by Rute Canhoto
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Marina stopped at the room’s door. She hadn't seen her sister in a long time and didn’t know what to say. ‘How are you?’ or ‘How are you feeling?’ seemed too banal. Besides, most likely she had already heard that from mom and dad. She had to take a new approach. What would she say? She thought for a moment, but nothing occurred to her. The nurse cleared her throat with an audible snorting and coughed something that Marina supposed was due to the fact that she hadn’t yet entered the room, so she pushed the door and got in.
A breath of warm air greeted her with impetuosity, denouncing the presence of an air conditioner working at the maximum temperature. The space was so hot that she felt her face going red.
The tiny room had a bed, two bedside tables, a chair for guests, and a single door cabinet. From the wall in front of the bed, hung a very old TV. Marina skirted the bed and sat in the chair for visitors, facing her sister. Sofia didn’t seem very different from the last time she had seen her. She continued to wear her straight black hair to her shoulders with a fringe, as in vogue. In terms of features, her face seemed longer, but there was nothing else to point out. Perhaps she was also taller, but it was impossible to tell with her extended lengthwise.
Sofia looked at Marina, and rolled her eyes while puffing, “You too? Geez, you guys can’t leave me alone.”
What a lovely reception, so typical of her sweet little sister. One day, Marina would buy her a ribbon saying ‘Miss Congeniality’ – it described her perfectly. Marina crossed her legs and leaned back in the chair. If she could cuss her, then she wasn’t in such bad shape and deserved a matching response. In a mocking tone, Marina said, “So, you decided to join the club of the wounded? It must be fashionable, since you follow all that's trendy.”
“How funny,” grumbled Sofia.
“As much as you are, brat.”
Marina thought that, not even when she was sick, Sofia could she be nice. That annoying adolescence phase better pass in a hurry, because her sister was so annoying that people walked away from her. Who would want to be around a troublesome teen that groaned constantly and put others down?
She remained silent in the same place, until her sister asked her an unusual question, “Marina, when you fell from the bridge… Did something weird happen while you were unconscious?”
Marina was surprised by the question. She wasn’t sure where Sofia wanted to go with it. She needed her to spell it all out, so she said, “How so?”
Sofia shut up. She seemed embarrassed and reluctant to continue with that subject, as if she was afraid of being judged. She shrugged, looked at an invisible point on the ceiling, and tried to explain herself better, “I don’t know. Weird things like… dreaming.”
Marina had dreamed before waking up in hospital, so it didn’t seem strange that the same had happened to her sister. She nodded and replied, “Yes, I dreamed and I remember everything.”
After smirking, Sofia said, “My doctor claims that it's impossible that I dreamed while I was unconscious and almost called me crazy. A while ago, when I asked this to mom, she looked so worried that it seemed like I had said something from another world. Dad didn’t even pay attention.”
The emblematic behavior of their parents: mom, startled by everything and anything, and their father devaluing all completely. Marina wasn’t surprised – their parents had always been like that. But Marina was curious to know about her sister’s dream. She must have thought it important, or else she wouldn’t have mentioned it.
Marina stirred in the chair, taking a more serious stance, and began to narrate what she had dreamed. “I remember everything. It was a bizarre fantasy that I didn’t quite understand.”
“I also didn’t understand what mine meant. What happened in yours?”
“I was in a place I didn’t know. It was very hot and around me there was only a very red barren land. There were also black rocks and sat on them was...” The words got stuck in her throat, scratching as sharp blades. What had happened with her sister distracted her and she hadn’t thought of him anymore. Nonetheless, evoking her dream had brought him back to her present, and it hurt as if she put a finger on a severe wound. Marina gasped for words to out pour and carried on. “As I was saying, there were dark rocks and sat on them was a guy. The strangest thing was, when he looked at me, I felt I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to ask him for help, but he just told me ‘you have no idea what they do to you here’.”
Remembering that made new light come over her. Knowing what she knew about Lucas now, she finally understood what he meant by that. If the reverie had some real background, most likely the barren land was Hell, and Lucas’ sentence referred to the torment he had been through. Would that have been a hallucination induced by Lucas, or would she have really wandered by the boundaries of Hell when she was unconscious? And why had she dreamed that? She had many questions, but she could only clear them up with Lucas, and, at the moment, they weren’t speaking to each other.
The silence in the room went on for a few moments, until Sofia ventured to tell, “I also had a weird dream. I was in the school pool floating on water, like a dead body, and I couldn’t move. Suddenly, a man I’ve never seen before appeared. He was a weird dude, you know?”
Marina assented, encouraging her to go on.
“Now that I think about it, I can’t remember his face. But I recall that he was dressed all in black, like one of those Gothic guys, you know? I mean pants, shirt, shoes, a long coat, all black. Pretty much Matrix.”
