Blind Rage
Part 3
I
woke up with an awful headache. I wanted to touch my forehead with my left
hand, but something clanked on the rail and stopped my arm abruptly. I looked
over to see what had stopped it, figuring I had my IV line hung up someplace.
What I saw totally confused me.
I suddenly realized I wasn't in the same room I had been in. Brian wasn't next
to me and the machines that were by my bed were no longer there. A lone IV pole
was situated next to the bedside. There was someone that looked like a police
officer dressed in a dark blue uniform sitting in the room next to an open
door.
I looked for my call button and couldn't see one. I went to sit up and
discovered that my right ankle was handcuffed to the bed.
"What the hell?" I mumbled out loud. "Hey! What the hell is
going on?"
The policeman peered over the newspaper he was reading. "Settle
down," he barked.
"Where's Brian?" I snapped as I was trying to figure a way to get
free of the handcuffs.
"He's still in the ICU room you shared," the young police officer
grunted.
I nodded, indicating I had heard, I then realized something was definately wrong.
"Where the hell am I then?" I demanded.
"You're in the hospital, in a secure wing, private room," he replied,
not looking up from what he was reading.
"Then, what's up with this?" I asked as I pulled my left hand up and
pointed at the handcuff with my right hand.
"Policy," was all he said to me.
"POLICY?!"
I was starting to get a little worried here. This guy was obviously not going
to say a word to me about anything and now I was handcuffed like a criminal and
he wasn't telling me what sick joke someone was playing on me.
"You owe me an explaination!"
The policeman lowered the newspaper and glared at me for a few moments, and I
returned a glare that was equal to his. For some reason, he decided he was
going to be a little more civil with me and he cleared his throat.
"It was a request by Ms. Miller's attorneys for her protection. They filed
a motion to keep you restrained a the hospital until you could go to arrainment."
"Arraignment?! But I didn't do anything!"
As I panicked, I fought harder and harder with the restraints. The policeman
started yelling at me and told me to settle down. Suddenly a team of nurses and
orderlies and police officers filled the room. The orderlies took a hold of the
arm and leg that wasn't chained to the bed and took leather restraints and
wrapped them around my wrist and ankle and secured them to my bed rails.
"You have to calm down so you can get better and get discharged," a
young nurse soothed.
"Dishcharged? Where the fuck to?"
"HEY! Don't talk to them that way," the police man reprimanded me.
I guess I was thrashing around too much in my attempts to be free because I
suddenly felt a sting in my leg and dizzy. The next thing I knew was it went
completely dark as sleep overtook me.
~*~*~*~*~
As I was waiting for my
nurse, a new panic washed over me. It was becoming familiar now, but it still
unnerved the crap out of me. It intensified for a few minutes until my stomach
was clenched up so tight that it was almost unbearable. Then almost instantly
it disappeard. That wasn’t very comforting either.
Why the hell would it just go away unless he became unconscious. I hit the
nurse call button again.
“Someone please.” I
called out weakly.
“What’s wrong honey?”
Sheila burst in, anxiously.
“What’s wrong with Nick?”
My voice came out all beathy.
She knitted her eyebrows.
“What do you mean?”
“Something’s wrong. He’s
upset. And it just went away.” I tried to explin. I
felt like a dumbass. She was going to think I was a total fruitcake.
“I’ll see if I can find
out for you okay?” She smoothed out my blankets.
I nodded. Then I
remembered the source of my previous concern. “Sheila, where’s Kyung? And my
parents?” The pain medication was wearing off and I was starting to hurt again.
I didn’t want to be knocked out until I got some answers, though. I grimaced
against the pain and she saw it.
“Sweetie, you need some
more...”
“No! I want to know what
the hell is going on! And also, who were those men in my room and why were they
talking about my involvement with Kurt’s death?” I demanded.
“I can answer that.”
I looked up and one of
those men were back. He was with a security guard. My heart automatically
started to beat faster and that showed on the heart monitor.
“I’m not sure if you
remember, but I am David Whise and I am Ms. Miller’s
attorney. Considering the serious charges against you, there will be a security
guard positioned outside your door for my client’s protection.”
“Yeah, you better protect
that little bitch from me.” I muttered without thinking.
“Lizz, shhhhh!!” Sheila admonished.
“Keith!” He nodded
towards the guard.
The guard, Keith, walked
over to me and pulled out a bunch of handcuffs. Upon seeing those, I began to
panic. “No!! What are you doing?!” I tried to inch away from him in my bed, but
that made me gasp out in pain.”
“Hey!” Sheila demanded.
“Why is that necessary?”
“You heard her threaten
my client. All precautions must be taken to protect my client.” David stated
simply and coldly. "Carter is getting the same treatment. We weren't going
to cuff her, but she threatened my client. It's her own fault.
Keith was putting the
cuffs on my wrists and my panic increased. Immediately I was slammed with
flashbacks of the cage that I had spent so long in. Being tied down like an
animal with Marcus and Kurt taking every opportunity to use that metal pole. I
never used to be claustrophobic, until this.
“But she can’t even get
out of the bed. Look at her!” Sheila exclaimed. She turned her attention to me
and I could barely hear her try to calm me down, to no avail.
“Please! No more!
Don’t tie me up! Please not again! Please!!” I desperately cried,
my pathetic voice turning into an even worse wheeze. I couldn’t catch my
breath! “Oh god...”
Sheila cursed under her
breath and hollered out the door for some help. Her patient was gasping for air
and not getting it. She was twisting all around, trying to escape the hell she she was reliving in her mind.
The room filled with more
medical personnel and they managed to sedate Lizz and regualte
her breathing again. She would be sore as hell when she woke up, but that was
going to be the least of her problems.
~*~*~*~
A
few days had gone by since I was moved from Brian and my room. Everytime I asked a question about his condition or Lizz's, I was basically denied information. It was as if I
had no rights. AJ had placed a call to my attorney and he met with me and told
me that I was being charged with bodily harm with intent to commit murder on
Terri Miller.
My first question to him was who the hell is Terri Miller. My mind was becoming
like swiss cheese lately and I was having trouble
remembering things. The nurse reassured me that this was natural and would get
better in time.
I did finally remember Terri, but I couldn't recall the specific events about
throwing a rock at her and hitting her in the back. They told me that she was
permanently paralyzed.
A fat policeman with a clipboard and a heavy set of keys approached my bed.
Wordlessly, he uncuffed my leg first and then my
wrist. He tossed a piece of bright yellow clothing onto onto
the bed.
“Put this on,” he barked.
“Huh?”
“You’ve been discharged and you’re having your arraignment this afternoon,
we’re moving you to the county jail infirmary, your injuries aren’t life
threatening anymore. Now, start stripping Carter.”
~*~*~*~
Agnes met with the attorneys in Terri’s hospital room. She had just had her
back surgery that morning and was still under sedation.
“You remember us telling you that the FBI found Kurt Sloan’s body at the scene
two weeks ago, right?”
“Yes,” Agnes replied, not sure where this was heading.
“I doubt you’ll be surprised to hear that the autopsy results showed that Mr.
