by Susan Kohler
Everything was much easier, she smiled thinking to herself, since her brother had expanded the house. He had built a master suite for himself and Emily, a room for the baby, and a small suite for Emily’s mother, Mae, and her nurse, Julia. They had been living in Emily’s old house, but having them here was so much better. He had also added the gym downstairs.
Nicole stopped in the cheery kitchen for a bite of breakfast. She sat down at the large round kitchen table and spoke to Julia and Mae. Julia was a sweet, still attractive woman in her early sixties. She was a retired RN, with the patience and firmness needed to care for Mae. Emily’s mother could be quite a handful, loving and full of fun, but a handful.
Mae was lively and friendly, but really out of touch with reality. She once came home from a day in a local zoo and told Nicole that she’d gone to Russia. Nicole listened with patient amusement as Mae gave a detailed description of the “Russian” zoo. Julia was a retired RN who had lived next door. She was a widow who had been left with a large house and five acres of land. David bought the land, not the house, and offered Julia a place to live along with a part-time job. She was a real godsend. Julia quickly became part of the family, and life was much easier for David and Emily, especially with the new baby.
From what Julia told Nicole as she sat down to a glass of orange juice and a plate of fluffy scrambled eggs, Mae was having one of her good days. She recognized Emily and Pete. In fact, Julia seemed to think the baby, six-month-old Pete, had done quite a bit to stem Mae’s senile dementia.
Nikki finished her eggs and put her plate into the dishwasher. She grabbed her travel mug, some bottled water and an energy bar, and jumped into her car. She had a modeling assignment that day and wanted to leave herself plenty of time for hair and make-up. This assignment was for a new client, someone she had never even heard of, which was unusual. She had gotten the location and time from her agent, Melinda, who said she’d meet her there, since she didn’t know anything about the client either. Halfway there, Melinda called and said she was sick. She sounded terrible. She offered to send an assistant but Nicole declined the offer, telling her to stay home and take care of herself.
She was shocked when she arrived at the address, since it was in a rundown part of town and the building fit right in with its surroundings. The brick building was old and tacky. Several bricks were missing and it was covered with vulgar graffiti and gang symbols. One of the windows was broken. The door squeaked when she opened it, and there were dust motes floating in the air.
Another blow to the glamorous life of a model, she thought. In truth she often worked in less than ideal conditions, but this? With the dirt and trash scattered all over the floor, the moldy smell, and no furnishings, this was ridiculous!
There was a bare minimum of equipment and supplies for the photo shoot. Along one wall there was a rack of bathing suits. A plain white backdrop stood at the end of the room with some lights and a camera on a tripod facing it. On the other wall there was a make-up table covered with cosmetics, brushes, combs and a hot iron for her hair. Next to it was another table with some pastries and a pot of coffee with some plates and cups.
Her make-up and hair people, Ivan and Lacey, walked in just after she did, both looking around at the room with distaste. Hans, who was acting as her stylist for this shoot, and not as the photographer, was not far behind.
The photographer was not there yet. Nicole shrugged and sat patiently while her hair and make-up was being done. She chatted casually with Hans and the hairdresser, Ivan, and Lacey who did her make-up. Lacey had pictures of her new baby with her, a tiny daughter with a jaunty pink headband on blonde curly hair and an adorable grin, both of which matched her mother’s features.
“Maybe she’ll grow up to marry my nephew Pete,” Nikki quipped, smiling at the baby. She brought out a picture of Pete, also grinning but sans pink headband, and with curly brown hair. She handed it over to Lacey.
As expected, Lacey grinned at the photo and told Nicole how cute he was.
She dressed in the wardrobe provided for the shoot, skimpy and not very attractive swimwear. She noticed a young man watching her from across the room, who was wearing worn jeans and a red T-shirt. She assumed he was either the photographer or his assistant. He walked over to her.
