Chapter Eight

Life in the fast lane
Surely make you lose your mind
Life in the fast lane
Life in the fast lane
Everything all the time
Life in the fast lane
Life In the Fast Lane
The Eagles

Geneva, Switzerland

Calla had no idea that a plane trip could be so exhausting. She’d slept most of the trip from Colorado to New York where they had an hour and a half layover. Andy spent it calling the brownstone and making sure all of their bags had been sent on ahead, if not then there was time to get last minute items. Henry had taken care of it all, their clothes were already on their way and so were Callestah’s art supplies he’d taken special care packing the unfinished painting that Andy so wanted her to finish before they kicked this thing off in Rome in a few weeks.

While Andy was busy on the phone and making his arrangements Calla just sat next to him wondering what her new life was really going to be like and whether or not she could keep up with it. The pace seemed terribly hectic to her. She was used to something just a wee-bit slower. Wondering how she was going to fit the bits of her old life—like her children—into her new life. Colleen needed her Mother now and she couldn’t be there that was just a rotten turn, now wasn’t it? Then again, she’d had been Mother of the Year material to begin with so maybe Colleen wouldn’t need her around fucking things up. Nicholas, all grown and married, how did that happen? Seemed she’d only turned way for a moment and they were all grown up and off on their way to their own New Lives. Daniel? Yes, he was off and on his way as well. Sooner or later those divorce papers would show up. There was no turning back now. Yes once again that ever-loving Point of No Return reared its ugly head.

Landing in Switzerland the limousine picked them up at the airport and rushed them to the hotel where they dropped off what bags they had with them, checked in, washed up quickly and were dashing out again to make her appointment at the clinic. It seemed the timing hadn’t been so bad after all they still made it with twenty minutes to spare. Calla was tired all she wanted to do was lay down (in Daniel’s arms) and go to sleep. The world wouldn’t stop long enough to allow that and soon she and Andy were in the doctor’s office being interviewed. Or interrogated depending on who you were and how you were looking at it. The last thing she wanted to do was answer their oh-so-medically-put polite questions regarding the abuse she’d suffered. In a trembling voice she did her best to answer them while she held tight to Andy’s hand and didn’t look anyone in the eye.

Then they were off again. Out of the office and into an exam room. Andy had to wait outside. She was alone in a room with two doctors who took her clothes off and compared the photographs with the real thing. They ran their hands all over her and made comments to each other in German—they thought she didn’t understand but she did. Mostly they were just stunned by the extent of the damage that had been done to her but here and there a crude remark was made. Even when you’re a doctor, boys will be boys. When they were down gawking at her back they had her lie down on the examination table and put her feet up in the stirrups. This was the part she hated most and Calla took a deep breath and shut her eyes, she didn’t want to see the expressions on their faces when they got their first good look at her. The sound of air being sucked into their lungs was enough for her. She heard the sound of rustling paper while someone jotted down notes and that was followed by the kindly voice of the doctor telling her to relax and take a deep breath. More air rushing into a set of lungs as his fingers probed inside her.

More consulting, more note taking, more comments to each other. A bloody pair of latex gloves dropped into the bio-hazard waste can. Then they were off again. Down the sterile hallway they took x-rays and MRIs and blood and ran a whole battery of tests and did things to her she didn’t understand before they finally let her get dressed again. Andy was waiting for her when she came out and she ran to him. “Is it over?”

“I think so, love.” He soothed while he held her tight. “I’ll take you out for a nice dinner and a few stiff drinks.” Calla stepped away from him and held her arm out to him. “Yes that too.” He told her and put her arm down but he had no intention of giving her a boot until after the doctors had done their work. A nurse came out and told them they had to come back the next day the doctors needed to consult with each other over night. By the look on her face they weren’t optimistic.