Sloan‘s death was from blunt force trauma, consistent with the plane crash and
not strangulation, which is what Terri kept saying that Lizz was guilty of.”
Agnes stood up and fussed with her daughter’s blankets, trying to buy time to
come up with an answer.
“Well, um, I didn’t quite understand where she came up with that idea to begin
with, I think she was despondent over his death and wasn’t thinking clearly.
I’m sure she just hated Lizz because she was close to that Nick fellow and she
just wasn’t thinking right with the drugs she’s on and all,” Agnes ran her
words together, hoping the attorney was buying the story.
“Well, if what you’re saying is the truth---”
“Of course it’s the truth, I never lie,” Agnes smiled sweetly at the
attorney.
“Then I need to get the police removed from that girl’s room and fast before
she counter sues or something.”
With that said, the attorney left the room quickly and hurried down the hall
towards Lizz’s room.
~*~*~*~
Dale and Marcus pushed Kyung into the old, rusted out suburban. Her knees were
skinned and her pants torn. The hair she had once taken so much pride in, hung
in her face, matted and dirty.
br> “Why do you keep running? They will find you,”
Kyung spat angrily at her captors.
“If they get that close, they’ll never get us alive, I can guarantee, Missy.”
As Dale spoke, he smoothed the hair away from Kyung’s dirt streaked face. She
tried to duck her head away from his hand, but he still managed contact. The
touch made her skin crawl.
“So where are we going now?” Kyung asked.
“None of your damn business, just shut your mouth,” Marcus hissed.
“Just a question, don’t get upset over it,” Kyung shot back. She knew that she was
playing with a loaded gun, but that was natural to her, when she was clearly
agitated by something, she kept picking away at it until she got the answers
she needed.
As Marcus raised his hand up, Kyung closed her eyes, waiting for the blow.
“Boy, put your hand down, it’s a waste of time, save it for Terri or your mom,”
Dale reprimanded.
~*~*~*~*~
Jason Whise
let himself into Lizz’s room. He was a little nervous
at how she was going to react when he told her that she had been falsely
accused of murder. What if she did sue? Almost to his relief, she was asleep.
At least he wasn’t going to have to deal with her just yet.
“What are you doing in
here?”
Jason jumped at the angry
voice. He turned around and immediately recognized the woman standing there as Lizz’s nurse, Sheila. She was glaring at him.
“Some of our information
was misunderstood and the charges against your patient have been dropped. You
can remove the restraints.” He informed her, his voice cold and hard.
“Oh that’s nice!” Sheila
spat. “The damage has already been done! Do you realize the severity of the
situation? I seriously doubt that you even have the slightest notion so let me
clue you in. This poor girl, along with her friends, was kidnapped and terrorizied. Someone beat the hell out of her and shot her.
I can’t even begin to understand what she went through. She can’t talk about
it. Anytime someone tries to ask her about it, she starts shaking. Not only is
her physical health in very serious condition, but her emotional health is extremely
fragile. Tying her down caused her to have a panic attack and she had to be
sedated. When she woke up, she panicked again and had to be sedated again.
And now you are telling me that we can remove the restraints?! Well how
nice of you!”
“Oh spare me the sob
story. My client went through equally as tramatic
experiences. She lost her boyfriend and will probably be paralyzed for the rest
of her life.” Jason retorted.
“You came down here to
tell me that I could remove the restraints right? Well you did, now get the
hell out of my patient’s room.” Sheila narrowed her eyes into angry slits.
Jason smiled cockily at
her and left the room. Sheila sighed heavily and went to remove the restraints
from Lizz’s wrists and ankles. Being under sedation
still, Lizz didn’t even stir. Sheila brushed a strand of hair of Lizz’s face and sighed again. Lizz was so alone. Her best
friend was still missing and everyone’s families that were involved were not
allowed near the hospital. If they did, Kyung died. Sheila knew at this time
that there were only three people that Lizz would let near her without
panicking. She didn’t know anything about Brian’s condition and the last she
heard about Nick was that he had amnesia. That was what they had said when he
was admitted. Sheila left Lizz’s room finally, trying
to come up with something.
~*~*~*~*~
“Damnit, I could kill her
for screwing us like this.” Dale muttered as they drove down the winding dirt
road. They seemed to getting further and further out in the middle of nowhere.
He was driving and Marcus sat shotgun. Kyung was tied down in the seat behind
them. The suburban’s heater was broken so the three
of them suffered in the cold temperature.
The longer this went on,
the more Kyung worried that she wasn’t going to make it out of this alive. Macus was growing steadily more angry with her as every
hour passed. It was only a matter of time before he let all his anger go on
her. Kyung’s thoughts drifted to Lizz, Brian and Nick. She was so worried about
them and not knowing what was going on was killing her.
~*~*~*~*~
Nurse Laura Shelton hung a new IV bag on her patient’s pole. He had been
slipping in and out of consciousness for the past few days, but he had finally woke
that morning. He was still very weak from surgery and the damage from the fluid
that had built around his heart and, by the looks of the dampness of his hair,
Laura suspected that he was running a temp.
“Nurse?” Brian called out weakly. His nurse obviously didn’t hear him so Brian
tried calling out for her again. “Nurse?”
“Hi, what can I get for you?” Laura asked cheerily.
Brian attempted to clear his throat, hoping that would make his voice sound a
little stronger.
“My friends?”
Laura nodded at Brian’s question. “I’m sorry, but I really don’t know too much
about them right now. Do you want me to check for you?”
Brian managed a slight nod.
“Okay, I’ll do that, but first I need to check to see if you’re spiking a temp,
your face looks pretty flushed,” the red haired nurse said as she placed a
thermometer into Brian’s ear. Instantly, the beeper went off on the small,
white device.
“Ah, just as I thought, 102.4,” Laura remarked as she looked at the reading on
the thermometer. “Okay, let me tell your doctor about the temp and then I’ll
check and see how your friends are, okay?”
As Brian watched his nurse leave the room, his thoughts went back to Nick and
Lizz. The last he remembered was hearing a gunshot and a man carrying Nick’s
body saying he accidentally shot him. Brian couldn’t remember anything after
that and wondered how long he had been out of it.
~*~*~*~*~
The police officer’s voice had a harsh edge to it. I didn’t waste any time
getting the hospital gown off and slipping into the boxer shorts and the bright
yellow coveralls. I couldn’t help but notice the words LARGO COUNTY JAIL
PRISONER in bold black letters across the back of the coveralls.
“Snap to it Carter, I don’t have all day,” the guard grumbled.
I started to speed up on putting my socks on, then something struck me as being
odd and I stopped.
“What gives you the right to force me to jail? I haven’t done anything!” I
insisted.
“You wanna play tough guy now woman beater?” The officer had a sick sneer on
his face. “Guys in there lump you in the same category as a child abuser,
they’re gonna have fun playing with your candy ass. Don’t make me have to call
for back up cause we’ll drag you screaming from here if we have to.”
I still couldn’t understand why they were accusing me of hitting a woman, it
made my head hurt trying to make sense of it. I sat on the edge of my bed and
folded my good arm across the sling on the other one, I didn’t plan on moving
for no one.
