by Lee Wardlow
“Oh yeah, I got them.” He nodded his head.
He headed around the desk. The three of us followed him. What happened next, I could never have imagined. Abby was already on the way to the hospital. Tyson and I were torn between heading out and watching Delia get cuffed. Officer Romero and Henson made it easy they weren’t ready to let anyone leave yet.
Romero asked Johnny to point out every girl on the digital recording. Four of the six cheerleaders now sat on the sofa with Delia looking guilty as hell now that the officer had seen them on the recording.
“Cuff all four of the girls on the sofa. Read them their rights,” Officer Romero told the officer who had approached us in Johnny’s dad’s office. Officer Henson stepped forward to help him.
“Girls stand up and turn around with your hands on your heads,” the officer told them.
Not one of them moved. “Why? We’ve done nothing wrong,” Delia replied, her expression stony.
Romero shook his head. “Delia, you’re under arrest for the assault of Abigail Gardener.”
She snorted at him.
“Get up,” he said. “Turn around and put your hands on your head.”
The other girls were looking at Delia like she was going to protect them from the officers taking them away. Robert Henson started reading them their Miranda Rights.
“I’m going to wait outside,” Aiden told me. This scene was too much of a reminder of his dad getting arrested. I could see his discomfort. I patted his shoulder before he walked away.
The girls continued to ignore him.
I didn’t know where the other two girls had disappeared to, but it wouldn’t be hard to find them. If they left, I assumed these guys would pick them up eventually. I just wanted to see Delia taken away. Then I was going to suggest that Tyson and I head to the hospital if Officer Romero would allow it.
Officer Romero reached for Delia. She screamed and started kicking at him. “Resisting arrest is not going to help your cause,” he said dodging feet and hands.
“I want my parents,” she screamed.
“Oh man, this is bad,” Johnny said to me.
“Do you feel bad for her?” I asked shooting him a look.
“Hell no, man. I feel bad for Officer Romero. I know how violent she can get when pissed,” he replied. “Remember I broke up with her.”
I shook my head and turned back to the scene taking place. One of the girls had stood and put her hands on her head. Cathy Hite had decided it was better to not resist and make things harder than go peacefully. Her make-up was running down her face with the tears that were flowing down her cheeks in a steady stream.
The officer I didn’t know led her to one standing at the door while Romero continued to subdue a screaming Delia. Her skirt was riding up on her. She wasn’t crying. She was pissed.
“Henson get these kids out of here,” Romero shouted.
Even Johnny had to leave his own house. We met Aiden on the front lawn. “Can we leave?” I asked Aiden.
“That officer at the end of the driveway isn’t letting anyone leave yet.”
“Damn.” I wanted to get to the hospital to be with Abby. “Tyson, did you call your parents yet?”
“No. Shit. I didn’t.” He took out his phone. “Man, I don’t want to do this.”
Another of the three cheerleaders was passed off to the officer at the front door of Johnny’s house. Inside we could still hear Delia fighting Romero. This second girl was put in the backseat with Cathy Hite. I couldn’t remember her name. She was a freshman cheerleader who was sucked into Delia’s clique with the promise of popularity for being one of the mean girls.
I glanced over my shoulder to see if the officer in the road had moved. He had not. I looked back towards Tyson who still hadn’t called his parents. Abby had been gone twenty minutes or so, I guessed.
“Ty, you have to call your parents.”
“Maybe they did,” he replied.
“Man, don’t you think that they would have called you?”
“Shit yeah they would have,” he replied.
The third cheerleader was brought out. She also was not fighting the officer. She was in our class. Donna Miller was put in the back seat with the freshman girl and Cathy Hite. I gazed around the yard looking for the other two, but they had left for sure.
The inside of the house was silent.
I fully expected Delia to walk out next. I was wrong. Officer Romero and Henson carried her outside with her hands cuffed behind her back. She was still fighting them but not like in the house. They tossed her into the back of a squad car and slammed the door shut.
