I laugh at her, knowing she’s probably right. I will most likely take advantage of my time when Matt gets back. With a contented smile, I look into the mirror to take in my outfit. Earlier, I’d put on the dress ordered and was ready to head out onto the set, but Charlie had informed me that the shoot was slightly postponed due to the photographer not being able to find his camera. The make-up artist had then decided to take a little more time adding a few more touches to my make-up.
Looking down at my dress to make sure I don’t have any lint on it, I hear the click of the door shutting behind me. With an excited smile, I turn to face Matt, but my heart immediately stops before racing back to life when I take in Bill instead. My eyes search for an escape, but as I look around the room, I know I’m trapped. When I look back at him, a gun is now pointing at me. My frantic mind prays Julio will soon return from wherever it was he left to. Bill furiously stalks his way to me, his body language full of rage. There is no hiding the evident anger radiating from his eyes.
“It’s nice to see you again, Abigail.” The sound of his voice sends me back to that very first day I heard it in my coma. A set of shivers courses through my body knowing his sole intention is to harm me.
“You shouldn’t be here, Bill. I’d hate to see what would happen if Julio caught you near me,” I bravely state through clenched teeth while I attempt to control them from rattling in fear.
“Your little bodyguard won’t be coming back soon. I’ve made sure of that.” The words worry me the instant I absorb them and my body demands I move as I try to sidestep past Bill, but he lunges forward and fiercely grips my arm. His fingers forcefully dig into my skin as I continue my attempt to escape, to no avail. My scalp radiates with pain as he digs his hand into my hair and yanks. With his mouth brushing up against my cheek, I feel his dirty, warm breath as he says, “The only way you’re leaving is with me.”
“Fuck you!” I angrily growl.
He laughs at my exclamation. The eerie feeling of his breath running down my neck sends an unwelcome shiver down my spine. Grabbing onto his wrist, I try my best to free myself from his grip, but he tightens his hold, sending another jolt of pain down my scalp. This time I let out a wail in hopes someone will hear me.
He strikes my face with the hilt of his gun and I almost black out. “Shut the fuck up, bitch!” he shouts, tugging again on my head and urging me to walk. I try to dig my heels into the ground, but it doesn’t do any good and I soon feel something being shoved into my ribs, urging me forward with another jolt of pain. I already know it’s the gun digging into my ribs and fear is what motivates me to move.
“We’re leaving this room now. If you try to call out for help, Abigail, I won’t hesitate to pull the trigger,” he proclaims while shoving it deeper into my side, making me whimper from the pain.
My worst nightmare has come true. The fear of Bill finding me again is now a reality. Every precaution I took to keep safe seems worthless at this point as he drags me to the door. When he opens it, Charlie, the slimly little intern, is guarding it.
“Is it clear?” Bill asks him. He answers with a nod and Bill wraps his arm around my waist, but keeps the gun pointed at my ribs with the other. The feeling of his body next to mine disgusts me. His smell making my stomach churn and revulsion now replaces my fear. We don’t make it too far outside my dressing room before I hear my name shouted.
“Abigail!” I recognize the voice as Clara, the only intern I’m friends with.
Bill brings us to a halt, but leaves our bodies slightly turned so he’s able to keep the gun pointed at me. “You’re expected on the floor in five,” she notifies me, but as she takes in the sight she grows confused. “Who are you?” she asks Bill.
“I’m just an old friend of Abigail’s. We’re just going to take a walk to catch up.”
She doesn’t look convinced, but Charlie immediately jumps in by suggesting, “Why don’t we leave them and go make sure everything is ready on set,” as he practically pulls Clara away. She allows Charlie to lead her away, but not before taking one last glance over her shoulder. My heart sinks knowing my only hope has just walked away.
“Keep moving,” Bill orders.
“Why are you doing this?” I desperately ask as I’m left no choice but to start walking again. “Please, Bill. If it’s money you want, I’ll give it all to you. Just let me go,” I plead while trying to hold back my tears.
