“Chloe!” Skye’s voice brings me to a dead stop. I spin in a full circle and see nothing but the darkness that surrounds me. “Hurry, Chloe,” Skye cries. More wicked laughing.
“You didn’t think I was going to let you get away from me, did you, babe?” My body trembles and tears form in my eyes at the sound of his voice. Todd steps into my vision through the curtain of black, smiling and enjoying my terrified state. I take a step back, but he steps forward, tsking. “Do we really need to go through this again? You know I’m just going to catch you, and all this chasing you down is starting to really piss me off.” My heart hammers against my ribs, hard and uneven. My chest heaves with frantic and uneven breaths. I’m on the verge of a panic attack.
“Chloe, run!” Sara? I turn and run, obeying her command immediately and leaving Todd at my back. A moment later, arms wrap around my stomach and squeeze me tight. My ribs creak and pop under the tight embrace as I struggle to become free.
“It’s me, babe. It’s me. You’re okay,” Skye’s voice caresses my ears, and my body instantly relaxes. I turn my head to the right to find two soulless eyes staring back at me. Todd starts laughing at my confused and frightened expression.
“This is too much fun. You’re too easy, Chloe,” he laughs at his taunts. His arms around me cause my skin to crawl and leaves me nauseous and angry.
Finally, I find my strength and voice. I fight off his strong grip and scream in his face, “Let me go!” I point a finger at him and bellow, “Don’t you ever fucking touch me again! Stay the fuck away from me!”
He laughs as he circles me. “Chloe, you really should mind your temper. It’s very unattractive and juvenile.” Is he fucking kidding me?
“Chloe, where are you?” Skye’s voice floats through the still air. Todd sees my hesitation and smiles maliciously. Something isn’t right. I have this gut twisting feeling that something really bad is about to happen.
“Chloe!” This time it’s Sara’s voice calling out to me. Closing my eyes, I take a few deep breaths and reopen them. Through the tears and darkness I can see two golden birdcages with ivy engraved on the bars. Any other time, I would be in awe of their breath-taking beauty but what’s trapped inside those cages has my knees shaking in fear. Skye and Sara are being held prisoners inside the glowing cages.
“Let them go!” I scream, running toward Sara first. My hands make contact with the golden bars. The ivy leaves pierce my skin, causing an agonizing scream to erupt from between my lips. Blood trickles from my palm like tiny raindrops to the ground, where it is swallowed by the darkness immediately. Todd’s laughter echoes around me, making his cackles sound like a hundred ravens crowing in the distance. The sound is ear piercing. I cradle my head in my hands in a feeble attempt to stop the noise.
“Chloe, baby. Run!” Skye yells from his cage.
“I’m not leaving you.” I get off the ground and run to his cage, grabbing the bars with no thought for my own well-being. “Ahhh!” I scream as the golden bars turn a glowing, fiery orange, and burn the skin from my palms. I snatch my hands back and hold them to my chest as tears well up in my eyes. A moment goes by before I realize there isn’t any pain. I extend my hands, palms facing me in front of my face. The orange glow from the cage illuminates my palms. Red, bloody welts have completely replaced the soft flesh that was once there. I stand, staring at my hands in shock. How does this not hurt?
“Good thing you’re pretty; Lord knows you’re not the brightest.” Todd stalks toward me. The orange glow casting light on his evil smile and black eyes makes him look like the devil himself.
“Fuck you!” I scream. His hand connects with the right side of my face and I land harshly on my back. My head meets the concrete and I lie motionless for what seems like forever. There’s still no pain. Silence surrounds me, accompanied by the ever-present shadows. I lift my heavy body off the ground, but am blind to my surroundings due to the midnight abyss.