Tyson stood next to me with his phone to his ear, his mouth open in total shock. I could hear his mother saying his name repeatedly.
“Tyson, your mom is speaking to you,” Luke said elbowing him.
“Mom, Abs is on her way to the hospital,” he blurted out.
I shook my head at him.
“I’m still at the party. They won’t let us leave yet. Cal and I will head there when we can leave,” he said.
Something happened to Ty and me when Abby got hurt. The irritation he felt at me dating his sister was gone. We had a common goal now. Getting to Abby. Making sure she was okay.
While he talked to his parents. I went to Office Romero. “Can I leave now?” I asked him. “I really want to be with Abby.”
“Son, she was in bad shape. She’ll be getting tests done on her. You won’t see her for a while.”
“I don’t care. At least I’ll be there,” I replied.
“Do you know why this happened?” He asked.
“She’s different,” I replied. “They can’t stand anyone that is not like them. Anyone that is kind to anyone.”
“Jealousy?” He asked.
“Because she was dating me?” I asked.
He nodded.
“No, because I was the only guy on the team besides Tyson her brother who wouldn’t fall for her act maybe?”
“All right kid. You and the brother can leave but only you two,” he declared.
I ran back to Tyson’s side. “We can go. Are you driving, or am I?”
“You can,” he said. I knew he was upset but then so was I. “I turned to Aiden and Luke. Sorry you guys you’ll have to find a way home tonight.”
Aiden hugged me. “Let us know how Abby is. Johnny will take us home.”
“I will?” He frowned at Aiden.
“Or let us spend the night?” Aiden suggested.
“If they notify my parents this happened, I might need to leave with you,” Johnny replied. “I’m supposed to keep order if I have a party.”
“Not your fault man,” Tyson informed him. “It’s mine. I’m supposed to protect my baby sister.”
I knew what they were thinking. The two of them were twins. He was older but not by much. We headed to my car at the middle of the long line of cars. I maneuvered my way out and drove down the street heading towards the highway.
Tyson and I were quiet at first. Then I said to him, “It really isn’t your fault Ty.”
“My mother blamed me.”
“She’s just upset.”
He shook his head, but I could tell that he didn’t believe me. These girls had been asking for trouble for a while. They had gone too far this time, hurting Abby as they had.
“Cal, I knew they were after her. I had heard rumors but man I didn’t think they would go that far. I should have been watching her closer.”
“What did you hear?” This was news to me. I had been caught up in Abby then Aiden maybe I had missed the White Oak Creek High School rumor mill too.
“Locker room gossip,” Ty replied. “Johnny told me first that he had heard the girls were planning something for Abby. I blew it off as typical high school bullshit.”
I gripped the steering wheel. No one had told me. My girlfriend was being targeted by these bitches and no one told me. “Then what?” I asked. “What else did you hear?” I looked at him. I knew there was mor
e.
“Aiden warned me that Luke had told him the girls were planning to jump her. I didn’t believe them.”
I slammed my fist into the steering wheel. “When did he tell you this?”
“Last week when he was hanging out one afternoon after school. It was when Luke left early for a dentist appointment.”
“Why didn’t you believe them?”
He shook his head over and over. “I don’t know, Cal. She’s quiet. She doesn’t bother anyone. Why? It made no sense to me.”
“They have been giving her a hard time since she started school,” I told him. “Don’t you remember what they did to her at Coach’s house?”
“I do but I thought that was more Aiden than anyone and he’s come around, so I didn’t know, man.”
“Did you see the bruises on her back and shoulder?” I didn’t wait for Ty to respond. “I did, Ty. I’m ashamed it was my friend that did it. He wouldn’t be my friend now if Abby hadn’t forced the issue. Trust me, Delia Art and her crew were throwing apples at Abby too. I know these girls.”
He ran his hands through his hair. “How bad is she, you think?”
