Final chapter of Phases Eight.

My problem is, I'm living in a simple world with a complicated mind..

-Amelia Hamilton
_______________________

Jake woke up to the continuous flipping sound of fresh pages over his head. Waiting on Amy after the surgery made him so exhausted that he couldn't keep track of his consciousness. Amy had a lumbar spinal surgery for five hours and was moved to a 23-hour observation. The surgeons predicted paraplegia, a condition where the lower part of the body becomes completely paralyzed. But anything could be made sure only when the anesthesia wore off and Amy came back to her senses.

Jake prayed for nothing of that sort to happen as it might adversely affect Amelia's psychiatric condition. The last thing he wanted to expect, is an other alter indulging in Amy's life to demand her time. Rubbing his eyes amidst a yawn, Jake found Amy reading a book. He noticed the cot that was previously flat, was raised to make a comfortable reading position for her. She glanced the pages through a thin, silver lined, metal rimmed specs. Jake had seen Charlie wearing those glasses for farsightedness.

"Are you feeling good? What are you reading?"

"Es-tu aveugle?" she pressed the bridge of her glasses, "C'est un livre"

Jake heard from Lance about a French speaking alter breeding inside Amy who had a very bad attitude, but he never had a direct encounter with her. Jake had the least interest to meet the new entry. The last time when the alter met Lance, she spoke about Amy's life coming to an end. No sooner did she say, Amy had the fatal accident that broke her spine.

"Good thing you can't understand whatever I say, because I don't like you even the teeniest bit and it's better you don't know that." Jake scoffed and smiled simultaneously to facade his burning hatred.

"Art is français, but can understand Anglais very well. Art not comfortable to speak"

Her answer squarely hit Jake like a blow on face, "Art? Is that your name? Ah..Jake can see that very well. Where did you get that book and glasses?"

"A beau monsieur gave it to Art. Doctor hit Art knee, but no pain. He said Amie will never walk."

Jake's crushed the bedspread underneath his fist. The foreboding bitter news was delivered by an alter whom he never wanted to meet. The day couldn't get any worse for him. "By the way she is Amy, not Amie. You needn't say nothing. I'll talk with the doctor."

Art went back to her book and suddenly threw a fit of laughter, "The book's so funny. A little boy fall down a building and break his legs"

"Yeah. Real fun, it is" Jake said in a tone dripping of sarcasm.

"That no fun. After the boy falls one man say 'kill im e's no use'. Other man say, 'No. Death ees so terribly final. But life ees full of possi-bi-lities. Let im live.' That, Art find funny"

"What's funny 'bout it? The second man is actually right. You have so much of possibilities in living"

"Art find no use in living a handicap. A bird with no wings die"

"Pfft..bullshit" Jake punched the mattress, "Art, have you ever died?"

Art rolled her eyes in the circumference of her specs frame, "Nope"

"So have I. But I've lived and I know when one door closes, automatically the other opens. Death is a one way trip. Once you take the lane, you get no chance to return or regret." Jake, being insinuated that Art might be the next person to try killing Amy, gave his best to convince her.

"Textbooks can use your dialogue Monsieur, not Art. Amie know the end ees near. She know, I rise at the end"

____________________________

"Jake, come here. Your tie is not right." Amy complained. She was dressed in formals and blazer to attend the final hearing of Luciana and Mark's murder case. Ellie was arrested and to be produced at the court for which Amy was the main witness.

Jake was wonder-struck by Amelia's indifference towards her paralysis. Having a long doctor to doctor chat with the surgeons, Amy came back to Jake with a charismatic smile on her lips, "Many have died because of me. Let's assume it's a token of love from the people above."

Jake again adjusted his tie, "I don't find any fault in it"

"You can't see that by yourself. See from my eyes. It's really awful. Looks like you are gonna tie the other end to a pole and hang" Amy shook her head disbelievingly.

"Good gracious. I definitely don't want Art to see this" Jake talked through the previous night about his pow-wow with Amy's seventh alter and her lethal ideas to die. Amy called her psychiatrist from the hospital, for a session that remained private between themselves. Jake didn't want to be his typical self by horning in, so he waited for Amy to tell by herself.