“Hi, I’m Adam,” he said, then smiled and held out his hand and introduced himself. “Mr. Scarleni’s assistant. He just called me and asked me to apologize for him. He is running late and should be here in about fifteen minutes. He suggested you all have some coffee and pastries.”
“No, thanks. I brought my own coffee.” Nicole smiled at him, but she was surprised at the flash of irritation that crossed his face.
Still, Adam seemed like a nice young man. He was in his mid-twenties, lanky and handsome. His wavy brown hair fell into his eyes. He reached out and took Nicole’s hand in a seemingly friendly manner, but he held it just a bit too long. His brown eyes seemed intense as they stared into hers. He completely ignored the rest of the crew and focused on Nicole. Something about him disturbed her but she shook it off.
It was rare for the photographer to be late, but Nicole was a pro and sat quietly on a rickety chair, sipping her travel mug of coffee until she heard a noise behind her. It was a thud, followed by another. Just as she turned her head to see what made the noise, she thought she smelled a hint of smoke. Before she could react, she felt a sharp pain and the world exploded.
Chapter Two
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In this world ye shall have tribulation: But be ye of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
(John 16:33)
David would never forget receiving that terrible phone call. He was in London at the time, working with a client who was having a dispute with a designer over her contract. He got the call from the police saying that Nicole was in the hospital, that she had been attacked and was not expected to live. His heart felt squeezed in his chest. He explained hastily to his client and the designer that there was an emergency back in LA. He called his mother, Bonnie, to let her know what had happened although he didn’t have very many details. She told him she would fly out right away.
David was panicked on the flight, barely able to stay in his seat, and not at all able to relax.
“You seem upset, sir, is there anything I can do for you?” a flight attendant said when she came over to see what was wrong.
“I’m terrified. My sister was attacked, I don’t know the details.” Because he was so upset, he told the flight attendant what was going on. “They said they didn’t expect her to live.”
“What’s her name?” The flight attendant said with genuine sympathy, “I’ll say a prayer for her.”
“Thank you,” David replied. “Her name’s Nicole, Nikki Silver.”
When the flight attendant gasped, he added, “Please don’t tell anyone she’s hurt, until I know more I don’t want it to get into the press.”
“I understand. I was almost afraid to walk over and talk to you,” she told him. “I wondered if you were some kind of lunatic. Now I wish that’s all that was bothering you. I’ll try to see if I can clear your flight plans to get you there as fast as possible. Where are you flying to?”
“John Wayne.” David managed a smile then said, “Thanks for helping me. They said I had to fly standby from New York to LAX and again into John Wayne.”
“I’ll do what I can,” she promised as she patted his shoulder and moved on to help another passenger. “We try very hard to accommodate people if there’s an emergency in the family.”
The flight seemed endless, and he had to change planes in New York. There he had a short layover before he could get on another flight, but he could tell the flight attendant had cleared the way for him. For the last short leg of his journey his layover was again very brief. Still, the trip seemed endless. All he could do was pray and keep praying that Nicole would be alright. He just didn’t know how he could handle it if she didn’t s
urvive.
He didn’t have very much information about what had happened, only that she was very seriously hurt in an attack by some mad man, and was now in the hospital. He tried calling her agent but he couldn’t get ahold of her. He tried calling Emily, but didn’t reach her either. No one seemed to be answering their cell phones. He could only guess that cell phones weren’t allowed in that part of the hospital. What he didn’t know was that the police had not yet been able to contact Emily simply because she had been shopping without her cell phone, and then had gone out to the barn to take care of the horses. Julia had taken a message but then Mae started getting agitated and Julia had her hands full.
Since their mother was in Florida, she was much closer to Nicole than David was in Paris. She arrived at John Wayne Airport sooner than David did. She rented a car and left her bags in the trunk, heading straight for the hospital in Mission Viejo. She got to the hospital to see Nicole long before David did. She was a strong woman who had seen a lot in her life but she was still in a state of panic. She was the one who finally reached Emily. Soon Emily joined her at the hospital and they prayed together. Emily called her pastor who came immediately and prayed with them and just sat and tried to comfort them.
