by Lisa McManus
Then a loud whack to my head, and then…black.
Chapter Nine
I couldn’t move. It hurt to breathe. Why did my left leg feel so heavy? My eyes wouldn’t open. My mouth felt dry. When I barely opened my eyes, I could just make out a really bright light to one side. I turned my head and saw a strange curtain. The room, or wherever I was, smelled clean but not clean; like pee and that super strong bathroom cleaner Grandma uses. Where was I? Was this a bad dream? A memory of flashed, something to do with being downtown. I didn’t have the energy to figure out what it was or what it meant.
“Hi, Nick.” I heard my mom’s voice.
“Where are we?” I croaked out. She held up a cup with a straw and I drank water that, even though warm, was the best thing I ever tasted.
“We’re in the hospital, honey.” She started crying. What was going on?
As the warm water soothed my dry throat, my head cleared a bit and I was able to focus on her a bit more. She looked like crap, like she hadn’t slept in days. I went to lift my arm, but it weighed a ton. Maybe it was that iv-thing sticking out of my hand that was making my arm feel weird.
I tried to lift my arm again to show her, to ask her why it was there, but my head swam at the effort. I was so tired. Why was so I so tired?
“Mom, why is this here?” I lifted my hand showing her the iv-thing. “What’s going on?”
Just then a movement from behind her forced me to focus.
It was Shark.
Shark? What was he doing here?
A memory of his face looming over mine flashed through my mind. I squinted, trying to make sense of it all, but even that hurt my head.
I blinked, then mumbled, my tongue thick and fuzzy, “Shark?”
I looked at my mom, widening my eyes trying to focus on her, and couldn’t. I was feeling really funny. I just wanted to sleep.
“Mom?”
“Just to go sleep, Nick. You have a lot of medicine in you to help you….”
Her words didn’t register, nor could I figure out why Shark was there. Before I could try think any more, I was out again…
***
“Hey, pal. Howya doin’?”
I was awake yet kept my eyes close. It was easier to do that than face whatever was going on. Then I remembered seeing Shark before. When? I turned my head and opened my eyes; it hurt like hell. Yup, it was him all right.
I blinked a few times, and no one spoke for a minute.
I finally found my voice. “I kinda feel like crap. And why does my leg feel so heavy? And my chest?” I croaked.
This time Shark gave me some water.
My mom spoke up. “You’re in the hospital, Nick. Some boys were after you, sweetie. Do you remember being downtown?”
Seeing Shark brought it all back to me, if only in garbled and blurred bits and pieces.
As the fuzz began to clear, it all came back. Mary. Beau and Brock beating on me. Me falling on Mary. Hearing her crying. Feeling something hard crashing down on my head. I think I moved after that. I could barely run because my side and chest hurt so much. And my head. But I had to get them. And then I tripped. And then Shark’s face looming over me and then he was gone. I could hear him yelling. Then I threw up. Then I could hear Mary talking and crying. Then an ambulance.
Then nothing.
Then now.
“Ya, I do.” I was starting to feel not so groggy. I tried to move and couldn’t, so my mom used the controls to lift my bed. Even thought my chest still hurt, it felt better when I was sitting up. I still couldn’t move my leg.
“I’m not sure how much you remember, Nick, but they beat you up pretty good.” Shark moved from the end of my bed to stand closer to me.
“I think I remember what happened.”
My mom stepped closer to the bed, and looked from Shark to me. “Nick, don’t talk right now. You need to rest. Get some sleep.”
She was right. I was kinda tired and my head felt funny. No matter how I felt, I wanted to know what happened. I looked at my mom, and tried to smile to show her I was feeling fine enough to talk. My lip hurt when I did, but I didn’t care.
I looked over at Shark, trying to look as normal as possible. “It’s okay. I’m fine.” I realized that was a stupid thing to say. I could barely move. “What happened?”
“They broke two of your ribs when they kicked you, then it looks like they sucker-punched you in your left side judging from how red and swollen you are there. Your kidney is fine, luckily, but you’re gonna have a massive bruise. They hit you over the head with the guitar. I don’t know how you did it”—he paused and looked away from me, his mouth in a grim line, and then continued—”because next thing I knew you got up and chased after them. Well, tried to, at least. Then you tripped over the curb and broke your leg.”
My mom lifted the blanket on my bed. No wonder my leg felt so funny. I had a bright blue cast from toe to thigh. Great.
“What about Mary? Is she okay?” I remembered hearing her cry.
Shark spoke up again, my mom unable to talk. “She’s fine and is here in the hospital, too. She fell and hit her head so they’re keeping her overnight for observation, just in case. If it weren’t for you, who knows what they would have done to her.” He then shook his head. “I will never forget seeing you chasing after those boys the way you did.”
A big sniffle came from my mom. I looked over at her and tried smiling again. “I’m fine, Mom. Don’t worry.”
She paused, then said, “Oh, honey, Shark has filled me in on everything.”
What does she mean everything? And then I looked at Shark and clued in. What was he doing here? And how does he know what happened?
Then something dawned on me. He knew.
“Why were you there?” I gulped as I avoided looking at Shark.
