by S. K. Lessly
“You know who I am?” she asked softly and I gave her a small nod. “Good. Let him go.”
I looked in her eyes for just a few minutes longer, Lauren's eyes, and then did what she asked. I backed up never taking my eyes off Eugene as he collapsed to the ground.
“You crazy son of a bitch!” he barked in between fits of coughing and sputtering. “Someone needs to be arrested here,” Eugene demanded as he tried to catch his breath.
“I agree,” Sturgis said then went up to Eugene and threw him back up against the wall, face first, and read him his rights.
“What the hell are you doing?” Eugene replied while Sturgis spoke to him.
After Sturgis was done with his cop speech and had him cuffed, he looked at us. “That was my partner on the line. The plates came back, the ones that the lieutenant here gave us about a car that had been parked outside Ms. Kelly’s home. It turns out the car belongs to Eugene Brooks of South Orange.” Sturgis then turned his attention to a squirming Eugene. “As for you, we’ve also found a single bloody thumbprint that you left at the scene.”
“Well that sounds logical. I stayed at her place overnight and cut myself shaving,” he explained quickly pushing against Sturgis' hold.
The detective scoffed and grabbed him by his collar. “Yeah, you were cut shaving by her front door and managed to get her blood on you? Shut the fuck up. You’re under arrest for attempted murder and assault to start.”
Eugene continued to fight a little, but Sturgis kept him in line. “Let’s go!” He then looked at me. “Keep me posted on Ms. Kelly's progress.”
“I didn’t do anything to her!” Eugene yelled as Sturgis walked away dragging the uncooperative man with him.
Everything went silent after that. I stood still for a long moment, trying to calm myself. Then I felt Lauren’s mom come up to me and hug me, which surprised the hell out of me. I had remembered Lauren telling me her family weren’t huggers so this was strange to me.
Mrs. Kelly pushed up on the tips of her toes and kissed my cheek. “Thank you for what you’ve done for our family.”
I nodded and gave her a small smile. Lauren’s dad, her sister Janet, and her brothers William and Mark, and his very pregnant wife greeted me next.
“Thanks for calling us.” Mark shook my hand then embraced me.
“I’m just sorry I had to under the circumstances,” I said to him as we parted.
“Have you heard anything?” William asked.
I looked at him. “No, nothing.”
“What happened? And who was that guy?” Mr. Kelly asked.
I sighed and roughly slid my hand down my face. “That guy was her ex. I’m not sure of the full story. All I can tell you is I saw her walking down the street holding her neck then she fell. I just happened to be driving by with my team when I saw her fall. I ran up to her and found that she was bleeding from her neck. I did what I could to stop the bleeding, but it was a lot of blood.”
“Paul?”
Everyone turned around, and Jack was standing in the middle of the room looking exhausted. I walked up to him.
“Jack, how is she?”
“She’s in critical condition but she’s stable as of right now. She had a bruised rib and a bruise on her cheek, but the major thing was, of course, the laceration to her neck. We took her to surgery immediately as you know, and we were able to locate the bleeder to repair the damage to her artery. Luckily, the artery was only slightly nicked. Lauren had quick thinking though to apply pressure to her own neck and you too for doing the same. That quick thinking just saved her life. She’s lost a lot of blood, so we had to give her some.”
“She has a very rare blood type,” Mrs. Kelly announced.
I faced her and softly said, “I gave her blood. We’re the same blood type.” I turned back to the doctor. “When can we see her?”
“Well, we’re moving her out of recovery into a room. Give us some time to do that, and I’ll have the nurse come to tell you her room number. But please keep it brief. She’s pretty out of it, and she may not be fully conscious.”
“Thanks, Jack. Hey before you go, this is Lauren’s family. Her dad and brother are both medical doctors.”
“Oh, okay great. Nice to meet you both.”
I stepped back and tried to gather myself as Jack spoke to Lauren’s family. I sat down next to Samson and put my face in my hands. I was drained, drained of both energy and emotions.
