While still in tears, Anna entered her vehicle. Luke climbed into his car, smiling on the inside, but showing a bit of remorse on the outside as to not seem too callus towards Anna’s breaking heart. She waves to Luke, reversing her car and continuing to drive away.
Luke pulled out of the parking lot and headed back towards Biloxi. While driving back home, he sang along with the radio as one of his favorite songs, “It Ends Tonight”, began to play. He felt that it was the perfect song to listen to as he felt the last remaining shred of pain and agony of the past few months slide off of him.
Feeling parched from speaking so much with Anna, Luke decided to pull over to a gas station in Pass Christian for a soft drink and a snack. He entered the store with the song still stuck in his mind. He grabbed a twenty ounce drink from the refrigerated cooler and a king sized candy bar from a shelf and makes his way to the counter. He removed five dollars from his wallet, paid for his goods, and walked out of the store, thanking the attendant as he left.
Luke walked back to his vehicle when he noticed a slightly familiar tall gentleman walking towards him. The man stood in silence as Luke unlocked his car. Before getting in, he heard the strange man yell towards him in an effort to demand his attention. Luke turned around as the man spoke.
“What the fuck do you think you are doing, Luke? What the hell did I tell you about messing with my girl?”
Luke looks closer as he realized who the man was. He felt his blood pressure drop as he replied, “Calvin, what is this?”
Calvin walked closer to Luke. “I saw you with Anna tonight. I went to her house to surprise her. Stuart and Dana told me that she was depressed because I wasn’t around. Said she was at her favorite thinking spot, getting some air. They told me where she was. I pulled up to see her talking to you. I saw you fucking touch her. I warned you Luke. You should have listened.”
Luke stood in silence for a moment before responding, “No, man, you don’t understand. I don’t want her. I was just there to end…”
As Luke began defending himself, he heard a gun fire. He looked down and saw blood pouring from his left thigh. He began feeling faint as he fell towards the earth. He looked up to see Calvin standing over him.
“You shouldn’t have fucked with me, Luke.”
Calvin fired one more shot, leaving Luke unconscious on the pavement. He then jumped into his sports car and sped away, squealing his tires as he left the parking lot.
Luke was soon helped by several members of a paramedic team who tried very hard to revive the dying young man. They loaded his body into the back of their ambulance and rush him to Memorial Hospital in Gulfport. They admitted him into the ER as the doctors try to get him stable.
After eight minutes of CPR, they finally get Luke’s heart beating again on its own. They moved him to the ICU where several tubes and machines worked steadily to keep him from death.
An hour later, Luke’s family arrived to see their loved one fighting for his life. They were soon approached by local police officers who updated them on the status of the suspect that shot their son.
“We got the man as he was trying to check into a hotel in Ocean Springs. We found the gun that shot the 9mm bullets that hit Luke. The man admitted to shooting your son and claimed that he wasn’t well and that he had been taking drugs and hadn’t slept in over three days.”
Luke’s father teared up as he asked the officers, “Why did this happen to my son? Why him? He didn’t do anything wrong and now some punk is going to claim he did it because he was high? That is bullshit.”
“We know, Mr. Cardellini.’ the officer said. “We have him locked up in county now. He won’t be getting out anytime soon, I can assure you.”
The officers left the room as the doctor made his way in to give his own updates on Luke’s current condition.
“Mr. Cardellini, may I have a word with you in private?”
“No. Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of my whole family.”
“Okay. It isn’t good. Currently he is in a comatose state. The bullets hit him in the thigh and right above his ear, grazing his temporal lobe. We aren’t sure yet of the long term conditions that he will be in or if he will ever regain consciousness, but we are going to update you as we know. But to tell you the truth, Mr. Cardellini, he is lucky to be alive.”
The doctor left the room, leaving Luke’s family there to comfort one another. They gathered around Luke’s bed in silence, talking back and forth of the emotions that they were feeling.
“I’m so scared, Dad,” Luke’s youngest sister Leah said.
Luke’s father placed his arm around Leah and pulled her close. ““I know, sweetheart, but we have to be strong for Luke.”
Nicole looked on as she was embraced by Sharon and their brother Thomas. She looked at the oldest brother, Michael Jr.. “He’s my best friend. What are we going to do without him?!”
“Don’t talk like he isn’t going to make it through this, Nikki.” Michael Jr. said as he directs his response to the rest of his younger siblings. “Get that thought out of your minds that Luke is going to die. It’s not going to happen!”
Michael Jr. then quickly left the room.
The rest of the family remained there until the hospital staff alerted them of ending visiting hours, declaring that one person could stay overnight, but the rest would have to come back in the morning.
Luke’s father announced that he would remain in his son’s room. Sharon, Leah, Thomas, and Nicole begin to leave, each kissing Luke on his forehead as they walk past. Nicole asked her father if she could stay a moment longer before leaving. Michael agreed and allowed her to stay as he exited the room to give her to have time alone with Luke.
While Nicole remains the only person at Luke’s bed side, she begins holding his hand. She looks over at all the machines that have become Luke’s fate and began sobbing uncontrollably. She looked down at Luke’s beaten body, working her way from his lifted wrapped leg. She moved higher, observing the hospital gown and bracelet that read Luke’s name and doctor.
While focusing on Luke’s white bonded head, she looked down at his face and said, “I love you, Luke. I don’t know what I would do in my life if I didn’t have you here to help guide me through. I would give anything to see your smile just one more time.”
As Nicole prayed and continued to look upon Luke’s face, she saw his cheek quiver. His eyebrows began to twitch. She then became the first to witness as Luke’s eyes finally… open.
The End
Douglas A. Schmitt grew up in the small town of Bay St. Louis, MS, where he was raised as the fourth of six children from parents originally from New Orleans, LA.
He now resides in the beautiful city of Biloxi, MS.
Douglas is a member of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Writer’s Association.
This is his first published novel.
Adaptation of the Chameleon Page 28