The doctor shook his head slightly.
“I’m sorry Mr. Bloom I don’t recommend that, she’s barely recognizable. She had her purse in her lap, that’s how we confirmed that she was actually Ellena.”
“Elle.” Lily corrected quietly.
“Look here dammit, I want to see her and if I have to raise Bloody Hell in order for me to see the woman I love than so be it.” Orlando argued.
“Mr. Bloom, I understand this all, but she was very battered up from this. I highly recommend that you do not do this.”
“Please.” Lily stepped in. “Just…we could stand here and argue all day but Orlando’s too head strong to back down. Either he’s going to raise a Holy Hell or you’re going to let us see my sister.”
The doctor sighed, nodding his head lightly.
“Mr. Bloom, Miss Harris, please follow me.”
The doctor led the two down a deserted, bright white hallway. Lily looked nervously towards Orlando, but he paid no attention to her. Only to the room the doctor had led them to. 804. The doctor looked back and nodded, indicating this was the right room. He walked slowly into a dark room; he walked to a light switchboard and hit the last light, sending an off-white color around the room. He walked to a white curtain and pulled it back. Orlando rushed to her side, leaving Lily by the door.
“Oh Jesus…” he whispered, when he fully saw her body.
“Oh Elle.” He cried. “Oh Elle, please wake up…love, please…”
He stepped closer to the top of the bed, that was when Lily could see. Her arm. Elle’s arm. Covered with blood, cuts deep into her forearm…Lily gasped and back away from the room. Not able to handle what was set in front of her. Then it had finally hit her. Elle was gone. Elle wasn’t coming back.
Lily backed against the wall and slid down, covering her face with her hands, she sat and cried.
“Lily, are you ready to go?” Orlando asked a few minutes later. She looked up and saw him inches from her face. He was kneeling down, hands resting on her arms. She nodded lightly.
“I’m gonna stop at the payphone and call my work. Do you want me to call yours for you?”
She nodded again, letting him help her to a standing position.
“Please, that’d be great.”
He took her hand and led her back down the deserted hallways, but this time when they got to the reception desk they saw Atti, Heath and Elijah, all sitting with solemn looks on their faces. When they saw Orli leading Lily down a hallway they all three stood, not knowing what to do. Both Orli and Lily’s crying had ceased, but the stains of the tears had remained on their faces. Heath and Elijah went over to hug Orli and give him their comfort. Atti saw Lily standing back, behind the men, and went to her.
“Hey sweet heart.” He said, slowly and quietly walking towards her.
She looked up to him and even though she thought she cried every tear it all came back to her.
“Oh Atti…” She whispered, then collapsed into his arms, sobbing.
“It’s okay, everything’s going to be fine.” He kept assuring her.
How can he be so sure? Lily thought to herself. She wasn’t sure of anything anymore. Still holding Lily, Atti turned to Orli.
“Did you see her?”
Lily looked over to Orli who nodded, then locked eyes with Lily.
“I did.”
“And?” Atti continued.
Orli looked down to his feet, then back up to Lily.
“She’ll always be beautiful to me.”
Lily’s eyes, for the hundredth time that day welled up with tears, and descended down her rosy cheeks. She nodded her head lightly, no wonder Elle loved him. He’s perfect.
________________________________________
They all met back at Orli’s house, and quietly entered, saying nothing to each other on the ride home. Atti practically had to carry Lily to the house, being her support. He walked her into the living room and sat next to her on the couch, with her head resting on his shoulder. Orli had disappeared upstairs as soon as he got home, saying he wanted to be alone for a little while. Heath and Elijah went onto the patio in the backyard, sitting at the small round table a few feet from the French Doors.
Lily sighed loudly and sat up in the couch, turning to face Atti.
“When did you meet my sister?” She asked innocently.
He looked at her, first shocked because she had talked for the first time since they had left the hospital about forty-five minutes earlier, and second because it was a question about Elle. Nonetheless, he took a second to ponder the question.
“About ten months ago, about ten months ago I guess.”
“How did you meet her?” Lily asked, seemingly interested.
“Oh wow. It was at a premiere for one of my movies, I had heard so much about her from Orlando already about what a great gal she was. I didn’t expect her to exceed my expectations though.” He smiled. “Elle can…could brighten a room with just her presence. She’s carries this natural grace with her, I’ve never seen it before. And with Orli’s history with dating models I didn’t know what to expect.”
There was a pause and Atti looked over to Lily. She asked, “Did you ever see her work?”
“I actually did.” He smiled harder. “Around the time they were having the LA premiere for The Fellowship of the Ring she had a show and she wanted a lot of us to come…to see her at her best was how she put it. She was so perfect on that runway. Wearing the most beautiful dresses, her makeup flawless.”
He looked down to his hands. “I never knew someone could be so happy…truly happy, with a past like that.”
Lily looked to her hands.
“I wish I could be like her.”
“So do I.” Atti said looking at her.
Lily looked at him confusingly.
“What do you mean?”
He smiled.
“I see…you never found out, huh?”
She shook her head. Atti went on explaining the time Atti had been assaulted when he was sixteen, afterwards seeking therapy and his plots to express himself fully to recover.
“As horrible as it sounds, it’s comforting to know we weren’t the only ones.” Lily said quietly. “But how did you know? About Elle and I…”
“I overheard Elle talking to Orli last night. I saw you across the hall, but I saw how upset you were so I didn’t want to bother you. It’s horrible for Orli though, Elle dying the night after he proposed.”
