Famished (The Broken Series)

by Ellie Messe

  “It’s better than sex.”

  “Better than Disneyland?”

  I scoff in mock offense, “Now let’s not get carried away, nothing’s better than Disneyland.”

  His smile grows before drawing my hand up to kiss the back of it. Butterflies flutter at the contact.

  “Thanks for coming, Emma.”

  “Of course.”

  Drew leans back against the wall, staring at the wall opposite of him. Taking a page from his book, I settle into his side staring at the same blank wall, my thumb absently brushing against his hand.

  Thirty-eight minutes later, Dr. Chalce returns informing us the damage was minimal and they were able to repair it. Parker was ushered back with Drew the second they were told what room she was in. I trailed behind Maria and Josh, careful to keep my distance. It appears her brother follows my lead as well because he stays far enough away I almost forgot he was here.

  “How’s she doing?” I ask Drew, when he exits her room, allowing Josh to take his place.

  “She’s still out. I was hoping she’d be awake by now. Visiting hours are almost over.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Haley?” I hear Parker say from the room.

  I turn to his voice just as Josh steps out, “She’s waking up, go.”

  I push him forward when he looks back at me, “Don’t be dumb, go.”

  He goes back into the room where I hear him and Parker talking to her in mumbled tone.

  “It was nice of you to come.” Josh says, leaning against the wall outside her door.

  Looking up, I see that he’s talking to me, I offer a kind smile not sure what else to do.

  “Drew has a hard time getting close to people.” He says, looking away from me. “But when he does, there isn’t a thing in this world he isn’t willing to do for that person.”

  I nod, again not sure what I’m supposed to say my eyes drifting to her brother who sits a few rooms down on a bench, concerned eyes stare at her room.

  “He loves her.” I look up at him while he keeps his eyes on the wall as he speaks, “But he’s not in love her.”

  “I didn’t think he was.” I admit quietly.

  “That girl was put on this earth for Parker, and he for her.”

  “You can see how much he loves her.” I say, glancing into her room once again. Parker sits holding her hand close to his chest. Drew’s sits carefully at her feet, his hand running over her blanket clad shin.

  “Drew needs her.” My brow furrows but I try to wipe my face clear before Josh can see it. “But he needs you more.”

  “What do you mea-”

  A shrill scream kills the question. We all turn to Haley’s room as both guys try to hold Haley down.

  "Baby, calm down. You're alright." Parker says, his voice cracking.

  "My arm!” She screams, pulling out of Parker’s grasp, “It's on fire!” Grabbing at the plastic brace she tries to pull it off, “Put it out!” She screams, “Please, put it out!"

  Maria races by me with a nurse hot on her heels. My heart is ready to gallop out of my chest.

  "Give me your hand, baby. I'll put it out, just give me your hand."

  Strips of gauze fall to the floor before Parker can get control over her arm. I watch the nurse inject something into her IV line while Drew pins her legs to the bed, his forehead against her stomach.

  "I know you.” She mumbles, “I know, I know you."

  "You're alright, baby." I feel his fear radiating through the too small room. I stand there silently watching on.

  "I want Parker."

  “I’m here, sweetheart.” He kisses her forehead before resting his chin on her hair. “I’m here.”

  "I just need to- I just need."

  Her body calms under them, the nurse bends to pick up the fallen gauze while Haley’s body goes still once again.

  Josh wraps his arm around Drew’s neck, while squeezing Parker’s shoulder. Everyone stays perfectly still, even I’m completely still in the hall while my heart echoes in my ears.

  Maria brushes Haley’s hair out of her face while silent tears drip off her chin.

  “Is she okay?” She asks the nurse, who is pulling supplies out of a drawer under Haley’s monitor.

  “Disorientation is normal, especially after a traumatic experience. I gave her a mild sedative to help her sleep for now.”

  “She just had surgery, is she going to be okay after pulling everything off?” Parker ask, still holding Haley’s other hand which is wrapped in gauze.

