Fated To Love You Forever

~A Dream… 11 Years Earlier~

“Is anyone home?! Open up!”

Damien frowned at the urgent tone of whoever was knocking on the door, and getting up from the chair he walked straight to the wooden door, that housed the small cottage he lived in with his parents.

The knock resounded again, and without wasting any more time he unlocked the door, revealing three men, who had a look of alarm on their faces.

As he was about to ask what the problem was, his eyes flew down to what they were carrying, and he nearly fell to the floor in shock when he sighted the crumpled figure of his limp father.

The sight was an eyesore to behold, and lips dropping open in shock, Damien noted that his father was nearly unconscious with a huge gash in his thigh, feets and both his hands injured as well, bleeding profusely.

The sight of these wounds threw Damien off balance, and he began to wonder what could have happened. His father had been fine this morning. He had been perfectly okay… so, so what the hell was this?

“What happened!” He yelled, falling to the floor and placing an arm on his father.

“Dad?” His hands shook, as he tried desperately to rouse him awake but he was unresponsive, saying nothing, his eyes open but blank.

“There was an accident at the factory.” One of the men volunteered in explanation, sweating heavily as he added, “One of the machines had a malfunction and it… it fell right on top of him while it was working. It’s a miracle he wasn’t cut into two, and rolled over before more harm could be done.”

‘Before more harm could be done?’ Damien gasped in horror as the image of his father in two halves, formed in his mind and he almost cursed out loud.

His heart pounding in his chest, he hurriedly locked the door and placing a hand underneath his father to help carry him up, he began to ask the questions that were on the tip of his tongue.

“Why didn’t you take him directly to the hospital from there? Why bring him home this way?” Damien yelled, tears threatening to spill from his eyes, as he continued the words forming furiously, “The hospital isn’t too far from the factory so why bring him here?”

“We wanted to… but… but Mr Connor ordered us to take him back to his family. He said you people would sort him out. If I could quote, he did say we should dump your father at home, and come back to work immediately.”

“Wait what? Mr Connor…” Damien trailed off in disbelief, his face whitening and the name chilling him to the core. Why would that man do that? The hospital was right there, few miles away from the factory, and he had ordered them to walk the long distance to their house?

Tossing the thoughts out of his mind for the meantime, knowing that pondering on the situation was going to do no help, Damien begged the men to help him lift his father up and take him to the hospital, before they could go back to their workplace. He was the only one at home, and it would be increasingly difficult for him to take his father alone.

When they finally got to the hospital, the first thing Damien did was to call up his mother, and bitterly with tears flowing for his face, he informed her about everything that had happened, trying to keep his tone strong as she sobbed over the phone and informed him that she was on her way over.

“Mom, we need to get the money so they can commence treatment, please. I don’t…I don’t know what to do. I’ve scraped up my life savings but it isn’t nearly enough to foot the hospital bills. The money from the mechanic shop will barely do nothing, and I’ve gotten some money from Alvarez too but still we have a long way to go interns of finances. What do we do?” He asked, already close to breaking down but he held himself steady.

She had sobbed over the phone, having no money with her too, and after a while, wiping his hands and drying the tears on his face he said, “Don’t worry, I’ll ask a few people, but before then, just come over to the hospital and stay with Dad, okay?”

Without waiting for her response, he hung up, and racing like his life depended on it, Damien ran helter skelter, meeting everyone he knew in town, begging for some kind of support, and promising to pay back at an agreed date. After he had gone all over, he raced back to the hospital, with the meager sun he had been able to gather, and adding everything together he saw that he had managed to get half of the hospital bill. He was going to plead with the doctor to commence treatment, and then he would find a way to complete the money before the end of the day.

The moment he got into the hospital, he raced toward his father’s ward with the cash in his hand, intent on meeting the doctor but he came to an abrupt halt when he saw the gory sight in front of him.

The first person he saw was his mom kneeling on the floor, her hands over her head as she sobbed countlessly over and over again, and a feeling of dread coursing through him, the bills fell from his hand as he looked from his mother to the doctor who stood gravely beside her.

He shook his head furiously, refusing to believe what his mother’s tears relayed, fearing the worst but still he picked up courage and started to say in a stammer, “Doctor… I… I… I have the money now, we can commence treatment and…” He sprang to the floor, picking up the bills that had somehow scattered all over and stretching his hands to the doctor, he repeated defiantly, “I have the money…”

The doctor sighed, and clearing his throat he dropped the bombshell, “I’m so sorry Mr Daniels, but we couldn’t save him. He lost a lot of blood before he was brought here, and we did our best to curtail the blood flow, even infusing him with some blood and antibiotics but it was already too late. I’m very sorry.”