“She’s gonna be okay.” Samson told me, a smile in his voice. He placed his arm on my shoulder and squeezed.
I sat up and put my back against the wall. “Yeah, she is.”
15
Lauren
I slowly opened my tired eyelids, and the first face I saw was his. He touched my cheek and kissed my hand first then my forehead.
“Hey, beautiful.” Paul smiled at me.
I fought to keep my eyes open, but I couldn’t, and they closed without my permission.
* * *
The next time I opened them it was dark. The steady sound of a beeping noise hinted I was at a hospital as if the sterile smell didn’t give it away. I turned my head and found Paul asleep in a very uncomfortable looking chair. I started to say something, but I couldn’t get my mouth to work, then my stupid eyelids shut again. Dang things.
* * *
I heard voices, male voices mumbling close by when I opened my eyes again. But then I heard a door close and remembered seeing Paul sitting in the chair next to me. I started to freak out thinking he left me. I willed my eyes to stay open. This time they obeyed and my eyes fell on a gruff looking Paul. His blue eyes assessed me cautiously. He was dressed in a black long-sleeve shirt and jeans. I shifted slightly, trying to sit up and felt some pain on the left side of my chest. I winced.
“Hey, take it easy.” Paul moved quickly to my side. “Here let me help you?”
He leaned in close to me, lifted my arms, and wrapped them around his neck. I laced my fingers together to hold on to him as best I could. Pain pierced my side, and my head throbbed, but I bit back the pain as he gently placed me further up the bed. His hand traveled to the side of my bed and pushed the button for the upper portion of the bed to rise.
I tried to speak to him the moment I saw him sit down next to me, but it hurt too much. I winced and touched the bandage around my neck.
Paul’s face grew concerned. “Are you in pain? Do you want me to get the doctor?”
I shook my head and tried to speak again. When I couldn’t, I pinched my thumb and index finger together and pretended to write in the air.
Paul caught on and looked around the room for something I could write on. He finally found me a pen and a small pad from inside the desk next to my bed.
I took the objects and wrote: What happened?
“Not sure, I was hoping you would tell me. All I know is that Eugene attacked you.”
I shivered slightly, the memory flooding my mind, and then wrote: How did you find me? I remembered feeling the need to look for help, but I didn’t remember him finding me.
“You sort of found me. My team was heading back into the station when we passed your street. I happened to peek down your block to see if you were out and much to my surprise there you were. Even from a distance, I knew something wasn’t right with you. For one, you were outside without a coat or shoes. I also saw the blood all over your chest then you collapsed. I jumped out of the truck and went to you and realized you had a… uh, laceration on your neck.”
I closed my eyes as he continued to tell me everything that had happened after I collapsed. I shivered at the realization that the fucking psycho almost took my life. When he told me I had been down for close to three days, I started to cry. Technically he said today was day three, but the majority of the day had passed. This was insane. Three days? I had been unable to wake or refused to wake for three whole days. I opened my eyes and saw in Paul just how much those days affected him. He looked haggard and exhausted. He had serious bags under his eyes, a
beard that I hadn’t seen the last time I saw him, and his eyes, they looked haunted and scared.
I quickly wrote on the pad: Did they find him?
Paul nodded. “Yeah, baby. They found him. He’s been arrested and is awaiting his punishment.”
Good, the psycho fucker.
I felt Paul squeeze my hand and my eyes opened instinctively. I hadn’t realized I closed my eyes at all.
“Your family is here.”
I picked up the pad and wrote: Mark?
“Not just Mark but your parents, Brian and Janet.” He smiled at me. “They’re anxious to see you. They’ve been here waiting for you to wake up for days now. Brian is going to be pissed that you didn’t wake up on his watch.” Paul placed a kiss to my forehead. He sat next to me on the bed. “I'm going to go and—"
I shook my head as gently as possible, signaling my displeasure at seeing them. Paul, of course, wasn’t having it.
