“Where is he?” she hissed.
They both had bloodshot eyes and reeked of alcohol. I was barely able to voice anything, but finally mumbled something that sounded like ‘who’.
Aunt Evy, Uncle Henry, please help me…
“You know who, you little skank. That boyfriend of yours was in court with my son today.”
I frowned, not knowing what she was talking about.
Wait. Oliver was in town and didn’t tell me?
She lowered her gun, aiming at my chest. “You and him, you took my son away from me. I wonder if I take this,” she poked my heart with her loaded weapon, “away from him…” she sneered, “will it hurt him just as much as he hurt me?”
“Nancy,” I said in a calm voice, well as calm as someone who had gun pointed at her could possibly be. “He’s not here. I haven’t seen him in weeks. You don’t want to do this.”
“You’re wrong, Abbygail, I very much want to do this.”
“Abby, what the hell is going on?” Tyler said walking in on us. The gun went off before I had any time to react or call his name. He was down, someone was holding me off the ground, and I was crying my heart out as I tried to pry myself away from whoever it was.
Nancy apparently had enough of hearing me crying over my ex-boyfriend who was probably dying right there at the threshold of my kitchen, and she knocked the side of my head with her gun. I passed my fingers over my temple, feeling the small gash and the blood trickling down my face.
“Who’s he?” she asked.
I refused to answer.
“He’s not dead,” she pointed out. “I shot him in the shoulder. But if you don’t want your little friend to die with a bullet to the head, you’d better start talking. Who the fuck is he?”
“Angel.” Tyler groaned, and I felt a hint of relief at the sound of his week voice.
“Angel?” she repeated. “You really are a little slut, now aren’t you?”
I looked down to him, but it was as if Nancy was reading into my desire to get to him so she gripped my hair and smashed my head twice against the wall.
“Where the hell is Oliver Langton, Abbygail?”
I’m not sure if she saw my reaction to his name or just enjoyed the sight of my fear, but she pointed the gun once again at Tyler.
“Gone. He’s gone, Nancy. He flew back to BC.”
“You’re just saying that because you don’t want me to kill you two.” Her fury turned into an evil grin. “But that’s fine. It will make torturing you even better.” She pulled my face closer to hers and whispered. “Abbygail Evens, I’m going to make you hate yourself all over again.”
Bile rose in my dry throat and she slammed my head a third time against the wall. I fell to the ground, disoriented and unable to figure out where I was, or what was happening.
“See that man there?” she said pulling my head up.
I could barely see anything through my tears.
“He’s my boyfriend, and he likes to fuck little girls like you. Don’t you, baby?”
Tears turned into horror as I watched him lick his lips as he approached my body. I tried to scream, but nothing would come out. Bending over my immobilized frame, he started unbuttoning my jeans. I tried to kick him away, but my fighting back only made his smile grow wider.
“He’s watching you,” Nancy whispered.
For a second, I wondered whom she could possibly be talking about, but then she tilted my neck. I winced at the pain and looked at Tyler, there was something soothing in his eyes.
“Hold on, Angel. Just a little bit more.”
“Move or talk again, and I blow her brains,” Nancy spat back.
I relaxed at the sound of his voice, but when I felt my pants being pulled down, the relief didn’t last very long. My alarm went up a thousand degrees, and I started to kick and scream. At some point I must have kicked my male attacker hard enough because I heard him groan in pain and saw him stand.
The sight of his angered face petrified me, but seconds later I felt a hard stomp on my stomach and everything went black.
Oliver
Jane picked me up at my hotel at six. We had agreed to go out for dinner together before she left to drive Cole back to the center. A few hours into dinner with her, I received two phone calls, and both times, it was Stephan’s cell phone number on my caller ID.
The first time I ignored him—I didn’t want to be impolite with my date for the night—but when the second call came in within a ten-minute gap, I got a little worried. It was pretty out of character for him.