“Bad Ty.” I flipped on the turn signal and took the exit for the hospital. “She had her head bounced off the concrete floor.” I choked on the last few words. “I wanted to bounce Delia’s head off the floor and I’ve never hurt a girl in my life.”
“I know what you mean Cal. I watched it but I couldn’t make myself believe it was Abby even though I saw her lying on the floor with my own eyes.”
I glanced at him quickly then back at the road. “It was her.” Those images of her before they took her away were killing me.
I turned into the emergency room entrance and parked in the lot across from the doors. The bright red lights signaling the entrance to the ER. We jogged across the parking lot to the double doors and they automatically opened.
In the lobby to the left were Mr. and Mrs. Gardener. “Mom, any word on Abby?” Ty asked.
His mother had been crying. His dad stood and greeted me with a handshake. Then he said, “She’s in a coma right now. They are running tests, so we haven’t seen her yet.”
They didn’t want to see her until the blood was cleaned off her face. I wasn’t sure that I would ever forget how Abby had looked. I could see that Tyson was thinking the same thing. Their mother ignored us when we sat down across from Mr. and Mrs. Gardener.
“What happened?” Mr. Gardener asked.
Ty and I exchanged glances. I knew he wasn’t up to answering his dad. “She said she wanted a drink,” I explained.
“A drink?” His father asked for clarification.
“There wasn’t any alcohol at the party Dad.”
He nodded.
“The cheerleaders,” I swallowed thinking about the image of Delia straddling Abby. My girl was taller, but Delia was scrappy. Abby was not. “There’s a video from the James’ security cameras they have in the house. Delia Art the head cheerleader pushed her out into the garage and knocked her down. Before Abby could get up, she beat her.”
I covered my face the images rolling through my head so fast that all I could see over and over was the one of her head bouncing on the concrete.
I didn’t know how hard. I assumed Delia was jerking on the front of her shirt and slamming her down. I rubbed my fingers hard into her eyes.
“Who found her?” Mrs. Gardener asked.
“I did,” I replied. “I realized she had been gone too long, so I went looking for her. I looked everywhere.”
Then I faced Mrs. Gardener. She was stone-faced staring back at me. “As I walked back to the kitchen, I saw the garage door ajar, so I checked there for her. She was on the garage floor.”
“How many?” She asked me.
“Only Delia actually hit her, but six other girls stood around and watched. They arrested four of them at Johnny’s. I don’t know what they will charge them with.”
“What about the others?” Mr. Gardener asked.
I shrugged. “They might have slipped out before the police arrived, but Johnny identified them all from the video.”
“Was she conscious?” Mrs. Gardener was about to cry. I shook my head no. I didn’t want to believe anything other than Abby would be fine.
She refused to look at Tyson making the atmosphere in the waiting area raw and uncomfortable. It was an hour or more before a doctor came out to speak to the Gardener’s. I stood back and listened, hoping for good news.
“Abby has some swelling on her brain. We want to go in and release the pressure.” That is what he started with which made me swallow. “Her brain activity is good. We’re keeping her in the coma for now giving her a chance to heal. I can take you all back with me so you can see her for a moment before we take her to surgery.”
I hesitated. Mr. Gardener patted my back. “Come on Cal. I know you want to see her too.”
She looked better, although her face was more swollen, it was no longer covered in blood. Her stillness unnerved me. Her mother’s tears brought tears to my own eyes. Mr. Gardener tried to comfort her, but she shook him off. I didn’t understand why she didn’t want him to touch her.
Tyson leaned over the bed and kissed Abby’s cheek. “I’m sorry Abs. I should have been there with you to protect you,” he told her then he stepped back.
I stepped forward and kissed her forehead. I didn’t care who heard me. I told my girl that I loved her. I’d be here until she woke up.
We left the room then. Abby was going to surgery where part of her skull would be removed to allow the swelling to go down. Later, when her brain healed the doctor explained it would be put back where it belonged.
