Finding Forever

by Amanda J. Evans

  “What did you do Liz? I told you to stay safe.”

  “Sorry John, I couldn’t. I couldn’t leave you here. I hit him over the head with a branch. He fell to the ground.”

  “We better get out of here and fast. He’s got a gun,” Charles said turning me back to him.

  “Well, well, well. Looks like the little missus came to the rescue. You ready for some real fun now Charlie boy?”

  I heard an evil laugh behind me and my heart stopped as I turned to face the monster that had caused me so much pain. He was just standing there, staring, a sneer on his face. He was exactly what I pictured evil to look like. Tall, skinny, rough looking. His hair was overgrown and dirty as it hung limply in his face. His eyes were dark and shadowed and he looked like he hadn’t shaved in over a year, a scruffy beard covering his chin. His appearance sent shivers down my spine.

  “Looks like I get to kill you all over again,” he grinned.

  I felt Charles stiffen.

  “You fucking touch her and I’ll kill you.” Charles shouted.

  “Now, now Charlie boy,” the man said waving a gun in the air. “No need for such hostility. I told you, didn’t I? I told you you’d feel despair, that I’d take everything from you and I will.”

  The gun was pointing at me now and everything moved in slow motion as I watched his finger pull the trigger. A pain like nothing I’d ever felt before shot through my stomach and my hands gripped it as blood seeped out through them. I looked up at Charles, my head started to spin.

  “No,” I heard him scream as I fell forward into his arms. “Liz, you stay with me you hear. You can’t leave me, just hold on.”

  I looked up into his eyes. My father was wrong. I wouldn’t die alone.

  “He was wrong,” I whispered as I let the darkness take me.

  CHARLES

  One minute she was standing in front of me, my beautiful dark haired goddess, full of courage and fight, the next she staggered and fell forward into my arms her hands clutching her stomach as her blood seeped out through them. It was like being in a nightmare, the sound of the gunshot echoing in my ears over and over again. Her body felt so light in my arms, like she weighed nothing at all, as she looked up into my eyes. This couldn’t be happening. I wouldn’t let it happen. She stared at me as her body tensed.

  “No,” I screamed as her body went limp in my arms. “You can’t leave me Liz, you have to fight, you have to stay strong, help is coming, just stay with me please.”

  I watched as she struggled with the pain. Her eyelids fluttering as she battled to keep them open. She couldn’t die, not my Liz. She’d come too far. I tried to fight the tears but it was useless, I couldn’t control the sobs that escaped me now and I didn’t care. I looked up at the sick fuck in time to see John knock him to the ground. He was smiling, actually grinning as John punched him. His eyes met mine and he mouthed ‘everything’ at me, before John punched him again. He was right, I was about to lose everything. I would have given everything to trade places with Liz at that moment. She was my life, my everything, but I’d gladly die for her. I’d lived, I’d tasted success, and I knew what it meant to love with all my heart. Liz had just found life again. She couldn’t lose it.

  I placed my hand over hers and applied pressure, just like they do in the movies.

  “Stay with me darling, just try to stay awake, help is on the way, it won’t be long now I promise.”

  She looked up at me, such love in her eyes as she tried to smile. She opened her mouth to speak but I hushed her. “It’s fine love, don’t try to speak, save your energy. I bent down and placed a kiss on her forehead. Her body lurched and I brought my eyes back to hers pleading with her to stay with me. She smiled, “He was wrong,” she whispered as her eyes closed and I lost control. I began shaking her, begging her to wake up but it was no use. The pain had made her body shut down.

  I looked back over at John, my eyes filled with tears, and watched him pummel that sick fuck. It wasn’t enough though, I wanted to take his gun and shoot him. He was going to pay if anything happened to Liz.

  “John,” I called trying to control the sobs that wracked my body.

  He looked up and his face fell. I knew what he was thinking. I knew he thought Liz was gone. I shook my head to tell him no, to let him know she was still alive, if only just. I watched him take a deep breath, relieved before tightening his grip on the scumbag’s neck.