Nicole was in a sterile environment and only medical staff was allowed in her room, so Bonnie and Emily paced the halls until they almost wore a hole in the linoleum. By the time David arrived they had begun to settle down, one or the other sitting for a few moments, and then popping up to pace again. David’s mom ran to hug him as tears streamed down her face. She was terrified at the thought that she would lose Nicole, but she figured every minute that Nicole was being treated was one more sign that she would be okay.
Emily stood to one side and waited while David hugged his mother before she walked over to him. She loved Nicole too, but she knew that a parent’s love for her child was overwhelming. When David was ready, he turned to hug and kiss her. He was shaking and there were tears in his eyes, but he drew on Emily’s love and strength. It was several moments before he turned to Pastor Mark and thanked him for being there. They said a prayer as a group before one of the doctors came out to talk to them.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Wilson, and I’m taking care of Nicole,” he said. “The good news is it looks like Nicole’s chances of survival are fairly good. If we can keep her from getting an infection, we have every hope she’ll make a recovery. She is in a coma now, but that can be a good thing, it will keep her from feeling some of the pain from her injuries. Burn treatment is very painful. Also, there are some complications and things that we can’t correct. We cannot stop her from being scarred. I understand that she’s a high fashion model and I’m sorry, but I believe this will end her career.”
“Hi Dr. Wilson, I’m David Silvan, this is my mother, Bonnie Silvan, and my wife, Emily. The little guy in the stroller is my son, Pete. We’re most concerned about Nicole’s survival. Her looks are not that important, her life is. We will do everything, of course, that we can do to help her heal. And we’ll be praying for her constantly. What other issues are you worried about right now?”
“I don’t know if you heard about what happened to her,” the doctor said, “but Nicole was attacked, beaten, and raped, then left to die in a burning building.”
He paused as Bonnie gasped, tears streaming down her face.
He continued, “So aside from healing and scars, there is a possibility that she was left emotionally scarred, or with a sexually transmitted disease, or even made pregnant by the attack.”
“We can treat her emotionally, and test her for the diseases, but it’s too soon to tell if there’s a possible pregnancy.” The doctor continued, “Unless she was pregnant already?”
He made it a question. As they all shook their heads, he continued once more. “I thought not. Her injuries seemed to indicate that she was a virgin. I would recommend using a morning after pill to prevent pregnancy. I’m sure she would not want to become pregnant by a rapist and a murderer.”
“Who was murdered?” David asked, chills running down his spine. “We haven’t heard many details yet.”
“As I understand it, three people she worked with died in the fire,” the doctor replied. “Lacey Knolls, Hans Weston, and Ivan Hudsen.”
At this news, Emily, who knew Nicole’s co-workers, was overcome. Her legs buckled and she had to sit down. Tears were streaming down her face.
“Nicole has given me the power of attorney in case of an emergency, we set it up a long time ago. I know she doesn’t believe in the morning after pill, so I have to say no to any use of the pill.” David was firm. “If she’s pregnant, there’s a reason. If I’m wrong, she’ll have to wake up and tell me so.”
“One of you can go in for a few minutes if you wear a gown, mask and gloves.” The doctor motioned to a nurse who came over. “Then you can switch, but only two of you, no more than five minutes each.”
The nurse helped Bonnie put on the gown and gloves, and showed her a chair at Nicole’s bedside.
When her time was up, David took his position by Nicole’s bedside. Emily and Bonnie knew they were in for a long vigil. They could sit there for days, waiting for Nicole to wake up or go home. They decided to leave.
Bonnie got to the house, and instantly Julia insisted on carrying her bags upstairs to a room she had prepared in advance. Bonnie pulled a nightgown out of her luggage, took a quick shower and went to bed, exhausted but unable to sleep.