Damien staggered backwards, his knees giving way as he fell to the floor, the words from the doctor relating itself one raked over again in his head but he didn’t want to believe it. It can’t be… it couldn’t be…his father. The man he saw this morning, and had wished a hearty goodbye just couldn’t be dead.

There was no way he could be fatherless in the blink of an eye, and his mother a widow. No way! What would happen to his sister Layla? How would they cope? Surely this was some kind of a joke! Damien said to himself but the words of the doctor kept reverberating in his head, again, and again, and again.

His father Mr Daniels was dead. “NO!”

***

Damien sprung from his pillow with a gasp, the scream from the dream echoing loudly in the room. He was sweaty and his hands shook as the, scream echoed in his head over and over again.

Looking around he saw that he was in his bedroom, not at the hospital, or that place where he had received one of the most hurting news of his life. He placed a hand over his forehead and shut his eyes tightly, as he began to murmur comforting words to himself.

It was just a dream, nothing more, nothing less. This was not the first time he was having a dream about the past, but ever since she had come, it had become more frequent and he hated it with passion. Placing a hand over his chest, trying to calm his beating heart, he heaved slowly as he also tried to regain his bearings.

“Babe, what’s wrong?” Katherine’s soft voice filled the room, as she shuffled a bit, and hissing silently, he recalled that she was laying right next to him on the bed.

He had forgotten already, and now at the moment, she had a hand placed on his shoulder as she observed him with a concerned look, her eyes dimmed with curiosity, even in the dark lit room, “Is everything okay?”

He raked a hand through his hair, reaching out to stroke her neck, “It’s nothing,” He whispered, hoping she would drop the conversation as he further elaborated curtly, “Just a nightmare. Okay? I’m fine now. You can go back to sleep.”Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Leaning forward, he placed a light kiss to her forehead, cooing her until she lay back comfortably on the bed, and even when she closed her eyes he continued to stroke her hair, slowly… slowly and gently until she fell asleep again, snoring lightly and knocked out completely.

When he was sure she was really sound asleep, he quietly climbed out of bed, making his way to the balcony, wanting to get some fresh air to cool his wandering thoughts. Besides, there was no way he could fall asleep again after that, scared that the dreams would plague him again and he didn’t want to relieve that horrific memory.

What would help him now, was a glass of wine and the fresh air, which was being provided largely.

Tiptoeing slowly, he procured a wine bottle from the cabinet in his room, and quickly finding a comfortable spot at the balcony to sit in, he let his mind drift away as he took small sips of the wine.

The dream was making him think of the Connors once again, but more so the one person that occupied his mind at the moment was Madison.

Not a coincidence at all, but his thought was instantly snagged with memories of the night at the club. The image of her begging helplessly at his feet, appeared vividly and a bitter smirk formed on his lips when he remembered how he had mercilessly kicked her away, the cameras perfectly capturing that moment.

As soon as the smirk faded away though, a huge atom of guilt tugged at his heart, and a sigh escaping his lips, the wine burning at the back of his throat, Damien finally admitted to himself that he had fucking gone overboard.

Looking through the photos in the media, one he had seen in his phone, it was enough to make him realize that the extent of his behavior was uncalled for, and now he was somewhat regretting it.

Sighing yet again for the umpteenth time, he downed a huge gulp of his drink and willed his thoughts to go in any other possible direction than towards Madison, the only woman he had ever loved and the mess the past few weeks had been.

…….

Madison was in tremendous pain.

All through her journey from the bakery, back to her motel earlier this morning, and the long hours in which she had changed her clothes, cleaned her motel and sat listless in her bed the entire day, she had not fully realized this till now.

She had sat up all through the evening brooding, but she did not feeling any emotion except for the obvious emptiness in her chest.

Now though as night began to fall, the events that made up Madison’s week began to replay in her head once more, and with each calamity, she felt a renewed kind of pain, her heart shattering and that was when the overfilled dam burst. She clutched at the sheets she laid on, her chest tightening as she sobbed painfully.

She had felt pain before but this time it was so overwhelming, that she didn’t know what to do with it other than to let it out through her tears.

Overpowered by her pain and tears, she dialed the number of the only person she could be vulnerable with.

“M-mom?” She whimpered through the receiver, tears filling her eyes as her mother demanded what the problem was in alarm, hearing her cool voice, “I-I have no idea what to do…I’m completely lost, Mom.”

“Shh, it’s okay. Calm down…take deep breaths okay?”