The description made Marina stir uncomfortably in her seat. She had a sinister figure very similar in her life for four weeks, and it had been quite upsetting the past few days. Besides the black clothing, another factor in common was his face: she couldn’t remember his visage either, even though she had just seen him.
“The man crouched by the pool,” Sofia went on, “and began laughing. Then, he looked at me with those dull and scary eyes, and hissed ‘Tell her I won’t stop’. As soon as he said this, my body started to sink in the water. I was really distressed, because I couldn’t move a muscle to come to the surface to breathe.”
Sofia stirred in bed, very anxious. Marina said nothing, as she remembered that distress and shortness of breath, combined with a feeling of powerlessness to do anything to save herself.
“I didn’t get it,” admitted Sofia. “He won’t stop what? And ‘tell her’? To whom? Moreover, when I woke up I had this word stuck in my head, banging insistently till it almost blew my brains out. I can’t let it go. It was Barbas, Barbos... Barbatos!”
The weight of that name fell on Marina like a sharp object, capable of hewing her in two at the sound of it being pronounced. She felt tempted to rise from the chair with the shock, but luckily she managed to remain cool enough to resist her impulse, otherwise she’d make her sister panic. She didn’t know what to say to her, even because she didn’t want her to know who Barbatos was. She had to make up an excuse.
Marina stood up and devaluated, “You must have read the word somewhere. For example, it can be the brand of something you saw when you were falling and you memorized it. Forget it, it’s not important. Look, I have something for you.” She took the bracelet with caution and put on her sister’s wrist. Maybe she could buy another one when she returned to Alcácer. At that instant, what mattered was to provide her sister some protection.
Sofia pulled her arm back and turned it around, while staring at the stones and the medal. Curious, she inquired, “What is it?”
“It's a personalized protective bracelet that was made at a shop purposely for me after my accidents. They said that it protects you. You'll see, that that nightmare won’t occur again.”
Sofia slid her eyes across the stones in detail, admiring them. The bracelet that was a bit large on her; Marina hoped that she wouldn’t lose it or else she would be vulnerable again. Anyway, she was already weaving a plan to get Barbatos away from her sister for good.
A knock on the door warned her that
it was time to leave, so that Sofia would get some rest. Probably it was the bored nurse from the hallway. “It seems that I have to go. I think I'll be back tomorrow. Get better quickly to get out of here. I hate hospitals!” She put the chair near the closet and headed to the door.
Nevertheless, she stopped when her sister called her, “Hey, don’t tell anyone about my dream, okay?”
“Fine, and you don’t tell mine. You were the only person I told it to, except for my best friend. I don’t feel like being looked at as insane. It’s already enough to be known as ‘the accident’s chick’.”
Sofia chuckled and Marina left, shutting the door behind her. The hallway was very cold compared to the room, thus the immediate complaint of her body was a sneeze.
Marina found her parents sat at the seats, waiting for her. Her mother was quieter and she seemed to have wiped away the tears. She went to them with both hands in her pockets and kicking an imaginary tin. As none of them moved, she asked directly to her mother, “Are you going home now?”
Her mother reacted as if she had said the biggest atrocity of all. She blinked her eyes and said with severity, “I'm not going anywhere. I will leave only when Sofia gets out, and I return to Alcácer only when I’m sure that she’s fine.”
What? When she had been the victim, mom hadn’t made such a big scene. She could pretty well behave as the adult she was. The doctor wasn’t allowing more visits that day. What was the logic in staying there?
“You don’t need to stay at the hospital. You may come to my house,” suggested dad.
“No,” refused mom right away. “I have to be here. What if something happens during the night?”
“If anything happens, the doctors will call. She’s a minor and parents must give their consent to treatments.”
Marina glanced at her mother, who didn’t seem very convinced, but she had already made a decision: when her father went home, she would go with him. If she was allowed to be with her sister, she would stay and keep her company; however, in those conditions, staying wouldn’t do much good.
Her father took the car keys from his pocket and began walking. Marina followed him without hesitation and, soon after, her mother followed them too. When the elevator was going down, the girl wrinkled her nose; she feared that, with her parents stuck in the same house, they would go back to their usual discussions. There was something that she didn’t need… As she sighed, they left the ER and walked to her father’s Jeep.
“It’s better to leave your car there, otherwise you may get lost when following me. When you want to return home, I’ll leave you here, and you can go anywhere from this point,” proposed her father to her mother.
Maybe for being concerned about Sofia, mom entered the Jeep without any major complaints. Marina sat in the back seat while her mother took the front by her father's side. It was weird seeing them like that, side by side. She loved them both, but definitive and unarguably they shouldn’t even try to be a couple. They didn’t agree on anything, and they even seemed to have pleasure in tormenting one another. They were better separated.
