Curly Q

by Jamallah Bergman

  Austin sat down in the chair and waited.

  Paul had been pacing back and forth, talking to himself.

  What in the world, is he saying? She’d grown so tired. All she wanted to do was sleep. But the throbbing pain encased her entire body in misery, there was no way she was able to close her eyes since now she could feel one of them closing shut from the hits he gave her. Plus he wasn’t letting her rest with all of the banging he would do from time to time on the closet door.

  “What the fuck! What the fuck!” he shouted as he walked into the living room because he soon had the volume blasting on the television. “Fucking son of a bitch! Well, it seems your fucking boy toy is going to be on the news, trying to get your sorry sack of shit ass out. Damn, he must be desperate as hell to want someone as vindictive as you!”

  Austin? He is here? Tears began to well up. She knew Candace and Jonathan were probably there as well, pleading for him to let her go. Why is he doing this to us? Pressing her ear against the door, she tried to listen to the television as she heard a woman start talking.

  “We have Janice McMillian live at the hostage situation going on at Oakdale Gardens where we have already confirmed earlier that a Paul Wilson is holding his ex-wife Madison, a prominent lawyer with the law firm Babcock, Stewart, and Wilson hostage in her home. We still do not know why he is doing this but Sergeant Williams says they are still trying to make this as peaceful as possible and to make sure that both are safe. She is talking with Austin Collins, Madison Wilson’s fiancé, who is talking on behalf of the family. Janice?”

  “Hi Jenn, I am here with Austin Collins, Austin, I know this has been very trying for you as well as Madison’s family and friends. How are you?”

  “Well, we are doing as well as we can. We are of course, worried about Madison and whether she is safe and not badly hurt. We know that he has been beating on her and she’s probably in pain as we speak but as her sister Candace has often told me, Madison is strong willed and spirited. I don’t know why Paul would want to lay a hand on her, much less do what he is doing right now but we just want him to know that we want Madison back safe and sound and for him to get whatever help he may need.”

  “Is there anything that you would like to say personally to Madison if she is watching this right now?”

  “I—well, Madison I want you to know that I love you and I miss you so very much and I just want you safely home with me and your sister and the rest of us here who love and care for you.”

  Madison found herself sobbing uncontrollably. Hearing his voice snapped her resolve but this only seemed to fuel the fire that had been burning inside of Paul as the crashing of the television along with throwing of something hard against the door jolted her back as she cowered in the corner of the closet. She heard shouting and cussing and more pounding against the door as she saw it begin to splinter which made her scream in horror. She peeked out through the hole in the door.

  “Looks like your sorry fiancé did you in Madison!” He went into the kitchen, grabbing a can of gasoline that he must have had ready. Sloshing gas all over the floor, along the walls and onto the couch, he pulled out a box of matches. Lighting one up, he threw it on the carpet, watching it quickly shoot up in flames. Then he got several matches and quickly lit them all as he threw them around him and the room grew thick with flames. “Looks like we’re both going to die together Mad, I hope you are happy bitch, because no one will have your sorry ass again!”

  Madison started screaming, “No, Paul. No—” She started coughing as smoke continued billowing underneath the closet door. Grabbing the doorknob, she screamed when she felt how hot it was as she grabbed a coat from overhead to put at the bottom of the door so no more smoke could get in but it was useless as the door got hotter and the smoke kept coming in.

  “It’s on fire!” Austin shouted as he ran towards the house with Jonathan and Candace not far behind. Once again, he was stopped by police as he pushed and shoved at them to try and get by.

  Then the firemen started in with the hoses as they all heard a gunshot from inside.

  “No!” Candace screamed as her body sagged in Jonathan’s arms.

  Firefighters started to go inside, drowning the fire with water to douse the flames to nothing. It felt as if it was taking forever for them to put it out but eventually, when they were getting things under control, they called S.W.A.T in as they slowly made their way inside. Everything was burnt beyond recognition as they stepped on broken wet wood and puddles of black soot. As they continued towards the back of the house, they saw Paul sitting at the kitchen table slumped over with blood coming out onto the table. He had shot himself with his gun.

  “We found the suspect. He’s dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. We are trying to find the victim.” The man from S.W.A.T. stated to Sergeant Williams.

  They all started to look around the room, some cautiously heading upstairs along with the firefighters to search but it wasn’t long before one of the officers opened the closet door and saw her fall on the floor with a thud. “I’ve found her! She’s unconscious and we’re bringing her out right now.”

  Sergeant Williams went over to Austin and the rest to give them the news. “They found Mr. Wilson and they found your fiancée.”

  “Are they all right?”

  “He’s dead.”

  Candace started to scream. “Is—she alive?”

  “She’s unconscious and they’re bringing her out right now.”

  The paramedics rolled the stretcher towards the entrance of the house as an S.W.A.T team member was carrying Madison out.

  Austin watched as they hovered around her, doing something he couldn’t see for himself.

  Then when they wheeled her lifeless body towards them, Candace started screaming and crying as Jonathan held her close to him.

