Made To Love You

by Megan Smith

  “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 now 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 covering my own trembling hands.

  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 stretcher. 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 stretcher. 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 statement, 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 truck, 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 hood of my truck.

  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 truck up and make my way towards the hospital. Hoping and praying the whole time that my two friends survive 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 fingernails 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 glance 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 elevator 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.”

  All I hear is the swooshing in my ears. Layla’s heart stopped; not once but twice. My best friend’s brain is swelling. I look down to my hands resting in my lap as the doctor finishes. I heard bits and pieces as I tried to focus on what he’s saying.

  Surgery.

  Blood coming out of mouth and ears.

  Missing teeth.

  Cracked ribs.

  Broken jaw.

  Collapsed lung.

  Severe brain injury.

  Possible rape.

  “If there are any family members for Layla and Eli I’d suggest you give them a call.” Dr. Muslin says as he stands and pushes in his chair. “We’ll be speaking again with you soon.”

  The door closes behind him and all that can be heard is crying. Jaylinn wraps her arms around me. How could this be happening to them? Who the fuck would be that twisted to beat them within an inch of their lives?

  Eli has done so much for Layla and her sister Fallon. He opened up his home for them. By doing that they fell in love with each other. I knew a long time ago that they’d fallen hard; you could see it in their eyes, and Layla, my heart fucking breaks for her. Jaylinn told me all about her situation before she moved in with Eli. No one deserves to be treated like that, ever.

  And now this. She’d just got her mom back and was living a stable life with Fallon only to have it ripped from her. Some people say that karma is a bitch but there’s not one thing that Layla has ever done to deserve the shit she’s had to endure. She has to make it…they have to make it.

  Jaylinn

  Cooper stands and pushes his chair in. “I’m going down for a drink, do you want anything?” He doesn’t really need a drink; I’m not stupid, he just needs a minute to himself, it’s how he deals with things.

  I shake my head. “No, thanks, I need to call Layla’s mom to let her know what’s going on.”

  “Are you sure? I could do it if you’d like.” Cooper shoves his hands in his pockets.

  I wipe my eyes. “No, this is something I should do. You can explain what you saw when she gets here if she wants to hear it.”

  He nods. “Yeah, sure. I, uh…guess I’ll call Eli’s sister and give her a heads up.”

  “You sure? I could do it when I’m done.” I offer even though it’s the last thing in the world I want to do. It’s bad enough I have to call Layla’s mom, I don’t want to have to call both families. This shouldn’t have happened to them.

  “No, it’s okay. I got it.” Cooper tells me before walking out.

  I reach in my purse and dig out my cell phone. I scroll to Mrs. Del Luca’s number and stare at it briefly before pressing the call button.

  “Hey, Jaylinn, what’s going on?” She asks too cheerfully for this early in the morning.

  “Hey,” my voice shakes. “Layla is in the hospital.”

  She sucks in a breath. “Oh my God, is she okay?”

  “You, um…you need to get down here,” I stutter.

  “Jaylinn, is my daughter okay?”

  “I don’t know.” I answer honestly. “We’re at Community Medical Center.”

  I place my elbows on my knees and drop my head forward.

  “Okay, let me get Fallon to a friend’s house then and I’ll be right there.”

  “We’ll see you soon and be careful.”

  I stare at a little black dot on the wall for what seems like forever. My stomach heaves. I take a few breaths but nothing calms it. I rub my hands back and forth over my stomach hoping to settle it. “Come on, settle down,” I whisper to myself.

  Everything is suspended in time as we wait while our friends fight for their lives.

  A while later Mrs. Del Luca arrives, she stumbles into the waiting room crying hysterically. Cooper still hasn’t returned. When Mrs. Del Luca’s eyes find me, she falls to her knees, her purse spills on the floor, but she doesn’t even notice or care. I crawl over to her and wrap my arms around her. MacKenzie, Hailey, and Hunter walk in just as I reach her. The girls take one look at us sitting on the floor, they both lower to their knees and wrap their arms around us as we sit on the floor crying. Hunter takes a seat in one of the empty chairs, leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees.

  After a while we all wipe our faces. I sit on the floor with Layla’s mom, Hailey’s in an empty chair and MacKenzie has crawled on to Hunter’s lap.

