Episode 14 – Knock on
effect
– Honey was caught by Elektra, who was shocked about her friend’s plans.
– Judi had a busy day. She talked to Alex and later was caught in a
cliché with Russell, by a mystery person.
– Cleo and Camille had a chat about how Cleo was getting on in school and
about Camille’s marriage.
– Victor arrived home from work and talked to Leslie about their
marriage, Gabe and the 70’s. Later they danced and shared a kiss.
Thursday,23rd January 2003, Golden
Oaks ER staff room, nine p.m.
“I’m sorry” he said as he ran his hands up her
plain white coat, all the while holding her tightly, close to his chest. He
exhaled and then drew breath once again.
She pulled her head away from the embrace, moved
her face so that she was now looking directly up at him and slowly examined his
dark eyes. After a couple of moments, she moved closer to him and their lips
met, in a passionate moment. Judi
felt so close to Russell,
as she felt his tender, gentle lips pressed against her own.
The pair of lovers, caught up in their kiss,
didn’t spot the arrival in the door, but realised that someone had witnessed
their moment of weakness after they made themselves known.
“Oh my god” came the voice from behind. Judi and
Russell pulled away from one another, as the person in the doorway started to
leave. Judi turned around, as Russell looked on, watching Carla
as she quickened her pace and walked away.
“Carla, it’s not what you think” Judi started,
as she called after the young nurse, now gone from the doorway.
Judi walked across the room to the door, and
pushed her head around it. She looked down the hospital corridor, but didn’t
spot the witness to her kiss with Russell. Judi sighed and again turned, this
time back to face Russell.
Russell was silent, as he played possibilities
of what Carla could do over and over in his mind. He wondered if being caught
by Carla was for the best, or would the nurse keep the secret he had tried but
failed to reveal to Camille.
Russell realised that it would be much better if he told Camille the truth, he
and Judi had to stop Carla from telling anyone.
Judi held her right hand up to her head and
proceeded to rub the area above her eyebrow, using her fingers. She asked
herself why they hadn’t been more careful. Then another question came up and
took over Judi’s thoughts, would this cause her to lose Russell?
“Damn it,” Russell swore, at last breaking the
silence. “Why weren’t we more careful?”
“That doesn’t matter now” Judi replied, slightly
surprised by his anger, as she removed her fingers from her forehead.
“Carla could tell Camille and that isn’t
important?”
“You know what I mean. We need to know if she is
going to tell Camille”
“And how are we going to do that?” Russell
asked, his temper once again flaring up, as he realised that this could damage
his career, as well as his marriage.
“I don’t know, maybe if I talk to her” suggested
Judi.
“Yeah, do that”
Judi turned around and started walking. She had
seen an entirely new side to her lover, one she didn’t care for at all. This
was so impossible as almost everything, except admitting to herself the
feelings she carried for Russell, had been easy up to this, but now Camille
could find out the truth. Although Judi felt that the truth would be better
than all the lies, she was also scared of rejection from Russell if Camille
gave him an ultimatum to choose.
As she reached the door, Judi turned around and
took one last look at Russell. In that moment she realised that he probably
didn’t love her, it had all been lies and he just wanted Judi for one thing.
Camille was the perfect wife. She didn’t have a child out of marriage, she
could smile and flirt at all the parties rather than wishing she was anywhere
but there. Why would he give her up?
A couple of minutes later, after searching
different parts of the hospital, Judi finally found Carla in the staff toilets.
Judi noticed that there were tears in Carla’s eyes.
“Judi, I don’t
want to listen to this now” Carla said, pushing past Judi.
“Please Carla”
Judi pleaded.
Carla slowly
turned around and looked at Judi, slowly moving her head from side to side.
“You seem like a
nice person Judi. Why?”
“It was only a kiss.
I didn’t mean for it to happen” Judi lied. She looked at herself in the mirror.
“But there were
more weren’t there? The two of you have been sleeping together”
Carla stopped as
she waited for a reply. Judi silently nodded, unable to speak.