  Austin quickly went to her side as he stared at her with disbelief. She looked awful with her face swelling up around her eyes and lips, turning black and blue. Her hair was stuck to her head from sweat and probably water. The more he looked at her, the more she looked like she’d been in a horror movie as the victim. He was about to get into the ambulance but one of the paramedics told him, “We’ve got to work on her sir, you will have to sit up front.”

  “Where are you taking her?” Jonathan asked.

  “Tatum.”

  “We’ll follow you guys there.” He took his frazzled wife through the crowd.

  The sirens began to blare around them as the ambulance darted through the neighborhood until they got onto the main road that would lead them towards the highway. All Austin could do was try to look back to see what they were doing but all he could see was one putting an oxygen mask over her mouth while another was prepping to put an IV in her arm. He could only imagine what she’d had to endure. It took them no time to get through traffic to Tatum. They stopped at the emergency room entrance.

  He quickly got out along with the rest of the paramedics as they took her inside

  When he went in, Austin was stopped by a nurse. “You have to wait right here sir.”

  “But that’s my fiancé for Christ sake!”

  “I know sir, but the doctors are in there and they don’t need you in there while they’re working on her. We will let you know what is going on, don’t worry,” she assured him.

  He kept looking behind her to try and see anything but couldn’t. Austin didn’t know what he would do if he lost her now.

  “Have you heard anything?”

  He turned around and saw Jonathan and Candace coming in.

  “We were right behind you guys. We had a cop follow up behind us with the sirens so that way we wouldn’t get pulled over. So?”

  Austin shook his head and suddenly, every bit of emotion he had tried his best to hide, eventually came out as tears rolled down his cheeks and he held his body rigid. “I swear to God, I don’t know what I am going to do if she dies!”

  Jonathan grabbed his brother and hugged him tight.

  Candace
came over as they included her in their hug in the hallway.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Candace had fallen asleep in the loveseat of one of the waiting rooms designated for families who’d been waiting for a very long time.

  Jonathan had told Austin to take himself a nap since it had been a while since he was able to rest.

  They had been here for five hours with no word whatsoever about how Madison was doing. Even when they’d went back and forth to the nurse’s station, nothing was given to them as far as good or bad news. Looking down the hallway, the same endless corridor that led to what seemed like nowhere but had people going in and out of doors but none with any news of progress.

  Leaning up against the wall, Jonathan closed his eyes for a brief moment which gave him a small bit of relief for his mind and body.

  “Excuse me sir?”

  Quickly, he looked over to his right and saw a doctor staring at him.

  “Are you with the family of Madison Wilson?”

  “Yes, I’m her brother in law. Her fiancé and sister are in the waiting room.” They walked back to the room and he rushed over to nudge them both awake. “The doctor is here to talk with us about Madison.”

  This got them both up immediately when they heard Madison’s name.

  “How is she? Is she alright?” Candace asked.

  “Well, I’m happy to say that she’s breathing all right and we got her heart rate back to normal. It was very high. We will be watching her a few days because she had a lot of trauma to her head and face. We do believe she has a severe concussion, and until the swelling goes down, we cannot tell about how much damage she sustained to her brain,” the doctor stated.

  “But you think she will get better, right?” Austin asked.

  He nodded. “We have lots of good signs. We just have to wait and see.”

  Austin gave Candace a hug while rubbing his eyes.

  “Can we see her then?” Candace asked.

  “Yes, you can, but I must tell you that we have her medicated to help with the pain so she’s resting. She’s going to have tubes and monitors around her, so it might be a bit of a shock along with her appearance.” They continued to walk their way down the hallway and past some double doors that automatically opened.

  Looking around, Jonathan could see people in their rooms, in beds as they came to the room that Madison was in.

  She looked so peaceful laying there as Candace immediately went to her side along with Austin who got a chair from the corner and put it next to her bed. Austin took her hand in his, rubbing her fingers.

  Candace started to smooth out her hair which still had bits of what looked like wood and ash. “Peter will be on his way. He’s been trying to get back to see about you. We are all here, me, Austin and Jonathan. There’s no need to worry anymore because you are safe at last,” she assured her as her cell phone began to ring and she left the room to answer it.

  Jonathan went over to her side and squeezed her delicate hand. “It’s me Jonathan,” he told her as the monitors were the only things around that made any sounds besides their own voices.

  They sat around in the room that evening, watching over Madison. When Candace came back in, Patrick was by her side, holding her hand as they walked in.

  When he saw her, he was completely overcome with emotion and found himself sobbing uncontrollably. “Please God, help her.”

  Candace held her brother as she looked over to Austin. “We are going to have to go back to the house. I want to check on the children, will you be all right here?”

  “Yeah, I will call and let you know if anything changes.” Austin told them all as his brother patted his shoulder and they walked away leaving him alone with her at last. Kissing her hand, he began to do something he hadn’t done in a very long time…he began to pray. ‘Dear Lord, please bring her back to me and her family. She has a lot more to live for here and I don’t know what I would do without her in my life now.’

  A nurse came in and he watched her take vitals.

  “Would you like a blanket sir?” she asked him.

  “Yes please, I’d appreciate it.”