Then the dark fades to light and I’m standing in the kitchen of my apartment. “You think I’m fucking stupid? Don’t fucking lie to me, you stupid bitch!” I hear Todd’s angry voice along with the low murmurs of a whimpering female. Panic floods through me. I know that voice. I slowly walk around the small bar. My hands fly to my mouth and I gasp at the horrific scene in the hallway. Sara lies still on the floor, her blank eyes staring at me with a sad smile on her lips. Blood trickles from the corners of her mouth.
“What the fuck are you smiling at, bitch? You think this shit is funny?” He slaps her and I fly into motion. My body hurdles toward them, but I sail straight though both of them, landing on the opposite side of the hallway.
Her eyes roll into the back of her head and a sob leaves my throat. With a loud bang, Skye bursts through the front door, screaming Sara’s name. In slow motion, I watch as Todd lets go of Sara and stands. He reaches into the waistband of his pants and pulls out a small pistol. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to block out what I know is going to happen next. My ears ring from the loud sound of the gunshot. Slowly, I open my eyes. My heart stops beating, my lungs fill with air when I gasp, causing me to become light-headed. The room starts spinning, leaving me disoriented. My legs give out, my body meets the floor with a harsh thud.
When I open my eyes, it takes a few seconds for the room to still, when it does my heart lodges itself in my throat. A loud, angry wail escapes my throat at the sight of Skye lying face down in the entrance to the hall, surrounded by a dark pool of his own blood. Sara is only feet away from him in a similar position on her back. Everyone I love is dead and the dam that was holding in the tears breaks as I become a hysterical mess.
Todd turns to face me suddenly with a vile smile playing on his lips. His black eyes are lit up in amusement at the sight of my pain and devastation. “Do you see what happens when you don’t obey me, Chloe? Everyone you love will die by my hands, because you’re a selfish, undeserving whore.” He takes a step toward me and then turns into a swirl of grey mist, disappearing into nothing.
I stare at Sara and Skye for several long minutes before I find the strength to crawl to Skye. I pull his head into my lap and stroke his face.
“Baby, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.” When the word “sorry” leaves my lips, my voice cracks. I reach a shaky hand to his eyes and place my index and middle finger against his eye lids. Gently, I slide my fingers in a downward motion pushing his lids closed. If it weren’t for all the blood, he would look as if he were sleeping.
Gently, I lay his head down on the floor and stand. I turn to Sara to show her the same attention but she’s gone. There’s no blood or any other sign that the tragic events that involved her had happened. I take a step back and look toward Skye and he’s gone, too. My body starts shaking and everything turns black.
I get the feeling that I’m falling and my insides jolt. Between the silence and darkness, it’s hard to determine where I am. The only thing that separates the nightmares from what has become my new reality, is the beeping. The siren reminds me I am back in the present. I listen for a few minutes but there are no voices. I’m completely alone. My mind drifts to Skye. Where is he? Why isn’t he here? Instantly, I resent him for leaving me alone. Sara, too; what is so important that she, out of all people, would leave me here alone?
My heart shatters with the thought of both of them abandoning me. The two most important people in my life have left me when I needed them the most.
“The patient seems to be recovering quite nicely,” an unfamiliar woman’s voice announces.
“Yes, she is. Help me lift her so that we can get her onto the gurney,” another female voice says. This one sounds familiar, but I can’t place where I know her from. My body is lifted as the women grunt and the cold hard plastic beneath me is uncomfortable. Ruffling sounds are the only noise heard for several moments.
“Let’s give her a sponge bath and change her gown first. Then we can change out her bandages before we put her back in bed. Her family will be waiting at the doors
when visiting hours start again, so let’s hurry.” As soon as the gown is removed, the frigid air hits my skin. I can feel my skin drawing in tight and being taken over by goose bumps.
“Yesterday, when I came in for my shift, her friend with the brown hair was at the front desk demanding that she speak to the hospital manager. Apparently, Shelly hadn’t changed her bandages overnight; the woman came in and saw that they needed to be done. I’m not sure what she said, but I know that I have never seen the staff so shaken.” I can’t help but laugh. Sara has been known to show her ass from time to time, and when she gets riled up, she usually leaves whoever was in her way torn to shreds.
