Not Alone

by Frederic Martin

  “Testing things out are we?”

  Will turned his head too quickly and winced—that was actual pain. “Mom! I didn’t know you were here!” She looked tired and red-eyed, even though she was smiling. “Mom, you look . . . are you okay?”

  Tears leaked out her eyes and she leaned over and hugged Will tightly in reply. “Now I am more than fine,” she said softly and then sat back smiling. “Dad and Rose were here too, until I sent them back to the waiting room. They’ve been here all night. So has Wu. He is just about jumping out of his skin to see you. Do you want to see them?”

  “You’re kidding me, right? Of course!” Will replied.

  His Mother smiled, “Just checking, I see my old Will is back!” “Be back in a flash,” she said and started to leave, but she almost ran into Rose and Wu barging in. Rose was dragging Wu by the hand.

  Rose let out a squeak of delight when she saw Will and ran over to the bed. “Willy! Willy, Willy, Willy!”

  “Hey Rosie! Hey, be careful of my arm!” She had come up to give him a big hug, but her arm barely reached across his chest anyway and she was so little, it didn’t hurt too much. “And don’t you dare call me Willy again!” he voxed.

  “Okay, Willy,” she replied. “Wow, look at the bandages. You look like a part-mummy!”

  “Hey Will,” Wu said. “Good to see you awake. You gave us a big scare there man,” “Holy shit, what happened to his arm?”

  Will caught Wu’s chiss. “Hey Wu, thanks. Yeah, my arm looks pretty terrible, but I think it is going to be all right,” said Will.

  Wu looked like he wanted to say something more, but stopped short with a puzzled look on his face.

  “I’ll talk to you later about it,” said Will. “Hey, Dad.”

  “Hey there, son. You’re looking a lot more chipper than last night. All is going well. The doctor says your arm will look like that for a while from all the fluid buildup and internal bleeding—it causes bruising that can look quite shocking. This will most likely lead to an overabundance of sympathy from friends and family. I’m certain that you will take the noble path and avoid taking advantage of all this sympathy?” Mr. Woods was looking over his glasses.

  “Oh absolutely!” said Will, “Yeah, right Dad. I’m going to milk it for all it’s worth!”

  Rosie jumped in, “You’ve got all the same hoses and monitors and stuff hooked to you that Blue has! Does it hurt having this big needle stuck in your arm?”

  “No, my shoulder kind of out-pains everything else. A needle in my arm isn’t a big deal,” said Will. He looked up at Wu with renewed concern. “How is she? Is everything okay?”

  “She’s fine. Ma Beth talked to her for a bit early this morning when they woke her up for some tests and she says she sounds just like Blue, just really sleepy. We got to see her when she was asleep. I’ll tell you her face looks a bit of a mess. She has a bump on her head and a cut on her nose and red marks around her mouth. But the doctor says that’s all just superficial and will heal up fine. They are worried about the bump on her head and want to monitor her for a day to make sure she doesn’t have a concussion.”

  “The red marks are probably from the tape. I pulled it off fast. I wasn’t really worried about her complexion at that point.” The visions of what happened were starting to replay in his head. “And yeah, I saw the bump . . .” started Will, but Wu interrupted.

  “Will!” Wu said.

  Will stopped. He looked at Wu.

  There seemed to be a battle of emotions in Wu’s face as he said, “Will, man, I mean . . .” he stammered, “. . . I mean . . . you saved her life! You took a bullet for her!”

  Will wasn’t sure what to say. Wu was making it sound like he did something spectacular. “Hey, Wu, I just did what anyone else would do—I mean you would have done the same, probably better than I did. I was pretty stupid trying to pick the tape off. If I’d thought of tearing it first, it would have gone a lot faster, and I should have laid the chair back first thing . . .”

  “Will!” It was his mom this time. “To do any better without training would have been impossible. And no one can train for that situation. You showed amazing presence of mind,” “and you should stop talking now, Wu seems upset.”

  “What did I say?”

