BRIDGETTE

Surely he would understand, right? He would believe me, right?

“Cara?” he asked when I found it hard to speak.

“Don’t call me that, please,” I said in a rush. “I’m not Cara.”

Scott frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Please, promise you won’t say a word as I speak. Just listen to me.”

He looked at me for a long time and then he nodded. “Okay.”

“I’m not Cara. My name is Bridgette Finn. I mean, this is Cara,” I said, waving at my body--Cara’s body. “But inside is not her. Oh my God, I’m doing this wrong,” I uttered as I stood up and started pacing the room. “Months ago, something happened. Cara and I can’t explain it. We met one night after ten years and then we had a fight in the middle of the street.” I looked at Scott, his face unreadable as he stared at me from the couch. “We didn’t separate as friends in high school because of the things I did and when we met, we just fought. And then we were in an accident. Someone ran a red light or something. I can’t really remember. What I remembered next was that I woke up in her body and she woke up in mine.”

I was afraid to look at him so I closed my eyes as I tried to remember everything that happened since Cara and I woke up in that hospital.

“Ever since that day, we decided to live each other’s lives while we find a way to deal with our situation. We didn’t know who to go to. Hell, we are not even sure if we know how to go back. So there, I did her job as a nurse but she was guiding me throughout the working hours. She was in the phone with me throughout my shifts. And in return, she handled my work and faced my clients as a wedding planner. I know you shouldn’t believe me because I wouldn’t even believe myself if I am in your shoes. But I am telling the truth. I had wanted to tell you a long time ago but I was afraid.”

When I opened my eyes, I didn’t search for Scott. I studied the floor as I pulled at my shirt. I needed something to hang on to.

“So here I am, acting as Cara this whole time.” A very long silence followed. When I could no longer help it, I forced my eyes to look at him, but I couldn’t read anything from his face. I gave an awkward smile worthy of an Oscar award. “It’s time you say something--anything.”

It seemed that my last words turned the “on” button switch in him because he suddenly blinked. But when his eyes finally escaped from his trance-like moment and when they finally looked into mine with clarity, my heart sank and crushed at the same time.

His voice was deadpan when he said, “You don’t expect me to believe that, do you?”

“Scott, I know it is crazy,” I rushed on with desperation. He had to believe me. He just had to. “I know I may sound really crazy right now, but I’m telling the truth.” I put everything I had in that last word, every convincing power I managed to master in my wedding planning years. Everything I had left in me, I wrapped around that very word.

But he just sat there looking, disbelief on his face. I felt a thousand strings wrapped themselves around my heart and then slowly tighten that I couldn’t breathe.

“I have to go for now, Cara.”

The strings were tighter now and I couldn’t move. Why did he have to say that? Couldn’t he just sit there and talk about how crazy my words were? Couldn’t he at least say to my face that he didn’t believe me? Why did he have to go? But he just had to, didn’t he?

“Bridgette,” I said in a broken whisper, nodding my head. The tears fell down the carpet and I balled my hands to keep them from reaching out and cling on to him to beg him to believe me.

He just stared at me like he was seeing me for the first time--like I was just another patient with a weird medical condition. I turned away as he stood up from the couch. If he had to leave, he better do it now before I hold him hostage in Cara’s apartment.

The next thing I heard was the gentle closing of the door. It was the worst sound I had ever heard in my life. I dropped on the floor and cried.

Where the hell was Cara? I needed her now!

CARA

“I’ll see you later,” Quinn said before I opened the car.

“Quinn,” I started, looking him in the eyes, my hand frozen in the car door.

“Cara, don’t start telling me you won’t see me again,” he cut off before I could continue.

“But I can’t see you…for now,” I insisted. “I can’t see you until you settle things. And you know what I’m talking about.”

Our eyes battled for a while before he finally gave a resigned sigh. “You’re right.”

I smiled at him. “We’ve been apart for years. I think a short time to settle things won’t hurt.”

He was staring at me tenderly as he said, “But it will be a very short time, Cara.”

“I hope so, too.” I didn’t care anymore if Natalie would make a big scene. She could drag me down the street and I would even fight all the way and drag her with me. She was doing the very thing I did to Quinn ten years ago. Well, not really, but close to it. And from what I knew of her, she would be perfectly fine after a few weeks. I had deprived myself of happiness for a long time and I guess it was time I get a little selfish. And it was the first time I felt happy being one. Bridgette would be proud of me.”

Quinn gave me another kiss, a short and sweet one. “Go before I lose control and strap you to my side,” he said, stepping away with his hands deep in his pockets.

I laughingly pulled away from him and opened the car. I couldn’t wait to tell Bridgette.

All thoughts of Quinn and my change of heart flew out the window when I entered the apartment and saw Bridgette on the floor. At first, I honestly thought she was dead. She was just laying there like a murder victim in one of the TV series she was so fond of watching. Her body did not even flinch when the door flew open with my excitement.

“Bridgette?” I approached her with a mixture of alarm and relief when I saw that she was still breathing and her eyes blinked. “Bridge, what happened?” I asked, kneeling down beside her.

“He left,” she whispered, her eyes looking straight ahead where the wall met the floor. “He left, Cara.” A tear rolled from her left eye, down and across her nose, to her right cheek, before it finally disappeared as a mere stain on the carpet.

“You told him,” I said without a question mark. What other reason could there be? I was afraid to touch her in fear that she would push me away, but she reached out her hand and I took it. “Oh, Bridge,” I uttered brokenly, the tears staining my face as well. I felt her pain and seeing her--seeing my body--looking like that was just plain agonizing.

She finally broke down and she started to shake in tears as I joined her on the floor and hugged her.

