Chapter 20: Calling All Angels

            The room was unimaginably dark, the only light being provided by the glass windows, and even those were nearly closed up. That’s the way Chance wanted it. She didn’t want to see Darren sitting beside her in the small hospital room, his hand gently stroking hers. Her heart was sinking into a deep depression, as it had when her parents died. Now, the pain she felt with that loss was nothing compared to losing Scott. She had actually seen him die in her arms, and that would always come back to haunt her until the day she died.

            “Why?” Chance asked the darkness. “Why did he have to die?”

            Darren didn’t answer. He knew she would only bark back at him, and curse the day she met him. He didn’t want to add to her mood.

            “Chance,” he finally said. “I’m sorry.”

            She looked at him with sore eyes and coldly replied, “Why the hell are you still here? Can’t you just leave me the fuck alone? I’ve been through enough! I need some time to think, damn it!”

            “Calm down,” Darren softly consoled. He held her hand up to his face and kissed it. He could feel her become less tense with the small gesture.

            “Why did God have to do this to me again? It’s like everyone I’ve ever really loved has been somehow taken away from me. You know why? Because God hates me! He wants me to die alone and heartbroken,” Chance screamed out. “I wish this was all over and I was gone. I don’t want to live anymore if I can’t fall in love with someone without having them die in my arms!” Tears dripped down her face as she started to cry.

            Darren stood up and sat beside her on the bed, holding her close, comforting her as she fell apart under the stress. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispered, rocking her back and forth.

            The door slowly opened and a man in a police officer’s uniform came in. “Excuse me, Ms. Malone, I need to speak to you about the hit and run,” he said in a gruff voice.

            Darren let go of her slowly and walked out of the room, stopping at the door to look back at her and make sure she was going to be okay. Her head dropped into her hands. She didn’t want to tell the story, but the officer needed to hear it in order to find Brad.

            “What happened tonight in the street?” the officer asked.

            “I’d better start before that so I won’t have to explain it more than once,” Chance replied, regaining her composure. She told the officer everything that had happened between her and Brad before the accident, from the first fight down to Scott’s last breath. She couldn’t stop the flow of tears as she recalled her last moments with him.

            “Do you remember anything about the car that Brad was driving?” the officer questioned.

            “Um… I think it’s a brand new black Mercedes. I don’t know the model, but I think it was a convertible. And I didn’t see the plates,” Chance answered.

            “That’s all, Ms. Malone. Thank you for your time, and I’m sorry about your boyfriend,” said the cop.

            “Actually, he was my fiancé,” she corrected, looking down at the diamond ring on her finger.

            “My mistake. Well, I’ll make sure to tell you when we have him in custody. Take care,” he replied, tipping his hat and leaving the room.

            Chance lay back on the bed and closed her eyes in hope of forgetting everything and drifting off to sleep. Darren walked back into the room and sat down beside her. She opened her eyes to see him staring at her with intense blue eyes.

            “So, he proposed?” Darren asked.

            “Leave me alone,” Chance retorted, laying on her other side away from him.

            “I just wanted to know. I overheard you tell the officer that Scott was your fiancé.”

            “When are you ever going to learn to leave me alone when I tell you?”

            “I’m sorry. I’ll go.” With that, Darren stood up and began to walk out of the dark room. He didn’t look back to see Chance sit up and watch him as he walked down the hall. She had hurt him again, but couldn’t care less.

            As Darren walked down the brightly lit halls of the hospital to the front entrance, he encountered Dan making his way towards Chance’s room.

            “Daz, what happened? Where’s Chance?” he asked as Darren walked past him, a painful hurt look on his face.

            “I don’t care,” Darren coldly replied as he walked outside to his limo.

            Dan stood in the hall wondering what had just happened between him and Chance. He began to walk down the hall again until he found her room. She was sitting on the bed, her head in her hands, crying once again. He sat down beside her and she looked up at him with puffy red eyes. He took her hand and held it.

            They sat in silence for nearly ten minutes before Chance could bring herself to speak to him. “I keep thinking about what you said to me that night I danced with you at The Palm Court and how true your words were,” Chance said, her thumb tracing circles over the top of his hand. “You were so right when you said that if I wasn’t careful, I’d fall out of my perfect world. I keep wondering how you could be so right. I feel so guilty now that I’ve realized I brought this upon myself. I should have been more careful, I should have taken your advice, but I was reckless and inexperienced.”

            Dan softly placed his hand on her cheek. He felt so terrible about giving Chance the advice that he had come to take to heart. She was so young, how could she have been able to foresee this kind of tragedy at such a tender age, especially after the death of her parents?

            “If it’s any comfort to you, I’m sorry for giving you that advice. I didn’t know this was going to happen,” Dan replied. “I don’t want you blaming yourself for what happened tonight. It’s not your fault. You haven’t been reckless, you’ve been the girl that we’ve come to know and love, and there’s nothing wrong with that. You shouldn’t be putting these kinds of things on your shoulders.”

            “But it is my fault. Brad was supposed to hit me, not Scott. Brad was mad at me, not Scott. This is my entire fault because I’m the one who embarrassed Brad in front of a huge crowd of people. Scott was just an innocent bystander that got in the way,” Chance cried. “He wasn’t supposed to die tonight. I was supposed to die. Why did he have to save me?” Her head fell into her hands as she choked out tears.

            “Because he loved you,” Dan said softly, lifting her chin with his hand. He took Chance’s hand and squeezed it. “He loved you, Chance.”

            “But he’s gone!” she began to wail. “And now I’m all alone, again.”

            “You’re not alone. You still have Darren and me. We’re always going to be here, no matter what. You’re always going to have a place in our hearts.”

            “Scott was my one true love, though. Who will ever replace what we had?”

            “Well, you could start with Darren. He’s madly in love with you,” Dan honestly suggested.

            Chance stared at him blankly for a few seconds. The moments from the studio flashed before her eyes; the kiss, what she felt in it, and the promise she had made not to tell anyone about it. Her hand covered her mouth to conceal her jaw as it dropped. Chance had finally realized what she meant to Darren.  A few tears fell from her eyes as she shook her head in disbelief.

            “No, that can’t be true,” she said, trying to believe likewise.

            “It is. That whole fight we had in the hotel room wasn’t about the next album, it was about you,” Dan said quietly. “He told me that when you two were dancing, he could feel what you were feeling and that he completely understood you. I told him he was crazy, but he wouldn’t listen. What got him so angry was the fact that I said you were way out of his league and that you were too young for him.”

            With the amount of insight she had gained in those few minutes, Chance was able to put all the pieces of her broken puzzle together. Darren truly loved her even though she had pushed him and pulled him in so many different directions. Maybe he was the one, and Scott died so she could realize her true destiny. But Chance didn’t want to believe that. Scott was the one she loved, and Darren could never come close to him.

            “Get out,” Chance told Dan.

            “What?” he asked puzzled to why she had become so aggressive all too suddenly.

            “Leave!” she roared.