Episode 16: Tonight, I'll be Crooked

Episode 16

Nothing lasts forever. In the end, you changed. There is no reason, no sincerity. Take away such a  thing as love. Tonight, I'll be crooked. Leave me alone, I was alone anyway. I have no one, everything is meaningless. Take away the sugar-coated comfort. Tonight, I'll be crooked.

            Isabelle hung up her phone. She didn't want to go anywhere or do anything, but Jay kept calling and texting.

"Let's go to the coffee shop! Want to have a jam session with us? Come over and eat with us at least." Jay was desperate to get Isabelle out of her room, but no matter what he came up with, she wasn't interested.

            Isabelle sat at her desk, leaning on her hand, staring blankly at the pitcher of water on her desk. It was nearly empty, and a drop of water hung onto the tip of the pitcher, dangling dangerously, threatening to drop onto the wooden desk.  "I wonder when I'll fall. When what little I've managed to become just, falls and disappears." She thought to herself. "Why should I even practice if nothing's going to come of it? All my effort, will be, meaningless."

"Isabelle! Are you in there?!" A loud knocking made her jump out of her chair. "It's me, Hendrick! Open up! Hurry!" Isabelle jumped up to open the door to find Hendrick all dressed up in a black tux and black bowtie. His hair smoothed down, and his glasses shining clean.

"Wow. You look...normal." Isabelle admired. "Where's your usual quirky attire?" Hendrick smiled mischievously and pulled up his pant legs to reveal his unmatched neon socks. Isabelle chuckled.

"So I know someone who got me these tickets." He pulled out two tickets from his pocket. "And it looks like they're for a Yundi Li concert where he plays...Chopin." He raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for the response. Isabelle's eyes lit up.

"How did you get those? When is it?!" 

Hendrick looked down at his suit and raised his arms as if to present himself.

"Tonight?!" Isabelle found herself growing with excitement.

"More specifically..." Hendrick checked his shiny watch. "...in 20 minutes."

"20 minutes?!" Isabelle looked down at her tank top and sweat pants, trying to fix her messy hair. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? It looks like you had enough time to get ready!"

"Well..." Hendrick said sheepishly, "I was afraid if I gave you more time, you might think about it too much and decide not to go..."

"Well what would you do if I decided I wouldn't go right now? Simply because I don't have enough time to get ready?"  Isabelle tried acting angry.

"So...does that mean you're not going...or..." Hendrick asked slowly. Isabelle tried looking angry, but gave up.

"No, of course I'm going. Give me a minute." With that she closed the door in his face and frantically undressed and pulled out a dress from her closet. Hendrick stood outside with stupid grin on his face, dancing on his toes with excitement.

A couple minutes later Isabelle burst from her room and grabbed Hendrick by the arm.

"Hurry! We're going to be late!"

"Wait!! Aren't you going to lock your door..."

But Isabelle was dragging him along, her long pink dress flowing behind her. They jumped into the elevator, and as it finally opened in the lobby, they dashed outside. They hailed a taxi and went full speed ahead to the concert hall.

They arrived in front of the large concert hall ten minutes later. Most of the crowd had gone it, except for a few people. They hurried up the steps and into the building. Hendrick pulled her into the concert hall. Thousands of people filled the room, facing a majestic stage. On the stage sat a large orchestra and in the middle, a beautiful, black piano, the white keys shining under the stage lights. Hendrick lead her further and further to the front. There they found two empty seats in the fifth row.

"How did you get seats so close?" Isabelle asked as they sat down.

"I have some connections." Hendrick smiled brightly at her. Isabelle felt her heart jump a little at his smile, and quickly turned away to face the stage.

The lights dimmed, and a spotlight formed as the director stepped onto the stage and took his place at the podium. The audience applauded loudly. The director gave a short introduction, before the spot light shifted to the edge of the stage, and Yundi Li emerged. The audience thundered with excitement and eagerness. He took his place at the piano and nodded to the director. Then with one movement of his baton, the orchestra burst into life.

Isabelle became lost in everything. Somehow all the problems and worries she had where nowhere to be found. She listened to the magic of the orchestra and the piano and found inspiration. She found motivation, and more importantly, strength. The roaring applause of the audience woke her up from her trance, and she watched as Yundi Li stood on the stage, taking a bow.  "I want to be someone who inspires the audience like that." Isabelle thought.