She had a long road to recovery. I was being selfish, if she recovered, I didn’t care what else happened. I just wanted Abby with me again. I wanted to see her smile and hear her laughter. I wanted to hold her in my arms. I wanted to hear say she loved me.
In the surgical area waiting room, we took chairs for the long haul. Mrs. Gardener wasn’t going to sleep. Mr. Gardener leaned his head against the wall while I stared at the ceiling. Tyson nodded off quickly.
At two a.m. Mom texting me caused me to jolt awake. I had nodded off after all. Mrs. Gardener was still wide awake. Tyler sitting beside me snored softly. Mr. Gardener was walking around.
I glanced at my phone.
I heard about Abby. I assume you are at the hospital.
I am.
Do you need me?
Tomorrow maybe?
Let me know how she is.
In surgery right now. Relieving pressure on her brain.
I’ll pray for her honey.
Thanks Mom. I love her. What if I don’t get the chance to tell her that again?
You will Calvert. I promise.
Love you Mom.
Love you too, Cal.
I tucked the phone back into my pocket and waited, wide awake now. Several hours later, the doctor who came to see us before returned to the waiting area. He took a seat by Mrs. Gardener. She elbowed Mr. Gardener who after his pacing had fallen asleep.
“Abby came through surgery brilliantly. I think she’ll be fine once the swelling goes down. You can see her in ICU, two at a time in about two hours. That’s about how long she’ll be in recovery.”
“Thank you, Doctor. Will she have any long term affects?” Mr. Gardener asked.
“We won’t know until she heals. We’ll keep her in a coma until then.”
He dropped his head. “How long do you think that will be?” I asked.
“Depends on Abby,” he replied.
I almost cried. I wondered if they would let me see her in ICU. I wasn’t family. “Will I be able to see her?” I asked.
“Two at a time but yes. The more you talk to Abby the better it will be for her.”
He got up and I watched him walk away, feeling like my world was going with him. I glanced back at the Gardener’s. They were feeling the same as me while Tyson remained asleep.
Chapte
r 19
Mom and my sister Rhonda came to the hospital the next morning. I was sprawled across a bench with my legs hanging over the end trying to get some sleep.
I had been back to ICU twice to see Abby. There, I held her hand and talked to her. I logged into the Dystopian website where I pulled up her stories and read to her from her own stuff.
Once upon a time there was a brave girl who lived in glass palace in a new land that was surrounded by crystal waters.
The brave girl was ignored by all who lived at the palace because she was just the head guard’s daughter. The prince of the castle took great pleasure in flaunting his talent, his wealth and his charm.
Girls like her didn’t compete with guys like him but she was okay with that because she had a power greater than his. One that would never leave her as his would with age.
The brave girl had the power to think something and make it happen. She was magical in a way. What she imagined often became a reality in her life.
She was educated and smart. No one knew about her power. She kept it hidden even from her handsome father who adored her when he wasn’t off fighting wars for the prince’s father. She didn’t see her father often, so she had to be brave because she was on her own much of the time.
Kat interrupted me. “Who wrote that?” She asked. She was leaning back in a chair listening to me read to Abby.
This one I recognized. Our English teacher made us right a fairy tale. I had read Abby’s story before. The brave girl was saddened by her life because her father was always gone.
I glanced across the bed at Mrs. Gardener. “This is about Abby, isn’t it?”
“Yes, how did you know?”
“We had to write a fairy tale for English class. I’ve read it several times. I read a lot of her things,” I replied. “I didn’t realize until today Abby is the brave girl.”
“She’s the girl that Abby wants to be,” Mrs. Gardener corrected me. “You’ve been good for her, Cal. She’s becoming that girl.”
I hesitated unsure of whether Abby would want them knowing where she had been posting her work. “Abby writes a lot. She has a small following on this website where she posts her stories,” I finally admitted.
Mrs. Gardener teared up with the knowledge that her daughter was fulfilling her dream of becoming a creative writer. Using her own words, I hoped that Abby could hear me.