“Yes, well, I don’t think gossiping about it will help the situation any,” the somewhat familiar voice says sternly. “Can you imagine what this poor girl, and her family, have been through? I can’t even begin to fathom the pain they must feel from almost losing a loved one. So you will do well to remember that, and not discuss the family or any issues they may have with the staff with anyone else.”
The unfamiliar woman, now thoroughly scorned, replies, “Yes, ma’am.” Without another word, they finish running the room temperature sponge over my body in silence.
When the sponge stops moving over my cold skin, I’m then covered with a thin cloth before two sets of hands embrace my shoulders and legs. With a loud grunt, I’m lifted and placed back on the soft surface I’ve grown accustomed to. The warmth that settles underneath me is welcomed.
Neither woman says a word as one of them painfully begins to rip tape from my skin, pulling out the fine hairs on my arm in the process. While one pulled off the tape, the other followed closely behind to clean and redress the wounds. All the fussing over me comes to a halt and I’m thrilled that they seem to be finished. There is some shuffling in the space around me but then the room goes quiet, and I realize they’re gone.
Once again, I find myself thinking of Skye and wishing he were here. My mind is having a hard time wrapping itself around the fact that I’ve become so enamored with him. My body’s constantly at war with itself over that man. My mind screams, “don’t get too close too fast; it will only end in heartbreak.” My heart yells to my mind to “shut the hell up and go for it.”
As of late, my heart has had the louder voice, and for that I’m thankful. The click of a door hits my ears and fear immediately shoots through me. Tom’s voice fills the room and my heart slows its rapid pace. His sad tone is barely above a whisper and isn’t something I’m used to hearing from him, so immediately I start to worry. The unnerving emotion weighs heavily on my chest, filling me with a deep, foreboding sense of doom.
“Hey, girl. It’s, um...Tom. Doc says you should be waking up soon. I really hope so. I miss you, Chloe. Fuck, I’m so sorry about all of this. I should’ve done something the night Todd came in the bar, or all those times he came looking for you. I thought he was harmless, Chloe. I didn’t know he was capable of anything like this. God, I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t know.” Tom’s voice breaks.
In all the years I’ve known him, I’ve never once seen him shed a tear, not even when his parents died. I wish there was some way to comfort my friend, some way to help him see that it’s not his fault. Tom takes a breath and sniffles, and then continues. “Look, I don’t know if you can hear me or not. I just wanna let you know, you’re my best friend and I love you. I’m sorry about our fight. We’ve been best friends for so long.” He sobs for a moment. His voice startles me when he raises his voice to his normal level. “I can’t lose you! You have to wake up!” His voice cracks again and I can feel tiny fissures separating my heart.
“I know this is selfish, but I need you. There’s so much you don’t know. So much that I was scared to tell you. There’s a lot going on in my life right now, and I need my best friend to help me get my shit straight.” Tom pauses and sniffles again, clears his throat, and resumes talking. “I wish there was something I could do. Jesus, this is just like that Simple Plan song “Untitled.” He chuckles under his breath. “I just wanted to tell you that I love you. Ya know, while I had the chance.” Someone knocks on the door and I’m instantly annoyed. I have a feeling he was going to say more. What’s got him acting so weird?
“Come in,” Tom says.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, young man, but I need to examine the patient. I’m going to need you to go to the waiting room. You may come back once we’re done, if it’s during visiting hours.” The unfamiliar male voice says.
“Sure, doctor. Love ya, Chloe. I’ll come back later on.” Wet lips touch my forehead and he’s gone.
The doctor’s voice fills the room and I realize he isn’t alone. “Sally, have you taken her vitals yet?”
“Yes, sir. They’re recorded in her chart. She’s doing great,” she says cheerfully.
They both are quiet for some time before the doctor says, “Looks like everything is in order.” The sound of metal hitting a hard surface bounces off the walls before the doctor continues to speak.
