Stay For Me

by Megan Smith

  We fall back to the floor laughing. I tuck a hand under my head while she’s sitting on top of me admiring the ring. “I can’t believe this.” She squeals. “Oh my God I’m getting married.” She stomps her feet.

  I laugh.

  Layla leans down to kiss me. Her hips start to rock back and forth against me. I reach up and stop her. “Later.” I laugh and slide her off me. Stopping her is the last thing I want to do but I have things I have to get done.

  I climb to my feet and then help her up.

  “Get going.” I tell her picking up her skirt from the floor. “I’ve got to finish this payroll up and then I’ll be right behind you.”

  Layla leans down, picks up her shirt and laughs remembering that I ripped the shirt off her. “Give me your shirt.”

  I reach for my spare shirt and hold it out so she can slip her arms into it. She starts to roll the sleeves up. “I’ll wait for you.”

  Shaking my head, “No, it’s alright. It’s already so late. I’m not going to be that long.”

  We finish getting dressed and I walk Layla to the door so I can lock it behind her.

  “Be careful.” I say leaning down to kiss her goodbye. “I’ll be home soon.”

  “Love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  I’m so exhausted I can’t wait to go home and go to sleep. I normally get a little nap in before work but last night I didn’t because we went out to dinner with Cooper and Jaylinn.

  I walk back into my office and I swear I heard a scream. I wait a second to see if I hear it again. An eerie feeling hits me. I turn going back down the hall to the door. I unlock it, push it up and the air leaves my lungs in a whoosh.

  Some guy has a menacing hand raised with something in it meant to inflict damage as it comes down to hit his victim on their head. That head has blonde hair.

  “No!” I scream charging for the guy but my scream falls short as the blackness takes over. Any help I was able to give was taken from me as the darkness embraces me with open arms.

  Layla

  After Eli shuts the door behind me I start digging around in my purse for my keys. A shadow catches my attention and before I can even react I’m hit in the back of the head. I’m momentarily stunned as the blinding pain hits me. My vision goes blurry and I drop my car keys.

  I try reaching up but I can’t seem to get my arm to cooperate. Another hit comes in the middle of my back and I fall to the ground. Someone pulls my head up by my hair and punches me in the face.

  I block the punches out replacing them with Eli's smiling face, the smile that makes everything right for me. The next few hits feel harder taking that smiling face away from me.

  It pisses me off and I attempt to get up after the punches stop. I can hear the whooshing in my ears, I can even hear people talking but it sounds like I’m under water. That's when everything flashes before my eyes.

  The first time I met him in his office for the job interview, the late night movies, him admitting his feelings for me, our first Christmas and then finally coming out that we’re a couple. The look on his face the countless times we've had sex and the look of pure pleasure on his handsome face after he’s just came, as well as the look of male satisfaction he has when he’s done the same for me.

  I get my hands underneath me and start to push myself up when a pair of tan boots come into view. I channel all the pain into forcing myself from the ground.

  “Dude,” one guy says but it’s muffled.

  “Fuck,” another voice says that sounds familiar but I'm not sure why.

  My face is going numb and I am able to discern the metallic taste in my mouth. I get my legs up underneath me now, kneeling, trying to fight through the pain that is coursing through my body.

  The back door swings open and Eli is standing there, shirtless, with a look of horror on his face.

  “No!” He screams charging in my direction but drops to ground as someone comes up behind him and hits him in the head. Eli’s not moving.

  “This can't be happening.” The first guy says.

  I tilt my head up. He’s wearing something over his face explaining why his voice sounds so far away. I turn my head just slightly and pain sears through my head right down to my back. When my vision clears, I open my eyes, and focus on the other guy who is standing near Eli. He’s wearing the same thing over his face and he’s wearing darker clothes too.

  I blink.

  I breathe in through my nose and out of my mouth.