“Okay, then the fun begins Carter, you ass,” the guard said sharply before he
pulled his walkie talkie off his belt. “Mike, we need
six backup room 815, stat!”
Within a course of a few minutes, six uniformed state troopers entered the
room. I tried my best to plant my feet on the ground, my body on the bed to no
avail. Whether I wanted it or not, they were going to take me from the hospital
to the jail.
Desperate, I started jerking my body up and down, tried to squirm away from
their grasp. One officer grabbed deep into the shoulder that had been shot, I
screamed out from the firey pain it produced.
I was oblivious to the stares and the flashes of light, which I assumed were
camera flashes. I didn’t care I needed to get away from these people that were
taking me away and had no right to do so.
Once on the elevator, they literally dropped my body to the floor.
“Now Carter, you can either cooperate or you can make an ass of yourself when
we hit the main floor, your choice,” a short, fat county police office smirked.
“I’ll be good...... I’ll be okay,” I lied. I had better plans when we reached
the ground floor.
“Just in case,” a policeman said as he wrapped a thick, heavy chain around my
waist twice and then linked it through handcuffs and snapped them onto my
wrists.
The door ringed as it opened up to the hospital lobby. I ducked my head and
bolted past the policemen in the elevator, running as fast as I could towards
the doors. I could hear the footsteps ensuing behind me as I ran barefooted
across the tiled floor. People were standing off to the side, staring and
gasping as I ran past them. They must have thought I was a murderer or some
really bad criminal.
I set my sites to the exit doors, but to my dismay, it was packed with people
standing in front of it either entering or leaving the hospital. I had no other
choice as I lowered my head and took the large plate glass window next to the
door....
~*~*~*~
My eyes flew open as I felt like a thousand needles were stabbing my body all
at once. I had been awake for the past hour feeling incredibly uneasy. That
clenched feeling that I had grown accustomed to had come back, full force. I
knew that it had to do with Nick. I wasn’t having a full blown panic attack
like I had done before so I just laid there and tried to stay calm. When this
sudden explosion of pain hit me, I started to panic. I heard the beeps of the
heart monitor get more rapid.
“Lizz? Sweetie, what is
it? Shit!“ Sheila burst in the room. She took in the monitors and then her
patient breathing hard, eyes wide with fear. “Lizz you need to calm down. What
is it? What’s wrong?”
“Hurts...please...he...he...”
I gasped.
“What hurts? Who?” Sheila
pressed.
I couldn’t even reply to
her. I couldn’t catch my breath. All I could picture was that something had
happened to Nick and visions of Dale, Marcus, and Terri only heightened my
panic. It was like we were all back in that basement.
“Lizz breathe!!”
Sheila tried to remain calm herself. In her 7 years of being a nurse, she had
never seen a patient react this way. She called in some help and once again,
the only thing they could do was sedate Lizz. Lizz wasn’t doing herself any
good by getting so worked up. Her injuries were already serious and they were
playing with some kidneys that were on the verge of failing. Now these panic
attacks were only adding to the danger. If this kept getting worse like this,
they were going to lose her.
~*~*~*~*~
Brian’s nurse Laura
headed downstairs to the main floor. She thought Nick Carter would have been on
the same floor as Brian, but he wasn’t there. She tried to call down to
admitting multiple times, but after being put on hold a half a dozen times, she
decided to just go down and see for herself. As she exited the staff elevators
and walked around the corner, her jaw dropped at the scene before her. A man in
bright yellow prison garb was running through the lobby with six troopers and a
couple of county policeman on his tale. Her shock doubled when she saw that the
escapee was Nick Carter. He seemed to hesitate briefly when he saw the press of
people up against the main doors. Camera were flashing at a blinding rate. Then
seeing no other choice, he ducked his head and charged through the plate glass
window. Everyone seemed frozen in motion as he let out a cry as the glass
shattered upon impact. Laura gasped and raced over to him. The troopers were
already surrounded him. A few more were trying to get the crowd to back up.
“Let me through! Let me
through! I’m a nurse!” Laura cried, shoving past the people that stood in her
way.
Nick was hunched over on
the ground, covered with blood. She knelt down by him.
"Let me see,
hun." Laura tried to get a look at where he was bleeding from. He was
covered in tiny glass shards.
He shrank away from her
touch, yelling out.
"I'm a nurse! I'm
not going to hurt you. Let me see where you are hurt." She said softly,
yet urgently.
He finally looked up at
her. He was going to say something, but one of the officers cut him off.
"He did this to
himself. The prison infirmiry will check him
over." He said gruffly.
"Absolutely not! You
don't have any idea how injured he is. He needs to stay here at least until we
can make sure that he didn't do some serious damage." Laura argued.
"Forget it lady. He
has already proven that he is a threat." The same officer snapped at her.
"What are the
charges against him?" Laura demanded. "That's none of your..."
A short, fat officer cut
off the first one. "He attacked two women. One of which is in critical
condition and the other is a parapalegic now."
Nick's head shot up. He
beat up two women? What the hell?! There has to be some mistake! He
thought to himself.
Laura immediately noticed
the look on Nick's face. It was of total confusion. He had no idea what they
were talking about and he looked horrified that they would insinuate that he
would do such a thing. That made her even more determined to help him.
"Whatever the case,
he needs to be checked out first." She insisted.
"No can do."
The troopers scooped him up and dragged him through the crowd of people toward
the van that had pulled up alongside the curb. Camera flashes were going a mile
a minute and Laura could see the tears of humiliation streaming down Nick's
face. She stood there helplessly as the van pulled away. Almost immediately
people started to ask her questions and she ignored them all as she ran back
inside the hospital. There were a ton of security around now. Some were
cleaning up the glass, but most were trying to control the crowd.
Laura couldn't stop
thinking about what had just happened as she headed for the ICU floor. She just
couldn't believe that Nick Carter would beat two women as seriously as they say
he did. When she reached the ICU's front desk she asked to see Lizz's nurse. To her mild relief it was Sheila. Sheila had
worked on Laura's floor before moving to ICU so they knew each other well.
"How are you doing
Laura?" Sheila looked very tired and weary.
"Been better. How's
your patient? Brian Littrell is my patient and he has been asking about
her." Laura replied.
"Not so hot. I don't
even know what to make of it. Her kidney's are on the brink of failure and she
was beaten pretty bad. She's got punctured lungs, broken bones, the whole nine
yards. I'm more worried about her mental state though. She woke up awhile ago
calling for Nick. She said that something was wrong and then started having a
panic attack. She had to be sedated. Then when she woke up, she was having
another one and she kept repeating 'hurts' and 'he...he' over and over. She
hyperventilated and had to be sedated again. Her lungs are already weak and
this is making things a lot worse for her. She won't even talk to anyone.
Whatever happened when they were kidnapped, she seems like she keeps reliving
it. Or she is convinced that something is wrong with Nick Carter." Sheila
explained.
Laura's eyes widened.
"Do you know that he has been arrested for assault on the daughter of the
kidnapper and also Lizz? A bunch of troopers were trying to escort him out and
he tried to make a run for it. He ended up jumping through a plate glass window.