“I’m sorry, Jane. Do you mind if I take this?”
“Of course not. Go ahead,” she smiled.
“Yo, Steph?”
“Oliver? Oliver, it’s Kylie,” she was panicking.
“Ky, what’s wrong? Where’s Stephan?”
“He’s in the room,” she blubbered. “Oliver, Abby and Tyler are in the hospital. They got attacked at Abby’s house.”
All Too Familiar
Oliver
The temperature outside had dropped at least fifteen degrees since that morning, morphing the wet snow into treacherous icy roads. As soon as I hit the highway, I called Stephan back. I wanted to know what happened, but I needed to be reassured that they were both okay. Lucky for us, Tyler was perceptive and called the police as soon as he heard Nancy’s aggressive tone. I shuddered at the thought of what could’ve happened if he hadn’t. Intoxicated or not, that woman has serious issues, and what she did was inexcusable.
I finally made it to the hospital an hour and a half later, which was at least twice the time it would have normally taken me to get there. Bile rose in my throat as I stood in front of the massive brown building.
I hate this place.
After getting a hold of my nervousness, I walked through the revolving doors of Rideau-Valley Hospital. Six years later; it still looked the same, it still smelled the same, and I was still scared shitless. It all seemed too familiar and brought back too many memories. I was imagining the worst. The rational part of me knew that if anything had happened between the restaurant and the hospital, Stephan would have called me, but it was as if I couldn’t differentiate reality from fiction anymore. The surroundings made my head spin, making me feel as though I had just stepped into a time warp. I reached out for Abby’s hand, she was the one person I needed and she wasn’t there. I stood motionless and alone, reliving one of my worst nightmares..
When I finally found my footing and willed myself to move, the only way my legs would go was backwards. So, I retreated, paying no attention to anyone or anything until I hit the glass wall behind me. I crouched, grabbed my hair, and gasped for my next breath.
“Oliver?”
For a moment my memories brought me back to when I was seventeen years old. The morning after Abby learned I was leaving for BC and wanted to confront me about it. I could still recall the sound of her unsteady breathing as she collapsed on my mother’s daisy flowerbed, crying and begging me to stay while I pretended that I didn’t want her in my life anymore. For the first time in our lives, I chose to let my best friend crumble to the ground and did nothing about it. I watched her trying to grasp onto the remains of our friendship while I crushed her heart like she meant nothing. In my defense, she was entirely wrong, and I was hurting myself just as much as I was hurting her.
As I tried to steady myself, I couldn’t help but wonder if what she felt at that exact moment was a panic attack, because as I searched for my next breath, it sure felt like one.
“Langton!” My head shot up. Standing in front of me were Kylie and Stephan, watching me worriedly. “Oliver, dude. Are you okay?”
I blinked a few times, and cleared my eyes from the stressed tears.
“I’ve called your name at least five times since you came in. You weren’t responding. Where did you go?”
“I’m good,” I replied, not wanting to answer his questions. He watched me warily but I cut him off before his next question. “How are they
?”
Stephan and Kylie looked dreadful, probably just as I did.
“Tyler just got out of surgery. They were able to remove bullet without causing too much muscle damage. He’s in pain, but it’s nothing he won’t recuperate from.”
“And Abby?”
“The good news is she passed out from being kicked in the stomach, but thankfully nothing is broken.”
“So I can go see her.”
He made a sad face. I could tell there was more.
“Tell me,” I insisted.
“When the ambulance got to the hospital, she woke up, but she was so hysterical, the doctors put her into an induced coma and now she won’t wake up. The current problem is the numerous hits she took to the head. They can’t seem to make the inflammation go down, and if they don’t, she might need surgery. It’s pretty much touch and go for now.”
I hated every word that just rolled off his tongue. As irrational as it sounded, I felt as though I should have known something like this would happen.
“I want to see her. Where is she?”
“She’s in Room 214, but you can’t go in. The staff won’t allow it.”
