Blue Ridge Setup

by Kimberly Rae

  Ryan ruffled Jose’s hair. “You’re pretty awesome, little buddy.”

  “Yeah.” Jose saluted. “You can count on me!”

  Ryan strapped his backpack on as tightly as possible, adding an extra knot. He gave Jose’s shoulder a squeeze, then turned to the line that started under Kayla’s backpack and led down far beyond where he could see.

  With one deep breath, then one push, he was falling.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Kayla awoke, completely disoriented. Birds were singing all around her, as if she was outside. Light was sliding over her body. She must have left the curtains open all night.

  By the time her nerve endings had awoken enough to shout pain, her mind had awoken enough to remember the night before. Her climb up the mountain and finding Jose. Slipping and falling.

  Kayla sat up and gazed around her. She seemed to be near the base of the mountain. She looked up, noticing the line of broken dirt that ran up as far as her eye could see. Her fall had been steep.

  A wave of nausea, rising up from her stomach through her throat, was the only warning Kayla had before she vomited onto the forest floor. Flushed, sweating despite the cool morning air, she felt fear rising stronger than the nausea. What time was it?

  It could not be much past six in the morning, the time when she should have taken her medication. The sun’s rays were horizontal at this point, meaning it might be around seven or eight? Surely it would take more than a couple of hours for her to go into a crisis.

  Then again, the doctor had also mentioned physical trauma like surgery igniting a crisis. Would a sprained ankle count? Kayla winced in pain as she pulled her shoe from her swollen foot. Peeling off her sock, she surveyed the black and blue all around her foot, as dark as Jose’s poor little eye.

  Jose! Kayla dropped her sock. Was he all right? Had he been found?

  She tried to rise, but the nausea plus the pain in her foot and side forced her back on the ground. She scooted a little ways away, just to distance herself from where she had thrown up. She was as helpless as she had been the night before.

  Last night, she had prayed loudly as a weapon against the darkness. That morning, she decided to try it as a way to fight her own fear.

  “God!” she shouted. “I’m down here! I know You can see me, but I’m lost. I need my medicine, and things are going to get really bad if I don’t get it soon.” Her voice faded in volume as her energy drained with each word. “Please,” she ended in a whisper. “Please send help.”

  ****

  Ryan’s adrenaline had long since faded, and it was only love and fear that kept his feet going. His fall had been too fast, too steep, to stay on the path where Kayla had fallen. The darkness had proven his enemy, as it, combined with the speed of his fall, kept him from keeping track on the course Kayla had taken. By the time he was able to grab hold of a tree trunk, stopping his descent, a look around with his flashlight showed no sign of broken dirt except the line made above himself.

  He groaned aloud. With no other options, he let go of the tree and allowed his body to fall the rest of the way down the hill. At least then he would be on the same level of mountainside as she. He hoped.

  His body was weary, but his mind continued to race. He would just have to start walking and look for her. But his sense of direction had become unraveled as he fell. He had no idea if he should start to his left or to his right — the simplest initial decision that had huge ramifications.

  If he chose incorrectly, her safety would be compromised. Her life would be in danger.

  He chose to go left. Leaving marks along his trail, he searched for over an hour, then gave up and returned to his starting point. She must be to the right.

  With his flashlight, and with his voice, he searched through the darkness and continued searching as the first rays of light broke over the horizon.

  The more the light rose, the more his fear rose with it. “God, You said You don’t give us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. I’ve got plenty of the love part, but I have no power at this point, and my mind doesn’t feel very sound. I’m trying to trust you, but she’s in danger, God, and I’m afraid of not finding her until it is too late. Please will You help me?”

  His mind truly was far from sound, Ryan thought, when he heard his own voice echoing back at him. But his voice sounded much higher, like a girl’s. It was praying, but even though he could not distinguish the actual words, they didn’t sound exactly like the ones he had just prayed.

  Besides, an echo would not take so long to come back, right? Fatigue was slowing his thought process. The voice faded.

  It was then that it occurred to him it might be another person praying. Another voice. A feminine voice.

  “Kayla?” He raised his voice and put all his energy into projecting it. “Kayla?”

  He listened. A soft sound, almost like a mewing kitten, responded.

  His body shot through with new energy, and he was immediately moving toward the sound, dodging trees and hopping over fallen limbs. “Kayla? Keep talking!”

  The sound continued. A small voice that, as he came closer, became familiar. He felt tears burning his tired eyes. Thank You, God!

  By the time he could hear his name coming from her lips, his eyes had found her. He rushed through the last of the underbrush that separated them and was on his knees beside her, his arms around her, his heart thundering as he pulled her in close.

  The little mewing kitten sound, this time a sound of pain, reverberated through his mind. He dropped his arms. “I’m sorry.” He backed away, but only slightly. “Kayla,” he breathed out. “I’ve never been so scared in my life. I thought I wouldn’t find you in time.”

  When his words stopped, his mind started translating the sight his eyes were taking in. From the swollen, bruised ankle to the arms wrapped around her ribs, to the black circles under her eyes, he stopped longing to kiss her and instead focused on helping.