  The last guy, the closest to me, comes into focus. I'm not surprised that it’s him. I’m actually surprised he hasn’t been around sooner. His words that he left me with repeat constantly.

  He shifts, our eyes unlock from each other, and I can no longer see him. I need to keep him in my sight.

  I try to get my right leg out in front of me so I can stand up. My body is screaming in protest to just stop but I can’t. I’m a fucking sitting duck here.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” One of the guys with the mask over his face says.

  I hear what sounds like metal scraping against the ground. “Taking care of a problem, it’s what I came here to do.”

  “Killing them wasn’t part of the plan.” The other guy yells at his friend.

  My stomach lurches. All is quiet except a passing car from the main road.

  “Things changed.” He says calmly. “If I can’t have her, no one can.”

  “I’m outta here.” The guy says and in the corner of my eye I catch his retreating form along with the other guy. I turn my head in their direction trying to gain a little of my bearings as to exactly where I am in the alley.

  The man is heading towards the main strip. It’s closer to help that way although my car is the other direction.

  I turn my head.

  Fuck, I lost vision of the enemy.

  It’s the biggest mistake of my life.

  “I told you you’d be crying later.”

  I hear a loud crack before I feel the blow. Eli’s smiling face flashes before me again and I smile too.

  My ears ring.

  My vision blurs.

  My heart stops.

  My lungs burn.

  My world ends.

  Cooper Cahill

  I have to report in for spring training on the eighteenth. I’m anxious, once again, leaving everything behind but at the same time baseball is all I know. I’ve got the best of both worlds but why doesn’t it feel like that?

  I glance at my phone. It’s just after four in the morning. I might as well just get up. I’ve got work I can be doing at Fierce. I don’t want to leave any loose ends behind. Plus, I know if I stay here and keep tossing and turning I’ll just wake Jaylinn up. She’s got way too much on her plate now as it is and she’s not sleeping much lately.

  She’s the main reason why I don’t want to leave. Jaylinn needs me here now more than ever but she won’t admit it.

  About an hour later after I’ve had a shower and got some coffee I pull into my parking spot. Weird, Eli and Layla’s cars are still here. I thought they would be long gone by now. Damn, I hope I don’t walk in on them having sex, that’s not something I want to see.

  I grab my coffee and climb out of my car. I set the alarm and walk down the alley towards the back door. As I’m walking down the alley I notice that the flood lights don’t turn on. I have to make a note to get them changed in the morning. Maybe Dante can get on the ladder and change them out for me.

  I get a few feet from the door and I see something but I can’t make out what it is since I can hardly see. I take a few more steps closer, the object coming into view.

  My stomach bottoms out.

  It’s a body, fuck, there are two. I quickly grab my phone from my pocket and turn my flash light on.

  “Holy shit,” I drop my coffee and take off running the rest of the way.

  “Layla,” I kneel in front of her and that’s when I notice the blood, lots and lots of blood. “Layla.” I yell.

  I
scramble over to Eli. “Fuck, Eli, man.” He’s got a gash to the back of the head, a huge ass lump on his forehead and his nose is bleeding. I lean back to see if he’s breathing. His back rises and falls slowly. “Hold on, just hold on.”

  I go back over to Layla. I’m so damn scared to move her but I need to see if she’s breathing and the way she’s laying I can’t tell. Very carefully I roll her onto her back. My stomach lurches threatening to spill whatever is in it. Layla’s face is so battered and bloody I can barely tell it’s her. I watch to see if she’s breathing but I can’t tell. I turn my head and put my ear near her mouth. Her breathing is labored and I can hear gargling sounds.

  “Help!” I scream. “Help!”

  Reaching for my phone again I quickly dial nine-one-one.

  “Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

  “Help, please; my friends were beaten up in the alley behind Fierce on Ocean Terrace.” My heart is pounding.

  “Sir, are they breathing?”

  “Yes, barely, but yes.” I say with a shaking voice. “And there is blood, lots of blood.”