“Honey, we don’t need to talk about all this right now.” My mom blew her nose. “You have a concussion, so between that and everything else, they want to keep you overnight, if not longer. They x-rayed your head, and everything is fine.” She blew her nose again. I could see how tired and worn she was. She looked worse than I felt. “You don’t need to talk about this right now. Tomorrow might be better.”
“I’m fine, Mom. Why don’t you go home and sleep?” She looked as crappy as I felt.
“No, honey, I’m staying here. Grandma is outside and wants to see you.”
I finally turned to Shark. I was still confused. “Why were you there?” I asked again.
Shark and my mom looked at each other. “I know you spent most of your summer downtown, Nick, busking and playing the school’s guitar for money. I happened to see you one weekend, and when I saw what you were doing, returning every weekend to play on the sidewalk, I followed you every so often, just to keep an eye on you. But what was the money for, Nick?”
I felt my throat go tight and dry, drier than before. “Oh,” was all I could croak.
Before I could answer, Shark continued. “Lucky for you I was downtown, again, as well. I hadn’t seen Beau and Brock, yet, and I couldn’t figure out why you up and bolted, and carrying the guitar too.” He patted me on the shoulder, and when he saw me wince, he stopped. “Oops, sorry, pal.” He gave me an apologetic look, and then continued. “When I saw you get up and run, I didn’t understand why at first, but followed anyway. I finally caught up, only a little too late and only to see what Beau and Brock did to you. Both of them are at the police station. They will probably be charged with assault and robbery—if you are going to charge them, that is.”
I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. My throat got tighter. “Robbery?”
My mom and Shark looked at each other. With a wobble in her voice, my mom spoke. “Honey, the police found the ammunitions case Grandpa gave you for your birthday in Brock’s jeep.” She paused for a minute, and then said, “Your initials are on the bottom. I had just come home from work when I got the call from Shark about you. Your bedroom window was smashed in, and your room was destroyed. We think
they broke into your room just…just because. What they were looking for, we don’t know.”
She paused again. “Where did you have the case hidden? Was the money inside? And what were you making money for?”
I gulped. I looked down at my casted leg, knowing what was coming. “It was in my closet. There is no way they could have known.” And then I realized something. I looked up at my mom. “Was the case empty?”
She looked at me, startled. “Ya, why?”
It was gone, all gone. I only had a vague idea of how much was saved. I had been too busy lately to keep track.
There’s no way they could have known about the money. They had money—I had nothing they could ever want. Why would they do this?
“I had all my money stored in there.” I fought tears and anger. “Why would they do that?” I echoed my own thoughts.
Shark spoke up, anger clouding his eyes. “We think they must have been ransacking your room for the heck of it. Just to harass you.”
Then another thought popped into my foggy head. “Where’s the guitar?” I looked at Shark, knowing the answer wasn’t gonna be good.
“What’s left of it is at the police station as evidence of the assault.”
My mom interrupted. “But why have you been downtown getting money, Nick? I know we aren’t the wealthiest people, but…” She paled even more than before and searched my face for answers. Was she was thinking the money was for drugs or something?
I took a deep breath which hurt, and then like a baby I started crying, which also hurt. I had lost it all. There was no point hiding anything. I told Mom and Shark everything. I felt stupid. And embarrassed. And humiliated. Even though it was hard to cry and talk at the same time, it felt good to finally get it all out. The guitar on layaway, the busking for money—everything. I even let it slip about the necklace for mom.
“I’ll find a way to pay for the school’s guitar,” I said to Shark once I calmed down. I wiped my nose with the back of my hand, and felt silly accepting the tissue Shark handed to me.
“Nick, forget about the school’s guitar. Just leave it. It was old anyway.” Shark did not look pleased. At all. I felt like crap for letting him down.
My mom spoke up, her voice urgent and fearful. “Nick, going downtown and sitting there all day…who knows what else could have happened to you! It’s not safe! What if Shark wasn’t there that day? What if something worse happened? What if…” She trailed off, and Shark patted her arm. I would likely hear more about this later, at home, when I was feeling better.
My mom started crying all over again, and leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. I was a little embarrassed to have her doing that in front of Shark.
He changed the subject, his face brightening for a moment. “Oh and Nick, I found out you signed up for the music competition. I am so proud of you for doing that!” In the next moment his face sagged as if realizing something.
I looked down at my cast.
My mom and Shark looked at each other.
“Honey, you’re gonna have to stay home from school for at least three weeks until your ribs heal a bit. You won’t be able to be in the competition.”
Well, that’s no surprise.
“Oh well, I wouldn’t have won anyways,” I said. I tried not to let my disappointment show, but it was hard, especially after all I had gone through to even build up the guts to enter.
“Don’t say that, Nick. You don’t know that.”
“Mom, it doesn’t matter now.” I looked at Shark. “I guess I should say, um, like, thanks for saving my life.”
“I didn’t save your life, Nick. You helped a little old lady. You’re the hero.” He looked at his watch. “Well, pal, I gotta go. Ms. Zinsky,” he glanced at my mom in sympathy, “if you need anything, please let me know. Hope you have a good sleep, Nick.” He patted my non-casted foot and gave me a sympathetic smile.