  “We’ll redress it, she’ll be fine.”

  I step out of the way when the nurse exits. Drew runs his hands through his hair, staring at her bed. My heart breaks for him, it takes everything I have not to go in, but I know that isn’t my place. So, for now, I wait silently in the hall watching a family grieve.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Drew

  My ears ring.

  I try to open my eyes but the pain sinking its teeth into my collarbone keeps them clamped shut.

  There’s so much noise in my head.

  When I finally manage to pry them into small slits, I note that glass glitters across the seat reflecting the moon above.

  I can’t move my head, everything feels heavy.

  Everything hurts.

  I feel every breath, my chest rises and falls with pained movement that feels too shallow, too calm.

  “Baby?” Her beautiful voice coaxes my eyes to open further, despite the pain.

  Her brunette hair flows over the seat, blue eyes hold mine.

  “Mom.”

  “It’s okay, baby.”

  The gray interior of the car reflects too much light, making my head pound harder.

  “Dad?”

  “He’s okay.”

  “I hurt.”

  “I know,” Her voice catches, a tear escaping the side of her eye, leaving a black line in its wake as her makeup escapes with her sorrow. “Can you move?”

  Shifting, my legs start to shift, “Yes.”

  “I need you to try and get to the road, can you do that?”

  The darkness surrounding the car brings fear, allowing it to slowly crawl up my spine, its webbed fingers sinking deep into my veins, poisoning my blood with its terrifying embrace. “I’m scared.”

  “I know, baby. I am too, but I need you to be strong, okay?”

  I nod but fail to move, the darkness whispers promises of things to come if I leave the safety of the car.

  “Drew.” Her voice is growing softer, duller. “Go, baby.”

  Fumbling with the door handle, I finally get a grip and try to push. It goes no more than an inch before hitting something. The spiderwebbed window gives, showering my arm and lap in thick clumps of glass.

  “I can’t.” I say, unable to recognize my own voice.

  “Try, baby.”

  Fighting against the agonizing pain of my shoulder, I attempt to force the door open but the tree it’s blocked against won’t budge. Bark falls off the trunk, sprinkling my hands in its itchy residue.

  “There’s a tree.”

  “Can you get out the back window?”

  Looking over my shoulder, I cry out in pain, holding my collar in place, I feel the shift under my hand, panicking me further.

  “You’re okay, baby. I promise, you’re okay.”

  Turning my entire body in the seat, I press against the cracked window but to no avail. “It won’t move.”

  An eerie silence fills the car. Slowly, I face forward, a sinking feeling of darkness turns my stomach to ice. “Mom?”

  She doesn’t speak, anymore.

  “Mom?”

  The pain is forgotten as I push forward, leaning against the center console. “Mom?”

  Gently rocking her shoulder, she remains still.

  “Dad,” I twist to wake him. “Dad, Mom won’t wake up.”

  He’s resting against the steering wheel. His cheek pressed against the horn, his hands limp at his side. “Dad?”
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  Crawling forward, the gear shift digs into my hip. That shouldn’t be there. Squinting into the darkness, the front of car is nothing but mangled metal, shoved clear up to their hips, crushed and sealed around their legs.

  “Dad?!” Shaking him as hard as I can, his body simply sags into the door, his chin slides down, revealing his crystal eyes as they stare out mom’s window. “Dad, Mom won’t wake up.”

  He doesn’t tear his eyes away, “Dad.” He doesn’t blink. “Dad?”

  Slowly withdrawing my hand, I look back to my mom. An involuntary sob racks my chest, fear shakes my bones.

  My mind is having a hard time processing what I’m seeing. There’s a fallen branch, it travels through the shattered windshield, its long arms travel around my mom and through the back of her seat, every rise and fall of her chest shakes the leaves, causing the tips to scratch against the rear passenger window.

  But they aren’t around her.

  They’re through her.

  “MOM!”

  Grabbing the branches, I try to break them, but they’re too thick, too heavy for my tiny fingers.