I tried to insist that he be taken care of before he left, but they wouldn't
hear of it. There wasn't anything I could do."
"What?! You have got
to be kidding me! Is he okay? He wouldn't attack a woman though! Besides,
remember what happened last spring? He and Lizz stayed really close friends
after that!" Sheila exclaimed.
"Maybe that is why
she keeps freaking out. You said she won't talk to anyone right? Still...I
can't believe that either." Laura frowned. "Brian keeps asking about
them. Shit! How the hell do I tell him that his best friend is in jail and his
other friend is..."
"Getting worse? I
don't know. How bad is Brian? I don't know who else that could reach her at
this point." Sheila interjected.
Laura shook her head.
"He's not in that good of condition himself. He's spiking a temp and he's
really weak from the surgery."
"And what about
Nick? Are the parents still being instructed to stay away? Where are the other
band guys? Can they help?" Sheila asked.
"I don't
know..." Laura rubbed her eyes.
"So, basically we're
in trouble here..." Sheila sighed. "They are the only ones that know
what is going on with each other and none of them can even help each
other."
By the time Laura returned to Brian’s room, pulmonary services were already
there giving him a breathing treatment. She thumbed through his chart and read
the report that indicated that the pneumonia had settled into both lungs. His
condition further complicated the pneumonia since Brian was unable to move
around as of yet.
Brian’s eyes met hers and she knew exactly what her patient wanted.
“Just wait and relax and do the treatment, we’ll talk after that, okay?”
Laura laid his chart on the counter, her back to him. She was wondering how
she’d be able to explain what was going on with Nick. This was going to be
difficult no matter what she told him. She felt her body tense as she heard the
final hiss of the medication going through the mask.
“You sound much better, I’ll be back in two hours to give you another one,” the
respiratory tech stated to Brian as he placed his stethoscope around his neck.
“Thanks,” Brian replied, weakly.
Brian waited for the tech to leave the room.
“How’s Nick?” Brian blurted.
“Shhhh,” Laura said as she placed her stethoscop on
his chest, preparing to chart his progress.
Brian waited anxiously for her to finish, he dutifully took deep breaths and
let them out for her, coughing each time. After Laura finished writing in his
chart, she walked over to his bed and sat down beside him.
“Okay, I’m not sure how to begin this, but I guess it’s just better to say it
instead of beating around the bush,” Laura said. “Initially, Nick was in this
room with you, do you remember that?”
Brian shook his head no, afraid of where this was leading to.
“Well, once Nick didn’t need ICU services anymore, you know, sort of like
graduated from intensified medical care, they moved him to a private room
towards the end of the hall on this floor,” she paused, making sure the
information was registering.
“Okay, do you remember anything about possible charges being brought against
Nick?”
Again, Brian shook his head no.
“Well, they placed him under house arrest, which was another reason why they
moved him from this room to a new one.”
“Why?”
Laura shook her head. “I’m not totally sure, they were saying that he had
beaten to women, one of them was Lizz and another woman was named Terri, who is
permanently paralyzed because of the assault.”
“I don’t understand,” Brian stated slowly, struggling to breathe. “Nick
didn’t.”
“I’m sure Nick’s lawyer is looking this over, try not to worry about his,”
Laura said as she patted Brian’s arm.
“Can I see him?” Brian asked.
“Sorry, he was just discharged a little bit ago,” Laura apologized.
“Why didn’t he stop here?” Brian asked, softly.
“He, um, couldn’t, they have him in custody, remember?”
Before Brian could respond, AJ walked into the room.
“Hey Bri! Wow, you should see the lobby! Man, there’s broken glass and blood
all over the place! They said some dude from jail tried to escape.!” AJ stated
as he dragged a chair from the corner of the room over to Brian’s bed.
“Nick,” Brian said quietly, looking at his nurse.
Laura nodded in agreement. “I’m sorry, I tried to help, but they wouldn’t let
“Holy shit, that was Nick that went through that window?” AJ asked.
“He’s okay though, right?”
“From what I could see, he had a lot of cuts and scrapes, but they really
wouldn’t let me go near him,” Laura replied.
“How’s Lizz?” Brian asked.
“Ironically, I ran into her nurse right after seeing the commotion in the
lobby. She said that Lizz was holding her own, but was having setbacks of a
possible kidney rejection and the panic attacks she’s been experiencing. I
found out from her that when Nick has one, or when something happens to him,
she feels it too.”
“Yeah, we know all about that,” AJ replied. “It’s kind of been a long standing
thing between Nick and Lizz.”
~*~*~*~
“End of the road, Carter,” Officer Lamb stated as he opened rear door of the
police car. “Hey, Steve, grab me some latex, he’s got blood all over him and
everything.” The officer shot a look at me. “Sit tight for a minute.”
I waited quietly as the officer put surgical gloves on both hands. I felt lik some sort of animal with a deadly disease. He grabbed
my by my good arm and steadied me once I was out of the vehicle.
“So, Steve, did you catch the end of the Knick’s game
last night?” Officer Lamb asked as they walked me through the sliding glass
doors on the entrance of the jail.
“Yeah, boy it sure was touch and go during the second period,” Steve replied.
As we walked in, the stale smell of the air in the building first caught my
attention. I looked around the room quickly. There were dozens of people in
police uniforms walking around the room. Long steel benches were on either side
of the walls, big hooks jutting out from them. Two people on opposite sides of
the room were sitting on the benches, one wrist handcuffed to the hook.
“Okay, step up here,” Officer Lamb pointed to a white line on the floor. “You
can either co-operate with us or we can do this the hard way.”
As I stepped up to the glass window, Officer Lamb did a quick swipe on the side
of my face, wiping up some of the blood that was dripping down.
“Hey Steve, I could sell this on ebay for some cash,”
my arresting officer joked.
“Name?”
The clerk that sat behind the window barely looked at me, she sat and waited
for my answer, fingers poised over the keys.
“Nick Carter,” I mumbled.
Officer Lamb jerked my arm a little. “Full name,” he barked.
“Nickolas Gene Carter,” I replied.
“N-i-c-h-o-l-a-s?” the woman asked.
“No, N-i-c-k-o-l-a-s,” I replied, cursing my mother’s decision to spell my name
differently under my breath.
After they finished going over the info of my name, social security number,
date of birth and address, I was led down the hall to another room with some
more steel benches. Officer Lamb unhooked the handcuffs and then attached one
to the hook on the bench as he directed me to sit down.
“Hey Beth, need for you to get this one done first, he’s going directly to the
infirmary,” Officer Lamb stated as he tossed a chart down on the counter.
~*~*~*~
Kyung shivered as she listened to Dale and Marcus bickering in the front seat
of the surburban. She was cold, tired and stressed
out. Not a good combination for her. She ran a short fuse when she was stressed
out and she was desperately fighting the urge to lash out at her kidnappers.
“Ya know, old man, you’re towing a thin line here. I’ve just about had it with you,
I’m sick of you, sick of mom and especially Terri. To hell with all of this!
I’m stopping at the next town and dropping your ass off. I don’t need your
sorry ass dragging me down.”
“Think again boy!” Dale yelled as he jerked the steering wheel sharply towards
the right.