“I can tell by
the way the two of you were kissing. It wasn’t the first time”
“We didn’t mean
for it to happen” Judi hesitated. Could she trust Carla? After weighing it all
up she continued.
”Well at least I
didn’t. He kissed me at a Christmas party, but I said no. But on New Year’s Eve
he turned up and we… He told me that he loved me”
“They all say
that” Carla said as she took a packet of cigarettes out of one of her pockets.
“Want one?”
“No thanks” Judi
watched as Carla lit her cigarette. Breaking the rules didn’t seem to bother
her. “You slept with a married man, didn’t you?”
“Yes, how did
you know?” asked a surprised Carla.
“I don’t know,
just the way you speak about it” answered Judi.
“He was a doctor
at the last hospital I worked at. At first I fought him, like you, but I soon
gave in”
“And?”
“And we were
going great. But when I brought up the problem of him breaking up with his
wife, he became angry, saying that he couldn’t break his kids hearts by walking
out”
“Russell tried to
tell her, Camille, but he couldn’t. I think he still loves her”
“Of course he
loves her. When I threatened to tell her, he finished with me and I ended up
losing my job because of him”
“He went back to
his wife?” Judi asked.
“No, not quite.
I later found out that he had lied about having kids, so I sent her a letter
and left town”
“I had another
affair with a married man” Judi said, as she remembered it.
“When?” Carla
asked.
“It was only
really a couple of times, not a full blown affair. I was training to be a
doctor and he was there for me. We were good friends and one thing led to
another… I got pregnant and ended the affair, telling him that the child was
someone else’s. I still see him sometimes though”
Suddenly a loud
beep filled the room, and Carla knew that she had to go after examining her
pager.
“Be careful”
Carla said as she left.
Judi knew that
Carla wouldn’t tell Camille the truth. Surprisingly someone else entered her
mind – Alex Blake. As she remembered the kiss the previous
Saturday night, she wondered if she had made the wrong choice with the two men.
She really liked Alex, but could they be more than just friends she asked
herself.
Judi was taken away
from her thoughts as her own pager went off.
***
Friday,24th January 2003, The
Samson Mansion, eight fifteen a.m.
Chardonnay Samson sighed
as she opened her diary. It was empty once again, no lunch with friends as they
were all having working lunches, no meeting with Gabe
as he was at a seminar for Samson Enterprises and no quality time with Leslie
either, as she was planning a shopping trip and had made it quite clear that
her daughter couldn’t tag along.
“Cheer up” came a voice from behind. Chardonnay
quickly spun around to face Gabe, who had stayed the night.
“You frightened me” she said, watching as he
inched closer to the coffee jug.
“What’s wrong with you anyway?”
“Just another day, watching daytime TV”
Chardonnay answered, slightly melodramatically. Gabe turned to face his wife to
be, and took his first sip of coffee. Once he’d finished he started to talk.
“But you have our wedding to plan, don’t you?”
“Not really. Mom has a professional wedding
planner flying into town in about four weeks to organise everything”
”Oh, I see”
“Where is dad?” came a third voice, interrupting
the conversation. Gabe and Chardonnay turned to look at her brother.
“Upstairs I think” Chardonnay answered. She
glanced down at her watch and realised that her father was late as usually at
that time he down enjoying his breakfast. Nate
turned around and left.
“What about getting a job?” Gabe said taking a slice
of toast, which Rosa
had prepared earlier on.
“I’m not qualified though, am I?”
“So, sort it out”
“What, college?”
“Yeah”
“I don’t know. I might have to travel too much” said
an unsure Chardonnay, pointing out the negative more than the positive. She
didn’t really think that she would be let into college and anyway what would
she do there? She was hardly as smart as a rocket scientist or anything.
“Better than nothing” Gabe stated. Chardonnay
started to think. Maybe she would drop by the local colleges and schools to see
what they had on offer. She looked up when she saw Nate reappear, with a big
smirk on his face.
“Did you find dad?” she asked.
“Ahem, sort of”
“I don’t get you” she said puzzled.
