Intertwining Destinies

Chapter 5

Emerald woke up to a cold and greyish morning. She turned to look at the small clock beside her bed and she jumped up. It was already nine-thirty and she had to go to the gallery to arrange for the auction. She cursed as she thought of the word "auction". However, she wanted to check up on the girl from last night and see how she was doing. She would do that before heading to the gallery.

Throwing her quilt aside, she got out of bed and skipped to the bathroom for a shower. She had to look the part of a serious archaeologist and philanthropist to win the audience tonight. After her shower, with her wrapped in a towel turban-style she walked to the steamy mirror. Wiping the steam, away she looked at herself. A pair of large, spring green eyes with pinprick pupils looked back at her. She put on her coloured lenses to make her eyes appear "normal". People usually seemed unnerved by her unusual eyes. Few said, they glowed with a greenish light in the dark. It frustrated her that people made such a big deal about something as small as her eyes. She had pestered her father to let her use coloured lenses and he had finally given in. Everyone preferred to blend in college. She didn't bother with them these days, but today she wanted to look perfectly "normal". She had a taste of what the uppity rich old ladies and men thought of anything that did not follow their standards of "normality". With her lenses on, her eyes looked ordinary and "normal".

After dressing in a black dress suit, she called the number of the hospital. After making some enquiries, she got the address of the hospital and the ward number of the patient. Her name was Carol Evans. Emerald drove to the hospital and picked up a small bouquet for the girl.

At the reception, Emerald was told that Carol was alright now and the most serious injuries were the deep gashes on her cracked forehead. The rest were nasty scrapes and bruises all over her body.

"Do you know if they managed to hurt her further?" Emerald asked with a grave face. The nurse understood what she meant and shook her head.

"The girl was rescued before they could further hurt her. You can visit her now. She has no concussions and she is up to talking. Are you a friend or family?" the nurse asked.

"Neither. I am the one who beat those bastards and called the cops. I just wanted to check up on her, that's all." Emerald told the nurse.

After signing on a visitor's sheet, she made her way to Carol's ward.

The door of the ward was slightly ajar. Emerald gave a light knock and entered. "Hello, I am Dr. Emerald Bruttenholm..."Emerald stopped talking.

She was slightly taken aback by the girl's appearance. Her skin looked very green with mottled brown patches. Her eyes were dark brown and she had her hair in tight ginger ringlets. She had the most bizarre appearance. Emerald wondered if the girl had some rare skin condition. She hadn't gotten a very good look at her last night as it was mostly dark in the alleyway and she couldn't have made out the colour of her skin.

"Er...are you Carol Evans?" she asked instead. The girl nodded.

Emerald walked to her bed and sat on the chair next to her bed. "Do you remember me from last night?" Emerald asked.

"Yup. Thanks for standing up for me. I thought I was a gonner. You kicked their asses right!"

Carol said and punched the air. Emerald smiled.

"You are welcome. Next time, don't wander about dark alleys like that. Its never safe. Have the cops contacted your family?" she asked.

The girl shook her head. Perhaps, she didn't have parents and might be a runaway, thought Emerald. However, she was not going to pry into such matters now. The girl had a very rough time last night and it would not be good to upset her.