Andy and Callestah spent the night holed up in the fancy four-star hotel room. They ordered room service and a bottle of Jack & Danny. She picked at the food, drank the booze and popped the few pills he gave her. After that she had a hot bath Andy was alarmed by the amount of steam coming through the bottom of the bathroom door and when he opened it he was met by a great rush of it. She was sitting in the tub soaking wet and bright red she was scrubbing herself with the bath puff so hard he thought she’d take the flesh off her bones with it. “I think you’re clean enough.” It was so hot in the bathroom he opened the window wide the let the night air in and push the steam out through the open door. Callestah just continued her washing she didn’t even seem to notice his presence in the room. Turning back from the window to look at her Andy saw she was standing up and thought she was getting out but she wasn’t. With the steam no longer obstructing his view he saw that her pretty little nipples had droplets of blood around them where she’d scrubbed them so hard. Now she was going to town with the puff and the soap between her legs.

She’s insane. That’s all he could think as he stood there watching her scrub the area up and down and over and over again. In his line of work he encountered a lot of artists and creative types and they were all eccentric to one degree or another and they were all temperamental but the way she was scrubbing herself really bordered on madness. It was clear in her mind there was nothing else in the whole world at this moment except her dirty cunt which now was starting to show little tufts of pink in the white foam. Quietly he walked over and took the puff out of her hand. “Rinse off, dahling.” Andy told her in a stern but soft voice. “You’re all clean now.” There was a long moment where she just stared at him as though she were trying to comprehend what he’d said and then she sat in the hot water and rinsed the soap off. Andy held out a soft towel to her and again she pondered it and then finally stood up and out of the tub. He walked her out to the main living area of the hotel room and watched the steam rise from her skin. “It’s getting late,” Andy said lightly as he guided her over to the bed. “Why don’t we get some rest?” Turning back the covers on the bed she climbed in and lay down with a heavy sigh. She looked over at him and held out her arm for the boot he’d promised earlier. “No, dahling,” he whispered, “Not until after you come back from hospital.” Andy turned out the light and climbed in next to her. “I know you’re worried, my dear,” he soothed as he brought her close, “but you’ll see everything is going to be just fine.”

It wasn’t.

Bright and early the next morning he dragged her out of the bed and poured half a pot of coffee down her throat before heading off to the clinic for their follow up appointment. Sitting in the big white office with its slate blue carpet and diplomas hanging on the wall the doctors told them that while there were a great many things they could for the scarring on her back and on her inner thighs.

Some of the smaller scars on her back would be re-opened and the scar tissue cut away they would sew those areas up again with very small stitches and they would heal nicely. The larger, deeper and more knotted scars on her back would be covered by grafting full thickness layers cadaver skin over them, this was called an allograft. Ordinarily they would use a persons own skin taken from the buttocks or lower back but Callestah didn’t have enough extra flesh for the procedure so they would take tissue from a donor. The drawback there was the procedure was less likely to take, it would be more painful and in the end, she wouldn’t have any feeling in those areas as the nerve endings were impossible to reattach.

The breast enhancement would be just fine and they’d mold her thighs a little while they repaired the skin between them. If she wanted they were more than willing to try and ease the brutal scars inside of her but they didn’t think they could fix it and when all was said and done even if they tried normal sex may still be out of the question for her.

That was when Andy spoke up and informed the doctors that they were having ‘normal sex’ and they told him, in no uncertain terms, he needed to stop that. Andy was not happy, not at all, the disdain was clear on his face. “I want you to do your level best.” Was all he said to the doctors. Callestah didn’t say anything.

All in all they expected her to suffer through somewhere between four and five separate surgical procedures over the course of three weeks. Again the doctors made no bones about their opposition to Andy’s time frame, they would much rather have these procedures done over the course of months and not weeks. However, they’d start with her back, they expected that to be done in two procedures then they’d flip her over and do the boob job and fix the scars between her thighs in another procedure. After that they’d do the molding Andy requested on said thighs. Lastly they’d do their best on that tender area inside of her.