“Mom was there too”
“With dad?”
“Yes, in his room. They slept together”
Chardonnay let out a short laugh, as Gabe looked
up from his newspaper and stopped eating his toast.
***
Samson Enterprises, 12.30 p.m.
Victor Samson smiled as he flashed
back to the previous night with his wife, Leslie.
It had all happened so quickly, but now he knew that he had to try his best to
remain faithful for his children’s sakes most of all. They had asked many
questions when he and Leslie emerged from his bedroom.
Victor took back up his gold plated pen and
started to sign checks, but was interrupted by a gentle knocking at the door to
his office. He looked up and smiled once again as he saw a person he didn’t
expect standing at the door.
“Well this is a surprise” he said, lying back in
his leather chair after leaving the pen down.
“Can’t a girl drop by and visit her father once
in a while?” Chardonnay said as she closed the door.
“The last time you dropped by to visit me was
when you were in kindergarten”
“So, I am trying to make up for all that now,
aren’t I?”
“Possibly”
There was a short silence as Chardonnay walked
towards her father’s desk and took a seat opposite him. Victor was the first to
break the silence.
“So tell me why are you here? Business or
pleasure?”
“Business. I was thinking that maybe I could
start working here, for you”
Victor was very surprised by this and his
reaction showed. He thought that Chardonnay was preparing to ask him for money
for the wedding, not for a job.
“What do you think?” she asked.
“I honestly don’t know. Chardonnay, you’re not
trained for anything. You haven’t even worked before”
“That’s the thing. I want to learn, I want to
train”
“Well what could you do here? All the jobs are
filled, well except one of the cleaners jobs which I somehow don’t think you’ll
be going for” Victor said, slightly cool towards his daughters idea.
“Maybe we could set up a new part of the
business. We already own cosmetics and clothes brands don’t we”
“Yes, along with the ones we took over”
“Well how about another clothes brand, but this
one could be aimed at older people. People in their sixties or seventies, who
are retired, but don’t want to wear the stuff young people wear”
“Where did all this come from?” Victor asked,
pleasantly surprised by his daughter’s ideas, yet unsure if he could invest in
her ideas.
“I don’t know. It’s just that I am bored sitting
at home everyday watching the Young and the Restless, or meeting the same
people for lunch every week. I feel left out around them anyway as they all have
jobs and most of them talk about work”
“Oh, I suppose it must be hard, watching all
those boring affairs and scheming women on daytime TV” Victor joked. Chardonnay
raised her eyebrows, unhappy at her father’s attitude.
“So what do you think? Are you going to let me
start working here?”
“I’ll look into it, but I don’t know if I’ll be
starting up anything new” Victor said. He could see her face dropping in
disappointment.
“Oh, I see” she said, quietly.
“So how about lunch with me now, only if you can
pull yourself away from the soaps?”
“Okay then” Chardonnay said, rising to her feet.
She was disappointed that her father hadn’t given her a job, but she would
continue to try and get her own way, using a tried and tested formula.
***
Westside High School, 4 p.m.
Nate Samson stood at the gate of Westside High School. It was a warm day, despite
the fact that it was the end of January. He quickly looked up as he waited for
his cousin, Kayla,
to emerge from the swarm of students preparing for the weekend. He glanced in
the direction of the bus stop, where there were a group of couples getting caught
up in the moment, and not caring who saw.
Nate smiled as he watched Ms. Combs, his history
teacher, walk past. The couples suddenly managed to pull themselves apart from
one another as they got a look of disgust from their disapproving teacher. Nate
the looked to the opposite end of the car park and caught Paris,
surrounded by a group of people, looking at him. He smiled at her and she
smiled back. But Gayle
quickly called her away.
“Hey, there you are” he said as he at last
spotted his cousin.
“Hi” Kayla Anders said, smiling. She was glad
that the weekend had arrived.
Nate started walking toward the road and Kayla
followed.
“So any messages today?” she asked.
“No, not yet. I haven’t got any for the last
couple of days” Nate answered.