My mom started to tear up again, and she tried to compose herself. “Call me Sarah, and thank you for everything.” She shook Shark’s hand. When he left she turned to me. “I’ll go get Grandma.”
Grandma and Mom fussed over me. As nice as it was, I just wanted them to leave. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, my mom was patting my arm.
I opened my eyes, and there were two men in the room.
“Honey, these officers want to ask you about Beau and Brock.”
The sight of them in their uniforms was unnerving, but I told them everything I could remember. They mentioned about the pressing charges bit which kind of freaked me out.My mom told them we would talk about it and get back to them.
They told me they would be talking to Mary Wilcox, and reassured me she was doing okay. The bigger officer of the two patted me on my casted leg – Ow! – and commended me for defending her. But in the next breath said I shouldn’t have been taking matters into my own hands.
After assurances to both me and my mom that Brock and Beau would be “taken care of,” they wished me luck then, thankfully, left.
The dinner sucked, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t hungry. The nurses had to help me into a wheelchair to go to the washroom as walking with crutches hurt too much. Aside from the bump on my head, and the stupid cast, I wasn’t feeling too bad. My chest was sore, which was the least of my problems. I could deal with that, at least. It was everything else that was making me so sick.
I got settled in for the night, and after begging my mom to go home, and with assurances from the nurses that they would take good care of me, she left. After they turned out the lights and gave me something for the pain, I couldn’t sleep. The events of the day, of what I could remember at least, swirled around my head. Snapshots of one scene blurred to the next through the fog of my memory. One minute I was mad, and then I was sad, and then I was relieved. If I wasn’t mad at Beau and Brock, then I was sad that all I had worked so hard for was gone. And then, in a weird way, part of me was relieved I wouldn’t have to hide anything anymore. My feelings ping-ponged back and forth, and I didn’t know where to start and where to end with it all.
The nurse came in for one last check, and not too long after that I finally drifted off to sleep. For a moment, the shiny black guitar filled my mind, blocking out everything else, and then I was gone.
Chapter Ten
Mom was right. I had to stay home for three weeks while my ribs healed. It eventually got easier to get around, if only a bit. My mom picked up homework from school, which sucked, and it was hard to do when my mind was elsewhere.
I had failed. The competition had been the previous weekend. I didn’t want to know who won. My one chance at getting the guitar and the necklace was gone. Even though the guitar was on layaway with $50 holding it for me, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get the money for the rest of the payment anytime soon.
I saw commercials on TV for Mike’s Music Store, and it was like a cruel tease. It was like Beau was mocking me. The school was helping my mom with the fallout of Beau and Brock. I knew they were going to be charged with assault and robbery, which I should have been happy about, I guess. I wasn’t though. I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t want to see anyone, I didn’t want to talk to anyone; I just wanted to be left alone.
My grandma stayed with me during the days when my mom was at work to help me to the bathroom and make sure I ate. Josh tried calling me in the evenings after school, but I told Mom to tell him I was sleeping.
One night after my mom had come home from her shift, I could hear her and Grandma whispering. Any other time I would have been curious to know what they were talking about, but right then, I just didn’t care.
After Grandma came and kissed me goodbye, I aimlessly flicked through the TV channels, not really looking for anything specific to watch. My homework was beside me, and I knew I had to do it, but I just couldn’t be bothered. I just needed to sit in peace and zone out. As much as I was glad Grandma had been around to help me out, I was kinda glad she was gone, just so I could be alone.
Just
as I changed the channel from news to a game show, the doorbell rang.
I couldn’t quite see the door from where I was on the couch. I assumed it was Grandma coming back for something, so I turned my attention back to the TV. Just then I heard a few voices. My mom came around the corner, grinning.
Behind her were Shark and…Mary Wilcox!
“What are you doing here?” I must have looked really, really confused. Shark chuckled.
“Well, your friend here, Mrs. Wilcox, contacted the school and through various descriptions of me as the big hairy man,”—he paused and she giggled—”and of you and what you did for her, we found each other. She wanted to come and talk to you.”
“Yes, Nick. I now know your name is Nick,” Mrs. Wilcox said as she smiled at me, and then glanced at Shark. “I had been watching him play all summer, and I understand you were, as well, Mr. Shark.” Shark smirked and nodded. He was too polite to correct her on his name. At her words, though, I hung my head. Mrs. Wilcox continued. “Over the last few months, however, Nick has given me two things.”
Shark looked from me to her, curiosity and wonder across his face. She continued, her attention on me. “Watching and hearing you play gave me fond memories of my son who passed away many years ago.” She glanced at Shark then continued. “It was through Nick’s music, though, that I was finally able to put my grief in the past. There will always be a hole in my heart for my son.” She paused, and the room was quiet except for my mom’s sniffles. “Nick helped me remember that I have a life to lead and to enjoy it. Thank you, Nick.” She leaned down to hug me and then sat down beside me.
“And not only that,” she continued before I could say anything, “if it wasn’t for Nick, I don’t know what those boys would have done. I could have had a lot worse than a bump on the head.”