  “Nothing, it’s just been a long night for us all,” voxed his mom.

  Will paused. He looked at Wu. He looked tired, too. Will felt a sudden surge of warmth towards his friend. “Yeah, well, thanks, Wu. I’m just glad everyone is okay.”

  Just then a nurse stuck her head inside the room and said, “Wu, your family just came into the waiting room. They are going to wake Blue up soon. Why don’t you go down and join them now.”

  Wu held out his fist to Will, and Will reached out for a fist bump. “You get better, dude, so I can trash you on the basketball court.”

  “Dream on, friend,” replied Will.

  After Wu left, Rose, who had slumped down in a chair, let out a gigantic yawn and said, “Wu stayed with us here all night. He let me use his leg for a pillow.” “And they brought us blankets.”

  “Wow, you stayed up all night Rosie?” said Will.

  “Yep!” she said, her eyes closing.

  “More like most of the night. She got a few hours sleep,” voxed his mom.

  “Mom! You should have gotten some sleep,” voxed Will.

  “Don’t worry about us son,” his dad replied. “We have enough adrenaline running in our system to last for days! You, on the other hand, have endured a lot of trauma and need to rest and let your body heal.”

  “But what about Blue? Is she really going to be okay?”

  “She is going to be fine, and she will probably be in to see you before you are in to see her. So be patient my friend and just sit back and rest.” His dad paused and then added, “You know Wu was right. Your actions did save Blue’s life. As I told you, ‘audentes fortuna iuvat!’”

  Will had completely forgotten about his dad’s last words the night before. “Something about fortune?”

  “Yes, my friend. ‘Fortune favors the bold!’”

  Blue was awake, tired, sore, and worried. But mostly worried. She didn’t know what was in store for her now. She felt like maybe she should just stay in the hospital forever, but the sight of Ma Beth erased that feeling. When Blue saw her walk in the room, it felt like coming home.

  Ma Beth smiled. “And here is our bright Blue again. You look so much better.”

  “Thanks, I feel a lot better.” She wanted to continue and say, “now that you are here,” but she couldn’t. She was almost there, but not quite yet.

  “The rest of the family is in the waiting room and anxious to see you.”

  “And is Will here?” asked Blue.

  Ma Beth’s brows creased. She didn’t speak for a second and then she said, “He is. You know Will got hurt last night? He is in the hospital, too.” She must have seen the panic in Blue’s eyes because she quickly added, “Don’t worry, he’s going to be all right!”

  Blue felt a little dizzy, “What do you mean he was hurt? What happened?”

  “Blue,” said Ma Beth, “I will tell you everything we know so far. However, some of it may be shocking. Do you think you can handle that?”

  Blue nodded her head, though she really didn’t know. She still was feeling like she just woke up and wasn’t thinking completely clearly, but the one thing she did know clearly is that not knowing might drive her crazy.

  “Okay, here we go. Will found the house where you were being held last night. He texted Chief Hannah with the address. When Chief Hannah arrived, she saw a man leaving the house at the address, and she asked him to stop, so she could ask him a few questions. That man turned out to be the man that kidnapped you.”

  “Bronco,” said Blue.

  “Yes, Bronco. Apparently he did stop but then he pulled out a gun and fired at her . . .”

  Blue inhaled sharply.

  Ma Beth added quickly, “. . . Chief Hannah was not hurt
! The man shot out the headlights on her police car, so she couldn’t follow him. After he fired his gun, he ran to his car and drove away. Chief Hannah radioed the other police officers to go after him. Then Chief Hannah went to investigate the house, and she found you unconscious on the floor. You must have been unconscious for quite some time. When she found you, you weren’t tied up anymore because Will had set you free.”

  “Will!” She couldn’t believe it. She remembered the vox scream that had exploded out of her eyes just after Bronco gave her the massive dose of heroin. Will must have heard it. It was almost supernatural to think of him hearing that one call. She hadn’t done it consciously—it was totally reflexive. Now she shuddered to think what would have happened if her body hadn’t thrown out that last desperate lifeline.