The trip to dad’s home took fifteen minutes. They parked outside a building painted in yellow and green, and they left the Jeep. Marina stood behind her father and when he opened the door of the building, she went in right after him. They entered the elevator and dad pressed the button to the third floor. The lift gave a sob and started to climb, ending the trip with a new lament. Marina hated those little jumps, as they made her stomach feel funny. Her father was the first one to get out. He opened the apartment door and went in. Marina followed him, nevertheless she was surprised by a woman, who instantly came to her father and gave him a big kiss on the mouth. She heard her mother behind her letting out a shocked exclamation.
“Ooops!", Marina murmured.
Mom ran back to the elevator as fast as bullet, and it began to descend. Her father shouted a curse, entered the second lift and dropped behind her, leaving Marina alone with the unknown female. She thought that the woman before her was sophisticated: she had hair and nails done, and she didn’t wear exaggerated make up or too many accessories. The only things spoiling the image were her slippers with bunny heads, and the apron she had over her dress. Marina examined her closely and concluded that she reminded her of an ‘Executive Barbie’ dedicated to housekeeping.
In the first instant, the woman seemed a little alarmed upon seeing them; nonetheless, after Marina’s mother left, any sign of concern vanished.
She wiped her hands on the cloth she was holding and smiled. “You must be Marina. I'm Paula. From your reaction, I deduce your father hasn’t spoken about me yet.”
No, he hadn’t mentioned that he had a girlfriend, even because their conversations were limited to more mundane matters. It was natural that her father would rebuild his life. However, and as her mother hadn’t met another person, it hadn’t crossed her mind that dad had already done it.
Noting that the woman was awaiting a response, Marina postponed her thoughts and introduced herself. “Yes, I'm Marina. Nice to meet you. I imagine you are...”
“...your father’s girlfriend,” completed Paula. “We’ve been living together for a year and a half.”
Marina widened her eyes in surprise. She was even more outdated than she thought. Still, she would not blame herself over that - she was not a psychic. Her father didn’t tell her anything about his life and her sister ignored her deliberately. She had no way of knowing what was going on.
Seeing her expression, Paula noted, “Yep... Your father has told you nothing.”
Marina shook her head and replied, “No. We don’t talk much on the phone...”
“I know that, and I already scolded him many times. Come in and close the door,” she invited. “They shouldn’t take long.”
Paula went to the kitchen and Marina followed her. The woman sat at the table, eating yoghurt, and asked her if she wanted one. Marina felt some hunger, but she wasn’t a big fan of yoghurt, so she rejected the offer. Besides, she didn’t know if she would stay there, or if her mother would call her soon to go home or to return to the hospital. She settled into a chair, placing the backpack on the floor.
The front door opened shortly after, and her parents entered. Luísa looked quite upset. It was better not to ask her anything or she would take it out on her.
Once in the kitchen, dad made the introductions, “Paula, this is Luísa, the mother of Marina and Sofia.”
Paula cordially extended her hand to Marina’s mother, who replied with a teasing "nice to meet you" that revealed that it wasn’t nice at all. Luísa didn’t stay quiet for long and asked Marina’s father, “You still didn’t clarify how the sleeping arrangements will work.”
“Sofia’s bedroom is vacant and she has a double bed, so the two of you can sleep there.”
Marina cringed, guessing her mother’s explosion.
“Doubled bed? Why does she need a double bed? Does she already have a boyfriend? And the boyfriend, does he sleep here? What kind of education is this?!”
Paula threw the yoghurt cup into the recycling bin, put the spoon in the sink and left the room. Coward! She was leaving her there alone in the midst of her parents’ discussion. And she had to stay there and hear them? No way. Marina jumped up and followed Paula to the living room. The idea of having to sleep with her mother didn’t please her either. What her sister had told her was very serious and she wanted to consider what she had to do. If mom slept in the same room as her, she would spend all the time complaining about being there, about Marina’s father having a girlfriend, about them living together for over a year, that she hadn’t moved on with her life, blah-blah-blah... With so much talk, she wouldn’t be able to concentrate.
Her father entered the living room and confirmed that she would sleep in Sofia’s bed with her mother. Marina tried to keep her frustration to herself, while dad told her that, if she wished, she could go to the bedroom and leave her rucksack there. Annoyed, she did so.
She returned to the living room, where her father was watching TV. She knew that he wouldn’t try some chit-chat, so she sat on the other couch. She needed to get her ideas straight. She recalled Sofia’s nightmare and concern wrinkles gathered in her forehead. What would he want with Sofia? The phrase he had said to Sofia was a message for her, to warn her that, although she had got away from Lucas, Barbatos didn’t intend to go back on his threats. But if he wanted to kill her, why go after Sofia? She sighed. She missed Lucas. What good did it do to stay away from him and the alleged danger he represented, if Barbatos didn’t recede anyway? Maybe she should talk to Lucas when she returned. Maybe they could be friends; maybe they should wait to see how they things went; maybe... There were a lot of ‘maybes’. The most urgent thing was to get Barbatos away from her sister.