Lily’s head snapped up.
“What?…Wha-what did you say? Orli…he proposed?”
Atti blushed.
“Oh…yea you did leave before that happened didn’t you?”
“Oh wow…she didn’t say anything to me this morning.”
“They wanted to go out to dinner tonight with everyone. They wanted to announce it to everyone together.” He said quietly, looking towards the hallway. “He got her ring back, I could see it in his hand this morning.”
“Oh Orlando.” Lily said quietly. “He loved her so much.”
“She was perfect in his eyes. Beautiful. Sweet as all things Holy. She cared more about everyone else than she did herself, always putting others before her. She never stopped giving out her love, even when you could tell she wanted to be alone.”
Atti locked eyes with Lily. “Don’t be surprised if Orlando pushes you away, Lily.”
“Pushes me away?” She questioned.
“You remind him, all of us actually, of Elle so much. It‘s amazing how much the two of you are alike. So caring, beautiful, understanding.” Atti said, Lily bit her lip to stop the tears that were forming in her eyes. “You look like you could be twins.”
“Please stop.” Lily said looking to her hands. “We’re very different.”
“I’m not going to argue with you on this Lily, we see things very differently. But don’t be surprised if Orli acts…different…towards you. Give him time.”
“That’s all I have.” She whispered, looking up to Atti. With a click of the French doors, Elijah and Heath entered, blowing out the last stream of smoke from their cigarettes.
“Hey guys.” Lily said quietly.
“Hey beautiful.” Elijah said sitting next to her and patting her knee. “How are you holding up?”
“As best as I can…I guess.” She faked a smile. “Hey Lij?”
“Yeah?”
“When did you meet her?”
He looked at her, shocked, but proceeded.
“It was only about three weeks into Orlando and Elle’s relationship, when they admitted that it was a relationship. We had some press junkets in LA with some Tolkien people and they wanted the Fellowship there to answer some questions about the relationship between the book and the movie. And he brought her along, and I didn’t know much about her…I had of course seen pictures from local magazines and gossip columns about the two dating, but she was so different from what I expected. She was beautiful. Drop dead gorgeous.” He winced after he said it. “Sorry-”
“Keep going.” Lily said, acting as though she hadn’t heard what he said. But she did. It cut into her heart like a razor. Drop dead gorgeous, she thought to herself, dead.
“And she was so sweet,” Elijah continued. “I guess that she was used to meeting famous people, or something, because she didn’t let the stardom of anyone she met phase her. Not even Ian or Sean. She never did really talk about fame either, I think the only time we talked about it was when we talked about ‘Radio Flyer’ She said it was her favorite movie.” He smiled.
“Radio Flyer.” Lily whispered. She looked up to Atti. “Lij…she said that was her favorite movie?”
. “Yea she did. Why do you ask?”
“Did she ever say why?” Lily questioned.
“She said something about crying every time because she watched it because the little brother, Bobby, got away from The King.”
Atti forced a smile. Lily forced her eyes to shut as tightly as possible.
“I’m gonna go check on Orli.” She said, and walked down the hallway before anyone could protest. She quickly made her way upstairs, but stopped and sat against the railing and slid to the ground. He got away, Lily thought to herself, she did everything she could to stop me from getting hurt…just like Mikey helped Bobby. She held her hands over her face to prevent herself from crying out loud.
“I remember the first time she talked about you to me.” A familiar British voice said softly. Lily looked up and he was standing in the doorway of the guest bedroom. Elle’s favorite bedroom.
“It was May 14th…your birthday I believe.” She nodded, the corners of her mouth rising slightly.
“She said that she wished she’d kept in touch better. She wrote you for that entire month at your home address, but eventually every letter got mailed back to her.”
“So I’ve heard.” Lily said, patting a spot of the floor next to her, signaling for Orlando to sit down.
“She loved you love.” He said walking over and sitting next to her.
“She looked for you for a while, had some people call other people, but she didn’t get anywhere with it.”
“I never knew that.”
“She wanted it that way.” Orli said. “Never knew why though. Then again, Elle had her secrets.”
Lily’s head snapped up.
“She was embarrassed Orli. She didn’t know how you would take it.”
“I just wish she’d told me sooner.” He said quietly, looking to the floor. “I’ve never loved anyone like I loved her.”
For the first time Lily looked to Orlando’s hands and noticed a small, but beautiful, diamond ring. He held it up eye level.
“She didn’t even let me finish what I had to say,” he laughed. “She said yes a hundred times.”
“I’m so sorry Orli.” She said.
“You have nothing to be sorry about.”
“Are you that sure? I mean…maybe if I had gone with her this morning, then I would’ve kept her in the house a second longer…maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Lily stop it love.” Orlando pleaded. “This isn’t your fault.”
“Isn’t it?” She questioned, intensity filling her eyes. “I should’ve gotten up with her this morning…” she sighed, before whispering, “It should’ve been me.”
“No!” Orlando said, loud enough to make Lily jump slightly. “Don’t say that Lily. Please, don’t beat yourself up about this.”
“I just miss her, Orlando.” She added, before breaking into more sobs.
“So do I.” He said. “It’s ok Lily, it’s alright.” He comforted her, putting his arms around her she leaned into him. After an hour of crying, on both of their parts, they fell asleep.
Chapter Six
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Dreaming of You