  “Dad! Mom’s stuck. I need help.” His eyes are fixed in a permanent stare. My stomach is paralyzed with the cold. A freezing warning that he’s not alright.

  “I love you, baby.” She whispers, her blue eyes flutter open to land on mine. “I love you so much.”

  “Are you okay?” I sniff.

  “I’m fine, baby. Just tired.”

  Blue and red reflects off the dangling visor, mixing with the gray upholstery appearing muddled and dull.

  “They’re here. It’s okay now, they’re here.” A weak turn on her mouth still gives me hope.

  Looking out the back window, I see the reflection of cop lights.

  We’re okay.

  Turning my attention back to my mom, I take her cold, damp hand that is normally so warm and squeeze with all my might.

  Her eyes slowly fade as the lights grow brighter in the cab, “I love you.”

  The ringing is replaced with the blaring siren above.

  The branches still.

  The rustling stops.

  Her face falls.

  She remains as motionless as dad.

  “Please don’t go to sleep. Help’s here, look.”

  I try to show her the lights from the back of the car when a female voice calls my name, but it’s not my moms. Turning to find the owner, I shoot back into the seat. Haley lays in her place, her wrists cut to the bone, blood gushes across the seat, staining everything crimson with the stench of copper pollutes the air.

  “Haley!” Flying forward, I take her shoulder, drawing her through the space between the seats, “You’re fine, you hear me? You’re fine.” Pulling her arms to my chest, I squeeze her delicate wrists as tight as I can, trying to stop the bleeding. “Hurry!” I yell at the lights behind the crushed car.

  “I love you.”

  “Don’t say that. It’s not the end, you’re fine.” My panic grows as she remains limp in my arms, “Haley?”

  The red and blue lights start to fade into purple and gray.

  “No! Come back!” I yell at the disappearing lights, “Come back!”

  “Drew.” Her voice is an echo.

  Glancing at the girl in my arms, I start to rock. “Blink, Haley.”

  Her eyes stare...just like his, just like hers.

  “I can’t lose you too.”

  A loud gust of air pulls in another voice, “Wake up.”

  “What?”

  Haley’s body jerks out of my arms, she twists unnaturally to face me, bones snap and flesh tears as my mom and dad both pull away from their metal prisons. Leaning over the seat, they all breathe in unison, “Wake. Up.”

  I rocket upright in bed. The smell of death and mistakes slowly fade as the buzzing is replaced with my racing heart. Terrified green eyes stare back at me.

  Emma has her hands on either side of my face, tears raining down her porcelain cheeks.

  “You’re okay.” She whispers on a broken breath. “You’re okay.”

  Staring into her eyes, I can’t bring myself to believe her.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Emma

  I don’t know what woke me but whatever it was lead me to Drew’s room where he thrashed in bed, the most heartbreaking words leaving his tortured mouth. I tried to wake him but it seemed to make it worse until he shot upright so fast I nearly toppled off the side.

  His harsh breaths sound like a bull ready for an attack.

  “You’re okay,” I say grabbing his face, forcing his panicked eyes to mine, I feel the tears escape, he was in the car, I never knew he was in the car. “You’re okay.”

  His hands find my wrists, he holds on for dear life before allowing them to thread through my hair. My mouth is forced to his, fear and heartbreak bleeding through the silence.

  Pulling me onto his lap, my knees fall to either side of his waist. His mouth finds my neck while his fingers relieve me of my top. Greedy fingers claw my back while hungry lips nip and tug at my throat. Arching my back, I grind my hips against his.

  I understand the need to fuck away the emotions, to lose yourself in something other than reality, the desperation to forget. So, I let him take from me. When he presses my back against the mattress and removes my shorts, I don’t question the hand never reaching for the condom. I don’t try to reason that this isn’t the answer, and I don’t fight him when he fucks his pain away. I simply hug him close to my chest and let him forget.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Drew

  I never fell back asleep last night. Waking up from that horror… God. I couldn’t even fuck it away. Emma stayed awake next to me. She let me hold her because for fuck’s sake I just needed someone to hold onto. It wasn’t until I pretended to fall asleep that she allowed herself to doze, but even then, she’d wake up with the smallest motion I made. Her hand gently rubbing my forearm I had wrapped around her tiny frame trying to soothe a wound too deep and too fucked up to nurse.