“You have to be strong. You have to be strong,” I whispered over and over again. I was the frail one and she had always been the strongest. I was not used to being her barrel of strength, but I guess I had to at that time.

BRIDGETTE

I couldn’t remember how I managed to go through for days. Cara had never left my side and she never said a word about any hospital shifts. I vaguely remember hearing her talking on the phone about me being sick and that I needed bed rest for more days. But that was just it.

And I think I remembered her talking about Quinn, but I couldn’t put the words together and comprehend everything. All I was able to hang on to was that they kissed and talked.

It may have been three days or a week before I finally snapped out of it. I was in the couch, absently looking at the TV screen when it happened. My eyes blinked and I perked up on the couch and looked around.

Cara was in the kitchen doing the dishes and she whirled around with shock when I asked, “What day is it?”

I saw the tears in her eyes as she walked to me and gave me a hug. “Oh, God, I was almost considering taking you to a mental institution.”

I frowned at her when she pulled away. “Why the hell would you do that?”

“You were like a double-dead zombie for days, Bridge. You can’t blame me for--but you’re sane now, right? You’re out of your, err…trance?”

My eyes blinked once again and the hurt was back. I remembered Scott getting up and I heard the door closing again. The thousand imaginary strings constricting my heart was still there, their presence blatantly screaming against my chest. The tears came back and I cried in Cara’s arm. “He’s really gone, isn’t he?”

“He’ll come around if he really loves you. Otherwise, you don’t deserve him.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re my friend.”

“No, I’m saying it because it’s true. He’ll come around and if his feelings for you are stronger than his instinct to not believe you, he’ll come back. He’ll find a way to deal with it.”

“I can’t face him again, Cara. I just can’t.”

“Then don’t. Don’t go back to the hospital. I am no longer going to let you step inside that hospital now that Scott knows about the truth. It’s one big legal problem.”

“How about your work--”

“Don’t worry about it. For now, you’ll have to put the food on the table while I look for a real job.”

I pulled away from her and smiled. “You have planned this for a time, haven’t you?”

“What else should I think about for five days? I was taking care of a zombie and Quinn’s wedding has been cancelled. And I’m sorry about it.”

My eyes grew wide when realization crept in. “No way!”

Cara’s tears were no longer that of sadness over my heartbreak but of happiness as she nodded. “Yes way!”

“Oh my God! I’m so happy for you!” I pulled her for another hug and then pulled away none too gently. “Wait. You’re right. We need to find work. There’s no wedding and--”

“Lara called,” she paused when I frowned in confusion. “Your secretary. Really, Bridge, you should know her name. Anyway, she called and there are clients waiting for you.”

I fell against the back of the couch. “I don’t know. I don’t think I can work for now.”

“No, Bridge. You should get back on your feet. You’ve been useless for five days. I can’t go on with this alone. You know that.”

“But, Cara--”

“Things will fall into place in no time, Bridge. For now, let’s live one day at a time.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“I’ve been through the same hurt you’ve been, remember?”

I cringed at the memory of ten years.

“Now, get up and let’s make dinner.”

Cara didn’t stop pestering me until I finally decided to shower and change my clothes the next day.

She handed me an envelope.

“What’s this?” I asked as I drank my coffee.

“My--our--resignation letter. You’ll have to leave the hospital. I know I told you not to go back to that place, but you need to hand in your resignation.”

I swallowed hard. “I have to hand it in myself?”

She nodded. “Just get it done and leave as fast as you can.”

“But--”

“No, don’t start with that again. Just do it.”

I took the envelope and muttered, “Fine.” Maybe Scott wouldn’t be there anyway and there was a very little chance that we would bump into each other. “Where’s Quinn by the way?”

“I don’t know.”

I almost choked at her answer. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

She shrugged. “Natalie was the one who cancelled the wedding. He’s still probably patching things up at his end. I’m sure it is a mess.”

“You sound disappointed.”

“Well, he was too eager to see me again the last time we talked and he hasn’t called me yet.”

“Give it time,” I said with a wink, echoing her words to me.

My feet were shaking when I exited the office of the nurse director. She had wanted to talk to me about my sudden resignation, but I said I needed to be away for personal reasons and I guess she accepted that. I was very relieved that I almost ran out the door. As I walked down the corridor, I thought of the other nurses in the unit. For the months I had been with them, they grew on me. Danica would certainly learn about it and I would surely get a call from her. What should I say then? What reason could I give her that she would receive without further questions?

I was silently making up lines in my head as I waited for the elevator and when it opened, I gave a sigh of relief. It was empty. Stepping inside, I turned and pushed the button to take me to the ground floor. It was just about five inches away from closing when an arm suddenly shot through the open gap and the doors slid back to reveal my worst nightmare.

Scott was not as shocked as I was when our eyes met. As a matter of fact, it seemed that he chased the elevator just to get to me. My feet stepped back to the left corner of the small closed space when he came in. I silently prayed for the door to open again and reveal another person--anyone who could be a shield against his domineering gaze.

But that didn’t happen.

I was riding the elevator with him. Alone.

My mind was made up that I was not going to speak. As if I could, really. So I kept it shut and swallowed hard. What was wrong with the freaking elevator? Why was it slow today?

“You’ll have to leave the hospital.”

My head turned sharply toward him. “What?” Okay, I was angry now. And I knew he could see that in my eyes as I glared at him.

“You’ll have to leave,” he uttered with that deadpan voice again.

Really? Of all things, he was suggesting the very thing that I just did inside the director’s office? 

***This story will soon end as well. I have already planned the ending in my mind so it is definitely happening. :D