  “You son of a bitch, if she dies, I’ll kill you myself, you hear?” he shouted.

  Just then the door opened and two armed policemen entered.

  “Put your hands in the air and step away from him,” they ordered John.

  “It’s okay, officers, I’m the one who called you, this is the piece of filth you want,” he said kicking my kidnapper in the gut.

  “Please step away from him sir and place your hands in the air," the officer said again. “Let us do our job.”

  John moved aside as they pulled my kidnapper to his feet and held his hands behind his back. He didn’t say anything, he just looked over at me and smiled. I couldn’t help it, I let out a scream of frustration as I rocked Liz back and forth in my arms. The other police officer was at my side now, calling for backup on his radio. I was oblivious to what he was saying, my mind focused only on being with Liz, staying with her and keeping her safe. It’s all I could do.

  “Sir, I need you to let me look at her, Sir, I need to check her vitals, you’re going to have to move. Sir..”

  The raised voice seeped through and I looked up at him. “Save my wife I pleaded.”

  “Remember what I said Charlie boy, you’ll know what it’s like to lose everything.”

  His voice penetrated my mind. He enunciated each syllable of the word everything and as my eyes found his he grinned.

  “You sick bastard, you’ll pay for this,” I shouted. I wanted to get up and rip his head off, but I couldn’t move. I wouldn’t. I was staying with Liz. She needed me to be strong for her now. I thought about everything she’d done for me, coming here to rescue me. What she must have been thinking, how scared she must have been. I thought of everything I’d been through over the past day, the terror of thinking she was lying dead on the beach. That’s when I remembered my parents.

  “Shit, my parents, they’re being held captive. He has them,” I shouted.

  “It’s okay Sir, just calm down and let us do our job. Your wife needs medical attention and fast or I’m afraid she won’t make it. You need to apply as much pressure as you can, try and stop the bleeding. The chopper’s on the way and should be here any minute.”

  His words stuck like a shard of glass piercing my heart.

  She won’t make it.

  Oh, God what had I done? This was all my fault. He wanted me to suffer because I’d helped Susan. I was the one who should be lying in a pool of blood not Liz. She’d never harmed as much as a fly. She was caring and kind, and gentle, and she’d had enough shit of her own to deal with growing up. We were only getting past it, helping her to make her own decisions, and now here she was with a bullet in her. It’s all my fault. I wanted to scream, to kick out, to throw a tantrum, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything except pray and hope God would grant me a miracle. Had I earned a miracle? I didn’t know, hell I wasn’t even religious, but at that moment I would’ve been any religion, any person, if it meant saving her life.

  I was a good guy, wasn’t I? I’d never been on the bad side of the law and I’d worked hard to get where I was. There were no underhanded dealings, no dodgy investments. I’d done everything above board. Hell, I didn’t even use my parent’s money. I could have. I could have been the silver spooned kid who got everything because mommy and daddy had money and contacts, but I wanted to prove myself. I studied hard, went to college, and graduated top of my class. Sure, there’d been frat parties and booze and girls. I’m not saying I was a saint, but I didn’t cheat my way to success. I had a knack for choosing the right stocks that’s all. Call it a hunch or a gu
t instinct but I just knew where to invest and it paid off, got me to where I am today. But that’s the thing, you see, I’d give it all up in a heartbeat if it meant saving Liz. She was my everything, my reason to get up in the morning, my smile, the light at the end of the day. My life was worthless without her. I may have money, but what’s money without someone to share it with?

  I hadn’t planned on falling in love. Nah, not me. Love was for suckers and I wasn’t going to let some woman interrupt my life. My perspective changed when I met Liz. I spotted her instantly. She looked so out of place, sitting by herself staring out the window of Luca’s. Luca’s was the coffee shop on South and main and my 1pm stop every day. I don’t know what it was about her that caught my attention that first day. She was just sitting there staring out the window, her two hands wrapped around her cup oblivious to the world. Her dark curls were pulled back into a ponytail and she wore little or no makeup. She never moved, just sat there, and at exactly 1:25pm she up and left. I don’t think she ever drank any of the coffee that sat in front of her. It happened again the next day and the day after that, the same routine over and over again.