  Then she continued with looking at the machines as she went over to the computer nearby and began to type. When she walked out of the room and across the hall to the nurse’s station, she grabbed a large blanket. “That chair over there can go flat, so that way, you can lie down. Oh, let me get a pillow for you too.”

  When she handed him the blanket, it was warm and when she brought him back the pillow, he decided to take advantage of a small nap.

  When Austin woke up, Candace was in the room brushing Madison’s hair. “I didn’t want to wake you up, so I let you sleep.”

  “When did you get back? I thought you were going to check on the kids?”

  “I did and I came back here with some things to get some of the gunk and all out of her hair. That was around I think eight this morning. One of the nurses was nice enough to help me out.

  “Any change?” he asked her.

  She shook her head.

  He sighed as he walked over and kissed her lips before he softly whispered in her ear, “I love you Madison.”

  The hours turned to days which turned into weeks, but Madison’s progress was slowly getting better. Her face had healed up considerably even though her right cheek still looked swollen. They had put her in her own private room which was good since she had a lot of visitors coming by to visit. Most of her coworkers at the law firm would pop in on their lunchbreak while Patrick would come and read to her from one of her favorite books, Little Women.

  On this particular day, both Candace and Austin had been present for their visit, the doctors said they had been slowly but gradually taking her off some of the medication that she’d been on for a while since the majority of it was to make her comfortable after such a traumatic ordeal. So she’d been asleep off and on for days but monitored constantly. They were happy about this because even though at times she would wake up to look around, she would try to talk but it made her frustrated and she ended up going right back to sleep. Now, they were hoping to have her talking like her normal self.

  Today, they were here to see her again.

  “I can tell you that she is coming around a bit. I asked her a few questions and she answered the best she could and her speech is improving somewhat,” Doctor Oliver told the two while walking down the hall to her room.

  When they walked in, they saw her sitting up her bed, looking at the television until she saw them coming in and looked over at them with a small smile.

  “Why hello,” Candace said walking to her side and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

  Austin walked to her other side to give her a kiss on the lips.

  “You’re looking good today sweetheart,” Candace spoke up. “The twins wanted me to bring you some more work they’ve done to decorate the room up a bit. Here is a butterfly by Janessa. She says she misses you a lot.” She handed her the yellow sheet of construction paper that showed a bunch of butterflies drawn in pink, red and orange. “Jon Jr. wanted me to bring you his favorite Hot Wheels car. I told him what is she going to do with that? But he said that you would know.” She handed her the car.

  Madison smiled from ear to ear. “I miss them,” she softly told them, her finger tracing lightly over the small car as she sat back against the bed once more. “When will they be coming?”

  “I think I’ll bring them over this weekend since it looks like you’re coming around a bit. So what would like for me to do for you today?”

  “How long have I been here?”

  “For two months now darling,” Austin reminded her. “I hate to ask this, but do you remember anything?”

  “All of it.” Then she asked something they had dreaded but waited for her to ask, “Did they get Paul?”

  Candace looked over at Austin while he peered up at Doctor Oliver who knew this would be asked eventually by her. The doctor had told them along with staff that if she were to ask a
bout Paul to deter the question to something different. He didn’t know what the shock would do to her mind if she knew he was dead.

  “I’ll be right outside in the hall,” Austin told them because he didn’t want to see the look on her face when she was told. He heard her shout out, “Oh, God no!” Her sobs were heavy and harsh, “Why, why?” All Austin could do was hold his head up high to keep from crying himself. He’d felt the man should be dead or in prison. He had no forgiveness for him. Paul had blamed her for his own failures, then turning on her like that? He almost killed her. Austin didn’t want Madison to see any of this in his eyes or his expression. He wanted her to heal and move on. Thank the heavens above that even though the bastard took his own life, he hadn’t taken hers as well.

  They let Madison leave the hospital about a week later. It had been such a trying time for her but she couldn’t be happier to get out of there. She missed her family and missed being with Austin most of all. It was decided that she would live with Candace and Jonathan for the time being.

  When they pulled onto the street where the house was, she saw many cars parked there. People were outside with balloons and signs saying, ‘Welcome Home Madison’, ‘We’ve Missed You’

  She saw people from work as well as her old neighborhood there to see her. “What is all this?”

  “Well, you know we couldn’t have you back home without having a welcome home party.” Candace smiled.

  Madison shook her head and asked Austin, “You went along with this, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah, I did. Plus, it would be nice for you to be out and around people since you’ve been in the hospital for so long. Then Candace helped make all of your favorite things to eat.” They pulled into the driveway as Austin got out.

  The people gathered there started to wave and smile at Madison.

  When he opened the door and helped her out, she saw Mildred along with the rest of her coworkers from the firm. She also saw her neighbors from her old neighborhood along with their children and many other people who must have been neighbors of Candace. Waving at everyone, they advanced their way through the back by way of a gate on the side of the house. When she looked around, she saw a long wooden table that looked as if it could seat at least twenty or so people with a long white linen runner down the middle. Beige and white candles in jars and candle holders adorned the runner while small vases with sunflowers, which were her favorite flower, looked absolutely exquisite with the plate settings and silverware.