Kyung barely had enough time to brace herself for the certain impact that was
coming. There was yelling, swearing, tires screeching, the
sound of steel crunching and then it was silent.
Dazed, Kyung found herself on the roof interior of the flipped over vehicle. As
the smoke and dust started to settle, she quickly took inventory of her arms
and legs, checking to see if everything was still in place and functioned.
Moving her right arm caused a great deal of pain and Kyung decided that since
it looked definately deformed, she must have broken
it.
Getting her bearings, Kyung looked around towards the front of the overturned
vehicle. Dale was laying half in and half out of the passenger side window, the
fixed look in his eyes told Kyung that he didn’t survive the crash. Hearing
moaning, Kyung looked for Marcus. She couldn’t see him from the inside of the
car. She crawled towards the back and after kicking out the shards of glass
from the broken rear window, she gingerly eased her body through.
She found Marcus laying on the ground, his body pinned underneath the surburban, only his upper torso exposed. There were short
puffs of steam that escaped from his mouth, so Kyung knew that he was still
alive and breathing.
Marcus turned his head from side to side, moaning loudly. His eyes finally
fluttered open and then focused on Kyung.
“Bitch, get me out of here,” Marcus demanded.
~*~*~*~*~
Why is it that during the
day there is nothing good on TV? I don't watch soap operas and I liked talk
shows even less. They were all the same. Either the woman’s husband was
cheating on her with her sister and then it ends up being a double cross
because he was cheating on her with that sister’s husband or something
gross like that. There was a knock on the door and I welcomed the distraction.
“Come in!” I called out.
“I bet you thought you
were rid of us didn’t ya?”
My blood ran cold as I
looked towards the door. Dale was standing in the doorway and he had Nick in
front of him, his arms pinned.
“No!” I gasped.
“Or how about your best
friend here?” Suddenly Marcus appeared, carrying Kyung’s limp body in his arms.
“Kyung?” I whimpered.
“She isn’t dead, but
she’s gonna be!” Marcus barked.
“Where’s Brian?” My eyes
darted back and forth between them.
Marcus laughed. “We
already took care of him.”
“No.” I whispered.
“See, we’re giving you a
choice.” Dale began, releasing Nick’s arms. Surprisingly, he didn’t try to
escape or anything. But then I saw why. Dale was holding a gun. At the end of
the gun was a silencer.
“You get to choose which
one we kill next.” Marcus continued, grinning sadistically.
“No! No! I can’t...You
can’t make me...” I cried.
“Fine! Then they both
die. Say goodbye Lizz!” Dale yelled.
“NOOOOOO!!!!” I screamed
as the muted sound of a shot rang out. It as immediately followed by another
and I started to struggle in my bed. Dale grabbed me by the arms and I knew I
was next. I thrashed in attempt to tear free of his grasp, ignoring the pain I
was causing myself.
“Lizz! Lizz, calm down!”
Sheila tried to hold Lizz down. She was thrashing all around and was going to
bust her stitches if she kept it up.
“LET ME GO!” I hollered
frantically.
“Lizz you need to stop
thrashing! It’s Sheila! Lizz!!” Sheila persisted.
Finally I opened my eyes
and sure enough, Sheila was standing over me. Dale and Marcus weren’t anywhere
to be seen. I sagged against the pillows behind me and let out a choked sob.
“They...they were here...he shot...he killed them...my fault...all my fault!” I
gasped between my sobs. The pain from moving around so much was starting to
catch up with me.
“Shhhhh.
There’s no one here okay? You’re fine now. I’m going to give you some Demerol
for the pain, alright? I want you to concentrate on taking slow deep breaths.
Can you do that for me?” Sheila soothed.
“Where are they? Where
are my friends?” I choked out.
“Sweetie, you need to
worry about yourself right now.” Sheila started as she pushed the pain
medication through my IV.
“No! Don’t you
understand? All of this is my fault. I need to know what’s happened to them! Is
Kyung in the hospital too? And where’s Brian? They didn’t give him his meds and
he got hurt in the plane crash. And what happened to Nick? Something’s wrong! I
know it is. I can feel it.” My voice got more and more frantic.
“Shhhh. You need
to try to stay calm sweetie.” Sheila rested her hand on my forehead. “You are
really warm.”
I started to feel sleepy
from the Demerol, but I didn’t want to sleep anymore. I wanted answers. I
didn’t care how much pain I was in. I needed to know where my friends were.
Sheila stuck that temperature thing in my ear and waited for the beep. I tried
my hardest to fight the drowsiness, but it didn’t matter. The drug was winning
and I barely heard her tell me I had a temperature before I fell asleep.
~*~*~*~*~
“So you’re saying that
Nick was taken to jail?” AJ demanded.
Laura sighed. “Yes. I
tried to convince the state troopers that he needed to stay longer, but they
wouldn’t listen.”
“He went through a
window?” Brian whispered, still shocked at what he was hearing.
Laura immediately noticed
the look on his face. “I don’t think he was seriously injured though. Just some
cuts and scrapes from the glass.” She added quickly to allay his fears.
“Does he even know why he
was taken to jail? He had amnesia.” Brian could feel tears stinging the back of
his eyes.
Laura looked away from
him. “I don’t think he did.”
“He’s gotta be totally
freaked out.” AJ muttered darkly. “I wish I was in here when they tried to take
him away.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you
really would have helped matters.” Brian raised an eyebrow at AJ, knowing how
he was around authoritative figures.
“I could’ve done something.”
He insisted.
“What about Kyung? Is she
okay?” Brian asked suddenly
. Laura flinched. She
didn’t want to have to be the bearer of bad news once again. It occurred to her
that he might have assumed that Kyung had been with Lizz this entire time. He
didn’t know that she was still being held by the kidnappers.
~*~*~*~*~
“Excuse me?!” Kyung
narrowed her eyes at Marcus.
“I said, get me out of
here, bitch“ He repeated, putting emphasis on the last word.
“I don’t think you are in
any position to be talking to me like that.” Kyung glared at him.
“I don’t care what
position I’m in. Get your ass over here and get me out of this. What do you
think you are gonna do, wander off and get help all on your own? We’re out in
the middle of fuckin nowhere. You’ll die.” Marcus sneered.
“Oh is that right? Looks
to me that I will have a better chance at surviving than you will, pinned under
that suburban.” She retorted.
“If you don’t get me out
of here...” He threatened.
“You’ll what? Shout more
insults at me?” Kyung laughed bitterly. “My friends are probably dead because
of you! Our plane fucking crashed and instead of giving up your vendetta
against us, you continued on. You sick shit, I should leave you here to die.
You deserve it!”
Marcus looked shocked at
the amount of hatred that resonated from this girl’s voice. She wouldn’t really
leave him here to die would she?
“You didn’t give a shit
about Lizz when she was freezing to death in the snow. You didn’t care when
Terri almost beat her to death. You only pretended to care about Brian being
pinned against that seat, only to carry on that stupid charade. You freaked out
when you shot Nick only because you didn’t want to go to jail. But then you
proved that you didn’t give a shit when you had a chance to escape and you left
him there to bleed to death. MY FRIENDS ARE PROBABLY DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!!!”
