Chapter 2: Ch 2: Soul Harvest

"Iris, we don't have much time left. At least have a car ready beforehand. "

The actress's manager anxiously followed the girl down the hospital ward, struggling to keep up with her brisk pace.

"It'll be quick," Iris assured him, without turning back. 

She was dressed head to toe in her standard paparazzi-avoiding gear: a black cap covering her hair, knee-length waistcoat, followed by sunglasses and run-down hiking boots. A little cliché as Kadar had pointed out before. But Iris decided it was effective, nonetheless.

What concerned her more was the news that had been bothering her for the past 2 days. 

Kadar...What the hell have you gotten yourself into?

At last, they reached his room, where they were led in by a nurse. The sight of Kadar in such a weakened state, made her grimace. This wasn't the man she knew. There was something about that annoyingly carefree and unambitious attitude of his, that convinced her he was invincible. Not the sort of person who would be confined to a bed, nor the sort of person she would've expected to hold so dear. But Kadar was always unpredictable.

Iris approached his still body and took off her hat and sunglasses, ignoring the stares from some of the hospital staff. She'd heard from somewhere that the senses of a patient in comatose were still partially operational, and that the words of a loved one could actually motivate them to recover.

Then maybe... if it was me...?

Iris gave herself a mental shake. There was no way.

Me? A loved one?

The stupidity of even entertaining such a thought, was enough to make her feel sick. Besides, she couldn't possibly fathom what motivations Kadar had. And that wasn't to say that she'd never tried.

"Pretty girls," he would monotonously reply whenever she asked. Iris was sure that he must've had a good reason to enter the world of showbiz, but as usual, getting any serious answers from him was immensely difficult. Mostly, because he was always such an absolute ass. 

"Iris," Her manager began tentatively "They want the entire cast on-set in an hour's time,"

The girl nodded. By tonight, she'd expected herself to have finished off her final shoot. She'd expected the director to be praising her along with the rest of the filming crew. She'd expected Kadar to be waiting for her outside, ready to tell her how good of a job she'd done, whilst somehow pissing her off simultaneously. But not all of that could happen now.

He'd risked his own life to save two strangers and failed miserably. 

Is this the way you wanted things to end? Dying a tragic hero? Don't make me laugh... 

"You were never suited to saving lives," Iris muttered, pursing her lips "You stupid idiot..."

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The actress knelt down and touched his hand gingerly for a moment, before clasping it in her own. Deep in her heart, she knew that she was the only one to blame for having brought him out. But he'd better be fighting to return.

 

***

 

Kadar knew he was falling. What felt like hours had already passed, and still, he had somehow not reached the bottom yet.

The pitch-black abyss seemed to stretch on forever.

Of course, he wasn't too keen on the thought of having to land, but enough time had passed for him to wish that there was some sort of end to this hell hole. He was suddenly reminded of that theory regarding the bottomless pit, in which the victim would die of starvation before hitting the ground.  Or was it starvation being symbolised by a bottomless pit? Kadar couldn't remember, nor did he care. The only thing he was starved of was his senses.

And a floor.

The lack of floor was definitely wearing away his sanity the most.

The only good thing about his situation, was that he had plenty of time to process the events that had occurred. But as his mind was already devolving into spaghetti, organizing his thoughts became near impossible.

Kadar shut his eyes, which had no effect whatsoever, and attempted to cross his 'legs' to assume his usual brooding position. He remembered being rammed by a car on his way to a shoot, attempting to save some twins and then blacking out. The obvious conclusion was that he was very dead. But Kadar also felt as though he was forgetting something important. Something that would give him a clue on this bleak afterlife he existed in.

What was it?

He strained his memory, trying to recall everything once again, until the image of a grey square drifted into his line of sight.