Saving Her

by Mia Ford

  “Great, Andy, just fucking great!” Bobby yelled.

  “You little bitch,” I cursed.

  Hannah only shrugged, and I made for her, my hands balled into fists. Jeremy stopped me, quickly pulling me back. “Slow down, cowboy,” he warned.

  “This is her fault,” I hissed. But Jeremy wasn’t looking at me. Neither was the other officer. They were both staring at Hannah’s breasts. I quickly looked to Bobby for support. “She drugged me!”

  “Save it!” Bobby spat. “Her car’s outside. Where the fuck is she if she’s not here?”

  “I have no idea!” I shot back, pulling on a shirt and shoes, getting ready to go out and look for her all over town if I had to. “Do you think she walked back home?”

  “I swear to God, Andy, if anything happens to her, I’m going to fucking kill you!”

  “No one’s killing anyone,” Jeremy said, still staring at Hannah.

  I smacked him across the back of the head. “She’s a crazy bitch. Keep your eyes off her before she drugs you, too.”

  “Can you quit it with drug thing?” Bobby yelled.

  “Call her phone.”

  “She doesn’t have her phone!”

  “How did you fuck this up?” I slammed a fist into the wall, ready to beat Bobby to an inch of his life for being so stupid.

  “If you hadn’t been convincing my sister that you liked her, while the whole time fucking Crazy Hannah, maybe none of this would have happened in the –” Bobby’s cellphone rang, cutting him off. “Chief! Anything?”

  Bobby’s eyes went wide, and he stared at me with a frozen look of shock on his face.

  “What is it?” I asked frantically.

  “My truck! Now!” Bobby ordered, pocketing his phone and racing out of the apartment.

  I stopped Jeremy when he began to give chase. “Her!” I said, pointing at Hannah. “I swear to you, Jeremy, she drugged me. Check the glasses and the whiskey.”

  I didn’t wait for him to reply and quickly raced out after Bobby.

  ***

  Bobby was doing eighty on the Boston Turnpike, weaving through the scant traffic like a madman, on more than one occasion almost driving off the road and killing us in the process. I didn’t tell him to slow down, though. The minute he realized Andrea had left the house, he had called everyone, asking them to call him if anything at all popped up.

  Apparently, there had been a car accident on the 44 heading towards Manchester. The description of the car matched Dennis’s.

  “What the fuck were you doing with Hannah anyway?” Bobby was yelling. “You told me you were through with her!”

  “I am,” I yelled back. “She came to my house, pretended to care about the fight I had with Dennis, and then the bitch drugged me.”

  “You actually believed she was being your friend?” Bobby scoffed. “How fucking naïve can you get?”

  “Can you shut up already?” I shot. “I get it, I fucked up, now keep your eye on the road and try not to get us killed before we reach Andrea.”

  “I swear, when this is over,” Bobby spat, shaking his head in anger. “I’m going to beat the shit out of you.”

  “More driving, less talking!”

  Bobby swerved past a car at an exaggerated angle just to throw me against the door and upped the speed. In the distance, we could see the distinct glow of flames, and my heart instantly dropped.

  No one had said anything about a fire.

  ***

  It really was Dennis’s car.

  We arrived at the sight of the accident before any police or fire fighters had, which would have struck me as odd if I had not been jumping out of the truck before Bobby even stopped, racing towards the overturned vehicle. Flames engulfed the hood, igniting the wheels and making their way through the rest of the car. There was only one other car by the side of the road, a man waving frantically at us as I ran towards the crash site.

  “They’re still in there!” the man was shouting. There was manic laughter coming from the car, sounding a lot like Dennis. “I tried to help, but the flames, man, I was scared!” the man went on. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t!”

  I didn’t reply and pushed past him, racing towards the car and quickly falling onto my stomach, looking inside to assess the extent of the damage. Dennis was fully conscious, laughing like a madman and shaking from side to side like he was listening to some techno beat in his head. Andrea was strapped in her seat, her hands tied together, her hair falling over her face.