"That's where I want to be." Isabelle said. Hendrick gently took her hand in his, and leaning in close so she could hear him,

"Me too."

 Isabelle gently squeezed his hand, finding comfort in him that she never expected. They stood up and began following the crowd out of the concert hall. As they stepped outside into the lobby area, they began seeing stares and fingers pointing at them.

"Isn't that Isabelle Young? That daughter of Yang Chun Hwa?"

"Who's that guy she's with? I thought she was dating some rock, or pop star whatever?"

Isabelle felt her stomach plummet to the ground. Hendrick grabbed a hold of her hand and began pulling her toward the exit.

"Wait! Isabelle! Wait! Say something for the camera!" A reporter had seen them and camera flashes began erupting. Hendrick quickly hailed a taxi that was already stopped there.

"Come on, get it." Hendrick helped Isabelle into the cab, and jumped in after her. The reporters ran up to the cab as it began pulling away. "That was a close one." Hendrick sighed and leaned back into the seat. Isabelle felt the magic of the performance ebb away as the problems of her real world came flooding back.

The cab pulled up in front of their music building. Holding onto Hendrick's arm, they walked into the lobby and took the elevator up. They stepped out into the 8th floor common room and were greeted by the voice of a loud reporter, and Jay pacing back and forth. Isabelle nervously stepped out of the elevator and dropped her hold on Hendrick's arm. Jay whipped around to look at Isabelle. He hurried over to her and put his hand on her shoulders.

"Where have you been? Why did you go out without telling me? What's he doing here?" Jay looked coldy over at Hendrick.

"We just went to a concert." Hendrick said just as coldy, returning Jay's glare.

"I thought you said you didn't want to do anything?" Jay asked Isabelle. Isabelle couldn't look at him, she just shrugged his hands off her shoulders and turned to hurry back to her room.

"What did you do?!" Jay turned angrily to Hendrick. Hendrick straightened up, the same height as jay he looked him right in the eye.

"Why? Is she your girlfriend?"

"Yeah! She is!"

"Oh really? Did she say that herself? Or are you just assuming that?" Jay broke off his glare first, looking after Isabelle. "That's what I thought." Hendrick turned and began walking away, but Jay stopped him, slamming his hand into Hendrick's shoulder. They locked eyes again, glaring coldly and angrily at each other. Then all of a sudden they heard a crying scream. Jay and Hendrick jumped into action and bolted down the hallway.

Isabelle's door was open, and she was sitting on the ground, her pink dress in a puddle around her. Tears streaming down her face as she stared at her room. Hendrick and Jay came to a skidding halt behind and stared in disbelief at her room. All her papers and music books were torn and strewn all over the room. Everything on her desk was in a broken pile on the ground. The sheets on her bed, the clothes in her closet, all of her belongings were in a state of ruin.

"Who did this?!" Jay shouted, and turned to Hendrick.

"Why would I know?!! Isabelle, are you ok?"

Looking at her destroyed room, Isabelle felt just as broken as her things. Her friends were angry enough at her to ruin her belongings. She could hear Hendrick and Jay trying to talk to her, trying to lift her off the ground, but she didn't want to stand up.

"Come on Isabelle," Jay put her arm over his shoulders and started lifting, "We'll make them pay for this. They can't get away with doing something like this." Isabelle wanted to shout at him, wanted to tell him that's not what she wanted.

"Isabelle, can you hear me?" Hendrick held onto her hand. "I'll talk to them with you ok? I'll make them listen to what you have to say. This is all an accident."  She wanted to hold onto him, to tell him to help her, but Jay pulled her into the room, and closed the door, leaving Hendrick standing there helplessly.

"Here, sit down." Jay set Isabelle down on her bed. "Here have some water. It's like the only thing they didn't knock over." Jay reached for the water pitcher on the desk and picked up the toppled over mug. He poured her some water and handed it to her. Isabelle took the water and swallowed a large mouthful, trying to stop her sobbing and hiccupping.

"It was probably Karin." Jay sat down next to her. "She seemed the most angry. You want me to go get her? She's right down the hall right?"  Isabelle shook her head and finished off the mug of water.

"No. I don't want to...do accuse her."

"Why?! It has to be her! Who else would think to do this?!" Jay exclaimed. But Isabelle's eyes were glued on the water pitcher.

"What?" Jay looked over at the pitcher. "What's wrong?"

"That pitcher..." Isabelle felt her fingers loosening from around the mug. "It's full."

