He has regained his consciousness", the doctor said an hour later as she sat in his office. A wave of relief swept through her face as she realized she had to finally brush off the thought of being charged with involuntary man slaughter. Phew, he was fine!
"So he regained his consciousness! And he is completely fine?", she asked just to be sure.
"Yes, he probably got too much stressed and that knocked him out, he just needs some rest and …uh, he will be fine. But tell me, who are you to him?", he asked.
"Me, well l am his…sister…yes, step sister", she lied.
To her surprise, the doctor believed her despite how much she had stammered.
"What happened to him before he fainted?", he asked, looking at her speculatively. "Bad news or had an argument, maybe?".
She recalled how she had troubled him during the day.
"An argument? No, not at all", she denied….".He must have stressed a bit too much about work that's all", she said looking straight into his eyes. He did not say anything for a moment.
"Okay then!", he said suddenly as he handed a packet of pills to her and told her to give him a single pill per day.
"Was it the diabetes?", she asked hesitantly.
"What?", he asked looking surprised.
"That knocked him out, was it the diabetes?", she asked again.
"You know that? The last time …that's surprising. The last time l checked he did not want anyone else to know. As his doctor l am not allowed to discuss this but since you will be taking care of him, it's fine, well yes…he was diagnosed of type 2 diabetes, a year ago, so please take care of him", he said. " And make sure this doesn't get to the media".
"Of course, thank you doctor", she said as she stood up, they shook hands and she went out.
A few moments later she was inside Chris' sickroom,it was a private room.
"Would you look at this room!", she exclaimed. "Breakfast in bed, five star treatment….and a television set, an air conditioner…l would so wish to be here someday", she said as looked around.
"Are you crazy? You wish to be sick and be in a hospital, who even does that? And besides, you cannot afford to have your own private room at a private hospital, so keep dreaming", he said scornfully.
She let out a loud, piercing laugh. "Come on, can't you take a joke are you that much uptight?," she said. He frowned. She sat beside him and sighed. "Are you alright now, you scared me to death when l saw you lying still like a log…", she said. He didn't hide his annoyance. He creased his face and closed his eyes, pretending to try to sleep.
"Now, since you ungrateful scrooge couldn't say it yourself, l will just say it for you…thank you Valerie, for saving my life, you are such a darling and if it was not for you l would be dead by now", she said sarcastically.
"Oh God! You know what, l cannot do this right now, l need to rest can you just let me be for once,l can't hear myself think", he said tiredly.
"Sure l will, just promise me a 10% raise for saving your life", she said with a smile. "Or 20% maybe, l mean its nothing compared to…"
" Fine l sh….",he started saying.
"Yes! Yes! ", she shouted her fist in the air. "Thank you Mr Malvins, really", she interrupted.
"Don't get excited ,now l was just going to say l shall think about it, after all you didn't do me any favours it was part of your job description…only if you had read the contract before signing it", he said.
"Come on sir, 10%?You couldn't just add as little a 10%?", she asked.
"Okay, alright? L will give you a raise", he said.
"About time", she sighed.
"And l was not dying Valerie don't get ahead of yourself. I took a nap!", he defended.
"But you were not moving?", she asked
"Sleep paralysis. It was sleep paralysis…if you had not brought me up here, most certainly l would have still woken up by myself", he said as he stared at the blank ceiling, looking into space.
"Woken up by yourself?", she asked.
"Can you be kind enough to stop making jokes about my health, its not funny. One more comment and l will …",
"I am not making any fun of you…but you collapsed, why would you lie about having sleep paralysis then?
"Everything fine in here? I can hear you guys from down the labour ward", the doctor complained after budging in.
"Everything is not fine sir, all l am trying to tell Chris is that he will have to limit the number of pork roasts he eats per day for the sake of his health as per your order but he seems to be having a problem with it", she said and threw a talking glance at Chris.
Oh boy! " Now she won", Chris thought. The doctor began his lecture on him; a long, boring lecture on why he had to listen to his 'sister' on the food he would eat on a daily basis." Valerie cares about you and knows what's best for you!", he concluded. He sighed his heart out.
It was around seven in the evening when they arrived home, Valerie started preparing dinner. She made her own meal for one, then made a quick vegetable stir-fry for Chris.
"Did you just tell him you are my sister?", he asked wonderingly as Valerie walked towards the table to give him his food.
"Well…",she shrugged. She put the food on the table in front of him. His gaze fell upon the food and his expression immediately changed to disgust.
"What in the name of all of holy thing!? No way!?I refuse to be turned into Bugs Bunny. I am not having this l am not a rabbit", he protested.
"I made it specifically for you. Doctor's order!", she ordered.