Callestah went straight to the admittance desk and then to a very plush room. It wasn’t your average hospital by any means, the bed was queen sized with feather pillows in fine linen shams. A flat screen TV hung on one wall and there was a small sitting area with a love seat, chair and coffee table. All in all it was very nice but it all done in shades of white. The only color was the breathtaking view of the Alps that the large picture window offered her. The mountains beyond were bold and beautiful and reminded her of home. No, not home…they reminded her of Colorado. Wasn’t she ever going to stop thinking of it as home? Maybe not. Below the mountains was a beautiful pristine lake just like the one behind their house. Calla used to take the kids down to the lake in the summer time, they’d walk the two miles or so down the wooded path to the shores and go for a swim to cool off and have a picnic lunch before she packed them up and brought them back to the house before Daniel got home from work. Oh Gods, that seemed so long ago. It was all over now best not to look back on it.

The doctors had several more concerns regarding her health and what was turning out to be an odd physiology. Her toxicology report hadn’t exactly come back pristine so before anyone cut into her they pumped all sorts of crap into her veins; vitamins, minerals, nutrients, electrolytes, purifiers and a whole host of other good stuff all found their way into her via a needle which brought no pleasure and no relief. The doctors all puzzled over her blood tests, while she looked fine, there seemed to be an odd enzyme or two in her a blood and a few strange proteins to boot. Callestah assured them that she knew about those things and it wouldn’t hinder their efforts but they were worried what would happen if she started to bleed out on the table and needed a transfusion. Or worse yet if the oddities in her blood prevented an adequate supply of blood from getting to the skin grafts they might not take at all. They assured her however, that they work they would which involved cutting out the scar tissue and sewing her back together would be near flawless. She ended up having to sign a special waiver and release before they’d cut into her.

For three weeks she lay in the hospital bed while doctors and nurses poked and prodded at her and cut her open and sewed her back together. The room was comfortable and fancy like the hospital but it was so white and clean all she had to look at was the television and Swiss TV wasn’t very entertaining as far as she was concerned. At least she had the drugs. There was an endless supply here, in fact, they even kind enough to give her a morphine drip that she controlled, whenever she wanted more she just pushed the button and it dripped into her arm. She’d like to take the machine home with her fill it with heroin put it beside the bed and hook herself up to her for eternity. That sounded damn good.

The first time they took her down to cut her open, Andy was here when she fell asleep and again when she woke up. Callestah didn’t remember being operated on, didn’t remember the operating room or the doctors but she did dream while she was under sedation. They warned her ahead of time that the anesthesia might cause her to have very vivid and strange dreams while she was under. They were right. Lady Aphrodite came to her in that dream. She was standing in Her garden watching the sun fade beyond the horizon, just standing there between the two fountains. Her honey-blonde hair blew back away from her face while she turned to catch the last of the suns’ rays upon her cheeks. Then she turned toward where Callestah was standing watching her, Aphrodite smiled and waved to her. She beckoned her forward with the wave of her hand. Callestah wanted to go, very much she wanted to run toward her Mother and be enfolded in her warm comforting embrace.

Then there was screaming. So loud it pierced her ears. Callestah realized it was she who was screaming and that she was awake and the pain at her back was worse than Kanan’s whip.

“Shh, dahling, relax, it’s all right,” Andy was saying to her as he pushed her back down with a gentle hand to keep her still. “Nurse! Nurse!” He yelled out. A woman in a white uniform came toward them with a sharp needle. There was a sting in her arm and then she stopped screaming.

Later that afternoon when she woke up in her room Andy was still there and looking very worried. She begged him not to make her go through with the rest of the operations it just hurt too much. He sympathized and stroked her hair while he held her hand and told her to be brave that it would all be worth it in the end.

After the second surgery, three days later, the doctors gave her more morphine and more anesthetic. She didn’t scream when she woke up but she dreamed of her Mother again while she was under. For a few days after that she was more or less out of it, they kept her pretty well doped up in order to keep her still and keep her from popping the delicate stitches or rupturing the new skin grafts. A week after the second surgery and it was on to the aesthetic portion of our program; the boobs. She was very sore but not in agony when she woke from that procedure. A mere two days later and they were onto the lower portion of her body fixing the scars between her thighs and then molding them into a better shape. Again, Andy was there when she went under and when she woke up. Always patient always there to cheer her on and tell her how brave she was and what a good job she was doing.