She screamed as she turned on her heel and started walking away.
A sense of panic started
to creep over Marcus. “Kyung. Don’t leave me here. Don’t let me die.” His voice
cracked.
Kyung
halted midstep. As much as she wanted to leave him
there, she couldn’t. She wasn’t like them. She couldn’t kill. She sighed loudly
and turned back around.
~*~*~*~
After I was processed into the system, they led me to a small room telling me
that I had a visitor. I was guided towards a plastic chair across from my
attorney, Spencer Marshall and sat down.
“Take the cuffs off him!” Spencer growled.
The guard sighed and quickly snapped the hand cuffs from my wrists.
“Now leave the room,” Spencer ordered.
“Hey, I got explicit instructions to stay with this inmate during the
interview,” the guard replied.
“I don’t give a shit about your instructions, I’m taking full responsibility
for my client, now get the hell out of here,” Spencer demanded.
We waited until the guard had left the small room and then Spencer leaned
forward, evidentally looking over the cuts and
scrapes on my face.
“That doctor did a piss poor job stitching your forehead up,” he remarked as he
brushed the hair away from my forehead. “That’s definitely gonna leave a nasty
scar.”
I didn’t answer him, I didn’t care at this point about scars or anything else.
Here I was stuck in a jail and I had no idea why or what I did.
After he pulled out a yellow legal pad and uncapped a pen, the attorney sighed
and started asking me questions.
“Nick, do you have any idea of why you were sent here?”
I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head no.
“Do you remember being kidnapped?”
I tried to think but nothing came to me. My memory was still pretty fuzzy.
“You know who you are though, right?”
I laughed at the stupidity of his question. “Yeah, I know who I am.”
He didn’t seem to believe me, he stared at me over the top of his glasses that
had slid down his nose.
“Nick..... Nick Carter, okay?”
“At least you have that figured out. I don’t understand why you can’t remember
specific events over the past few months. For right now, I need to stall for
time so we can gather a good defense for you. I’m going to request psychiatric
evaluation to declare you instane and unable to stand
trial. Don’t worry, it’s only to show that you’re mentally unable to defend
yourself, not to have you committed.”
~*~*~*~*~
AJ, Kevin and Howie took a seat in the crowded courtroom, waiting for Nick to
appear.
“I still am having a hard time believing they can pull this shit on Nick,” AJ
whispered harshly to Kevin and Howie.
“I know, AJ, I know,” Kevin replied.
“I mean the guy has fricken amnesia for crying out
loud. How the hell is he supposed to defend himself?”
A restless AJ kept shifting his weight in his chair and drumming his fingers on
the armrests. “What the hell is taking them so long?”
Howie nudged AJ and pointed towards the doors that were opening. “Here he comes
now.”
The threesome focused their attention to the opening doors. Nick slipped
through, escorted by two uniformed county deputies. His hands were handcuffed
together in front of himself. His face was scraped and red looking. The fat lip
with the cut across the corner of his mouth didn’t help matters much with him
looking like a trouble maker.
AJ wanted to get Nick’s attention, but he was walking with his head bowed, not
making any eye contact with anyone or anything in that courtroom.
“All rise for the honorable Justine Briggs,” the baliff
called out.
~*~*~*~*~
“I don’t know what the
hell you expect me to do. Especially with a broken arm.” Kyung huffed as she
stared at Marcus.
“I can feel my legs.
They’re just trapped.” He replied.
“Too bad they aren’t
broken.” Kyung muttered.
Marcus started to
respond, but thought better of it. He didn’t want to run the risk that she
would leave him.
Kyung leaned down and
tried to lift the part of the suburban that was covering his legs. Of course
with only one arm, she couldn’t budge it.
“What if you put that bar
under here and then put your weight on it and maybe I can slide out.” Marcus
gestured to a piece of the suburban that was broken off. It was as long as the
bumper and had a similar shape. Kyung wondered what part of the car it came
from. She could shove one end under the car and put something there to see-saw
it. Then she could put all her weight on the other end and see if it was enough
for him to get himself out.
After many failed efforts
and frustrated words, Kyung finally managed to use that method to budge the
suburban. It just barely slid a little, but it was enough. Marcus slid out and
shakily stood up. Amazingly he didn’t have any broken bones. Only some scrapes
and bruises.
“Nice job bitch, now lets
go before we get caught.” Marcus smirked at her as he grabbed her good arm.
Kyung balked. “What the
hell are you doing?! I just saved your life you asshole!” She yelled as she
tried to twist out of his grasp.
“Yeah and thanks, but
that doens’t change anything. So shut up before I get
mad.” Marcus shrugged.
Kyung boiled with rage.
“Fuck you!” She twisted around and kicked him, as hard as she could, between
the legs. Marcus let out a high-pitched scream and dropped to the ground,
curling into a ball and moaning. Kyung took that oppurtunity
to escape. She started running as fast as she could. To her dismay, his angry
voice begane to follow.
“YOU BITCH! YOU ARE GOING
TO PAY!” He screamed as he ran to catch up with her.
The lack of food, sleep,
and level of emotional stress was taking its toll on Kyung. He was gaining on
her and she couldn’t do anything about it.
~*~*~*~*~
Agnes walked brusquely
towards Lizz’s room. She had been advised to stay
away from her, but she couldn’t help herself. She wanted to make sure that she
was suffering as much as her Terri. Agnes smiled at the thought of Nick in
jail. He was going to get it in there alright! She wanted to pay a visit to
Brian as well, but security around him was too tight. She had to settle on
Lizz.
I was just starting to
wake back up when I heard a knock at my door. Before I could answer, the door
opened. Terri’s mother walked in and smiled at me. I felt my heart move to my
throat.
“What are you doing
here?!” I whispered. I didn’t want her to see that I was afraid.
“Oh I just wanted to see
how you were.” She smiled sweetly at me.
“Bitch, liar.” I glared
at her.
Her demeanor changed. Her
eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a viscious
smile. “Oh but I did. I just wanted to see if you were suffering as much as you
should. I’ve heard you are having a rough time of it. Poor baby.” She sneered.
“It could be worse. You could be missing still. Or you could be in jail.”
Oh god, what did she
mean? What was she talking about?! I started to shake.
Her grin turned even more
sinister. “Oh! You mean you didn’t know?!”
~*~*~*~*~
“What’s wrong? Is
she...is she?” Brian didn’t want to finish the thought.
“No! Well, I don’t know.”
Laura said finally. “The kidnappers still have her.”
Brian felt sick. “No.” He
whispered.
“We haven’t heard much.”
Laura said, somewhat apologetically.
“And Lizz...” Brian
trailed off. “Who’s with her?”
Laura shook her head.
“Oh god. I have to see if
she is okay.” Brian shifted his eyes back and forth between AJ and his nurse.
“No way. Not yet anyway.
Not until you are in better condition.” Laura stated firmly.
“AJ will you go check on
her?” Brian asked anxiously.
AJ nodded. “Just stay
calm okay?”
“Nick,
god, what do you think is happening with him?” Brian felt even more sick at the
idea of his best friend sitting in jail for something he didn’t do.