  After a week of watching this mysterious girl curiosity got the better of me. I placed my coffee down on her table and asked if I could sit. It took her a moment to acknowledge me and when she looked up with those big green eyes, I was lost. Those massive emeralds pulled me in and looked right into my soul.

  “Can I sit?” I asked again.

  “Um, yes,” she said looking around, her face flushed with embarrassment before she went back to staring out the window.

  She never said another word that day and I sat fascinated by her beauty and the sadness that seemed to waft off her. It took another week before I got her to speak to me and that was just her name. She was so quiet and timid, almost afraid to speak, but I persisted. The first time she smiled I thought my chest would explode. Her whole face lit up and her eyes sparkled. She was beautiful, and when she laughed, my god, it was like summer, birds singing, the sun beaming down. She took my breath away and I knew in that instant that I wanted her for the rest of my life.

  I finally realized that day what my mother had been trying to explain for years.

  “Love comes at you like a bolt of lightning. You don’t see it, but once it touches you, you won’t ever want to let it go. It’s a feeling deep inside that you can’t explain. It makes you smile, makes you want to dance and do silly things and just the thought of losing it causes your whole world to become dark. Love is precious and those that are lucky enough to find it should always treasure it,” she’d said.

  Her words echoed in my mind as reality came flooding back. Tears streamed down my cheeks falling onto my blood-stained hands.

  “Sir, the chopper’s here, we need to take her now.”

  The officer’s voice startled me and I looked up at him.

  “Chopper’s here, we’re gonna get her to hospital now.”

  I nodded. It was all I could do as paramedics appeared beside me armed with instruments and talking in rapid succession amongst themselves. I was lost. I could feel myself slipping away into the recesses of my mind. I couldn’t cope with losing her and my mind was ensuring that I would escape this trauma.

  “Hey, man, she’s going to be fine. She’s a tough girl, Liz.”

  I looked up, my vision blurred from my tears to see John standing beside me. He placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

  “Come on, let’s get you on that chopper.”

  I moved in a daze, unresponsive, uncaring, my mind drifting to happier times as Liz was strapped onto a gurney and airlifted out of our nightmare. The cops tried to ask questions, but I couldn’t think straight, my mind was on Liz.

  She was rushed straight into surgery once we arrived at the hospital, doctors and nurses rushed around her. It was like watching from a distance. All of this was happening but I was just a bystander, numb to the whole event. A nurse patched up the cut on my face and bandaged my wrists. She tried to hook me up to an IV, but when I refused she insisted that I drink and rehydrate my body.

  I sat, desolate, waiting for the doctors to tell me if my life would resume or end in that hospital.

  “She’s gonna pull through you know,” John said taking the seat beside me in the waiting room.

  His head was bandaged but he looked okay.

  “She’s a fighter, Liz, the toughest woman I’ve ever met.”

  I looked up at him surprised by his statement and he must have seen it on my face.

  “She thought you were dead you know, insisted on bringing your body home.”

  I looked at him, complete confusion on my face, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak. I was afraid if I opened my mouth I’d scream and never stop. The pain building inside my chest was unbearable as the thought of losing Liz started to suffocate me.

  “That bastard left a life-like dummy in your place. She woke up on that beach thinking you’d died in her arms. When the guys found her she was hysterical. They brought her back to the ship. I thought she was an actress, honestly I did, and when she collapsed I took her straight here.”

  “What?” I gasped. She thought I was dead? He thought she was an actress?

  “Yeah, we’re doing a pirate reality documentary type thing,” John said as if reading my thoughts. “We thought it was a surprise from the production team or something. Anyway, all she kept saying was ‘Where’s Charles’. To be honest, I thought she was nuts. The guys told me there was no one else on the beach.”