“No, Lauren, they need to see you. Your mom and dad are worried sick about you; they all are. Don’t turn them away. I mean isn’t this what you wanted? For them to show you how much they love you?”
I looked back at him, tore off the old sheet of paper, and wrote: I don’t no to say.
“You don’t have to say anything. Just let them love on you. That’s all that matters.”
Paul ran the back of his index finger down the side of my cheek, the side that didn’t feel like it was on fire. He then closed the space between us and kissed me lightly on my forehead. He stayed there for a few minutes, resting his lips lightly against the top of my head.
“Fuck, baby you scared the shit out of me,” he whispered softly, and I could hear the vulnerability, the pain, in his voice.
It hurt me to the core. My eyes welled up, and my chest tightened with emotion that was about to explode. I stamped it down and instead concentrated on the feel of him. I closed my eyes and breathed in his scent. I wanted nothing more but to feel his arms around me. I desperately needed him to take all of the pain and fear away and make me feel safe again.
Paul leaned back from me, but he didn’t go far, placing just enough space between us to look me in my eyes. His eyes were red-rimmed and filled with unshed tears. I reached up with my left hand and touched his face with my fingertips. I couldn't keep my arm up long. I had zero energy. Still, I needed to touch him. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, and God I wished I could tell him I loved him. I wanted to whisper it to him, to scream it, but I couldn’t.
“Listen,” he started, his voice still laced with emotion. I could feel every word he spoke in my soul. “There’s so much I want to say to you, and so much we need to talk about. However, this it isn’t the time to get into all of that. Right now, nothing else matters but you getting better.”
I started to protest, to hell with waiting. We waited long enough. I started to write exactly that, but he covered his large hand over the pen and pad I had poised to confess my heart.
“Not yet, okay?” I studied his eyes, hoping to get a hint of what he was feeling, but he closed me off. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. We will talk later, I promise. Right now, I want you to get better. I want to hear your beautiful voice and know you’re truly alright. I’ll wait until then.” He gave me a warm smile, and I smiled back.
I tried not to let doubt creep up and strangle me. He told me he loved me. I remembered that if nothing else. He wanted to wait to talk because I was injured and nearly died, not because he didn’t want me, at least that was what I told myself.
Paul’s face softened, and he reached up and wiped his thumb gently underneath my cheek. It was only then that I realized a few tears escaped their prison.
“Hey, we'll have none of that,” he scolded softly. “Listen, I’m going to let you and your family reconnect. I’ll see you later, okay?” He planted another soft kiss on my forehead then placed a chaste kiss on my lips, one of those friendly ones. He stood, stepped back from the bed, and left the room.
The next face I saw when I opened my eyes was my brother, Brian. He walked right up to me and wrapped his arms around me.
“Thank God, Lauren, you’re okay. I don’t know what we would have done if we’d lost you.” He parted from me and kissed my forehead. Then one by one my family came up to me and hugged and kissed me.
When my father wrapped his arms around me and called me his baby girl, that’s when I broke down and started to cry. He held me for a long time, and I unleashed all my sorrows, longings, fears and pain. His shirt was getting soaked with my snot and tears, but he didn’t seem to mind. The soft words of love and endearment that caressed my ears just made me cry more.
When I was done being a blubbering mess, my father wiped my tears away with a tissue. His own eyes were red and as he spoke his voice cracked, which made the tears well up in my eyes again.
“Hey, hey, enough of that.” He kept wiping gently under my eyes, speaking softly in a voice I had never heard from my father. Damn it these tears. I was not a crier, but I couldn’t close the floodgates. Maybe it was the drugs.
“Listen, sweetheart,” my dad continued. “We don’t want to tire you out. Considering what you’ve suffered, you need all the rest your body demands. We just wanted to come in here and let you know we’re here, and we love you. Mom is going to stay with you tonight, okay?”
I nodded, and she came up on the other side of my bed and took my hand.