"After preaching a sermon about not dying, if you go with the ridiculous loop around your neck, everything you taught would be an utter waste. C'mere, lemme change that for you."

Jake stood facing Amy. He bent forward a little so that she could reach his tall figure.

"Learn from me carefully. I'll not repeat it again." Amy crossed the tie and made a loop. While tightening the knot, she pulled the bottom end with a little extra force. Jake, who wasn't anticipating this came down on Amy where she kissed him on his lips. It was their first kiss that wasn't interrupted.

Jake leaned his head against hers, grinning like a lovestruck maniac. He stroke his thumb against her cheekbone. "Amy did the doctors prescribe Ethyl alcohol pain killers?"

"No, I'm allergic to alcohol"

"Then why you are so addictive?"

Amy raised a suspicious eyebrow, "Jake you sound like a player in such corny lines."

Jake knelt down holding Amy's hand in his, "I'll be your player. Will you be my coach? Let's play a love affair."

Amy chuckled, "Undoubtedly you are mine"

_____________________

Once again she was in the cold rooftop.

But this time, she remained a spectator, watching the scene from a third person point of view.

The door creaked, trying to be opened. Amy made sure she had sealed it good enough. She lurched unsteadily and held the rusted railing to keep up her stance.

She lost her trust on the door when it swung open in a volley of blows. Amy had nowhere to escape, except maybe inside herself, but it was too dangerous. She peered at the light emerging from the other side of the door. The silhouette at the threshold wasn't Nick's chauffeur Mr Chase, but Nick himself.

Amy didn't know whether she felt happy or sad, but one thing was sure, she didn't feel insecure anymore. At the back of her head something had been telling, Leo or Nick would be searching for her whatever she would've done. They would never give up on her.

"Nick" she ran up to him with a glee, but the rest of the night wasn't her turn to play. The voices in her head bound her feet. She rammed her knuckles against her head so that the voices would stop.

Nick's proximity consternated Amelia. He held her wrists with a grip of a vice. The pain from his hold revived her senses.

"Don't try so hard. I came to tell none of us need you anymore. Stay away" Nick gritted. He released her wrist with a sudden jolt making her shoulder slam hard against the ground. Amy couldn't believe she was being abandoned, for it was too unrealistic. Ignoring the pain, she spiralled her arms around Nick's leg.

"Nick don't leave me. None of it was my fault. I had no idea what I was doing. Call Leo. He knows what's wrong with me. He talks with the doctor, so he knows it wasn't my mistake."

"He doesn't need to talk with you. You've made a fool out of him. Go away brat" he knocked her gut with the heel of his shoe. Amelia fell back with the searing ache in her stomach. Nick spat beside her and stormed away. The unknown voices got the best of her. Her state was undefinable, as she felt like an infinity of things at the same time.

Amy figured she was despicable when she rose by an impulse supplemented by adrenaline and propelled her fist at the side of Nick's head. Though he stood unshaken, she knew it hurt. One fatal look from him made Amy cringe in her boots, transforming her from being despicable to being pathetic.

She wagered on forming a short tempered klutz out of Nick as came back with pure despise bobbling in him. His brain was entirely fogged when he stomped at her direction like a raging bull. All Amelia wanted to do was dodge, to deflect his attack. She did, and little did she knew that the uneven ground where she stood could make him stumble and fall across the guard railing.

Amelia wiped the dried tear on her face. She increased the volume in her earphones to wash away her latest nightmare recoiling in her skull. She couldn't be grateful to remember the night, as half of it seemed to be made up in her head. Her alters were talented manipulators who modified her memories and fed it back to herself. She talked about it to her psychiatrist to verify her version of the truth.

Jake borrowed one of her earplugs as his mind was too perturbed in the courtroom while waiting for the judge to arrive. Ellie was brought to the front. She wore a brand new suit and tied her hair in a bun. Her attorney arrived after her. Jake analyzed Ellie, comparing whether blue-haired Ellie was better than the blonde-haired one. The former was friendly and good-natured which was a disguise to betray them. The latter was truthful, in a deadly way.

