Superstitions

Chapter 10 - Pain from the past

So once again, it's been a long time since I uploaded but I didn't forgot, I just don't have a lot of time. I hope you'll like it.

Enjoy !!!

CHAPTER 10 - Pain from the past

The cemetery was so quiet, there was no noise. Not even the noise of traffic, nothing, only the slight quivering of the wind rushing into the aisles. It was a cold day, the snow was about to fall. The cemetery was pretty big but Connor knew exactly where to go. He went on the top of the little hill and sat down on an old wooden bench.

"You shouldn't stay here, it's very cold today"

"I know, but I like to come here"

"Let's get home you're freezing Ava"

He hugged her, they got up and walked to the parking lot. He loves her so much.

Flashback

Now that the quarantine has been ended, Ava, Suzanne and Mr. Scott had been moved to the intensive care unit. The treatment seemed to work pretty well, the doctors were even considering stopping artificial respiration. Ava state was always preoccupying as she didn't receive the treatment yet. She was tachycardic, hypotensive and no medication seemed to have any effect. It was 1 a.m. when her heart started to fibrillate. Fortunately, after two defibrillations it started beating normally again. Connor was totally shattered, he couldn't even imagine losing her. He was so afraid that once Ava's condition stabilized, he threw up in the toilets. She had to hold on five more hours but it wasn't looking good. About thirty minutes later she had another cardiac arrest but once again her heart restart beating. She was strong and she tried to fight, Connor could feel it. Nathalie comes to see how Ava was. The most shocking thing when she came into the room was Connor's condition, he was pale, seemed exhausted and his stomach was rumbling so loudly that it took over the sound of the machines.

"You should go eat something and take a shower"

"I can't let her"

"I'll stay with her if you want ... I promise to page you at the slightest sign of trouble"

"I shall not be long"

He went to take a shower, took some clean scrubs and went to the ATM to get some food. On his way back to the ICU he saw the sign indicating the direction of the chapel. He didn't believe in God and hadn't been in a church for years, but he felt attracted. He sent a message to Nathalie to see if Ava was alright. She answered him that nothing had change since he left. He remembered the conversation they had with Ava about being superstitious or not and how fate had proved him that he was right to be superstitious. He decided to get into the chapel, he didn't know what to do so he just sat down and thinked about Ava and how much he loved her. He ended up falling asleep but woke up suddenly, he looked at his phone, it was 6.30 a.m., he had several messages and calls from Nathalie. He didn't take the time to read them and ran to Ava's room.

"Ava!!!"

"Hey slow down Connor, everything is alright, the treatment seems to work"

He glanced at the monitor, her pulse was stable, her blood pressure had risen and her saturation was good. She did it, she survived.

Flashback end

"You can tell me, I see that you're not acting like usual since you've been sick"

"It's just ... it's complicated and painful"

"I know, when you have high fever, you were hallucinating and you told something ... You said that you were sorry, that you kill them"

Ava looked him right in the eyes before collapsing in tears.

"I ... I ... all the people I loved died ... because of me ... you shouldn't stay with me. I love you but I don't want you to be hurt or even worse ...."

"Hey look at me, I have no intention of leaving this earth any time soon. And for now you're the one that've been hurt" He said while taking her face in his hands and drying her tears.

"I don't know if I can ... I never told to anyone else, well, almost ... And it didn't turn out well"

"I promise you that it's gonna be okay and if at any moment it's too difficult to continue, we can stop"

She nodded, they got up and sat down on the couch.

"When I was 10, we were living with my father in a village near Kuthumba. It was a small village lost in the forest, we have one primary school, a central place and as my father was a doctor so he ran the village doctor's office. We've been here for almost 4 years but some people always treated us like strangers. It was mostly the children at school. I did everything I could to integrate, I spent days studying their cultures, traditions and even the local dialect. But I always remained the stranger. One day, at school, kids were talking about caves where we can't go, it was absolutely forbidden. My father had already told me about it but he had never explained me why we couldn't go there. So I ask them and they explained me that there were spirits and monsters there. I didn't trust them, I never believed to ghost or any things like that. Then Andrew challenged me to go, he was a kind of leader. He told me that it would be like a rite of passage and after that they would no longer consider me as a stranger. He said that I would have the respect of the ancestors. So I accepted. After school, I told my father that I was going to play with the other kids. He was happy because I never want to play with them, the only friend I have was Mia, and she was living in the house next to ours. She was my only and best friend, but that day she was sick. So we went to those caves, on the way Andrew kept scaring me but once we passed the fences I could see that he was terrified. I think he was hoping that I would give up and we could turn back, but I was determined to prove to him that I deserved respect. We were right in front of the entrance, he gave me a flashlight and told me to go into the cave. I had to stay inside for five minutes. I went in, but the further I went, the hotter and wetter it was. Time passed, it was very dark so I turned on my flashlight to see how much longer I had to stay. A second after, a bunch of bats came out of nowhere and I rushed to the exit. I literally jumped out of that cave to land at Andrew's feet. He was first surprised by the bats but he regained his seriousness and looked at his watch. I saw a sarcastic smile on his face, I only stayed for 4 minutes. He was so happy that I failed. He was about to say something when we heard some noise from the forest. Guards had been alerted by the bat swarm. I saw his face turn pale, he wanted us to leave but I wanted to try again. He seemed really worried so he told me that it was okay, that I passed the test but now we needed to run. And that's what we did. When we got to the village, he made me swear not to tell anyone about it under any circumstances"

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To be continued ...