  It wasn’t until I moved and felt the cold spot on the sheet that I remembered I went in bare. For the first time in my life, I didn’t wear a condom. At least I was smart enough to pull out or I would have made my life about a thousand times more complicated. I have very little control over my life right now, but that? That I can control and the self-hate I have for myself is only amplified by my carelessness of last night. That kind of idiocy is how you end up with a pissed off baby mama, a kid you never get to see, and a child support check large enough to supply every health department in the county with the one thing I was stupid enough not to use.

  With the rising sun illuminating the darkness, I decide I can’t lay here any longer. I have to get out of here before I bury myself into another depression, Maria barely survived my last one and I can’t do that to her again. Never, can I do that to her again.

  Gently sliding away, I pull my arm out from under Emma’s neck. Not gently enough though because her head lolls towards me.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” I lie, “I’m just gonna shower and head over to the hospital.”

  “Okay. Do you want me to come with you?”

  I shake my head, “No, that’s alright. I kept you up all night. Go back to sleep.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  “No, really. It’s fine. I’ll be there all day. You can come later if you want. I need to get some stuff for Hales anyway.”

  “Okay. If she’s needs anything I have, you can take whatever you need.”

  “Okay.” I nod, climbing off the bed. “I’m sorry about last night.”

  “Don’t.” She shakes her head violently against the pillow, “There isn’t anything you need to apologize for.”

  I take a deep breath, preparing myself for the anger I deserve, “I didn’t wear a condom.”

  “I know.” She says gently, almost understanding.

  “Wait, you knew?” She nods, “And you didn’t stop me?”

>   “It’s not what you needed.” She shrugs.

  “And you think I need a kid?”

  “You think I need one? After everything that happened, you just needed… I don’t know what you needed, but being stopped and told to put on a condom wasn’t it, and you pulled out so it’s not even a big deal.”

  “Not a big deal? You would have let me cum in you! Because of everything, you should have told me to wear one!”

  “I know you’re upset-“

  “Fuck yeah, I’m upset!”

  “So.” Her voice turns stern, “I’m not gonna take this personally. I did what I thought was right in the moment, you don’t have to agree with me and you don’t have to be okay with it, but what I did was out of good intentions.”

  I growl, my temper growing, “I don’t have to agree or be okay with it. How thoughtful of you. I imagine that would be the same response I would have gotten after the positive pregnancy test too.”

  “It’s not a big deal.”

  “No, you’re wrong. It’s a very big deal. This?” I point between us, “Is finished. I can’t trust your judgment at this point and a kid is the last fucking thing I need right now.”

  Without stopping to catch her reaction or response, I slip into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me.

  ____________________________________________

  Still pissed off, I left the house without a glance in her direction. Even after telling her we were through, she still laid in my bed. I had the urge to tell her to get the fuck out but I know that would be taking it too far.

  Just as I was rinsing off, I got a call from Josh telling me to get to the hospital. Like I needed yet another heart attack today.

  Pushing through the doors to Haley’s recovery area, I see Josh and Parker talking to pair of cops just outside her door.

  “Hey,” I nod to Parker and Josh, “What’s going on?”

  “They found the car.” Parker whispers to me as Josh continues speaking to the police officers.

  “Whoa, what? When?”

  “Early this morning. They caught them trying to cross state lines.”

  “How did they even know what to look for?”

  “The security cameras outside HEAT. Josh says it caught almost everything on tape. The quality isn’t the best because of how far down the alley they were but I guess Kaylan offered up their names and address, they were able to put out one of those all point bulletin things of the make and model of the car and direction they were headed in. Highway patrol stopped them this morning.”