Love Lost and Found

Chapter 15/?

He sighed contentedly and stared up at the leaves of the palm trees, who were swaying slightly in the warm breeze. The sun turned their dark green into an emerald glow, sparkling with golden warmth against a deep blue sky. He still loved being on his island but somehow he was starting to long for another human voice. He caught himself listening to the wind more and more often, hoping that it would carry the voices he had heard a few days ago to him once more. His hope however had been in vain so far.
A burning pain suddenly soared through his body, tearing his back apart and scorching every rational thought from his mind. He curled up into a foetal position as he felt him again; felt the man move inside of himself once again. //No!// he thought groaning //That’s not true... that’s not happening... it never did... that’s all not true... it did not happen to me...//
His groan turned into a pained whimper as even more memories assaulted him. He felt the burning pain again as he lived through the few seconds in which the man had emptied himself into hi8m, once more. “No... please... don’t...” he whimpered as his memories mixed with older ones the the pain increased. He lay on the ground, crying and sobbing, totally oblivious to everything around him.

“What’s the matter with him? Ian, what’s happening?” Peter asked panicking as Orlando suddenly started to shake and curled into a tight ball.
“I don’t know.” Ian said helplessly. “Go, get a doctor!” Peter nodded and rushed out of the room, anxiously looking for doctor Stein. The corridors that flew past him seemed to be endless. They turned into a blur of white and grey as he ran through them, desperately searching for a sign that would lead him to the maternity ward.
Finally he turned round the right corner and ran straight into a nurse, who stopped him at once.
“No running in the corridors!” she said sternly “Where are you running to, anyway?”
“Dr Stein.” Peter panted almost panicking “I have to find Dr Stein. Please, it’s an emergency!” Peter stared in shock as the nurse turned and left without even bothering to answer. “Wait!” he yelled. “Where are you going? This is really an emergency!”
“Wait here.” The nurse said without reacting to Peter’s panic. “The doctor will be with you as soon as he can.”
Peter was pacing up and down the corridor nervously, hatefully staring at the white walls and the bright pictures on them, who were nothing but phoney to him. They were meant to spread a false feeling of cheerfulness and he hated them for that. Hated that they still lookedght ght and cheerful when Orlando could be dying this very instant. Hated that even the nurses were simply carrying on as though it was nothing out of the ordinary. It probably wasn’t, he noticed suddenly. At least not to them. They were surrounded by sic and dying people everyday.
//But this is Orlando...// before he could finish his thought, Doctor Stein suddenly appeared and Peter immediately ran towards him.
“What is it?” Dr Stein asked worriedly “What has happened?”
“Orlando...” Peter stuttered hastily. “He suddenly started shaking and trashing around.”
“Have you tried to talk to him? Has he reacted to anything you said?” asked Dr Stein as he saw Peter nod, while they were already running towards Orlando’s room.
“No.” Peter panted breathlessly. “He just stared past us and continued shaking.”
The door hit the wall with a loud slam as they stormed inside and assisted Ian, who was still talking to Orlando, desperately struggling to hold the young Brit down.

He inhaled deeply as the pain slowly abated. He felt cold in spite of the warm sun that was still shining down on him. Shuddering he got up and walked into the forest, wrapping his arms around himself in the process. The pain of thmorimories had lessened when he had heard on of the voices again. But he still remembered. //Remember what?// he asked himself, only to answer the question in the same second he had asked it. //Remember what was before... before I came here... no...// he slowly shook his head, ha only remembered the pain, nothing else. The pain and how it had happened. He quickly glanced around as he stepped into a clearing, which was surrounded by thick green bushes with red blossoms, tall palm trees and other tropical shrubbery, but he was too wrapped up in his thoughts to really notice anything. The impact of the pain caused by the memories had lessened but they were still running through his head, as if they were replayed over and over again.
He frowned and halted his steps for a while as he left the wood again and was standing upon a cliff, high above the water. He cautiously walked to the edge and looked over it.
Sharp, rugged rocks fell steeply down towards the sea, a swirling pit of sea-green water. Small waves broke upon the rocks and exploded into cascades of white foam. Mesmerised he stared down at the swirling colours deep under him and then, reaching a decision, took a step forward. And another one. He knew how to get rid of the memories and the voices haunting him.

They all took a step back as Orlando’s body suddenly became limp in their arms. From one second to the next the Brit had not only ceased his struggling but also stopped all movements. Peter and Ian looked at each other in shocked helplessness as Orlando’s breathing became shallow and uneven, while Dr Stein stepped forward and searched for a pulse. Ian’s heart almost missed a beat as the old doctor shook his head and stepped back.
“Doctor?” Peter asked anxiously “What’s the matter? He’s not...” he gulped audibly “dying, is he?”
“I don’t know.” The doctor whispered quietly. “His pulse is fats and uneven even though he is physically okay. We can only wait what happens next.”
A foreboding silence echoed through the room as they all stared at the pale, young man in the bed, willing him to live.

He couldn’t tear his eyes from the scene beneath him. From the misty green water that seemed to dance around the jagged rocks which stuck out of it. He didn’t even remember taking the last step. He just did.
And suddenly he was falling towards the swirling white and blue and green and all the colours seemed to blend into one indistinguishable yet intense mix of motion. He knew he should have felt pain as his body hit the surface, knew that he had probably hit a rock, but there was nothing. Just a deep dark nothingness and he was pulled under, pulled into it, unwilling to surface ever again, longing to stay in the deep dark nothingness that engulfed him forever.

“No...” Peter whispered, his eyes filling with tears as Orlando’s breathing suddenly stopped. He looked at Dr Stein and Ian, silently begging for help.

All of a sudden he sensed a bottom in the darkness and he was rapidly falling towards it.
//This is it...// he thought as a hot, blinding pain flooded his body. He screamed as his lungs filled with air once more and he struggled up, opening his eyes and staring at Peter, Ian and Dr Stein.

Tbc...