“The hell I can’t!”
I rushed past Stephan and took the steps up to her room. As I reached for the doorknob, I bumped into her mom.
“Aunt Jen?”
“Oliver, I’m so glad you’re here.”
“I’m so sorry this—”
“Don’t,” she said before I could speak my mind. “Oliver, this has nothing to do with you. It’s not your fault so quit being sorry.”
She took me in for a hug, but I’m not sure who was holding whom.
“Is she okay?”
“I don’t know…” She broke down, crying into my shoulder.
“I want to see her,” I said once she calmed down and pulled away from my hold.
She wiped her tears away. “I’m sorry. You can’t.”
“Jenna, please. Just a minute. I need to see her.”
Her eyes softened at my pleading. “Okay. But make it quick.”
My eyes welled up as I saw her unmoving body wired up to so many machines. I saw the dried up blood on her gown and pillow. She had stiches on the side of her left eye, but the remainder of her face looked intact. My heart squeezed as I moved closer to her bed, begging her to wake up so I could see her perfect blue eyes. Unfortunately, my silent pleading did nothing for the situation.
I sat on the chair at the side of her bed and took her hand in mine, listening to the beeping sound of the machine. I linked my fingers in hers. The monitor showed her heartbeat accelerating. I really wanted to believe that I was the one who was making her heart race with just a simple touch, but I knew otherwise.
“Abbygail,” I whispered, “I don’t know if you can hear me, but Freckle Face, I need you to wake up. I just got you back. You can’t leave me. Please…”
A nurse stepped in with a sad smile. “I’m sorry, Sir, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I know Mrs. Evens said it was okay for you to see her, but until the swelling goes down, we prefer that only her mother stays by her side.”
I acquiesced gracefully, thankful for the few minutes I got to sit with Abby. I kissed her hand and backed away, looking at the dark sky through the room window.
If you two can hear me, I need her.
Mom, I’m here. I did what you asked and you were right. About everything.
Just… don’t let her leave me.
Letting Go
Oliver
Stephan, Kylie, and I sat together in the waiting area. Daunted by the lack of change in her daughter’s situation, Jenna would occasionally step out of Abby’s room and join us. It was only around 3:30 in the morning that the doctor finally came to see us, asking to speak with Jenna. Warily, she stood and met with the professional. We all anxiously waited for her to come back with any kind of news. It took a while, but at least when she did, it was with a wide smile across her face. The swelling had gone down significantly, and it could only go uphill from there.
It took a little over twenty-four hours before the inflammation had completely subsided. Over the following few days, even though I refused to leave Abby’s side, Jenna, Jacob, Stephan, and Kylie took turns to sit in the room with us. We all waited patiently for her to wake up from the coma. Unfortunately for us, she wasn’t in much of a hurry. The doctors informed us that there was nothing we could do. The process could take minutes, hours, or days, it all depended on her. Apparently Abby was taking a hell of a long time doing it.
···
“Okay, Abbygail. I don’t know what you’re playing at, but it’s been over three nights now, and I think you’ve put us through enough. I feel like you’re making me watch the first Twilight movie for the fifth time all over again,” I complained. “And by the way, since you can’t reply to anything I say right now, I want you to know that I do think Twilight sucks. I hope you get that I only agreed to watch it with you all those times to make you happy. Your fawning over that werewolf kid was beyond annoying.”
I yawned.
“So I read something once about people that are in a coma. Did you know that apparently they can hear what’s going on around them? Apparently, your subconscious can hear me right now, so I’m just going to use this opportunity to tell you that you’ve made your point, Abbygail. We all need you; we all love you. Can you please just wake up so I can finally have a restful night of sleep with you in my arms instead of having your bed railings stamped on my face?” I readjusted my sitting from uncomfortable to even more uncomfortable. “Just so you know, my ass is numb from sitting here by your side. I haven’t had a real meal in three days, and I’m tired. Are you trying to punish me? I mean you have to be doing this on purpose, right? If not, then why the hell are you taking forever to wake up?”