  “Lover boy!” Dennis screeched in glee. “Lover boy to the rescue!”

  I ignored him, reaching in through the broken glass, carefully not to cut myself, and checked Andrea for a pulse. I found it, but it was weak. I checked her seatbelt, tried to unbuckle it, but got nowhere. Bobby slid onto the ground beside me.

  “Andrea!” he shouted, reaching in and shaking her.

  “And Bobby!” Dennis screamed. “The knights in shining armor are here, Andrea, you see that? Your gladiators have arrived, oh damsel in distress!” He let out a screech of manic laughter and slammed his fists against the steering wheel.

  The heat of the fire was unbearable, but I pushed past it, trying to force the buckle open. It wouldn’t budge.

  “The shears in the back of my truck,” Bobby said, slapping my shoulder to get my attention.

  “Go!” I said. “I’ll see if I can get Dennis out.”

  “Leave him,” Bobby called back. “Maybe he’ll just burn with the car.”

  “Oh, hallelujah!” Dennis called after him and laughed again.

  I shook my head, forcing myself up and around to the driver’s side. Dennis’s face was scratched in several places, and a piece of glass was stuck in his cheek. His mouth was oozing blood, and I could tell he had broken a few of his teeth.

  “She fucking swerved the car!” Dennis screamed in my face. “I didn’t even notice she woke up and she grabbed the steering wheel and slipped us over! What a fucking bitch, right?”

  I grabbed him by the back of his head and slammed his face into the steering wheel. I heard his nose crack, and he screamed out in pain, making me cringe.

  “You broke my nose!” Dennis cried out. “He broke my nose, Bobby!” Then he began to laugh again.

  “Sorry, man, my bad,” I said, then slammed his face into the wheel again. That shut him up completely, and I was able to unbuckle his belt without having to endure anymore craziness. I pulled him out of the car, then dragged him away, not really caring about being careful. Bobby raced past me with the sheers, and when I was far enough, I dropped Dennis like a bag of potatoes, his head hitting the asphalt hard.

  A part of me hoped he’d get a concussion. If he didn’t already have one.

  Sirens sounded in the distance, and I quickly ran back to the car, telling the other man to stay with Dennis. I dropped onto my knees beside Bobby as he worked the sheer into the seatbelt, ripping it and freeing Andrea. Her body slumped forward, and I reached in quickly, so she wouldn’t hit her head, my arm receiving a nasty gash from some broken glass. I held her head up, praying her neck wasn’t broken.

  “The glass,” I said, wincing in pain. “We need to get rid of it before we pull her out.”

  Bobby quickly broke the shards sticking out, clearing a path for me to carefully maneuver Andrea around and out of the wreckage. The heat was scorching my skin, and I began to cough violently as Bobby helped me carry Andrea away from the flames.

  We laid her down on the grass just off the side of the road, and I bent down, listening to her breathing. It was weak, but it was there.

  “Andrea?” Bobby knelt down beside me. He shook his sister’s arm frantically.

  I stopped him, shaking my head. “Don’t,” I warned. “We don’t know if anything’s broken.”

  The sirens grew louder, and an ambulance screeched to a halt behind Bobby’s truck. I waved the paramedics over with their gurney. They hesitated when they saw Dennis.

  “Forget him, he’s fine!” I shouted. “This on
e here’s the real problem.”

  They rushed over, one of them briefly looking back at Dennis’s still body. They pushed us back and bent down around Andrea, fitting her with a neck brace and checking her pulse and breathing before moving her onto the gurney and rushing her back to the ambulance. Two police cruisers pulled up behind the ambulance, and I sighed in relief when I saw Jeremy stepping out of one of them.

  They moved Andrea into the back of the ambulance, and Bobby climbed in. I started to follow when one of the paramedics stopped me. “Just one,” he said.