He felt remorseful to pass on the information to Will. After five years his brother let a woman enter his life and the woman ungratefully stabbed his back. Will said he would be there for the trial but Jake saw him leaving from the courthouse after having an awkward silent conversation with Ellie. Jake knew Will was too faint hearted to see the woman he probably loved get a lifetime sentence. He didn't want to go through the torment once again. Mr and Mrs Gallagher were seated on the front row holding hands. They had a lawyer appointed with a hope of reducing the effect of their daughter's sentence. Orion was at the back of the room with a purple bruise on the side of his head. Mr Ashworth, Mark's father sat along with him.

Prosecuting on their side was a completely new attorney. Amy restrained Ethan from taking the case as it would be a family conflict instead of being an unbiased legal hearing. Amy paused the song when the judge arrived. The judge was a woman in the midst of fifties with a dark complexion and cropped hair. Everything on her was black except her lipstick which was a bright shade of orange. She flung her coat backwards before taking the seat.

"Ms Ellie Gallagher, do you accept the charges pressed against you for the murder of Luciana de Lorenzo, Mark Ashworth and Hayden Clark?" the judge inquired.

The courtroom became restless at the mention of Hayden's name. Hayden was breathing until the court assembled. The previous night Lance said Hayden was too 'disoriented', that caused a unstable fluctuation of his vitals, and the chances of keeping him alive were two in a scale of ten. Jake really wished Hayden was favored by the two percentage. Few minutes before the hearing, they received the news of Hayden passing away, having a cardiac arrest.

It was one of the other reasons why Will had to leave before the trial could begin. Amelia shut herself in a playlist of songs to control the hysteria nestling in her chest. Jake pondered the cruelty of death, as he nearly touched the rock bottom of depression for a person whom he loathed alive. The regret for not apologizing to him slowly nibbled at Jake. He dwelled over what ran inside Amelia's head. Maybe if she let him, he could be of help but Amy preferred brooding in seclusion. Fussing over it would be a pointless as he wasn't there for her all those years she struggled alone. They would be leaving to the funeral after the judgement. Jake needn't be told that she wanted him to hold her back thereafter.

Ellie agreed to the prosecution's charge of murdering Luciana and Mark, and emphasized her motive to protect Hayden. His death was not her intention and she felt too sorry for his loss. Her attorney pressed her to come up with the loss of her boyfriend and her unborn son but she refused and said that the loss of Nick had nothing to do with it. Jake perceived that she truthfully mourned for Hayden's demise as a friend. Having no other go to save his defendant, Ellie's lawyer called for Amy to be cross investigated.

"Best of luck" Jake kissed Amy's forehead and rolled her chair to the witness stand. The courtroom was so silent that Amy yearned to be buried, unnoticed in the silence. Ellie's attorney shot questions like bullets. Amy leaned her elbows on the stand and answered the basic questions through the mic. Finally he came to the heart of the issue.

"Dr Hamilton, could you please brief us the incidents of the day?"

Amelia licked her lips. "I'm not sure. After calling Hayden for help, I don't remember much. I was unconscious most of the time."

"Then what about your brother's death? I hope you were the only witness for Tyler Chase having murdered your brother."

Amy had tears glistening her eyes, "I'm not sure. I wasn't conscious." The prosecutor raised to object, but Amelia refused. She had her own plans in mind.

The defense attorney continued, "Everyone in this room know how the Hamiltons met with their tragic end in the Poseidon. Did that have something to do with your mental state? You, being a psychiatrist must know well what I'm talking about"

"I do" Amelia nodded, "The psychiatrist whom I used to consult, said I dug my own grave by doing drugs. Funny old man he is. He wouldn't agree if I said that I had a complicated mind, living in a simple world. At sixteen, I was diagnosed for Schizophrenia. Sometimes I never knew what happened to me, and people used to hate me for no reason. Maybe there was a reason, but I never knew what was it.

My brother Leo was my only support at that time. He used to say I was like a poem. People used to get different ideas on reading a poem but the poet would've written it from a different perspective. It wasn't the poet's fault to have a divergent taste. Nobody understood the poem as Leo did. Those who criticized the poem, tore the poet's heart into seven pieces, some were attached back and some were lost forever"

Ethan sneaked inside the courtroom and took the empty seat near Jake. His hair was tousled in a rogue manner and his shrunken face evidently showed his lack of sleep. He came directly from Hayden's funeral. Jake gave a comforting squeeze to Ethan's hand. Ethan nodded back in acknowledgement.

