Authors: Hilary Storm
“Baby, Can you hear me?” She doesn’t answer me, but does make a sound of pain and moves her head to face me.
“Oh Ev, Please fight. Don’t you dare leave me in this world alone! We are in this together. You fight, do you hear me?” Ivy grabs her face and forces Eaven to look into her eyes. We get a small nod and I take that as a great sign.
“Nicole.” Eaven whispers.
“Yes, we know Nicole did this. Don’t worry about her. They will find her body and we will never have to worry about her again.” I try to reassure her that she is safe, but the scared look in her eyes has me concerned that I need to be on the lookout.
“Swimming.”
She says softly. I feel goose bumps break out on my skin at the thought of that bitch getting away after doing this.
“It’s ok. They will find her. You are safe here with us.” Ivy says to her. I notice that she keeps closing her eyes like she is going to fall asleep. We keep talking to her until the EMTs arrive. There is not a drivable path to this point down river, so everyone that has arrived had to do so on foot.
“We are in contact with victim #2. Please stand by for status.” I hear one of the radios go off.
“Victim #1 is deceased. Please call for coroner.”
Chapter Sixteen
Eaven
I wake up with a throbbing headache like none that I have ever experienced. I can hear voices near and want to sit up and tell everyone to keep it down. I try to sit up and can’t seem to force my body to listen to my mind.
“She is improving. The doctors said it shouldn’t be long and she will wake up for us.” I can hear my mom.
Man, I miss her.
“I just wish she would hurry. I can’t stand seeing her like this.” I should have known Ivy would be in my room.
“Why do you think the police want to question her?” What the hell? Who said that? Why would they want to question me?
“Mom, I’m sure they just need her statement about what happened so they can close the case.” I definitely know that voice. That was Talon. I squeeze my hand as I realize that someone is holding my hand.
“She just squeezed my hand! Ev, baby! Wake up. I can’t wait to see your gorgeous eyes.” He begins to caress my hand and face.
“Head hurts.” I say hoping someone will get me some good meds to make this pain go away.
“I just pushed the nurse’s button and we will see if we can get you something for the pain.” My mom always knows how to take care of me. The nurse comes in and talks about something and I begin to sleep again.
“Where did they find her body?” I wake to hear Ivy talking.
“Luke found her along the bank. She was bleeding from her head very badly. I am not sure if she was gone then or not.” That sounded more like Taron this time.
“We are so lucky that the same thing didn’t happen to Ev. It could have been worse to her head instead of her leg.” This time I can open my eyes easier. There is less pain, but I can definitely tell that I won’t be moving around anytime soon. I try to move my legs, but can’t tell if I am making any progress.
Ivy sees that my eyes are open and begins to talk to me. “Hey girl! Did you decide to join us?”
“Ya, I guess.” I muster up an entire sentence. This is progress.
“What is wrong with me?” I would like someone to tell me how bad this is.
“You have a broken leg, a concussion, and a lot of scrapes and bruising. They are treating you for possible infections since you were wounded in a nasty river. How do you feel?” Ivy has never sugar coated anything. I knew she would give it to me straight up.
“Better. Thirsty.”
I look around and see Talon still by my side holding my hand. He looks like complete shit, you know, like I feel.
“Hey! I missed you!” He says looking into my eyes as I turn to look at him.
I squeeze his hand and a tear falls down my cheek. I begin to feel very emotional. I start to remember how scared I was in the water. There was a time that I didn’t think I would live to see another day. I wouldn’t live to see the faces of those that I love.
“Baby, don’
t cry. You are safe here with us.” Talon is talking to me, but I can’t seem to stop this waterfall of tears. My monitor starts going off and the nurse comes in. She messes with my IV and I begin to sleep shortly after.
“Talon! Will you be my boyfriend?” I hear a tiny voice when I come to and know that is Avery.
“I wish I could baby girl, but I love your sissy.” I hear him tell her.
“You gonna marry he
r?” Leave it to a child to go straight for the gut of the matter. I open my eyes to see what his expression is. He has his eyes closed and he leans in to her ear.
“If she will let me!” He says to her just loud enough that I
can hear him. I smile at the thought of spending forever with him. He doesn’t know that I saw him, so I close my eyes hoping that no one will rat me out. That might have been the best possible medicine for me. Just inject me in the heart with the hopes of spending the rest of my life with this man and I will get my ass up and dance the father-daughter dance right now. Let’s do this!
Ok so, I won’t be dancing today. I tried to move a little and I am not having much luck
because it hurts like a son-of-a-bitch. Talon notices that I am awake.
“Look who came to visit you!” Avery looks scared as Talon lifts her to come closer to me. Do I really look that bad?
“Hey Avery! I missed you! Did you come to see me?” I try to smile as much as possible so she won’t be as terrified.
“Uh huh.” She nods at me, but tightens her hold on Talon.
“Your mom and Ivy just went down the hall for a second and they will be right back.” Talon sits back down with Avery.
“How are you feeling?” He asks me.
“Ok.”
“The doctors say that your head injury is healing nicely and if things go well we can break out of here in a day or two.” That news makes me very happy.
“It hurts to move my legs.”
“You are pretty banged up. You will be sore for weeks until your bruises heal. Not to mention that you are in a heavy cast for the break. I will be with you every minute to make sure you don’t need anything.”
Mom and Ivy walk in with coffee. What I would give right now for a cup of coffee. “Did you call the nurse when she woke up?” Mom asks Talon when she sees that I’m awake.
“No ma’am, sorry. I was enjoying a minute with her before she goes to sleep again.”