"Whoever's order it way.l am not having this. Period!", he repeated.
"Then l'm sure your doctor would love to give you another lecture about your diet", she warned. "Och, Chris, laddie , ye're no' takin' care ' yesef! Valerie yees trying to help you so you must listen to her or l vill haff to give you a big lecture, verstehen?", she said imitating the doctor's accent. They both laughed, realizing that was the first time they actually laughed since they started living together. Chris thought that Valerie had a bright smile, but would not dare tell her. Although she was trouble, he found himself relaxing and enjoying Valerie's company. The feeling of not being alone anymore, having someone to talk to in the mansion soothed his mind
"Okay, alright!", he said reluctantly as he began eating. He ate silently, looking like he had just been told he had been adopted, until he was done. Afterwards Valerie gave him his medicine, then she washed the dishes. With everything in place, she joined Chris in the sitting room. She sat down.
"No way! You're watching 'The Lowlife?", she asked excitedly.
"Yes, awesome movie right?", he smiled.
"Excuse me but l don't watch movies from the 1800s. I cannot believe your idea of awesome movies, is a movie older than your grandparents", she rebuked. Chris did not reply. He just couldn't start it again with her.
"You know what is better than watching that mouldy classic?", she asked.
"What?", he asked.
"I can tell you a story", she said.
"What, l look five to you?", he rejected.
"Come on", she nudged him.
"Oh joy, I'm ready to be bored out of my mind, proceed", he said, realizing she was never going to give that up. Valerie stood up and turned the light off. She cleared her throat as she sat down.
"Back then when l was a teenager, everyone said that the old house down the street was haunted", she started.
"Hahahaha oh great! Haunted stories are out of interest and outdated and…I don't believe in paranormal activities", Chris interrupted as he stood up.
"Just listen. So you see, the mansion used to be the residence of one wealthy family, but by then no one lived there anymore. They had all fled away from the mansion. Weeds and grass overgrown and the house uncared for. So my friend Sam and I decided to find out once and for all if what people said was true".
"Oh yeah? I bet you both were courageous as hell", Chris said sarcastically, laughing his head off. He sat again.
"Pretty much! So one even, we strolled to the mansion, went inside, planning to spend the night . We brought along a powerful torchlight, two sleeping bags, some food. "
"I bet you brought a bible to ward of the evil spirits too?",he interrupted. Valerie remained serious. Chris started thinking that maybe she could have to be telling the truth, so he decided to pay attention. She continued talking.
"The early part of the night was no trouble at all. We sat on our sleeping bags and listened to our favourite music. In the middle of the night, we felt sleepy and we crawled into our sleeping bags. But sleep was not possible. There seemed to be a heavy atmosphere around us. The darkness was oppressive and there was a soft sound coming from upstairs", she said.
"So did you guys go to see where the sound was coming from?",he asked curiously
"No! We dared not go up to investigate the noise. We lay quietly hoping it would go away but it would not. It only got louder and louder. Then it sounded like someone mourning, or letting out low screams", she explained. Chris felt Goosebumps all over his skin. It was no longer funny to him, he was getting frightened.
"So what happened next?", he asked.
"Sam got out of her sleeping bag and turned on torchlight. Nothing, everything looked normal", she said. Chris gasped. His hair stood.
"Suddenly there was a loud crash from upstairs", she said.
"What?", Chris interrupted, almost rising to his feet, his voice trembling.
"Yes. And the moans turned into loud, scary screams. We screamed too and ran out of the house as fast as we could, leaving everything behind that we had brought. The hair on the back of my head stood on the end for hours afterwards. We never dared to go back into the house again, not even in the daytime", she said.
"So is the house really haunted?", he asked wonderingly, trying to catch his breath.
"All l can say is that if you want to know, go and find out for yourself", she finished. For a moment no one uttered a word.
"Yeah, that's such a creepy story, can you turn on the lights now, please ",he said breathlessly. Valerie laughed.
"Mr Malvins, l just can not believe you were buying that.l was only making that story up", she said.
"Then you are good at making things up", he said.
"Yes, I am pretty good at it",she replied.
"Wait…if you're so good at making things up, what else have you made up? Is Valerie even your real name?", he asked.
She paused. "My real name is…Morgan". He looked at her in disbelief . She giggled and said, " Relax, l am joking. Valerie is my real name".
"No l am not taking any chances, I need to see your identify card", he said. The light suddenly switched on and they both screamed loudly, terrified. "You seem to be having a good time", a voice said. They both turned their heads and Tasha, Chris' fiancée was standing by the door. Tasha set her eyes on Valerie and instantly felt a threat.