Nicole was in a coma for nearly two weeks. Then she started waking up, at first only for a few moments at a time. She woke up several times over the next days and weeks in pain, intense pain. Waking to strange surroundings with a constant beeping sound in the background, she knew she was in a hospital. Doctors and nurses were constantly treating her, their faces covered by masks, and wearing sterile gowns. She had an IV in both arms. She woke up extremely thirsty and hungry.
Every time she slipped back into sleep she seemed to forget where she was, and each time she awoke she faced the horror of not knowing what had happened to her. Gradually, she became more aware of herself, her surroundings, and her circumstances. She realized she was in a hospital bed surrounded by glass walls and curtains. There were the constant IVs and monitors, of course, and nurses constantly coming in and out of the room. She realized she was in a hospital, probably in ICU or a burn unit, judging by the IVs sticking out of her arms. She was more than aware of the painful treatments.
She later learned the doctors had used both chemical and autolytic debridement, and in some areas where the burns were less severe they had already begun skin grafts. Gradually, as the days went on, she became aware that the doctors and nurses had stopped wearing masks while around her. They moved her to another room. She didn’t know it at the time, but she had moved from the burn unit to ICU. After arriving there she was aware that she had visitors.
Sometimes her brother and Emily would sit beside her while at other times her mother was there, or her friends, Kate and Laura. Of course, her pastor, Mark, and his wife, Rachel, frequently visited in order to chat, pray, and read the Bible. Although she was aware of their coming and going, she was not strong enough or aware enough to respond to them, except with an occasional moan or a blink of the eye. At times she would manage to give a gentle squeeze to the hand holding her hand.
For the most part her visitors sat in an uncomfortable chair, staring at the blank beige walls, or watching whatever was showing on the wall-mounted TV screen. They watched nurses and lab techs come and go, taking blood samples, changing IVs, and making notes on a small computer in the corner of the room. Once in a while a doctor checked in and quickly left.
For weeks, any efforts she made to speak were met by quiet shushings, “Just relax Nicole, I know you’re hurting and probably in a great deal of pain, but for now just try to relax, rest and heal,” her brother softly told her.
For weeks it seemed as if that was all she heard. So that’s what she did, she waited, rested and healed.
“What happened?” she moaned one day when she woke more fully.
“Thank God, you’re awake.” David gently took her hand, he paused for a moment swallowing hard before he continued. “Don’t you remember what happened?”
Nicole’s voice was scratchy and weak but she managed a faint, “No.”
“You were injured in a fire.” David kept her hand in his, wishing he could avoid telling her what he knew she had to hear. “The building where your photo shoot was being held burned down.”
“How? Why?” She swallowed hard, David handed her a cup of water with a straw.
“I checked with your doctors, you can have a sip of water, just a little sip, now,” he warned her. “Take it easy.”
She sipped before continuing, “What about the others? What about Ivan, Lacey and Hans, my friends who do my hair and make-up? My stylist? Even Adam, the photographer’s assistant. Are they okay? Please, David, please tell me, tell me they’re okay.”
“I’m sorry, Nick,” David said softly grasping her hand, “more than I can say, but you were the only survivor.”
“Dead? All of them?” Tears formed in her eyes. “Hans, Ivan and Lacey? They were all my friends. Lacey’s baby is only three months old.”
She broke into uncontrollable sobs.
“I know, Nick, I know.” David could only stand there, patting her hand gently while she cried. Luckily, Pastor Mark and Rachel came in at that exact moment.
When he saw her distress, Pastor Mark put his hands on Nicole’s shoulders. Rachel put a hand on her hair. While they stood there touching Nicole, they prayed.
“Heavenly Father, we pray for our sister Nicole. Father God, she has been so badly injured, grant her a miracle and help her heal. Send your love and blessings to her. Bless also the families and loved ones of those who were killed in this terrible incident. Father God, let their souls rest in your arms and send your heavenly comfort to their loved ones and families, Lord. Comfort Nicole, Father God, and give her peace. Show her a way to turn this tragedy into a triumph, for I know you have a purpose for her. Show her that purpose. Comfort her and bring her healing and peace, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