AJ froze when he heard Brian remark about Nick’s predicament. He didn’t have
the heart to tell him what had happen earlier in the afternoon in court.
“I’ll be back in a minute after I check on Lizz for ya,” AJ managed to call out
as he left the room.
As he walked down the hall, AJ’s mind filled with the scenes of the court
hearing earlier in the day. Nick never made eye contact with them, he just
stood in front of the judge, his head hanging down. They had chains wrapped
around his waist, connected to his wrists and they made a noise that AJ decided
he would never forget for the rest of his life. He shuddered when the memory of
the noise crept into his mind.
”Your honor, I wish to declare my client emotionally uncapable
of defending himself. He was insane at the time the alleged events took place.”
”Nickolas Carter is remanded to
AJ squeezed his eyes shut as the door to the elevator closed. The last image he
had was of Nick being led away to some state nuthouse and there wasn’t a damn
thing any of them could do to prevent it. How could he tell that to Brian? That
would kill him.
“Yes, your little perfect friend, or should I say your six foot tall friend has
been arrested. I can’t believe you don’t know about that, it’s been on the
news,” Agnes taunted as she turned on Lizz’s
television set. “Oh, and don’t worry, he did put up a fight as they were taking
him away from the hospital. You see though, Nick isn’t very bright, he jumped
through a plate glass window on his way out instead of taking the door.”
Lizz narrowed her eyes at Agnes. “What are you talking about?”
“You again? What are you doing in her room?” AJ’s voice boomed from the
doorway.
“She’s the one AJ, she did this to us!” Lizz cried out.
Agnes tried to laugh Lizz off. “Oh, the stuff they put these people on, makes
their minds a bit crazy,” she made a circle with her finger next to her temple.
“AJ! Her name is Agnes and she kidnapped us! Her and her daughter and the rest
of her freaked out family!”
AJ hadn’t moved from when he entered the room, his mouth hanging open. Anges laughed.
“See Lizz, see how farfetched your story is? I mean, who would think a fragile
old woman like me would kidnap young and vibrant people like yourself? Even
this boy has difficulty comprehending your story.”
Almost as if on que, CNN showed a video of Nick, in bright yellow prison grab,
running in the hosptial lobby and then jumping
through a window. Lizz gasped when she watched it.
“I think you need to come with me and talk to the police,” AJ finally spoke.
“You seem to be forgetting our deal here,” Agnes whispered harshly to him.
“Huh?”
“No one, no family or friends are supposed to be here at the hospital! You
broke that and so now watch Brian or Lizz get their just rewards,” Agnes spat.
“Lady, you just admitted you are one of the kidnappers!” AJ glared.
“Tsk... tsk.... tsk,” Agnes reprimanded. “Now, be a good little Backstreet
Boy and mind your own business or Brian could end up with a big ole injection
of air in his IV line, that could foul things up really bad. You know that
would travel to his heart and kill him in seconds.”
With that being stated, Agnes stormed past AJ, leaving him standing in the
doorway, stunned.
~*~*~*~*~
I stared out the window at the huge brown brick building. FULTON STATE
INSTITUTE was printed on a sign in the front. This was all a really bad
dream and I couldn’t wake up from it. I stared at the man as he unhooked me
from the heavy bolt on the floor in front of my seat.
“Okay, come along with me,” he said, glancing up as he handed a folder to me.
I glanced down at the big tan folder. It had my name and ID number written
across it. It looked odd, Carter, Nickolas Gene, 360825246.
They led me to a windowless room, two chairs and a table was situated in it.
The humming of the florescent lights made it sound like one of those
interrogation rooms you see on police movies and stuff. As I sat down in a
chair, a young woman with striking blue eyes and long dark hair entered the
room. She was dressed in tan khakis and a dark blue shirt with the word
“Please, you can take those stupid handcuffs and chains off of him, I’m sure he
will behave,” Mandy said as she sat down in front of me.
She slid the folder away from me and opened it up, taking the papers out and
placing them in front of her.
“Hi Nick, my name is Mandy, I’m one of the counselors here at
I had a big lump in my throat and I knew if I opened my mouth to speak I would
either start crying or nothing would come out. I kept quiet.
“Okay, looks like you’ve been recovering nicely from the accident you had in
that plane crash, that’s good. You have no other medical history besides that,
right?” Mandy spoke aloud to me as she read through the chart. “Oh, wait,
you’re on meds for seizures? Okay, we’ll make sure you get those like you
should,” she looked up and smiled.
There was something about her that made me feel at ease. For the first time in
weeks, I found myself smiling. It wasn’t much but it was more than I had been
doing.
“Okay, looks like these people can come and see you, that’s good, we encourage
family and friends,” Mandy remarked as she continued to look through the
papers.
“He’s not to have any contact,” the man that brought me here remarked.
Mandy shot her head up and gave the man a not-so-pleasant stare. “Why are you
still here? He’s my patient and he’s in my care, go, your job is done now.”
I smiled again, I liked Mandy’s style...... a lot.
~*~*~*~*~
I barely noticed Agnes
march past AJ. My whole focus was the television. They showed Nick running
through the plate glass again and I flinched.
“That’s what I felt.” I
said softly.
“What?”
I turned my eyes to AJ.
He still looked stunned by Agnes’ confession. His gaze flickered from me to the
television.
“A thousand needles
stabbing my body all at once. It scared the hell outta me. Until now, I didn’t
know what happened. It was him jumping through the window though.” I murmured.
Her last words sunk in. “Where’s Brian? Oh god, AJ, you can’t let her hurt
him.”
“I’m not letting her near
him. Lizz who was that woman? She was involved in the kidnapping?” AJ
pressed.
I nodded. “That was
Terri’s mother. Remember, Terri is the one who sent the Enquiror
pictures of Nick and I in here. She, her mom, dad, brother and boyfriend
kidnapped us. They...they...” I stopped, my voice choking up. I shut my eyes,
but that made it worse. Images of that basement, the cages, Kyung’s trance,
Marcus carrying an unconscious Brian after he collapsed in the heat, Nick
having a seizure, them whipping him when I tried to escape. Then the plane
crash and when I first realized Nick had amnesia. How my heart sank when he
thought I was the kidnapper. How he blamed me. And he was right. It was my
fault. And now all this...I didn’t even realize I was crying until AJ put a
hand on my shoulder.
“Hey, shhhhh,
don’t cry. It’s going to be okay.” He soothed.
“What happened AJ? Why is
Nick in jail? Where’s Kyung? Where’s Brian?” I whispered.
He looked pained. I know
he was afraid of my reaction and hell, I was afraid of what I was going to
hear. I rested my hand on his arm. “Please, AJ, I need to know.”
~*~*~*~*~
There was a knock at the
door and both Nick and Mandy looked to see who it was. One of the employees
opened the door partway.
“Carter, you have a
visitor.”
Mandy looked at Nick and
he shrugged. “Well I am going to go make a few phone calls and I will be back
alright?”
Nick nodded, wondering
who his visitor was when he wasn’t supposed to have contact with anyone.