“Oh, that’s exactly what you’re going to do, Abigail,” he says, vengeance evident in his tone.
With every step, my eyes scan for the perfect escape, but I’m left defeated when we near the exit. He removes the gun, places it into the waistband of his pants and pushes the door open. In that split second, I make my move. Lifting my foot, I stab him in the shin with the heel of my shoe. He releases a howl and loosens his grasp. I don’t hesitate to turn and slam my knee into his groin. As if expecting it, he blocks my hit and the only contact I make is his thigh. He reaches for me and wraps his hand into my dress, but it is a mistake. I slam my fist into his face; the contact shoots a bolt of pain up my arm, but it frees me again and this time I run. Or at least attempt to; the five-inch heels I have on severely slow me down. It allows Bill the opportunity to catch up to me and grab a hold of my hair again, but I don’t give up and continue to fight his grip.
It’s then I hear footsteps running towards me and my body is pulled free from Bill’s grasp as someone punches his face. Looking to see who’s come to my rescue, I see Julio struggling as Matt pulls me away.
“He hit you,” he says as his fingers gently touch my cheek. The contact makes me wince in pain as I remember that Bill struck me there.
“I’m fine,” I say before we hear a grunt.
Julio is holding Bill with his arm around his neck and he’s struggling for air. A feeling of relief courses through me until I see Bill reach down into his pants where his gun is nestled into his waistband. Time freezes when I see him point the gun in our direction.
My eyes stay locked onto his finger as he slowly pulls the trigger, my life flashing before my eyes: The day I had my first memory of Matt, leading to the day I went knocking on his door the first time. Next, the day Matt told me he loved me and chose me in our bathroom. The day he proposed and I had foolishly turned him down, regretting that choice at this moment. The day I drove away from him, having to wait to see him again. But most importantly, the day he said the words that will stay in my heart forever… even after I die.
“I don’t know what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours, but whatever it is, it brought you to me, which makes you mine now, and I always protect what’s mine, Abigail.”
The sound of the gun firing rings in my ear as I feel myself falling to the ground. Someone screams my name in the background as my back slams into the floor. My head is pounding with pain as it makes contact and my breath is completely taken from my lungs. I struggle to open my eyes, but when I do I feel Matt on top of me.
“Oh, my, God!” Kelly shouts above me, already rolling Matt off me.
Her panicked cries to call 911 are worrying me. Crawling completely out from under his body, I kneel at his side and scream. Matt’s lifeless body is covered in blood. My own blood drains from my face as I panic. I’m barely given a second to register what has happened before I hear a grunt at my side, forcing me to look in the direction of where Bill and Julio are still struggling. Bill is giving Julio a fight as he uses all his force to push Julio off his body, allowing Bill the chance to lift the gun again and point it back at me.
Julio slams down on his hand, causing the gun to come skidding across the floor, landing mere feet from me. The fury inside of me wills me to crawl over to it, picking up the cold metal in my hands. Lifting my head, I see Bill looking straight at me as Julio yanks him up and back into a chokehold. I don’t hesitate to lift the gun and point it straight at Bill. Now I’m the one full of vengeance as I wrap my other hand around the hilt. It’s now his eyes that go wide before I pull the trig
ger. I close my eyes, the booming sound of the pistol going off in my hands is the only sound I hear behind my darkened lids. I’m praying I’ve shot Bill and not Julio, but I’m too frightened to open my eyes to find out.
I don’t know how much time has passed. Seconds. Minutes. Maybe hours. Julio’s thick accent calling my name pulls me from the darkness.
Snapping my eyes open, I find him standing in front of me. He wraps his hand around mine, silently requesting for me to release the gun. I relinquish it, my thoughts now returning to Matt as I scramble back to his side again.