This time they waited another week so the sutures could heal before spreading her legs and opening her up again. Halfway through the repair work Callestah started to bleed out as they had feared.

Lying on the table her vital signs dropped quickly while they worked to close her up and pumped fresh blood into her. All the doctors told them this was a bad idea to begin with. Her heartbeat was erratic and Callestah began to flat line. Feverishly they worked to pump her with epinephrine and lay the paddles on her chest.

“Don’t quit on me!” The surgeon was yelling. “Come on, Callestah! Fight!” He hit her with the shock paddles again. The flat line began to flutter and come back to a slow steady rhythm. “Thank God, stay with me, girl. We’re almost there.” The surgeon finished his work as quickly and with as deft a touch as possible.

After that they refused to open her up again no matter what form she signed. It was simply not worth the risk at this time. Perhaps, down the road, when she was stronger they would try again.

Callestah ended up spending another week and a half in the hospital after that. Twice a day every day after her last operation Andy came to check on her, he brought her chocolate and goodies to eat along with magazines and puzzles to keep her mind occupied. He’d stay 45 minutes to an hour at a time and then be off on his way again to consult with the doctors (they talked to him more than her) or to make arrangements with the galleries and museums they were slated to exhibit at.

The hospital was state of the art and she had access to the Internet during her stay, in fact she had a lap top in the plush white room. Since Andy only came twice a day and she was feeling a little better she had time to e-mail Nicholas and Colleen and stay in touch with them without being hassled about it by him. She didn’t tell them where she was or why only that she was on important business and trying to make her life sound as though it were somewhere near the track if not on it.

Through her e-mail she learned Nicholas took a job at a gym, they took one look at him and hired him on the spot. He’d gone from meet and greet at the front desk—nice eye candy for the ladies!—to spotter and was working on getting a Personal Trainer Certificate. Nicholas would have that in no time and he’d been promised a position with the gym starting at an unbelievable $35.00 an hour. After work at the gym he planned to hire himself out as a personal trainer for another $60.00 an hour. Her Son, no matter what Life threw at him, Nicholas would always land on his feet. Still she wished he’d go to college maybe down the road he’d change his mind. Annie quit the donut shot and got a job as a secretary in a small law firm. Calla was glad to hear that, Annie was so much better than shucking donuts. Together it seemed the young couple was making a very nice little life for themselves.

Colleen finally broke down and told Daniel about her pregnancy, according to her e-mails it went better than she expected. Calla had kept encouraging her to tell Daniel and not be afraid, she kept assuring her Daughter that no matter what she and Daniel loved her and they would stand by her. Daniel didn’t let her down. Calla imagined he hadn’t initially been thrilled by the idea and that there had been a degree of shouting followed by a degree of crying but she’d decided she was going to have the baby and raise it. Sandy agreed to be there with her but didn’t ask her to marry him. Calla was sort of glad about that. Colleen was still planning on starting college in the fall term but she wasn’t going east now, she was sticking closer to home and was going to the University Colorado Silver Springs and she was going to continue living at home for as long as her Father could put up with her. That made Callas’ heart glad. Colleen wasn’t alone and neither was Daniel. Neither of the kids mentioned any new women their Father had been entertaining as of late but maybe they were trying to spare her feelings. When they did say something about him it was just that he was ‘all right’. Both of them went so far as to remind her of Daniel’s e-mail address and suggest she just drop a little note to say ‘hello’. She loved them for trying but she didn’t write that e-mail.

No one here let her look into a mirror other than to fix her face, they were very strict about that. The medical staff kept telling her it was for her own good and piece of mind, there was still a lot of swelling and bruising and the ‘full effect’ wouldn’t be noticeable for a few weeks. After that third surgery she noticed some effect all right, her tits jutted out in front of her and announced her arrival three minutes before she got anywhere. They were huge and she found herself staring down at them time and again trying to believe they were hers. Trying to figure out what she was going to do with them. The doctors had taken off the hard cast on her left hand so now both of her paws were free and she put one each under each new breast and lifted them up a little bit. They were heavy and hard. She didn’t like them but she was stuck with them now.