“We’ll come back tomorrow to spend some time with you. Get some rest and don’t worry about anything. We’re going to take good care of you. You’re safe now.” I nodded, sniffling and trying to get some type of control over my emotions. I could feel my eyes getting heavy, but I wanted to say something to them.
The last I heard as sleep took me under was my father’s voice in my ear. “Sleep, baby girl, we love you.”
* * *
The next day everyone was back in my room. I was exhausted, the meds making me drowsy, but I was glad to see everyone. Last night was brutal. I had woken up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, a strangled scream escaping my throat, which by the way felt as if I had swallowed nails.
I looked around frantically, praying that Eugene wasn’t there to finish me off, when I felt a firm grip on my hand and heard my mom’s soothing voice. I had turned and looked at her, confused at first. I had thought it was a dream that my family was here and that I had seen tears in my father’s eyes for the first time in never.
“I’m here,” my mom said softly and touched the side of my face. “He’s not going to hurt you again.” I remembered relaxing back in the bed, my eyes glued to my mom’s reassuring face before I drifted back off to sleep.
* * *
You have no idea how thrilled I was to see my family when they walked into my room the next morning. Everyone that mattered was here, my dad, brothers, sister, and sister-in-law. I couldn’t believe Maria was here, which was a surprise. I remembered the last time she was pregnant with twins she was on bed rest for the majority of her pregnancy.
My brother, Brian was by my side the entire day telling me stories about the kids and how much his son misses me. He also told me that Hillary sent her love and I tried not to vomit in my mouth. He went on and explained that she wanted to be here, but she was watching all of the kids. My brother knew the depth of my distain for his wife. The woman was a troll, but for some reason, my brother loved her.
Speaking of trolls, I looked over to my sister and wrote on the small notepad I’d been using. Where’s the douche bag?
My sister looked slightly embarrassed, which was odd. She didn’t reply to my question, no one did. I looked over at Brian expectantly. His face broke out into a grin. He looked around the room at everyone, and that grin turned sinister right before my eyes.
I scribbled What? on the piece of paper and held it up to him.
“Yeah, we kicked his ass out of our family.”
My eyes went wide, and I looked at Janet for confirmation. She confirmed what Brian said with a nod a
nd a shrug.
She then explained, “When he grabbed you last spring when we were at mom and dad's, the panic look in your eyes, and the fear in your voice had both mom and me wondering what the heck? You’re never scared of anything. But the way you were fighting against his hold on you.” She shook her head. “It brought back memories of the time uh Jesse thought it was a good idea to touch you and Brian and dad caught him.” She shivered and kept her eyes on me.
“I knew in that moment your reaction to him wasn’t just you not liking him. No, your reaction was so much more. So, I asked him if something happened between you and him. He tried to tell me that you came on to him and he didn’t want to say anything to me, claiming he didn’t want to cause a problem between us.” She laughed sardonically.
“I know that was a lie. There was no way you would ever do something like that. I kindly called his ass a liar and kicked him out. Well actually, Mark and Brian kicked him out, that day in fact.”
I looked at my non-confrontational brothers and smirked approvingly. I’m so proud. I wrote on the pad I had.
“Hey, that son of a bitch was lucky we didn’t whip his ass,” Mark said, and we all laughed. Hearing him cuss sounded so odd, but to hear him speak about being violent was hilarious.
* * *
As the day went on, I was finding my speaking voice bit by bit. It was very rough and scratchy and kept fading, but I was able to say a few words before it became too painful. I also drifted in and out of sleep, which was a pain. I wanted to spend time with them, and I couldn’t keep my eyes open, dang-freaking heaven sent, but cursed, drugs. My father eased my worries every time I woke up to find them still with me.
“We aren’t going anywhere, sweetheart. Get your rest. We’ll be here when you wake up.”
There was so much I wanted to say to them. However, I couldn’t just yet. I didn’t have enough paper for the huge apology I needed to give them all. On the second day though, I was finally able to. Everyone was about to head out before my nurse came back in and shooed them away.