“Call 911!” I shout again, repeating Kelly’s demand as I place his head in my lap. “Matt, please wake up,” I beg, the tears streaming down my face as I shake him. Kelly is applying pressure to his chest with her jacket looking just as frantic as I feel. “Please, Matt. I can’t lose you. Please, wake up,” I continue to beg, kissing him on the lips as if I can magically make him wake up.
He looks lifeless, but I continue to kiss and beg him to obey my commands. My tears have completely obstructed my vision as they continue to fall on his pale looking face. I hear more footsteps and soon there are paramedics at Matt’s side.
“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to move so we can work on him,” they order, already shoving me away.
Reluctantly, I release his head and move away, but only enough so they can work on him. They cut open Matt’s shirt and attach wires to his chest while Kelly sits at my side, holding me in her arms as we kneel on the cold concrete floor. My eyes never leave Matt’s body as I watch the paramedics’ every move. A slight beeping comes from a machine they’ve placed on the ground next to his body; a faint indication of a heart beat on the screen.
“We’ve got to move him fast,” one paramedic says to the other as they proceed to lift him onto a gurney. Just as quickly, I stand and follow them out as they take Matt to the ambulance. It’s when I’m about to step into the ambulance behind Matt, refusing to let them take him without me, that I hear the dreadful… beep…beep… beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
“He’s coding!” the paramedic shouts, already grabbing for some paddles. The other paramedic looks at me. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but we can’t take you,” he says, shoving me away to close the doors.
“I’m not leaving him!” I shout back as I try to open the door. “Ma’am, we can’t take you while he’s coding. Please. We need to get him to the hospital before he dies on us,” he explains before turning to run to the front of the ambulance and into the driver's seat.
My body is numb as I scream like a lunatic as the ambulance drives away. Julio’s arms are tightly wrapped around me as my mind goes blank.
Have you ever heard of the saying, ‘When you’re going to die, life flashes before your eyes?’ Well, that is exactly how I feel at his moment. The rain is pouring down with a velocity of a vengeance, as if Mother Nature is angry at the world. We can barely see the hood of the car as Sam proceeds to stubbornly continue to drive.
“Sam, why don’t we pull over?” I beg as I look out the window, unable to see in front of us.
“Emily, we’re almost home. Look at the streets. The last thing I want is to be stuck in the car while the rain floods around us.”
I ignore his protests and continue to plead. “Sam, I’d rather lose the car than our lives,” I argue.
He turns to look at me, but his eyes soon go wide. Turning to see the cause of his fear, I see the glare of another car’s lights beaming through my window and my world darkens. When I open my eyes, I feel the rain hitting my body, feeling as if needles are piercing my skin.
“Ma’am! Ma’am, what is your name?” I hear someone asking.
I can barely think at this point, but the only name I manage to whisper is, “Matt.” The thought of leaving him behind keeps running through my mind as my will to keep holding on is slowly slipping from my grasp. I can’t keep my eyes open any longer. My last thought as I hear, “We’re losing her!” is of Matt and my promise to never leave him behind.
I raised him to keep every single one of his promises—to always honor his word—but as I lay here feeling myself slowly slip away, I have only failed to prove my own example. I can only pray he will not hold this promise against me.
THE POLICE OFFICER is skeptically eyeing me as I wait for an answer. “I’ve already told you everything I know,” I irritably tell her.
“I understand, ma’am, but we just want to make sure we get our facts straight,” she replies, making my blood boil within my skin.
The moment they drove away, I was unwillingly pulled away to be questioned by the officer. They didn’t even spare a moment to let me catch my breath before they hit me with question after question. I wanted nothing more than to rush off to the hospital to be with Matt, but they wouldn’t allow it. I killed a man and they wanted answers.
“I just want to be with my boyfriend and make sure he’s okay,” I plead as I’ve been doing for the past hour. Kelly has already tried calling the hospital for an update, but they refuse to give her an answer, which only frightened me.
“We understand, ma’am, but a homicide has occurred and we can’t allow you to leave until we get all the details.”
“I’ve already told you it was self-defense,” I repeat for what feels like the hundredth time. “He was trying to kill me. I had every right to defend myself,” I snarl.