  “You bought her here?”

  “Yeah, after she passed out. She had a concussion and was dehydrated. Didn’t matter though, she insisted on going back to the island to bring your body home.”

  I smiled. I couldn’t help it. My Liz, all brave and strong.

  “She’s tough, she’ll make it,” John continued.

  “She is,” was all I could say.

  “Listen, Charles, I have to ask,” John paused and I looked up at him giving him permission to continue. “Who’s the Susan that lunatic kept going on about? I need to know who she was?”

  I took a deep breath. Susan, my one good deed in life turned out to be my worst nightmare.

  “It’s okay, take your time,” John said sensing my distress.

  It didn’t matter though. Nothing mattered now. Liz was in surgery, my life was in tatters, and it all happened because I tried to do something good for someone. My mind raced over everything that had happened coming to an abrupt stop at my parents.

  “Shit, my parents.”

  “They’re fine, no harm done. They’re on their way here, catching the next flight.”

  “How?”

  “Cops sent a text saying you signed and to release them. They also sent back up to the hotel. The two guys holding your parents are already in custody and your parents are fine. They weren’t harmed.”

  I took a deep breath relieved that my parents hadn’t suffered because of me too. I’d caused all this mess and I knew it. Defeated I placed my head in my hands and closed my eyes. If only I could rewind time. I felt John’s hand on my shoulder again.

  “She’s gonna get through this,” he whispered. “I know she will.”

  How could he know? Who the fuck was he anyway?

  I couldn’t help it, I snapped. I lifted my head and looked right at him.

  “How the fuck do you know?” I shouted.

  “Hey, man, I get it, but I’m only trying to help, same way I helped Liz to save your ass,” he said his hands in the air.

  “Helped Liz, helped Liz, she got fucking shot. How the hell was that helping?” I roared before breaking down and sobbing like a baby.

  The surgery doors opened then and Liz was wheeled out, hooked up to beeping machines with tubes coming out of everywhere. I jumped to my feet as the doctor came towards me.

  My chest felt heavy, I couldn’t catch my breath as I waited for him to deliver his news.

  “Is she...?”

  “
Your wife is going to be fine, Mr. Parker. We’ve stopped the internal bleeding and there’s no permanent damage. She’s in an induced coma to give her body time to heal. She had a hairline fracture of the skull too, but we’re confident she’ll make a full recovery. Once she’s settled you can sit with her.”

  His words washed over me like a warm shower, comforting and relaxing.

  She’s alive. My Liz made it.

  Tears spilled out over my cheeks as I took in my first real breath in hours.

  “See, I told you. She’s a fighter your Liz.”

  John spoke from behind me and I turned to see him smiling.

  “I’m sorry…” I muttered.

  “No need. I’d have done the same. Now let’s get you where you need to be.”

  I nodded and followed a nurse up to the ICU where Liz was being settled.

  “Thank you, for helping her,” I said as John turned to leave.

  “How could I not? She’s something special your Liz,” he sighed. “I’ll bring you a coffee and let the cops know where you are, they still have questions that I can’t answer.”

  “Thanks John.”

  ***

  The hours turned into days as I sat by Liz’s bedside stroking my thumb gently across her hand, pleading with her to wake up. The cops had been and I’d answered their questions. It turned out my kidnapper, Dominic Burns, had planned everything. He’d set the small explosion on the yacht making sure we were close enough to the shore that I’d survive. He’d drugged the champagne and had men waiting for my parents in their hotel. The police uncovered everything and he’d be facing a lot of jail time. He was completely deranged, convinced I was the reason Susan had left him. He couldn’t believe that once she was clean she realized what a pig he really was and she decided herself that she didn’t want anything to do with him.

  John hadn’t left the hospital either, insisting on waiting till Liz woke up. We chatted. He was a good man and without him I don’t know what would have happened to Liz. I told him about Susan and how I’d helped her with her drug habit. Turns out, she was his sister.