"Yeah...? I guess she was nice enough not to spill water all over your room." Jay picked up the pitcher and looked at it more closely, sniffing it.

"It...was empty...when I ...left." Isabelle dropped the mug to the ground, unable to move her hands.

"Isabelle?" Jay started panicking.  Isabelle saw her room spinning around her, her throat burning as if on fire. Her stomach seemed to scream in place of her throat. Then everything went dark.

Jay watched in shock as Isabelle slid from the bed to the ground and began shaking. He dropped to her side and tried holding her still, screaming for her to talk to him. Her eyes were open, but she wasn't seeing anything.

"Help!! Someone help!" Jay screamed for someone, and held Isabelle in his arms as she started to stop shaking. Tears rolled down Jay's face as Isabelle looked up at him with a lifeless stare. Hendrick burst into the room and as soon as he saw her, burst into action. He whipped out his phone and called an ambulance.

Jay ran down the hallway, Isabelle dangling unconscious from his arms. Hendrick called the elevator and ran out of the building with Jay. The ambulance pulled up as they came out and the medics pulled out a stretcher. Placing Isabelle on the stretcher, Jay leapt into the back of the ambulance after her, Hendrick right behind him. The ambulance speed through the city, and pulled up in front of the hospital.

In a frantic rush, Isabelle was pushed into the building and into a room. Jay and Hendrick watched, their noses pushed up against the glass as nurses and doctors crowded in.

"We need to pump her stomach! Hurry!"  They pushed a tube down her throat and began to drain her stomach.

For what seemed like days, the room finally began to clear out and Jay and Hendrick  rushed in.

"What happened? Is she ok?" Jay shouted at the nurses.  The nurses looked solemnly at each other.

"Someone tell me what's going on!!" Jay shook a nurse by her shoulders.

"She's had arsenic poisoning. She drank a lot of it, someone had to have put it in the water, it's not natural. We did what we could, but it was a lot of poisoning. She had a seizure, and is in a coma right now, and we don't know if...if she's going to be ok."  A nurse spoke quietly and nervously. Jay let his arms drop down to his side, his face completely blank, his whole body in shock. Hendrick was kneeling at the side of the bed, holding onto Isabelle's hand, head hanging down toward the ground. Isabelle just lay there. Eyes closed. Oblivious to the pain, heartache, and love that surrounded her in the room.

_____

"Where am I?" Isabelle looked around her, but all she could see was a white fog. 

"Fenghuang? Is that you?" A woman's voice came from somewhere in the fog. Isabelle looked around frantically. Then out of the fog a woman dressed in light blue gown stepped out, a look of worry on her face.

"Mom? Mom!!" Isabelle started running toward her, but no matter how hard she tried, the ground seemed to be made of sand that held her in place, dragging her downward. The woman reached an arm out to her.

"Stay still." She said, "You're in a coma. You can't move." The woman seemed to drift closer until she was in front of Isabelle.

"Mom, what are you talking about? I'm...oh..." the memory came flooding back, drinking the water, the pain, everything becoming dark.

"She was just jealous. Don't hate her too much." Isabelle's mom reached for Isabelle's hand, but her own hand passed through like it was nothing more than a cloud of smoke.

"Who? Who did this? Where are we? Am I here forever? Mom, tell me!" Isabelle tried to touch her, but her arms went through the smoky image of her mother.

"We're in the in-between land, between earth and the heavens. I felt you come here, and came down to meet you. But don't worry, you won't be here for long."  

"What do you mean? But I want to stay here with you! " Isabelle felt herself crying, but there weren't any tears on her face.

"There's people waiting for you to go back.  Don't do what I did and leave them behind." Her mom's face became sad suddenly. "I'm sorry I didn't go back. Unlike you, I didn't have very long to stay here, I didn't have any time to make a decision, and...it was too late." A small silvery tear rolled down her cheek. "You can stay here for as long as you like though. As long as your physical body is ok, you consciousness can stay here until you're ready." She tried to smile again.

"Ready for what?" Isabelle asked quietly.

"Ready to go back. Or, move on."  Isabelle became excited again.

"You mean, I can choose to stay with you?!"

"Sure. If that's what you want." The smoky figure of her mom seemed to ripple like a puddle of water. "I have to go soon. I can't visit here for long."

"How do I choose? Who do I tell?" Isabelle began to panic as the image of her mom began to ripple even more, distorting the image.