  “Yes. Will didn’t wait for the police. He went into the house and found you alone. Will said that when he found you, you weren’t breathing. He said you were pale, and your lips and fingernails were turning blue. He removed the tape from your mouth and then got you breathing again and then unbound you. He saved your life!” Ma Beth was holding Blue’s hand, watching intently. “Are you okay? Shall I go on?”

  Blue was looking down at her hands. She saw where the zip ties had left dark purple bruises on her wrists. She knew that she had almost died. She knew when that was, it was when she felt like she was sinking—she was remembering now—she had felt like it was okay to die. Will saved her from sinking to the bottom. The warm breath she had felt, it must have been . . .

  “Blue?” asked Ma Beth again.

  Blue nodded slowly and said, “Keep going . . . please.”

  “Okay. Just remember that everything is okay now, and that even though this is upsetting, it has a good ending. Okay? Are you ready?”

  Blue nodded. She was afraid, but ready.

  “Okay. What we think happened was that Will found you when you were alone and that the man, Bronco, came into the house and discovered Will as he was untying you.” She didn’t say what was in her mind, but Blue heard it anyway. “That bastard left you there to die!” Ma Beth paused to compose herself. She continued, “When he came back and found that Will was untying you . . .”

  Ma Beth paused and looked intently into Blue’s eyes and then said carefully, “He shot Will.”

  The next thing Blue knew, there was a ringing in her ears and she was looking up through a gray haze into a Nurse’s face, and the Nurse was saying, “Talk to me Blue. Look at my eyes. Can you hear me? Talk to me!”

  Blue said, “I’m okay, I’m okay. Really I’m okay.”

  “Good,” said the Nurse, “but I want you to stay lying down. You fainted there for a minute. Stay lying down and if you can do that I will let you two keep talking. Deal?”

  “Okay,” said Blue.

  “Okay then,” said the Nurse, and she left.

  Ma Beth said, “Blue, Will is okay. He was hurt badly, but they brought him to the hospital, and he is going to recover. You can see him soon. He had some surgery last night and everything went well. He should make a full recovery. Do you hear? He is going to be okay.”

  Blue could hear, but she couldn’t reply. She laid there looking at the ceiling. A bane, a Jonah, a nightmare, that’s all she was to these people. She could never go back and live with them. She was going to climb back into Mrs. Jamison’s car again, and she would keep doing that forever and ever and ever, and her nightmare would revisit her every time she started to feel comfortable again. She started to close her eyes and wish for the mindless haziness of the heroin to come back to her.

  Before she could complete this wish, a soft warm hand gently stroked her forehead. She opened her eyes and looked at the kindest and wisest face she had ever seen. It had a beautiful smile and it said to her, “You are safe now my dear girl. Perish any thought that you are to blame for any of this. The world is filled with challenges and evils. When you stand up to them you can’t always control the outcome, but the choice to stand up to them is always the right one.”

  Ma Beth kissed Blue on the forehead and held her. Blue felt the warmth of Ma Beth’s touch surround her, like sunshine emerging from behind a cloud.

  37

  Summer’s End

  “Bronco, or I should say, Bob Kelly, has vanished. I say Bob Kelly, but we know for certain that’s not his real name. We are using it for now because that is what he was known as around here. We don’t have a single lead yet on what his real identity might be or where he might be right now. Key evidence would be finding his car, but that hasn’t happened and he has not been spotted—at least no credible sightings. The guy was smart, I mean really smart.”

  Chief Hannah had come to interview Will for her police report.

  “That’s all I can tell you at the moment. And now I have to ask you a few questions. Not many. Just enough to help us find some clues, so we can find him. You can refuse to answer any time, but it would really help us out if you could tell us as much as you can.”

  “Okay,” said Will. “I’m just not sure if there is anything I can add to what you already know.”