“I don’t know why you don’t go to the police”
“Well what good would that do. It has been going
on for over a month now, almost two, and nothing big has happened. It is
probably just somebody I offended ages ago”
“What about telling Chardonnay or your parents though? Maybe they know who is
behind it all”
“Why would they?” Nate asked, looking at Kayla.
She felt slightly uncomfortable and turned away. “They’ll soon get bored and
start on someone else”
“But how can you be so calm. What if these
threats are by someone who is going to kill you?” Kayla asked turning back to
Nate.
“I was annoyed and panicking at first, until I
realised that this has probably happened to loads of other people”
“Why don’t you change your cellphone number? At
least then they can’t send you texts every five minutes or ring and then hang
up” Kayla said as she and Nate turned onto a new street.
“If I did that then everyone who had my number
would be wondering why I had changed it and I couldn’t lie to them all” Nate
answered. Kayla was making this so difficult. Why couldn’t she see his point of
view?
“You are already lying to them all, and you
don’t have to”
Nate was preparing to respond but the familiar
beep of his phone interrupted the argument. He took his phone out and looked at
the screen. One message received. He pressed the show button and the message
appeared.
Watching you Nate Samson, but from which angle
“Another one of them, is it?” Kayla asked. Nate stopped
walking and it took Kayla a moment to slow down as well. She turned to Nate.
“Nate, what is it?”
“They’re watching me, they are somewhere here”
he said, starting to look around. Ahead of himself and Kayla he saw various
school kids, laughing and messing, none of them which he knew. He then turned
to look behind him and didn’t see anyone he knew.
”Show me” said an impatient Kayla. She grasped the phone from Nate’s grip when he
didn’t respond. After reading the message she looked straight ahead, to the
other side of the road, and spotted Paris and the rest of the gang who Nate had
seen her with earlier. Kayla looked down to see what was in Paris’ hand, where
all her attention seemed to be focused, and spotted a phone.
“Nate, I know who it is” Kayla said as she
started walking toward the gang.
Paris looked up from her phone and glanced over
to see if Nate was still at the opposite side of the street. Instead she saw
Kayla, who started walking towards her.
Kayla quickly crossed the street and caught up
with Paris.
“It’s been you all along, hasn’t it?” Kayla said
as she grabbed hold of Paris’ arm.
“Let go of me. Have you gone mad Kayla?” Paris
asked as she struggled to free her arm.
“You are the one who has been sending threats
all this time. Pretending to be nice but instead you were sending text messages
to Nate. You bitch” Kayla said angrily to her lifelong sparring partner.
“What are you talking about Kayla?” Paris asked,
finally freeing her arm. She was starting to feel slightly embarrassed as her
friends turned to look at herself and Kayla.
”Hand me the phone” Kayla demanded.
“No” Paris said as she pulled back from Kayla.
Kayla moved forward and grabbed the phone from Paris’ hand.
Nate, who had seen what was happening,
interrupted the clash.
“Kayla, it isn’t Paris” he said.
“Nate, I saw her with a phone in her hand. Don’t
you think that it is a little suspicious that she sends a message the very time
that you get a threatening one?”
Paris moved towards Kayla and tried to get her
phone back from Kayla, who was now busy looking through the outbox of the
phone. Kayla quickly moved so that she could finish her task, but ended up
hitting Paris with her elbow. Paris decided to retaliate and grabbed Kayla’s
hair. Kayla let out a scream of pain and Paris released her grip.
“Kayla, stop” Nate said, helpless to prevent
anymore violent behaviour. He watched as Kayla turned and pushed Paris up
against the wall. She slapped her enemy as some of the crowd began to cheer.
Gayle emerged from the back of the crowd and wondered what was going on.
Nate moved closer towards the pair and grabbed
Kayla by her upper arm.
“Leave me alone Nate” she said. She pushed him away
and he fell back, hitting his head off the pavement. Kayla and Paris stopped
fighting as the crowd fell silent. They turned to see that Nate was lying
unconscious on the pavement.
Continue with Episode 15 – Self Discovery