  “You need your emergency shot, right?” His hands were already yanking at the knot keeping his backpack securely tightened.

  She nodded, her eyes overflowing with tears. “Oh, Ryan, I prayed you would come.” She leaned over and let her head fall against his chest. “Is Jose okay?”

  “He’s fine. The police took him home, or at least they were taking him home last time I checked in.” He could see she was fading fast. Urgency made his fingers clumsy. Finally, he whipped his pocket knife from his jeans and cut the strap, releasing his backpack.

  He slung it around until it was in front of him, then unzipped it, and dug inside for the small plastic bag holding one sterilized needle, one alcohol wipe, one vial of sterilized water, and the small bottle of emergency powdered medication.

  Up until that moment he had not thought about the fact that he would have to administer this shot himself. His entire body broke out in a cold sweat. “Kayla, do you think you could make it until the police get here? I’ve been talking back and forth with them for the past few hours. They are headed this direction from the bottom of the trail and should be here in…”

  She looked up at him, and he knew she could not wait. “Never mind. Tell me what to do.”

  Like the kitten she sounded like, Kayla curled up right there on the ground, not seeming to notice the wet leaves, and rested her head against his leg. “First you take out the needle.”

  He did so. “What next?”

  “Put it in the vial of water and pull the thingy until the syringe is full of water.”

  “Done. What now?”

  “Now get the medication bottle.” Her voice sounded so weary, so frail. “Insert the needle into the bottle and squirt the water in there. Then swirl it all around to mix the powder with the water.”

  He was sweating worse now. What if he messed this up?

  “When it’s mixed, pull it back into the syringe. Push the syringe up until any bubbles are out of the liquid. Then it’s ready for the shot.”

  He did so, carefull
y. “Where do I need to do this?”

  Ryan looked down and saw her face go beet red. “Maybe I can wait till the police come.”

  “Kayla, honey, I don’t care where this has to go. You need this shot right now.”

  “It needs to go into my thigh, but you can’t do it through my jeans.”

  “Well, then lower your jeans and I’ll try to only look where I have to.” He appreciated her sense of modesty, but this wasn’t the time to worry about such things.

  She sat up slowly, and even more slowly unbuttoned her jeans and pulled them down to her knees. Not that he was looking. He kept his head averted and listened for the sound that she was ready, but he was still a man after all, a man who was right next to the woman he loved and wanted to marry. He stared at the needle in his hand, trying to focus on the idea of sticking a needle into Kayla’s leg rather than the thought that the skin of Kayla’s long, shapely leg was likely silky soft.

  “Okay. I’m ready.”

  He turned. She had covered herself as best as possible using his backpack added to her own clothing. Only a few inches of her left thigh were exposed.

  He gulped.

  “You need to rub this spot with the alcohol wipe.”

  He pulled the small square of wet gauze from its package but handed it to her. “Maybe you should do that,” he said, hating how pre-pubescent his voice sounded.

  She actually smiled as she wiped the area. “Ryan, you are adorable.”

  He cleared his throat. “You won’t think so when I stick this needle in.” He stared from the needle to her leg, then to the needle again. “I don’t think I can do this. I hate needles. I can’t deliberately cause you pain.”

  “Ryan, I need this shot. I’ve already thrown up once and I can feel my body — for lack of a better phrase — starting to freak out on me. I don’t have time to wait.”

  “Could you do it yourself?”

  She lifted a hand, and he could see how she was shaking. When it dropped limply to the ground, her lips curved upward. “What do you think?”

  Her hand inched over to grasp his arm. “I won’t take it personally that it hurts, okay? You’re saving my life. Again. I’m grateful.”

  Those huge eyes, looking at him so trusting, were nearly his undoing.

  Could he actually do this?

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Focusing down on her leg, his own flesh feeling much more than the pain he would be inflicting, he placed his left hand on her thigh, trying not to even think about how her skin really was as soft as he’d imagined it would be. His fingers spread the section of skin taut, then he plunged the needle in.

  Her soft gasp had his heart pounding, but he willed himself to keep the needle in and press the handle down until all the medication was released into her system.

  Pulling the needle out, he threw it to the ground, then, his senses returning, picked it up and put it in his backpack to safely dispose of it later.

  By the time he zipped the pack up and turned back to Kayla, she was fully dressed again, her face contorted by pain.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered, taking both her hands. “Did it hurt a lot? I’m sure I didn’t do it right. I’ve never done anything like that before.”

  She shook her head. “No, that part wasn’t bad at all. But wow, the medicine is making my leg really hurt. It didn’t do that at the hospital when they gave it to me through the IV.”

  “Maybe I put it in the wrong place.”

  “I don’t know.” She smiled, though it was countered by a grimace. “No sense worrying about it now. We can ask Doctor Bradley when we get home.”

  Home. The word brought feelings back that he had been too afraid to allow for the past several hours. Being near her was as close to feeling home as he had ever known.

  “Hey, I can find out right now.” Why did he keep forgetting that he had a cell phone handy? He called Kayla’s aunt’s house. “I found her!” He did not bother to be embarrassed at the relief and joy in his own voice. “She’s in pretty bad shape, but I think she’s going to be okay. I just gave her the emergency shot dose, but I’m not sure I did it right. Is Doctor Bradley there?”