After four and half weeks of suffering through four surgical procedures Callestah was finally discharged from the hospital with several prescriptions for pain killers and anti-depressants, (the doctors felt she required some type of mood enhancers) antibiotics and a special salve she was to apply to the tender skin four times a day and a raging morphine addiction.

Andy picked her up and the doctor stated his opinion quite bluntly to him, there was to be absolutely positively no vaginal sexual intercourse for at least the next eight weeks at which time he wanted to see her back here for a follow-up visit. Until then nothing was to go inside her. Andy was a bit disgruntled at that but said he would follow their orders and that he understood completely. Eight weeks gave him lots of time to try out those new tits of hers and put a few paw prints on those new thighs from behind. Besides, she wasn’t always with him, he’d sneak off for a good shag or two here and there when he really needed a wet hole to sink into. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been doing that since before she was admitted. She’d just have to put up with it, after all it wasn’t his fault her plumbing was faulty.

Upon arriving back at the hotel with it’s more colorful furniture and more comfortable bed she walked into a very thoughtful candle light dinner. Andy had balloons and flowers all over the room, the bed was turned down and the remote was waiting there. One the side table was a fresh bag of marijuana and new glass pipe. “I know it’s not home but, welcome home anyway, love.” He said happily and closed the door behind them. “You must be staring, come and eat something.”

She was hungry in fact she was staring but she wanted that pipe more and headed right for it. The morphine drip was heavenly while it lasted but over the last few days or so they’d started cutting her off bit by bit and that wasn’t sitting well with her. Callestah stuffed the bowl full as she inhaled the piney scent mixed with the underlying chemical aroma and knew it was the good stuff, the stuff that would make her giggle and see happy trails. She lit the pipe and drew in a deep hit.

“Why don’t we have a look at you?” Andy suggested. “Let’s see what the doctors have done.”

“Then can I have it?”

Those five words were the most she’d said to him today and he didn’t need an explanation for what ‘it’ was. “Yes in just a few minutes, my dahling. I’ve got it right here.” He patted his breast pocket while leading her into the bathroom and the full length mirror within.

“They said there’s still bruising and some swelling,” she said and took another hard hit off the bowl letting the smoke roll around in her mouth and then her lungs before it made its way to her head.

“I know but we’ll have an idea.” Andy agreed and helped her off with the blouse and linen slacks. They didn’t want her wearing anything tight fitting for a while hence the reason she wasn’t wearing a bra and panties. Andy picked up a hand-held mirror and gave it to her while he turned her back to the mirror. The smile on her face told her it was good news in that department. “Wonderful,” he said happily. “Just remarkable.”

Callestah looked at the reflection of the reflection of her back in the hand-held mirror. Not too bad. Ares bruises had finally disappeared but there were yellowish ones around where they’d ‘fixed’ her. The skin grafts weren’t complete but the salve would help them ‘sink in’ as the doctor said. Even though the outlines of the cadaver skin were a bit bumpy and bruised it was a thousand per cent better than it had been! “They’re gone.” She whispered and held her free hand to her mouth while she looked at him with tearful eyes. “Oh, Andy! They’re gone!”

“I know my dahling.” He smiled for her and hugged her lightly. “So much better.” Andy stepped back from her. “There are pretty nice too, dear.” His eye brows went up and down while he admired her new rack. “Yes just perfect.” He reached out to take them in his hands. “Do you mind or are they still too sore?”

“You can touch me.”

Andy’s warm hands softly caressed the tender flesh of her new breasts with an admiring smile. “Those thighs look at them.” He said and whistled. “Nice curves my dear. The ones at Daytona don’t compare.” Following those curves downward he looked up again. “Do you want to look first?”

“No, you look.”

“All right.” Andy squatted in front of her and Callestah put her feet shoulder’s distance apart so he could look at her inner thighs. “Very nice indeed.” He said. “Go on have a look-see.”

Callestah turned toward the mirror and then gazed down at her reflection the scars between her legs were also gone but there were still a knotted place inside her. “Thank you.” She said as she turned back to him.