  “Where’s Mase?” I ask Hailey.

  She nods towards the door. “Talking to Cooper.”

  “Do you know who did this to her?” Mrs. Del Luca asks.

  I shake my head but something deep down inside of me tells me I know who did it. The words that Layla said to me once repeat over and over in my head. “Laughing now but you’ll be crying later.” I don’t want to think it was him but who else would do this to them? What reason would they have? It’s not like they were trying to break into the club or anything.

  I stand and start to pace back and forth getting more and more anxious. I can’t lose them; I won’t be able to handle it if that happens. “I’ve got to go for a walk.” I open the door and practically run out of the room.

  “You okay?” Cooper asks.

  “Fine, just need some air.” I say walking past him.

  I wander around the hospital for a while, my cell phone a ticking time bomb in my back pocket waiting for someone to call me back to the room. I stumble across a little chapel much like the one I sat in not long ago when I was waiting on word about mom’s condition at St. Peter’s Hospital. No one is sitting in it so I walk in and take a seat in the back row.

  I look up shaking my head. “So we meet again. You know I don’t pray or even go to church. I’m still not even sure I believe in God but I’m begging you, please, let Layla and Eli be okay. Let them make it through this surgery,” I close my eyes to fight off the tears. “You can’t take everyone I love away from me.”

  I sit here for a while, feeling safe. I ask for forgiveness for everything I’ve ever done wrong, hoping and praying He’s listening. My eyes grow heavy due to the lack of sleep over the last month with everything weighing heavy on me. I lean forward, arms on the back of the bench and rest my head on them. My body is yearning for rest, my mind fighting it.

  Dreams.

  I'm not sure I like them.

  I'm not sure I don't like them either.

  I do know I hate the ones that feel real. The ones when you wake up with your heart pounding, feeling like you can’t breathe, whole body trembles and your eyes are wet from your tears.

  I place a hand over my rapidly beating heart. It’s thumping so hard. Reaching up with my other hand I wipe my wet eyes with the back of my hand.

  I try to recall the dream that I woke from just seconds ago but I can’t. My mind is running in a million different directions; flashes of a funeral, a smiling baby, a wedding, a new house, baseball fields, Fierce, a death, another death, a broken heart and a black door.

  My phone dings and startles me. I must have dozed off.

  I freeze before reaching for it.

  Cooper 9:44pm: I need you to come upstairs.

  I send one more prayer up to God before wandering back into the hallway. I pass the cafeteria, a gift shop, lots of office doors and some bathrooms. I’m in no hurry to get back there. If it’s
bad news this is just prolonging it, if it’s good news everyone can see them first because I’m not leaving two of my closest friends alone until they leave the hospital.

  I reach the elevators and hit the up button. It dings then the door opens. I step in and press the number three. With each passing floor it gets harder and harder to breathe. The elevator dings again and the doors open. I step out, turn the corner and walk to the room where my friends and my family are waiting.

  “Please, God, please let them be okay.”

  I take a deep breath and hold it until my lungs burn. I push the door open.

  Cooper is bent over leaning against the wall, Mrs. Del Luca is rocking back and forth repeating the word “No!” Erin, Eli’s sister, who must have arrived after I left, is sitting in the corner with her face buried in her hands, and Mason and Hunter are holding their crying wives.

  Everything goes gray. I struggle to take a deep breath in. My throat is tight and when my eyes meet with Cooper for just a second I see the pain in his eyes before a black door slams shut.

  Cooper

  “Jay,” I yell before jumping over the chair and catching her head before it hits the floor.

  Everyone is up and on their feet. Everything happens in slow motion. I’ve got Jaylinn’s head in my lap, Hunter is barking at someone to go get a nurse, and the girls are all huddled around Jaylinn. Hunter leans down next to me and grabs Jaylinn’s wrist.

  A nurse pushes through the door. “Could everyone please move back?”

  Everyone takes a few steps back giving us some room. The nurse grabs the wrist that Hunter was holding, glances down to watch Jaylinn as she breathes. “We’ve got to get her downstairs.” She explains to another nurse that walked in behind her.

  My eyes are wide with panic. We’ve just lost Layla no way in hell can anything happen to Jaylinn. The nurse who is standing behind the other nurse turns, “I’ll go grab a stretcher.”