Madison nodded shakily, shutting her eyes and imagining her mother stroking her hair affectionately like she used to do in the past, when she lay on the bed in her room when she was still a kid. It made her feel slightly better, when she was done and now it was having the same little soothing effects on her. “Good girl…now, tell me everything. Talk to me. What is bothering you? Money problems? Health problems or what?”

As steady as she could keep her voice, she narrated the whole story to her mother, this time not leaving out the part with Damien and Alvarez, the dress, what happened at the club and at the bakery.

She hadn’t mentioned Damien to her mother the first time, because she wanted to leave him out of any conversation and she had only told her of the misfortune that had befallen her ever since she arrived at New York for the gig, but now she couldn’t hold it back. Yes! At this point she was so helpless and in so much sorrow, that she had to tell someone close everything… to get it off her chest, and there was no other person than her mother.

“God, Maddie. Baby…” Her mother whispered through the phone, pain and worry evident in her voice, her voice breaking, as she asked slowly, “You met Damien after all these years, and he didn’t this to you? How will you survive all this? What is happening?”

By the time she finished asking the questions, Madison could hear her sobs and this time it made her cry even harder.

“I don’t know, Mom. I have nothing to do… nowhere to go and nothing to do. I am nowhere close to gathering enough money to pay for that damned dress. With the two jobs I secured I would have been able to, but all I have left is seven hundred dollars, from all the work I’ve done, and the remaining half of the money you sent me the other time. W-what am I supposed to do now? I’m just tired!” She burst into fresh wave of tears, the reality of what could happen if she failed to clear off her bills sinking in, and her chest squeezed in enormous pain.

“Shh…it’s okay, baby. It’s okay. Calm down.”

Her mother let her sob for a while, and after a few moments had passed, she spoke up again, “What about that friend of yours, Alvarez? I remember him back then, and he was good to you. You mentioned him right? You met him right?”

Madison sniffed, “What about him?”

“Well…from everything you told me, he seems to have your best interests at heart seeing as he paid some of your bills, and insisted you stay at his house some time. Right? What do you think about asking him for some money?”

Madison froze in shock, “What? Mom, no. Why would you even ask me that? He has done so much, and I still feel like a terrible person. You know me, and there’s only so much my ego can take, mother.” She began to state firmly, her face already beginning to redden at the thought of begging Alvarez for help, “I know I’m in a terrible situation at the moment, but I still have my pride. I can’t ask him for money, worse still an amount this much. I don’t know if he even has it, and his friendship with Damien is even strained because of this and…” She stopped abruptly seeing that she was revealing to much, and she prayed that her mother wouldn’t ask her to finish that statement and luckily she was lucky.

“Maddie… look I understand where you’re coming from, but this is bigger than your pride. He’s the only person who could be of help to you. You have no other options and no choice. If you could just cast your pride aside and do this, we might be able to get at least half of the problem solved.”

“Mom, I can’t do-”

“If talking to him is the problem you can send his number to me. I’ll call him, talk to him, and when I explain everything to him I’m sure he’d see reasons with you.”

Madison’s eyes widened in horror, “Mother! Please don’t talk like that. Give you his number? Absolutely not. For what!” She exclaimed, but Madison knew her mother wouldn’t give it up so easily so she sighed and replied, “Okay, I’ll think about it.”

“That’s my girl. Anything you come up with, don’t hesitate to let me know. Take care of yourself, honey. I miss you so much.”

Madison’s grip on the phone tightened as tears welled up in her eyes yet again.

She missed her mother so much, and it had been long since she saw her.

With the current distance between her and her father, the fact that she was a prodigal daughter and had been disowned made the situation much to bitter.

She longed to be close to her mother, especially now that it seemed like everything was going wrong but well wishes weren’t horses that she could ride so well.

“I miss you t-”

“I-I have to go now. Your father’s home. Bye, I love you.” Before Madison could get any other words out, the line had gone dead.

She knew her mother had to be careful every time she spoke to her, which was why they had specific days when they talked.

Her father would flip if he found out that any member of his family, from his wife to his sons was still in touch with Madison.

For all he knew she was dead to him, and he cared less about her well-being. She only spoke to her mother on arranged days, usually when her father would be at work, or out of the house.

Pain shot through her as she began to sob afresh, cradling her pillow in her arms. The cold, empty motel room seemed even emptier today, the vast space eating her up.

She was alone… completely alone, but then she had always been.

She couldn’t even talk to the one person who could comfort her without standing the risk of angering her father, and rocking back and forth clenching her fists, tears continued to streamed down her face.

Like every other night since all of this started, Madison cried herself to sleep, heart twinging painfully…