“Sally, can you go ahead and administer her medication?” he states before everything goes silent. Suddenly, I’m weightless and floating.
Later, I rouse to the steady beeping that I’m starting to find comfort in. The voice of the doctor and nurse spew out some stuff about blood pressure and heart rate. Someone starts feeling around my ribs. The slight pressure from the cold fingers cause pain to jolt through my sides. The digits move lower, pressing different spots on my abdomen. I’m more than relieved when the pain I’m anticipating doesn’t come.
My emotions are going crazy with fear of the unknown, and excitement at the prospect of finally waking up. Suddenly, I realize I can breathe on my own. If I could jump up and do a happy dance right now, I would. Regardless, I just want to wake up from this surreal hell I’ve been stuck in.
“Chloe, it’s up to you now,” the doctor says. He turns his attention to the nurse. “Sally, I’m heading out for the day. If there are any changes with her condition, notify me immediately.”
“Yes, doctor,” she replies.
The door clicks, and the room is quiet for so long that I think I’m alone. A soft, feminine voice, which I’m sure belongs to the nurse named Sally, breaks the silence. “Chloe, dear, you have to fight to wake up. You have a waiting room full of people that love you, especially that really nice boy, Skye. Bless his heart. He ain’t left this hospital since you arrived. I know it’s hard, but you have to try really hard to wake up. I’m going to go let your friends know they can come see you now.” She pats my hand the entire time she is speaking. When her soft skin leaves mine, I instantly feel a sense of loneliness. The overpowering emotion only intensifies when the door clicks, signaling that I am, in fact, completely alone.
The rest of the afternoon goes by all too quickly. Brady, Harley, and Kasey visit me. My heart swells with love from the support and comfort I’m being showered with. I have only known the guys a very short time, so I am surprised they came to visit me. I enjoyed listening to them talk about the things going on in their lives, it served as a great distraction from my situation.
The one-sided conversations from my visitors have been informative, to say the least. The good side to being unconscious is that my friends are telling me things they wouldn’t usually say. Sara told me she has a new friend boy. A friend boy is what Sara calls a guy that she’s dating, but not serious enough to have the title of steady boyfriend. I can’t remember the last time Sara let someone close enough to be her friend boy.
I can’t wait to wake up and get all the details. However, I have a feeling that Harley is the guy she was talking about. Her very detailed description of the red-headed, green-eyed Casanova that has grabbed her attention fits him perfectly.
Sara also informed me that Brady and Crystal have a thing going on. I thought they might be into each other, especially when I saw how flirty they were that first night at BAR, but didn’t give it another thought after that.
Kasey just wished me well and told me to take it eas
y on Skye when I woke up. I don’t know what that means but I’m sure I will find out soon enough.
Then there was Skye, who stayed longer than anyone else. He didn’t try to converse with me. He just stroked my hair and kissed me on my temple repeatedly. He would hold my hand, and occasionally bring it to his mouth to meet his soft, warm lips.
Even in a damn coma, I can feel the effect he has on me. How is that even possible? When his fingers run through my hair, I sigh internally. Feeling his lips press to the side of my cheek makes me desperately want turn my head and capture his soft lips with mine. Every touch is like lightening to my core. Each caress has me eager, anxiously anticipating the next.
He lets my hand go and I hear something creaking in protest. “Fucking chair!” Skye mumbles in frustration.
The sound of his guitar floods the room a few seconds later. The melody he’s playing sounds somewhat familiar, but I just can’t place where I’ve heard it. Heat fills my body as his thick, sexy, southern drawl bounces off the walls.
I should have told you how I feel
Too much time has passed, but it’s still real
Come back to me so that I can make it right
Come back to me so that I can hold you tight
My love for you has never grown old
I have a secret I have never told
I hid in the shadow
Till the time was right
You finally found me and pulled me into your light
Come back to me so that I can make it right
More Than Friends Page 12