  “Okay, can you see where the blood is coming from?”

  I use the light from the phone to see if I can spot the where all the blood is coming from on Layla but there is so much of it I don’t know even know where to start. “I don’t see anything, can’t tell. I mean her face is badly busted up I don’t even know where to look.”

  “What about the other person? Can you see where the blood is coming from?”

  I scramble back over to Eli. “He’s got a gash on the back of his head and his nose is bleeding.”

  “Okay, just make sure the airway stays open. I’ve dispatched emergency vehicles.”

  We aren’t far from the fire house and the second the words leave her mouth I hear their sirens.

  I leave Eli and go back over to Layla. She looks so much worse; her long blonde hair now tainted red. “Oh my God.” I say shaking my head. Her eyes are so swollen I can hardly make them out. A few of her teeth are missing, her jaw is at an odd angle, her nose is crooked and there is a slash across her forehead. Layla’s shirt is ripped, her bra cut in half and I can’t force myself to look down any further.

  A cop car is the first to pull in, his lights lighting up the alley. I’m not able to see so much more with the headlights. A crack, bigger than Eli’s, along Layla’s skull has me crawling away just before I throw up. I bring my hand up to wipe my mouth and then puke all over again when I see all the blood.

  The ambulance pulls down the alley from the other direction of the cops. I stay where I am so I’m not in the way. Plus, I don’t know if I’ll throw up again. One EMT comes over and asks if I’m okay. I can’t even open my mouth to answer him, afraid I’ll puke, so I just shake my head.

  Another paramedic rushes over with a gurney. He removes the bag and board from it and lays it on the ground next to him. The guy who asked if I’m okay goes over to help his partner.

  He checks for Layla’s pulse after a few long seconds, he nods his head.

  Everything fades.

  Both men begin to work as quickly as possible. They roll Layla on a board, and then both transfer her up on the gurney. One leans over and starts compressions.

  Layla’s heart has stopped.

  “No, no, no.” I shake my head back and forth.

  They load Layla in the back and are taking off in the next second.

  Another set of paramedics rush over to Eli. They check all the same things they did with Layla. They turn him over, secure his neck, place him on the backboard and are running back to the ambulance with him.

  “Sir, we’d like to ask you some questions.” An officer says.

  I look up and he’s standing there with his thumbs hooked in the belt loops on his pants. I take a couple of deep breaths trying to steady my rolling stomach.

  I answer all the questions the officer asks me. Can I tell him what happened, can he see some ID, he needs a statements, yada, yada, fucking yada. Every time I blink all I see is Layla’s bloody face and Eli laying there helplessly.

  When he’s done with his questioning he tells me I’m free to go. They have blocked off the alley way with crime scene tape while the detectives do their work. I glance back to the spot I found Layla and Eli laying. Blood is smeared down the wall just near the door and the door is splattered with blood, and supplies left from the EMTs are the only remnants of two lives hanging in the balance right now. My stomach rolls again as tears spring to my eyes. I’ve got to get the hell out of here.

  I walk back to my car, stripping my shirt off and wipe my hands on it. I toss the shirt in the backseat and grab another shirt from my gym bag. Looking down, my jeans are covered in blood too. “Fuck.” I slam my hands on the roof of my car.

  I reach in my pocket for my phone to call Jaylinn. It rings four times before she answers.

  “Coop? Where did you go?”

  “I’ll explain later. Can you meet me at Community Medical Center?”

  “Oh my God, are you alright?” She’s more alert now.

  “Um…yeah. It’s Layla and Eli.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  “Jay?”

  “Yeah? I need you to bring me new clothes.”

  “Got it.”

  I start my car up and make my way towards the hospital. Hoping and praying the whole time that my friends make it because with the amount of blood they both lost it doesn’t look good.

  Cooper

  Stop signs and traffic lights all a blur. I’m on autopilot. The hospital is about fifteen minutes away. When I arrive I find the first parking spot I can. Thankfully it’s right in the middle so I quickly lock the doors and run towards the entrance of the emergency room.

