Blind love (Part III)

Ariel has been worried sick about Brandon. She even goes to the hospital and checks on him without giving her name. She was happy to see the ambulance pull up to bring him home. She has already been told of his condition and that he would be upstairs for a couple of months. Her job was the downstairs part of the mansion so she was a little upset at the prospect of not seeing him for that long. She thought that as long as he was getting well, she would have to be happy with that. The ambulance medics bring him into the mansion and take him to his room that is set up for his recovery. They get him settled in and leave. A nurse is already there to watch over him.

For a few days, Ariel does her job and keeps staring up the stairs where he is. She sees the nurse leave every night at eight o’clock. She thinks of him being by himself for the rest of the night and worries that he might hurt himself somehow. Finally, one night, she sneaks up the stairs at nine o’clock. She just wants to look in on him to make sure that he is okay. She grabs the door handle to his door and slowly turns it so it won’t make any noise. She slowly pushes the door until it is open enough for her to squeeze in and closes it behind her. She tiptoes close to his bed so she can look at him. She stands there looking at him and smiles. Even with the bandages on his eyes he was still handsome, she thought. All of a sudden she sneezes. She put her hands over her mouth but it wasn’t enough. Brandon sits up and asks, “Who’s there? Tell me! I heard you! If you don’t speak, I will call the police!” She panics; she doesn’t know what to do. She knows that if she speaks, he will sooner or later hear her talking and will know that it is she. She remembers what Sharon said about her sounding like Brandon’s girlfriend, Linda, so she tries to talk like her and says, “ I am no one in particular. I am just a friend who wanted to see if you were all right. I am sorry if I bothered you. I will leave so you can get some rest. Good night, Brandon.” She turns to walk away. He raises his voice and says, “Please, don’t go. Come over here and talk with me a while. It gets a little lonely in here after the nurse leaves every night and it is way too early to go to sleep. Couldn’t you just stay for a little while since you took the trouble to come and check on me? I promise, I won’t call the police. Come over here and sit in the chair next to the bed.” She hesitated but decided that he wouldn’t be able to see her and no one was around to see her so she walked over and sat down in the chair. He asked, “ Are you still here?” She answers him, “ Yes, I am still here. What would you like to talk about? I guess that I can stay for a little while.” He smiles and says, “ Anything you want. It doesn’t matter. I just want your company.”

They talk for a little while and he notices a smell in the air. He faces where she is sitting and asks, “ That’s a nice perfume you are wearing. What is it called in case I need to buy you some, one day?” She forgot that she had put some on and told herself to never wear it around him when she was working. She answered, “ It’s called, “Rapture”. It isn’t too expensive and I like the fragrance it has. You don’t have to buy me any. I have enough of it.” She looks at her watch and says, “ I have to go. It is getting late and you need your rest. I am really sorry that I bothered you. Please forgive me!” He knows it’s late so he smiles and asks pleadingly, “ Aren’t you going to tell me your name? Will you come back and see me tomorrow night? I sure could use the company!” She stands at the door and answers, “ Who I am is not important. I am a ghost in the darkness.” He smiles and replies, “ Then I will call you “Casper”. Will that be all right?” She laughs and answers, “ Casper was a male ghost but I like the name. Just call me Casper from now on. I will visit you if you promise me one thing.” He replies, “ Anything, just name it. Would you like for me to buy you something?” She answers back, “No, I don’t want you to buy me anything. If you do, I will not accept it. All I want from you is a promise not to try and find out who I am. Please promise me that, or I will not return.” He smiles and says, “ I am a man of my word. I will not try to find out your identity if you promise me that I will see you, so to speak, tomorrow night. Have we got a deal?” She smiles and answers, “ Yes, we have a deal, Brandon. Good night!” He waves in her direction and says, “Good night, Casper!” She walks out the door and checks to see if anyone is around and sneaks back downstairs.

She shares a room with Sharon. She tries her best to be quiet so she won’t disturb her as she enters the room. As soon as she reaches her bed, Sharon rolls over and asks, “ Did you have a nice visit?” Ariel is surprised at her question and replies, “ What are you talking about? I just went for a walk! I don’t know what you are talking about!” Sharon sits up and with a sly grin says, “ Yea! You went for a walk all right! Right up the stairs to Mr. Cartwright’s room! What were you thinking, Ariel? Are you crazy or something?” Ariel knew that the cat was out of the bag so she confessed and said with a sad expression on her face, “ I just had to see if he was doing okay!” Sharon walks over to her bed and sits next to her and says, “ Well, You may as well tell me about it. I’m awake now! Go ahead let’s hear it!”

Ariel gives her a questioning look and asks, “ How did you know where I went? I thought that I was careful when I went up there.” Sharon smiles and replies, “ I thought that you would pull something like this so I followed you. I have been watching the way you kept looking up the stairs! I knew that you wanted to see him. Honey, you’re lucky that it was me and not the butler who saw you! Go ahead and tell me about it.” Ariel starts explaining what had happened between her and Brandon. Sharon shakes her head in disbelief and asks her, “ Well, what are you going to do about it? You promised him that you would be back. How long do you think that this can go on? You’re his maid for Christ sakes, Ariel!” Ariel starts to cry. She is confused and in love. Sharon sees her heartache and feels sorry for her. She puts her hand on her shoulder and says, “ I’ll tell you what, Sweetie. I guess I can be your lookout tomorrow night. I know how you feel about him. I just don’t want to see you get into any trouble or get your heart broke.” Ariel hugs her as she cries. Sharon continues, “ You know that sooner or later, you will have to tell him who you are. You can’t be Casper forever. Hopefully, he will get his sight back. What are you going to do then?” Ariel lifts her head off her shoulder and replies, “ I honestly don’t know. He wasn’t supposed to know that I was there. I only know that I want to spend time with him now!” Sharon pats her on the back and says, “ You go ahead and get some sleep, Honey. We will worry about everything else when the time comes.