She moved uncomfortably on the couch and thought about what could be done to keep Sofia safe and sound, even because the bracelet wouldn’t do much. The only solution was talking directly to Barbatos, though she didn’t know where to find him. If she had her mobile phone, she could call Lucas and ask him, but it was Ana who had the device. She could use her mother’s, except she didn’t know Lucas’ number by memory. Thus, the only thing she had to do was wait. When she got to Alcácer, she would seek Barbatos and demand him to leave her sister alone. What worried her was his answer, particularly what he would ask for in return.
Time seemed to run. After dinner, Marina put one her sister’s pajamas, after all she had left in a hurry and had brought nothing with her beside her rucksack. She went to the living room and sat on the couch, opposite to her father and his girlfriend.
“It's a cold night. Cover yourself with this blanket,” said Paula, as she threw her a warm blanket.
The rest of the night was somewhat confused, perhaps because Marina felt drained. She remembered sitting watching TV one minute, and the next, nothing – she had fallen asleep. Her father added a quilt to the blanket she had over her and she didn’t get off the couch to go to bed.
Saturday dawned with sunshine peeking with shyness. The weak rays crossing the window came to Marina’s eyes with little intensity, still they were enough to wake her up. She fixed her eyes on the clock of the DVD player and was startled – 12.45p.m. Really? She yawned, stretched and got up. She dragged herself through the house, numb with sleepiness, and found out that nobody was home. Where had they gone? Had something happened? If so, they would have awakened her for sure. She put on her clothes and headed to the bathroom to make herself more presentable. Meantime, the front door opened; it was her parents and Paula... all together. Ouch! Confusion guaranteed, she figures.
“So, mom, where did you go?” questioned Marina.
“We went to the hospital, but we can only see your sister at the 4p.m visit.”
That said, her mother returned to the bedroom, while Paula passed by the girl with something in her hand with a delicious smell. Marina entered the kitchen and saw dad’s girlfriend opening two boxes with roast chicken, fries and rice.
“Will you help me to set the table?” asked the woman.
Marina agreed. Following the given indications, she had no trouble finding the tablecloth, plates, cups, cutlery and napkins to settle the table.
When the visit time approached, the four entered dad’s Jeep and followed to the hospital. The trip was quick. This time, they went to Sofia’s by a different wing. Since it was visitation time, the four of them were allowed to enter at the same time in the cubicle where Sofia was stuck for two days. Marina figured that she would be hating it, since she detested to feel imprisoned. With so many people there all at once, the space proved to be small and cramped. Sofia was in good spirits and seemed to enjoy very much the presence of Paula. She appeared to be very fond of the woman, and most likely she got along better with her than with her own mother.
The doctor who had brought them to her sister the previous afternoon entered the room, distributing short greetings. He took the chart placed at the end of the bed and read it carefully, displaying a neutral expression. He stroked his short beard and explained, “From what I'm reading in the chart, I'll keep what I said yesterday. Sofia will stay here for another day or two, because it’s too early for her to go home and I want to continue to monitor her clinical status. Tomorrow I'll have more information and I’ll take the decision about her discharge.”
Without providing any other details, the doctor put the chart back in its place and went out to the hallway. But if the he thought he would get away from the parental concern easily, he'd better think twice, because as soon as he turned his back, Marina’s mother quickly followed on his heels to ask him more questions.
Time flew and a buzzer sounded several minutes later, announcing the end of the visits. When Marina was about to leave, Sofia whistled for her to go back. She looked a little ashamed, but finally quizzed, “Did you tell anyone about my dream?”
“No, of course not. And you?”
“No. To whom could I tell? To those frightening nurses?” Sofia retorted, sticking her tongue out. “Anyway, back at home, how did it go?”
Marina rolled her eyes and put two fingers to her mouth as if she was going to vomit. Wasn’t it obvious? During the time Paula was next to Sofia, her mother didn’t even approach her – that said it all. Marina summarized how things went in the apartment, and said goodbye in haste when the nurse came to kick out the visitors that persisted among the patients.
She went down the elevator and found her parents and Paula outside, waiting. As she guessed, her mother would stay there until the next visit, and then she would go to her father’s house in her own car. Dad explained to her that he and his girlfriend had a commitment, so they couldn’t come back that day, which was a relief to Luísa. Marina was undecided about what to do. As she was in Lisbon, she’d like to visit her sister at the next opportunity, but she didn’t like the idea of having to wait at the hospital. She abhorred hospitals! Maybe she could return the next day. She decided to go home with her dad and his girlfriend. She was unhappy about leaving her mother there, alone, but she cheered herself up at the thought that mom was going to spend some time alone with Sofia.