"Let the sand, or the clouds take you." And with that, the image was gone.

Isabelle could feel the sand around her ankles, keeping her grounded to earth. She lifted her hands, trying to feel the foggy clouds, but they couldn't be grasped.

"Where do I go from here?" She knelt down and hugged her knees. "I want to be with my mom again, but I also want to be with..."

"Isabelle!" A voice rang in the distance.

"Hendrick!" Isabelle jumped up and searched for the dorky boy with glasses. "Hendrick where are you? What are you doing here?" But there was no sight of Hendrick.

"Isabelle! Can you hear me?" The voice came again, seeming to come from beneath her.

"Yes! Hendrick! I can hear you! Where are you?!" Isabelle tried getting as close to the ground as possible to hear him.

"I don't know if you can hear me but..." Hendrick's voice echoed in the fog. "If you're in there...can you like, squeeze me hand or something? Please? Let me know you can hear me."

"I...I can hear you Hendrick!" Isabelle shouted. "But how do I...how do I squeeze...I can't!" Isabelle moved her hand in a squeezing motion, but she couldn't feel his hand.

"If you can hear me..." Hendrick continued, "Just know that I'm always here. It's been a month now...but I'll still come every day. I promise." The sound of his voice rang through the emptiness Isabelle stood in.

"A month? I've been here a month?" Isabelle began to realize that every minute she spent in the in-between, was an entire day back on earth. "I want to go back." She thought. But then she looked upward, "But...my mom. Maybe my dad? I won't have to be sad over my friends anymore. I won't have to deal with the stupid paparazzi..." She started to feel lighter, as if the fog was lifting her up. She felt lost in her imagination, of what it would be like to be free of all her worries. But then the voice came again.

"Isabelle! No!! Isabelle please don't go! Don't leave me. Please." Isabelle jumped at the sound of Hendrick's shouting voice. She looked down and realized she was high above the ground now. She had let the clouds lift her up without realizing it.

"Wait! No...I...I can't!" Isabelle struggled against the clouds keeping her afloat. "Hendrick! I...I have to go back. Please." She finally felt her feet submerge into the sand again. She knew that even though there would be trouble and heartache, she still had a lot to do.

She closed her eyes and thought of Hendrick. Thought of her dreams, and what the music had said to her. Slowly, she felt the sand pulling her down, creeping up her leg, past her knees, up to her hips, and engulfed her.

______

"Oh my god. Isabelle!" Evie grabbed the door handle about to open the car door.

"No!" A hand reached over and grabbed her arm stopping her.

"But she's...is she ok?" Evie watched as the ambulance put Isabelle on a stretched and pushed her into the back, Jay and Hendrick jumping in after her.

"Why do you care? This is what we wanted!"

"But I...I..." Evie flashed back to a moment a week ago. She saw herself standing next to Raj, at his makeshift laboratory in his room, pouring chemicals into tubes and stirring beakers on a hot plate.

"So what's that you're mixing into the water?"  Evie peered over his shoulder.

"This is arsenic. It's colorless, odorless, and can be very fatal if taken too much. But, I'm working on a theory, that maybe in small amounts, it could potentially kill cancer cells in patients, while causing minimal, reversible damage on healthy cells." Raj swished the tube a little and set it aside.

"What would happen if someone were to...drink it?" Evie eyed the large stock of arsenic he kept in his storage box.

"Well, if taken in an extremely large dose...it would probably kill someone.  Or make them really sick. Depends how much  you give them really."

Evie returned to the present as the ambulance lights flashed as it drove by her.

"What have I done?" Evie looked down at her hands.

"Don't worry. You only messed up her room a bit. I'm the one who actually mixed it in. Besides, she deserves it. After taking away what we both wanted. They all need to be taught a lesson. Now get out of my car before anyone sees us together."

"But..Cera...I have to tell someone..."

"No! Evie, listen to me, don't tell anyone. Or else it's over for your music career, and over for my acting career. Got it?! And I won't hesitate to do the same to you if you decide to betray me. I'm much more famous and powerful than you, I can make anything happen. Understand?"

Evie nodded, terrified.

"Good. Get out."

Evie frantically opened the door and rushed out, hurrying toward the building and dashing inside.

"No one messes with Cera Chan." Cera flipped her hair over her shoulder, turned on the car, and drove away. 

Tonight, I'll be crooked.

~Evie