“Talon
, if you call me ma’am one more time, you will need a bed right next to her. Ma’ams are old ladies. I am not a ma’am. Besides that, you saved my baby’s life. You call me mom like all of her close friends have for years.” I see Talon’s face light up with a huge smile and I can’t help but love the fact that both parts of my life fit so well together. I could never be with someone that my parents couldn’t accept. At the same rate, I am not sure my parents could ever not accept anyone that I fell in love with.
The door busts open and Taron
makes his presence. I notice that he hugs Ivy from behind just as he walks in.
“I didn’t sleep well last night. I guess I am just so used to hearing your sounds in the night Eaven. It is hard on a guy to go without once he is used to getting it every night. Hey, what the hell?” Taron only stops talking when Talon punches him in the shoulder.
Awkward! My mom acts like it is no big deal and just smiles at me. I know there is a long conversation to come in my near future. You know the one about the birds and the bees and not being a slut or a sleaze. Great!
The nurse comes in and I manage to sit up more in bed. I decide I don’t want the strong pain medicine that they have been giving me this time. The nurse works that out with the doctor and I can finally stay awake a little and enjoy my visitors.
“Where is dad?” I ask my mom, thinking it is strange that I haven’t seen or heard him.
“He has
been here. He went home to do some work at the office and get showered. We have been taking turns staying at home with Avery. He will be staying here tonight with you.”
I manage to keep the soup down at lunch and fluids throughout the day. I am finally cleared for real food!
I have also been forced to walk around a little bit and decided that I really hate this damn cast.
My mom takes Avery home and I am left with Talon and Ivy staring at me and jumping every time I think about moving. Taron has his feet kicked up on the foot of my bed and is sprawled out in a chair controlling the TV remote. I don’t even mind. I feel fortunate that I have the opportunity to be irritated by his pompous ass.
They bring dinner in from the cafeteria. I gag at the thought of veal parmesan. The meat looks like mystery meat that has been processed in a plant and smashed into a square shape. Taron isn’t shy about digging in when I force them to put it as far away from me as possible.
“Do you want me to go grab you something?” Ivy offers.
“Oh my God, yes please.”
“I will drive her and we will get you both something.” Taron demands and I get real excited at the possibility of being alone with Talon.
“Lay up here with me.” I work my way to the edge of the bed to make room for him beside me.
I lower the back rest and turn to face him in the bed. I try my hardest not to wince in pain, but I don’t do very well at hiding the fact that it really hurts to move.
“Hey there!” I say as I notice his frown.
“Hey.” I run a finger from his chest down the front of his shirt. He grabs my hand and moves it to his mouth and begins to place soft kisses on my hand.
“I fucking thought I lost you
forever. I was lost at that river. I kept wondering around like an idiot.”
“You found me before anyone else. I kept praying that you would find me and that gave me enough strength to hold on until you did get there.”
“I put you in that mess to start with. If you had never met me, you wouldn’t be here in the pain you are in.”
“If I had never met you, I wouldn’t be here with you feeling more love than I have felt in my entire life.”
“I should have been more concerned with Nicole and I never thought she would try to hurt you. I am such a naive fucker.”
“Don’t blame yourself for her crazy behavior. You obviously had no idea she would do this. No one did.” I say in frustration. Then I realize that I have never asked about her. I know I heard someone say that she didn’t
survive, but I need to confirm that. I can’t bring myself to say the word ‘dead’ or ‘died’.
“Where is Nicole?” I say through a constricted throat.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Talon
She wants to know where Nicole is. I want to sing ‘Ding Dong the Bitch is Dead’, but I am sure that will appear as disrespectful.
“She didn’t make it. She died at the river.” I know Eaven is going to struggle with this. She begins t
o cry and I lean in to kiss her tears away.
“Do not cry for her. She tried to take you away from me. I will not let you cry a tear for her.”
“I can’t help it. I hate that this is how it ended. I wish she could have gotten help.”
“Her parents stopped by and told me that she was diagnosed as bipolar and her new doctors were working with her on taking the right dose of medication. She was getting help. She chose not to use that help.”
“I just think if she had a friend to help her through this, it would have been different.”
“Maybe, but there are a ton of people with bipolar disorder and they don’t go around trying to kill someone. She had other issues.”
“I tried to save her.” She says through her tears.
“Are you kidding me? She was trying to kill you!” I say appalled that she would try to save her after everything.
“I couldn’t leave her buckled in at the bottom of the river. That image would have haunted me until the day I died.”
I realize how amazing Eaven is in this moment. She was held at gun point by my crazy ex-girlfriend, knocked over the head with the g
un, driven into a river, escaped a vehicle that sank to the bottom, tried to rescue the person who has done this to her, lived through the rapids of the river that is full of crap from the recent rains, straddled a moss covered rock with a fucking broken leg and a concussion, and then after all of that she wishes she could have been Nicole’s friend to help her through her fucked up issues.
“I fucking love you! You are amazing! Do you know that? I don’t know anyone else who would have tried to rescue the person trying to murder them. Well, you are either amazing or fucking crazy! I love you either way!” I lean in to kiss her gently when I hear a knock at the door.
“Hey Ev! How are you feeling?” Luke and Lilly enter with flowers and more balloons. We are going to need a moving truck to take these flowers and balloons home. This is insane.
“Better! How are you guys?” Eaven rolls onto her back so she can see them better. We lift the bed and I start to get up
. She stops me by grabbing my hand and holding it.
“I would be doing better if you were out of here and in the clear.” Luke says.