At this point, the officer is sympathetically looking at me, but it doesn’t change the fact that I feel like a prisoner under interrogation. Several times, I’ve had to explain how I knew Bill and why he possibly wanted to kill me. At least it earned me her sympathy. It still wasn’t enough to allow me to leave, though. Julio, on the other hand, was being grilled just as intensely because he was holding Bill when he was shot.
“We understand, ma’am, but we need to make sure to get a full detailed report in your defense.”
A tremble travels through my body as I remember everything that happened. Kelly’s arm tightens around my shoulders as she tries to comfort me, but still manages to give the officer the stink eye before asking, “What’s going to happen now?”
My head is hanging as I stare down at the concrete floor, unable to keep it lifted anymore from exhaustion. “We still have to interview the other gunshot victim for his statement, since he was also a witness. Hopefully, he’s made it,” she expresses. Her words make my head snap up to glare at her.
“He will make it,” I growl out.
Kelly’s hand squeezes my shoulder as she remarks, “Of course he will,” her sobering words making me want to cry again.
From the corner of my eye, I see Julio making his way over to us and I feel a little relieved.
“Unless you have any reason to detain her, we’d like to go to the hospital now,” he sternly relays to the officer.
Her lips go flat as she eyes Julio. The expressionless mask he’s currently wearing tells me he’s not willing to allow her to challenge him. “You have our information, officer. Feel free to contact us if you have any further questions,” he states before he urges me to walk away. Lowering his head, he whispers into my ear, “She can’t arrest you and she knows it, which is probably pissing her off.”
Eagerly walking to put distance between us and the officers, I don’t dare take a look back. We’ve nearly left the room when Hans enters. He rushed over after everything happened. His lips are pinched in agitation, telling me I now have another roadblock ahead of me.
“Obliviously, the photo shoot has been rescheduled for another time. Can you please make sure to keep your psychotic life at home next time? We are on a schedule.”
I step towards him, my face mere inches from his. “Don’t fuck with me right now, Hans. I’ve already killed one man tonight and you’re really testing me to do it again,” I say to him, watching him turn pale. I can feel fear radiating off him and it’s enough satisfaction for me at the moment. Shoving him to the side, I walk past him, not caring what my outburst will do to my career. My only focus at this time is
getting to Matt.
Soon, we’re in a taxi and rushing to the hospital. The time it takes to get there feels never-ending with the added New York traffic. Before long, I’m rushing up to the emergency desk with my heart racing faster with every step. Reaching the desk, I blurt out, “Matthew Garcia! He was brought in with a gunshot wound. Where is he?” I demand.
The nurse behind the desk gives me a skeptical look. “Who are you?”
“I’m his girlfriend.”
“I’m sorry, but we can only release information to relatives.”
“He’s my brother,” Kelly quickly announces, forcing the nurse to look over to her. Believing Kelly’s statement, she immediately starts tapping away at her keyboard before looking back to us.
“He was in critical condition when they brought him in. He’s currently in surgery. Fourth floor,” she says, pointing to the elevator. I barely have time to thank her before I’m rushing off in the direction of the silver doors. Julio beats me to it and is already pressing at the button as my heart practically jumps out of my chest. If he’s in surgery, then it’s good news. I grow impatient as I stare at the metal doors in front of me, willing them to open, but they grudgingly don’t listen.
“I can’t take this,” I deliver before searching for the doorway indicating the stairs. Julio must have read my mind as he pulls at my arm.
“Over here,” he proclaims, already leading me in the direction we need to go. With every step up I take, I keep praying he’s okay. I have to keep reminding myself that if he’s in surgery, then he’s still alive. Reaching the fourth floor, I look left to right, realizing I never asked exactly where I had to go. I see a lady in nurse’s scrubs approaching us and I don’t hesitate to stop her.
“Excuse me, ma’am. Can you tell me where surgery is?”
Unspoken Endings Page 13