feeling heavy from the deep emotional pain.
"Mrs de Milo? Mrs de Milo, are you still on the line?"
I chose not to respond. She had told me enough, and I had neither wish nor desire to hear more.
"I guess the network is bad…or my phone has problems? Mrs de Milo….can you hear me?…Have a great day, then. Bye!"