  “That’s bull –” Bobby started, but I quickly cut him off.

  “It’s fine, go with her, she needs you,” I said. “I doubt she’ll be very happy to see me if she wakes up. Besides, someone’s gotta drive your truck back.”

  Bobby threw me the keys. “Where are we going?” he asked the paramedic.

  “Closest hospital is Coventry Mercy,” the paramedic replied.

  Bobby looked at me, making sure I got that, and I nodded at him. I helped them close the ambulance doors and smacked the side twice as it pulled away.

  I watched it disappear down the turnpike, my heart racing, slamming inside my chest like a jackhammer. My breaths came in short gasps, and Jeremy had to hold me up when I tried to move and felt my knees buckle.

  “You’re okay, buddy,” Jeremey said, helping me to the side of the road and sitting me down on the grass. “Stay here, okay? We’ll take care of the rest.”

  As he walked back, another ambulance pulled up, followed by a fire truck and two more police cruisers. I watched them move about, the paramedics racing to check on Dennis and hurry him off as well, most probably to Coventry Mercy.

  I closed my eyes and ran a hand through my hair, waiting for the pandemonium to end so I could drive after Andrea and Bobby. Jeremy would probably want a statement.

  I lay down, staring up at the night sky and the flashing lights, the sirens deafening.

  I couldn’t believe how fast everything had gone downhill since this morning.

  Chapter 17: Andrea

  I opened my eyes to white walls and the sound of a constant, rhythmic beeping. My lids felt heavy, and when I tried to move my head, a sharp pain shot through my entire body. I wanted to scream, but all that came out was a groan. My vision was blurry, the room around me fading in and out of focus. A figure appeared above me, and it took me a few seconds before I could see her clearly. The woman looked to be in her forties, hair tied back in a bun and wearing pink scrubs.

  “Welcome back,” she said, a little too loudly for my liking.

  I blinked and frowned as more pain shot through me.

  “You’re in a hospital, Coventry Mercy, to be exact,” she said. “You’ve been in quite a nasty accident, sweetheart. Can you tell me your name?”

  “Andrea,” I croaked. “Where’s Dennis?”

  The nurse frowned. “I don’t know who that is,” she said. “But your brother and his friend are outside. Would you like me to bring them in?”

  Bobby. Andy.

  I wanted to nod, but that only made the pain worse, and instead I closed my eyes.

  I didn’t open them again for another two hours.

  ***

  Bobby was sitting by my side when I woke up again. He was reading the same book he had been glued to for the past week, and if it weren’t for the drugs, I could have sworn that he was still on the same page. He looked adorable when he concentrated like that, sometimes making me wonder if he was just reading for show.

  I moved my arm painfully to a side, rustling the sheets. In the otherwise silent hospital room, the sound was deafening, and Bobby quickly looked up and over his book at me. When he saw my eyes open, he sat up quickly and moved to sit beside me on the bed, holding my hand in his. He squeezed, and I wanted to tell him that it hurt, but I was just happy he was there.

  “Hey,” he said, smiling. “Rise and shine. What are you planning to do? Sleep through the whole day?”

  I smiled and coughed, wanting to tell him that I had every right to do just that, but my mouth was still too dry, and trying to speak felt like shards of glass scratching the inside of my throat.

  “Water,” Bobby said, reading my mind and turning to the jug by the bed, pouring me a glass. He put his hand under my head, helping me up so I could drink. His touch almost made me scream, and I didn’t want to even think about the extent of damage done to my body. A quick scan let me know that at least I wasn’t in any casts.

  Then why the hell did everything hurt so much?

  He let me back down gently, making sure I was comfortable before he sat back down in his chair, moving it closer to the bed so I wouldn’t have to raise my voice to talk to him.

  “What happened?” I asked, my voice hoarse and my throat burning.