I pulled the railing down and rested my head on her hand. The monitor that measured her heartbeats accelerated, it was the only thing that had made me smile in days.
“Well, at least I know one thing: you definitely can feel me because the beeping of your stupid machine speeds up every time I touch your hand.”
I closed my eyes relaxing to the sound of her heartbeat.
“Oh, I know,” I said with what I thought was the best idea I’d had in years. “If you don’t wake up, I’m asking Adalynn out tomorrow night.”
There… that ought to do it!
I heard laughing behind me. I turned to see Jenna leaning on the doorframe smiling at me.
“Do you really think getting mad at her, lecturing her and then threatening to date her mortal enemy will help wake her up?”
Yes.
I laid my head back on Abby’s hand. I was so tired.
“Oliver, you’ve had a rough four days. She’s not going anywhere.” She walked up to me handing me her keys. “Go to the house and get some rest. I got this.”
I didn’t want to go, and she knew I was going to fight with her about it.
“It isn’t a suggestion, Oliver, and we’re not turning this into an argument. Go get some sleep. And please, honey, take a shower.”
I stood. “Only if you promise to call if anything changes.”
Jenna was scary when she wanted to be. She smiled. “I promise.”
I bent over Abby and left a soft kiss on her forehead.
“I love you, Freckle Face.”
Abbygail
Waking up alone in the middle of the night in a strange dark room with wires attached to me was frightening. My eyes averted to every corner trying to understand where I was, but it was only when I recognized the antiseptic smell and the annoying beeping sound that I realized I was in a hospital.
“Mom?” I called out with a hoarse voice. “Mom?” I could already feel the uncontrolled tears pooling out of my eyes, fear and pain taking over my senses.
Someone I couldn’t recognize walked into the room. “I thought I heard a voice coming from here when I walked by.” The smile in her voice made me relax from my nervous
ness. “You have no idea how many people you’re going to please by finally waking up.”
Funny, you’d think that at least one of these people would be sitting here with me…
“Um… where am I?”
“You’re at Rideau-Valley Hospital, hun. My name is Sandra, by the way. I’m your assigned nurse for the night.”
She turned on a soft light near my bed. Sandra was thin with blond hair. She looked like she was about thirty years old, but her eyes told me she was very much over worked.
“Is my mother here?”
“Yeah, she just went out for coffee about ten minutes ago. She should be back soon. I’m surprised you’re alone: you’ve had someone sitting here with you ever since you got cleared for visitors.”
“Which was —” I looked around and saw a couple of newspapers on a table near the bed. “How long have I been here?” I frowned.
“A few days.”
A few days is pretty vague, Sandra.
“How are you feeling?” she asked, ignoring my annoyed eye roll.
I winced as I massaged my temples. The chaotic information in my head had only increased the pain I was already feeling. “Sore. Confused. And I have this lingering throbbing pain in the back of my head and neck.”
Her lips thinned. “I’ll go check your medical file and see if Dr. Pearson prescribed pain medication. If not, I’ll page him, and be back in a few minutes.”
While Sandra talked, I saw my mother in the doorway with happy tears. I had completely lost focus on what my nurse was saying, relieved to see my mother smiling at me.
“Hey there, sweetheart.”
She walked over to me once Sandra had stepped out. She took my hand in hers and dried my tears with the other.
“Mom? What happened to me? How long have I been—shit, Mom. Tyler. Where’s... what’s... where’s Tyler?”
“He’s okay, Abby. Breathe, sweetheart. He got shot in the shoulder. They removed the bullet, and he got released yesterday morning.”
“So he’s alive?”
“Yes, and I quote, very anxious to see your angelic blue eyes. And hear your annoying mouth lash out at him.”
Living with Regrets (No Regrets book 2) Page 19