  He listened, asked questions, and finally hung up the phone. “The doctor said it’s normal for your leg to hurt like that, and it should fade after about twenty to thirty minutes.”

  “See. You did good.”

  “You terrify me.”

  She had curled up and laid her head on his leg again. “Me? What do you mean?”

  He started to explain, but then looked down to realize Kayla had fallen asleep. His hand gently stroked the hair back from her pale face. “I love you, Kayla.”

  He called the police to give them as much detail about their position as possible. Then he leaned back against a nearby tree. He thanked God again for rescuing them all, then he, too, gave in to a much-needed moment of rest.

  ****

  Kayla had been sleeping most of the day, and she decided she was tired of being tired. God had taken care of them all. Jose was home. The gang was in jail without bail. Ryan had found her, and the police had then found them.

  Once home, Laverne Bloom and the doctor had both ordered her to her room to sleep as long as possible. The doctor wrapped her ankle and gave her some painkillers for her sore ankle and side.

  Now, as the day turned to afternoon, Kayla could stand it no longer. She had to see Ryan. To thank him. Just to be near him.

  Hobbling, mostly hopping on one foot, Kayla found her way out of the bedroom and chose the hallway that led to the side door. Maybe she could sneak out before Aunt Lavender found her and lectured her right back into bed.

  A creek of the screen door and Ryan was suddenly there.

  Kayla blinked in surprise. “You were the person I was going to try to find!”

  He smiled. “Well, I made it easy on you. I’ve been sitting outside your door, waiting for permission to come in and see how you are doing.”

  “Aunt Lavender doesn’t know I’m up,” Kayla whispered. “But I had to see you.”

  She saw his chest swell as he took a deep breath. “Let’s sneak out to the tree house — well, maybe just to the creek. I wouldn’t want you trying to climb a ladder with that ankle of yours.”

  She looked down and giggled. “Well, I’m game, but you’ll have to let me open the door first.”

  “Oh.” He stepped back and opened the door, then, when she hopped outside, Ryan shocked her speechless by sweeping her into his arms and carrying her across the back yard.

  Once beside the creek, he lowered her to the ground. “You’re a lot easier to carry than those walkway stones,” he quipped.

  She sat, and he sat close beside her as the water gurgled and danced near their feet. “I doubt it. But the walkway does look fantastic, by the way. You did a great job.”

  “I’m sorry that it’s over.” Ryan looked her way. “I’m going to hate not being here every day.”

  Her face fell. “No more jobs from Aunt Lavender? What about the tree house?”

  He pointed upward and she looked to see that it, too, was completed. “I finished it today while you were sleeping. For Jose. Everybody needs a safe place to run away sometimes.”

  Kayla glanced over at him. “You are my runaway place.” Her face bent shyly, but then she smiled. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing I decided to start coming to your church then, so we’ll still see each other sometimes.”

  “You’re coming?” His voice conveyed his pleasure.

  “Not only coming. I’m talking to your teen girls a week from next Wednesday night. It was Jainey’s idea.”

  “Wow. What are you going to talk about?”

  “About a journey I made.”

  “Sounds intriguing. Tell me more.”

  She grinned. “Maybe you’ll just have to come listen for yourself.”

  “At a girls’ meeting?” He put his hands out. “A guy has his limits.”

  She quieted. “Like not giving shots?”
<
br />   He turned her way, and she scooted to face him. “Ryan, I couldn’t stand being in my room any longer, not having the chance to thank you for what you did for me.”

  He brushed away her comment, but she continued. “I’m serious. You came for me. You risked your own safety for me.” She smiled. “You gave up a full night’s sleep for me.”

  “Now that was something.” He grinned at her. “I love my sleep.”

  “And you even worked with a needle.”

  He gulped and swallowed. “Yeah, let’s not talk about that.”

  She took his hand. “I wanted you to know that last night and this morning you were more than a Knight in Shining Armor. You acted like Jesus.” She looked down at their intertwined hands. “I know now that Jesus’ love for me is not like my father’s — dependent on what I do or how much I’m doing.” Her eyes drifted up to lock onto his. “It’s like yours.”

  “Who said I loved you?” he teased, though his face was drawing closer to hers.

  “You did, this morning, before the police came.” Her own face inched forward.

  “I thought you were asleep.”

  “Not quite.” She smiled.

  “Well, then.” He reached a hand up and cupped her cheek. “Since you already know, I guess there’s no sense repeating it.” His fingers brushed her hair behind her ear. “But I love you, Kayla. You’ve been walking around with my heart for weeks, and it’s about time you knew it.”

  “Ryan,” she breathed out his name, and when his thumb rubbed along the ridge that bordered her bottom lip, she shuddered at the pleasure of his touch. “I love you, too.”

  His lips caught hers then, and she reached her arms up to wrap behind his neck. If Aunt Lavender caught them this time, she was not jumping away or blushing. She loved Ryan Cummings, and it was about time everybody knew it.