  The automatic doors slide open and I step into the Emergency Room entrance.

  “How may I help you, sir?” The lady behind the desk asks me.

  “My friends, Layla Del Luca and Eli Sabatino, were just brought in by ambulance.”

  I hear her clicking away on her computer. “Sure, I’ll find out what’s going on for you, sir.”

  I trudge over to take a seat. I lean forward with my elbows on my knees, my head down. I sit for a while as the world goes on around me. A few people have walked in; a guy clutching his stomach, a mom and her daughter who has her arm cradled to her chest and an old couple who are winded by the time they’ve reached the desk to check in.

  “Cooper.” Jaylinn calls when the doors to the emergency room open.

  She runs over to me and throws her arms around my neck and I hug her tightly back.

  “What’s going on?” She asks as she sets a bag down beside her.

  I pull her back to me just needing the comfort. “I couldn’t sleep, been having a hard time lately as you know. Thought I’d go into work and tie up a few loose ends. I pulled into the parking lot and was walking down the back alley. None of the lights were turning on which I thought was a little weird. When I got a few yards away from the entrance that’s when I noticed two bodies lying on the ground.”

  Jaylinn’s eyes tear up as her hands go to her mouth to stifle the anguish. “Eli and Layla?”

  I nod. “Yeah, they were beaten up pretty bad. You’re going to need to prepare yourself.”

  “Okay.” She whispers.

  Jaylinn notices my hands that still have blood on them and stained finger nails that I question ever being clean again. She reaches for the bag beside her and hands it to me.

  Together we walk towards the bathroom. I give her a quick kiss on the lips before walking into the bathroom to change and wash up.

  A few more people have walked in after I step out of the bathroom. The waiting room is getting packed; everyone here for a different reason.

  “Cooper Cahill?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I respond.

  The nurse smiles and takes a step in my direction. “Will you both please follow me?”

  Jaylinn walks over and holds out her hand to me. I look at it and then gl
ance up to her. She offers me a sad smile. “Come on.”

  I look around me. A few people are talking to other people. A mom is feeding her baby and the little old couple who walked in earlier are sitting hand in hand looking out the window.

  I blow out a deep breath before grabbing Jaylinn’s hand. I know this is killing her as a sense of deja vu washes over me. We were taking the same steps just over a month ago. The two of us follow the nurse over to a set of double doors where she slides a badge into a reader and the doors open. We walk down a long hallway, through another set of double doors before we come to the elevators. The nurse hits the up button and we wait. The elevators ding twice before opening. We are set inside and I watch the nurse hit the number three as I glance over to the panel with the writing on it. Floor three is the emergency surgery/surgery floor.

  My palms start to sweat.

  My hands start to shake.

  The elevators stops and the door slides open. The nurse steps out first followed by Jaylinn, then myself. We follow her down another hallway and into a small waiting area.

  The room is white, plain. A smaller sized round table sits in the middle with five chairs around it. In the corner there is a table that has different pamphlets on it. Grief, Recovery, Physical Therapy.

  “Please have a seat and the doctor will be in to see you soon.”

  “Thank you.” Jaylinn responds just as the nurse shuts the door.

  I blow out a deep breath. Jaylinn reaches for my hand and we sit waiting for the doctor.

  A few moments later a doctor wearing scrubs and a white coat comes in. He takes a seat and introduces himself. “I’m Doctor Muslin. I’ve been working on Layla and Eli since their arrival. Layla and Eli are both in critical condition at this time. We are waiting on the results of some scans to decide the next course of action.” He takes a moment before he continues. “Layla and Eli are both stable at this time. Layla’s heart has stopped twice so far but each time we’ve been able to revive her. The pressure on Eli’s brain is causing some alarm but until we get the results of the scans I can’t tell you more than that.”