  It was Will’s second day in the hospital and he was ready to be released. He wasn’t happy about it, though. He was feeling pretty safe and comfortable there in his hospital bed. He wasn’t worried about Bronco being at large, he was worried instead about the press at large. The news crews were chomping at the bit to interview Will and Blue. Apparently, their hellish night was a big sensation in the news. Fortunately, their doctors, not to mention their parents, were not allowing it yet. But he knew that couldn’t last.

  “You’d be surprised what comes up when you ask the right questions. Thanks to Blue’s drawings and descriptions, we have some distinguishing features for the police artist, but we wanted to ask you if you remembered any outstanding features that would help us identify him.”

  “Yes, he had one outstanding feature, and that was he was a cold-blooded bastard,” replied Will. He was surprised at his own bitterness. His mom gave him a stern look. “I’m sorry, but just bringing him up makes me boil. No, I can’t think of anything, I mean he was so average looking and his beard hid half his face anyway.”

  Chief Hannah nodded. “Yes, like I say, he was smart. It’s easier to add a beard to a face reconstruction drawing than to take one away. A beard can hide facial structure. And a bearded guy in Vermont? That describes about a quarter of the population. He’s probably shaved it by now. What about names? Do you remember him being referred to as any other name than Bronco, or Bob, or Bob Kelly?”

  “No, sorry, nothing but those names.”

  “How about his car? Did you notice anything inside the car when you were close to it? Any luggage or items that were visible?”

  “I did see a backpack. It was red with black straps and black reinforcements. It looked like a light hiking pack or mountaineering pack—not like a cheap book pack. It had a hip belt on it, I think. He was also carrying a brown shoulder bag, like a messenger bag. That’s where he pulled his gun from.”

  Chief Hannah wrote some notes down. “Okay, this is helpful. As you know, this case is quite a sensation, and if he ditched the pack somewhere, there are so many people following the case on the news, someone could find it and give us more information. Believe it or not, just that one tip could break things wide open. You never know. That’s all I’m going to ask right now, on the record.”

  “Now what I really wanted to come here for, off the record, is to see how you are. You know, you gave us all quite a scare.” Her hardened officer features softened into a look of genuine concern and almost . . . tenderness?

  “I gave myself quite a scare. The doctor said I am going to make a full recovery, though.” Will paused with a grimace as a surge of pain hit him. “It doesn’t feel like it right now, that’s for sure. He also said I almost didn’t make it. He said you saved my life, and well . . .” Will looked down. He felt awkward, not quite sure what you say to someone who saved your life. Finally, he looked back up and said, “Well
, thanks. I mean . . . thanks a lot!”

  “You’re welcome. I was just trying to do my job, but I want you to know that I was scared out of my wits, and I almost screwed it up. You see, I didn’t notice how much you were bleeding until it was . . . well I should have noticed it sooner and gotten pressure on your wound.”

  “Yeah, but you were there. If you weren’t, I’d be dead. Blue would be dead.”

  “Hold on there, friend. You were the one who texted me with the address. You saved yourself, and I am afraid you will just have to take credit for saving Blue yourself, too. I would not have gotten there in time.”

  Chief Hannah paused and stared at Will. The pause was long enough that it started to worry him.

  She finally broke her silence. “Look, what I really want to tell you is this. Your wound will heal, but everything you have gone through will stick with you the rest of your life. You also have to accept the fact that you are a hero. You saved someone’s life and nearly lost your own. There are people out there that will love you for that and, oddly enough, people out there who will hate you for that. I’m telling you this, because as soon as you step out the door of this hospital, it won’t be the world you were in before this happened. Just always remember to hang in there and be true to yourself and your family, okay?”

  “Okay,” said Will in a puzzled tone. “This is sounding pretty heavy. Is it really that bad?”

  Chief Hannah looked down for a minute and said, “Yeah, sorry. It probably won’t be as grim as I make it sound, but it can be tricky for people like you. I know this from experience.”

  “What do you mean people like me?” said Will, now truly puzzled.