The judge was kindled by Amelia, "Can you be more precise about your statement?" 

"I thought I gave the most simplest explanation" Amy sniggered while twisting the ring on her thumb, "May I call my psychiatrist?"

"If he is present in the assembly, yes you may" granted the judge.

The madness prompted by Amy dawned on Jake in a flash. He wanted to stop her but Ethan restricted him. "She's doing something she wanted to do for a long time. I'm sure she'll play it good."

For the first time in her life Amelia declared officially about her disorder to the entire world.

The judge knocked her pen against the desk. "If you wanted to be cleared of any charges for identity forgery, you'll be declared mentally disordered by the court."

"By all means" Amy bowed, "I have a condition. Can I proceed?"

"You may"

Closing her eyes, Amy steadied her breathing pace. "If I'm ordered to take treatment, I need to be treated at the D.R.E.A.M"

____________________

Dear Hayden,

I miss so much you already. And I'm so envious of you. Your face will be remembered in the age where you look so hot, but I have to grow old. My hair will fall, my body will lose its structure and my eyes may lose the brown which you always liked. My children and grandchildren will have to remember my awful wrinkled face. I don't know whether I'll live long enough to see grandchildren but nothing is wrong in dreaming. (Don't ever expect me to name them after you. I'll never do it)

Say I said 'hi' to everyone above (and if you can, ask them to forgive me). I hope you'll still come to my aid if I send a 'code red' message. Don't come in the form of ghost and scare the hell outta me. I know you would be enthusiastic to haunt Jake, but you must know one thing, he mourned for you. He even apologized at your funeral. Jake might be my love, but you are always my first crush (since day one I met you) and you have a special place in my heart. Since you are divine now, please forgive me for my err. If we had a next life (which I might not have as I'll possibly be rotting in hell) I would want us both to be brothers, so that we love with no regrets.

Loving you to heaven and back,

Amy.

Amy didn't take the decision of going to the D.R.E.A.M. to avenge Hayden's death. She gave up on such futile thoughts for the goodness inside her. She wasn't sacrificing her life as everyone assumed. If not for her, she always wanted to be alive for Jake. She listened to her heart and faced everything that time had, with her head held high. Amelia apologized to Tyler Chase genuinely without any bribe, for she knew money wouldn't compensate the time he stayed away from his family.

Jake wept like a kid in his first day to school when Amy was packing to leave. If Jake had turned calm on chocolates Amy would've vacated all the chocolate warehouses in the entire world, but unfortunately Jake had no liking for those 'brown bricks' as he said. Finally Amy looked at Jake in the eye, which she never did, and promised him she would be back  sooner than he expected, whatever it costs.

Ellie was sentenced twenty five years to life imprisonment, while Amy received a sentence which was no less terrible.

The same year, D.R.E.A.M coincidentally had new specialists whose names coincidentally turned out to be Daniel Clark and Lance Parker, and coincidentally Amelia Hamilton became their patient. It was all purely coincidental.

Art's visits were quite frequent in Amy. Daniel Clark suggested it was the D.R.E.A.M's atmosphere that triggered her. Some way or the other Art tried killing Amy every time she possessed her body, so once Lance had to tie Amy in a chair like a hostage for twelve hours. The time when the patients had to exercise, Amy secretly tried moving her legs. She desperately missed the days when she used to run until her muscles burned and her lungs ached for air . Even her alters didn't want a crippled body. Nick stayed dormant most of the time. Barbara went off the grid as Jake wasn't around and the D.R.E.A.M had no appealing things to steal.

The Hamilton group was inherited by Clarks according to the will written by Amy's father. Jake sent Issac back to his rightful home at Ontario. Mrs Davis accepted for Issac to spend few days at Brooklyn twice a year. Jake became bankrupt after paying half a million dollar rent for his stay in the Hamilton mansion. He could've got back the money, but Jake had self-esteem written apparently on his forehead. Independence ran along with his blood so he started earning from scratch. Street races gave him money, but the money didn't give him pleasure. The Turners celebrated a toast when Jake once again went back to race off-road.