“Whatever for?”

“Bringing me here.” Callestah reached out and hugged him. “For making me do this even though I didn’t want to.”

“Don’t be silly.” Andy picked up her clothes and handed her a robe to slip into. “Come on, sweetheart, let’s get a little something to eat then later you can have that boot.”

“I can?”

“Of course, you’ve been a very, very good girl.” Andy complimented. “We won’t know about the others for a few weeks but all in all I’d say you’re well on you’re my way to a whole new life, my love.” He kissed her cheek. “It’s going to be big and grand you’ll see.”

Together they sat at the table, Andy devoured his steak and Callestah picked at the salad and pushed some of the potatoes around on her plate but didn’t touch the chicken. She wasn’t very hungry and hadn’t been in a while. A lessening of the appetite was a side effect for your average junkie. Food just lost its appeal. “I’m sorry,” she said without looking at him.

“Why?” Andy asked and picked up his wine glass.

“I’ve made us late,” she muttered. “The extra week and a half at the clinic it must have put us behind. I’m very sorry.”

“Don’t be, you couldn’t help that, you were ill. It’s not like when you went chasing after Daniel.” He finished the wine in his glass and poured himself another while Callestah held her glass out to him he filled it for her before putting it down on the table once more. “Besides, love,” he took another swallow of the grape, “I’ve got everything all set up. I’ve rented us a nice little villa in Rome. You’re going to love it. All your things are already there, my dear. We’ve still got another week before your first exhibit and press junket so we’ll just kick back for a while and you can rest and recuperate.” Andy reached over and took of her hands in his. “These are looking very well, what do you say, love? Are you up to finishing that painting of you and Ares? It’s waiting for you when we get there along with all your supplies.”

She’d like to burn that damn painting but it was coming out very well and there was just the fine detail work left to do on it. Andy had been very good to her through this whole ordeal she would finish it for him. “Yes I think I will.” Callestah took down the red wine in the fine crystal goblet in one gulp. She held it out for refilling. “Is it time now?” Callestah realized she was getting antsy it was hard to sit still and the smell of the food was making her stomach turn, she couldn’t even look at it. “Please?”

“All right, love.” Andy said sweetly and stood up. He took out his big Happy Kit from his suitcase and opened it up so she could see the contents. All of her favorites were represented here and he plucked the small vial of China White from the case along with spoon and syringes. He’d kept a good idea on the amount of morphine they were giving her, they’d tried other pain killers but nothing seemed to touch the agony she was in except that. By now she must be jonesing for a fix, yeah sure she was. That was all right, he was here right where she needed him to be and ready to make everything all good again for her. “I’ll join you, hum?”

“Yes.” She smiled a genuine smile at him and rolled up the sleeve of the robe while he cooked it up for them. Andy tied the tubing around her arm and then the rattle snake released its venom into her arm with such a blissful sting. “Thank you,” she cooed while she rolled the sleeve down again and then watched him boot up. Andy took his shot in the ankle. “Why did you do that?”

Looking up at her he explained about track marks and that they were a bad thing. Perhaps it was time they started booting her up somewhere other than her arm? Callestah agreed they were bad and she didn’t want anything marring up her new clean skin so the next time she would take the boot in the ankle like Andy or at the bottom of the foot as he suggested. She stumbled over to the bed, grabbing a cold can of Coke as she went.

“Comfortable, dahling?” Andy asked with a smile as he looked down at her snuggled against the pillows, Coke in one hand, remote in the other.

“Yes. Join me? It’s been a while since we could cuddle.”

“I know,” he said with a frown. “I’ve a little work to do, I’ll join you in a while.” Andy kissed the side of her head and made his way into the small sitting room adjoining the main living area. Soon she heard his fingers clacking away on the keyboard while he made some deal or another. That was all right the Darkness was descending now and taking everything away. Nothing hurt. Nothing mattered as she laid there drinking her Coke and staring blankly at the bad Swiss TV.

End of Chapter Eight
Tarnished Heroes: Life in the Fast Lane--Calla's Story
Continue to
Chapter Nine