  “We pulled you out of the wreckage, Andy and me,” Bobby explained. “You were unconscious, but fortunately we didn’t have to wait too long for the ambulance. They got you here in record time. You suffered a lot of internal injury, and they rushed you into surgery.”

  That explains the damn pain.

  “Dennis?” I asked, forcing my eyes to stay open.

  “Yeah, we had to save him, too,” Bobby said. “Although I tried to convince Andy to just leave the bastard there. He was awake when we got there, and he didn’t look like he had suffered as much damage as you had. At least that was the case before Andy broke his nose.”

  I groaned, and Bobby smiled. “Completely an accident,” he winked. “Dennis accidentally hit his face against the steering wheel when we were pulling him out. At least that’s what we’re going with.”

  I coughed in laughter and winced when the pain reminded me that there were some luxuries I couldn’t enjoy, at least not right now. Bobby grabbed my hand and patted it gently.

  “Andy’s outside, if you want to see him,” he said.

  I looked at him, tears welling up in my eyes. I did want to see him, but I still couldn’t get the image of the naked woman at his apartment out of my head. I didn’t know how to talk to him about that, and I would have to, eventually.

  “You do know it wasn’t his fault, right?” Bobby asked.

  “I saw –” I coughed, clearing my throat. “I saw her, Bobby. That woman.”

  Bobby nodded. “Yeah, crazy Hannah, I know,” he said. “He told me. She drugged him, Andrea. She’s one crazy, messed up woman, and she’s strung up on him bad. This was just one of the many extremes she goes through to get what she wants.”

  I looked away, a tear running down my cheek. I wanted to believe him, but the explanation sounded far too ridiculous.

  “He’s been here since they brought you in,” Bobby said. “I’m not exactly the biggest fan of your relationship, but I’ve never seen him care that much before. There’s got to be something there.”

  “Can we talk about something else?”

  Bobby sighed and leaned back in his seat. “I’m thinking of repainting the garage.”

  ***

  It took me a week before I could finally sit up properly, and in that time, I tried hard to find some way to forgive Andy for what had happened. He was outside every day, sitting quietly in the waiting room, from the minute visiting hours began until they ended. He never came in, giving me the space, I needed, even though I wouldn’t have stopped him if he had tried. It was Bobby who was trying to convince me to talk to him, forever the loyal friend, even though he had his reservations.

  I guess my brother saw how serious Andy really was and was slowly changing his mind.

  On the day the doctors told me that I was good to go, and could be discharged whenever I wanted, I finally gave in. The truth was, I missed Andy. A lot. I knew the whole naked woman in his apartment incident was just one crazy bitch’s idea of getting back at me, and I needed to get past this. I wasn’t punishing him. It was just really difficult to get the image out of my head.

  Andy popped his head through the open door, giving me a weak smile. His eyes were bloodshot, and he lo
oked like he hadn’t slept for days. I didn’t know whether I should be flattered or concerned.

  I beckoned him to me, and he walked in, gently closing the door behind him.

  “How are you holding up?” he asked.

  “Better,” I replied. “The stitches still hurt a little, but at least I can talk.”

  “The doctors told me about the injuries,” he said. “I’m sorry about all that.”

  “Hey, I’m just glad to be alive,” I smiled. “A couple of hours more and I would have died in the wreckage.”

  He stood by my bed, keeping a bit of a distance between us, as if not really sure whether he should come closer or not. His eyes searched mine, and I could see a hint of tears somewhere there.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice breaking. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I’m so sorry.”

  I held my arms out to him, throwing away any doubt in my head that I wanted to spend every waking moment of my life with him. I began to tear up when he leaned in and embraced me, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, tight.

  “I’m so sorry,” he kept saying.

  “It’s not your fault,” I said. “It really isn’t.”

  “What you saw –”

  “I know,” I cut him off, holding his face in my hands and looking him in the eyes. “Bobby told me. I know.” I kissed him, tasting the salty tears on his lips, breathing him in. “I know.”