His question was answered
when a scruffy man walked in and sat down. He didn’t speak, but waited for the
orderly and Mandy to leave. The door was shut behind them and it was only Nick
and the scruffy guy in the small room. He was wearing dirty jeans and a blue
shirt that indicated that he worked at a car repair shop. There was dirt and
grease underneath his fingernails. Nick stared at him, trying to figure out who
he was. The man didn’t make him feel very comfortable. The stranger seemed to
take notice of that and was amused by it.
“Trying to figure out who
I am?” The man smirked. “Trying to trying to work through all those holes in
your head to place me? Well, don’t worry, you won’t. You have never seen me and
you are going to forget my face as soon as I leave here. I am only delivering a
message for my sister. I guess it sucks to be sitting in this nuthouse and
being on trial when you have no idea what you did.”
Nick couldn’t believe
what he was hearing. What the hell was going on?! He wanted to jump up and
shout at this person to leave, but he felt frozen to the chair. The man
continued.
“You’re on trial for the
assault of two women, huh? You don’t believe you did this right?” When Nick
didn’t respond, the man barked, “I asked you a question!”
Nick’s eyes widened and
he shook his head slowly.
“Well I don’t give a shit
about this Lizz person, but you messed up my niece. Don’t think you are getting
away with it.” The man snapped.
Nick’s mind reeled. His
memory was trying to come back and he vaguely remembered the scene that had
transpired in the snow before they were rescued. He remembered Terri dragging
Lizz over in front of him and yelling like a crazed lunatic at the top of her
lungs.
“ Here's your truth,
Carter. Seven months ago you tried to kill yourself. Lizz here tried to stop
you by saying she was going to drink some medicine that would kill her. Well
she was too late. She didn't quite do the job because you still took the pills.
You both ended up in the hospital. You both almost died. I would have made a
shitload of money off of both of you selling information to the National Enquiror, but you and your stupid friends had to ruin that.
See?! It is her fault. If she would have stopped you, none of this would have
happened." Terri screamed.
Then she started beating
the crap outta Lizz. Nick’s jaw dropped. He didn’t assault Lizz! It was Terri.
He didn’t really remember Lizz, but he knew he wouldn’t attack her.
The man narrowed his
eyes. “I just have a little advice for you, Carter. It would be in your
friends’ better interest to not fight these charges. See, my sis is pretty
upset about her daughter and you still need to pay. Both Brian and Lizz are in
the hospital and from what I have heard, they are having a pretty rough time.
Brian has pneumonia and as you know, he was shot. Not to mention the
complications of missing whatever the hell meds he takes. And Lizz hasn’t been
able to even get off the morphine yet. You should see her. Ha! Oh, I heard her
body might be rejecting her kidneys now too. The best part is that has to be
sedated every time she wakes up. I guess she is having a hard time dealing with
this.”
“How the hell do you know
all that?!” Nick demanded hoarsely. He hadn’t expected to hear any of this.
“Don’t ask questions
Carter. Just know that if you are declared innocent, then you will make things
a lot more complicated for your friends. Weigh your options carefully boy. And
if I hear that you have told anyone of this conversation, either Lizz or Brian
won’t be leaving the hospital.” The man smiled sadistically at Nick and let
himself out.
Nick’s heart was pounding
and the tiny room seemed to get smaller. He knew that Mandy would be back so he
tried to get a handle on his emotions, but he couldn’t get past that man’s
words. He felt like he was about to unravel.
~*~*~*~*~
“Marcus, why don’t you
just give it up and turn yourself in?” Kyung sighed wearily. She was carefully
holding her broken arm. Any sort of movement gave her chills, not to mention
intense pain. Plus her face still stung from Marcus’ slaps when he finally
caught her after she had kicked him. He was absolutely livid and he had let her
have it good.
“Shut up.” He said
sourly.
“Seriously, do you have
any idea where we are going?” Kyung pressed. They had been walking for the past
half hour into the middle of nowhere. It was very woodsy and Kyung was afraid
they were lost.
“Shut up.” Marcus
repeated.
“What happens when it
gets dark and we are out here in BFE?! You don’t know where we are do you?!”
Kyung continued stubbornly. God she was turning into Lizz.
“Shut up.”
“You ever think about
expanding your vocabulary?” Kyung glared at the back of his head as she tried
to keep up.
“Alright. Shut the fuck
up.”
Kyung
shook her head as they continued deeper into the forest. She knew it was
pointless to try to escape, as she had gotten caught twice already. She was no
match for Marcus and she knew it. She didn’t want to, but she let her mind
drift towards her friends. Her eyes filled with tears and she wondered if they
were alive and if they were would she would ever see them again?
~*~*~*~
I sat at the table, stunned. My best friend’s life was at stake and I was the
only one that could save him. I didn’t hear Mandy when she came back into the
room.
“Nick, I have your locker assignment and your room. There are a couple of
things I need you to do first before I show you to your room,” Mandy stated as
she sat back down at the table.
I must have been staring off into space because suddenly, her face was directly
in front of mine.
“Nick? Are you with me?”
I straightened myself up in the seat. ’I gotta stay focused, Brian needs me
to be focused.’ I kept coaching myself. “Oh, sorry what did you say again?”
“Okay, this is just a quick assessment to check your cognitive level,” Mandy
said as she looked down at the chart. Okay, I need you to give me your full
name.”
“Nickolas Gene Carter.”
“Okay, when’s your birthday?”
“January 28.”
“Year born and how old are you?”
“1980 and I’m 20.”
“Okay, who’s the president?”
I was beginning to get bored with all the questions, this was getting a little
silly. It was almost like a mini interview. I hated those. “Bill Clinton.”
“Okay Nick, last question. Do you know what the date is today?”
That was a question I don’t think I could answer. Things had been mushed together from the kidnapping to the hospital stay. I
honestly didn’t have any idea. With it being
“I honestly couldn’t tell you,” I replied.
“Fair enough, how about the year then?”
“2000.”
“Very good Nick, let’s take you down to your room now,” Mandy said as she
walked over towards the door and held it open for me. “You seem to be okay to
be on a level c18,” Mandy said as we stopped at a scale. “I need you to step up
on the scales please.”
I did as I was told.
“
Once I changed into the green scrubs, Mandy led me down to another room with a
blue screen that was rolled down and a camera. “Nick, stand where the white
mark is on the floor and look at me please. Smile?”
I didn’t feel like smiling. I was sort of shocked to think that she would even
suggest it. Here I am, locked up in some mental hospital knowing that any
decision I make will affect either my life or the lives of two other people.
Mandy held a laminated identification badge out for me to look at before she
pinned it to my shirt. It was white with bold black lettering: PATIENT:
CARTER,NICKOLAS G
“You have to wear this at all times Nick, for your safety and for ours. Okay,
now we get to go to your room. You are in the green section of the hospital. I
forgot to tell you that our sections are in different colors for each level.
You should be grateful you’re not in the purple section. Ah, here we are, room
number G23.”
As we entered the room, I noticed there were two single sized beds with a brown
dresser separating them. The room had white walls and dark green carpet. A
narrow window that overlooked the parking lot was covered with thick steel
bars.
“Nick, this is your room mate, Jalen. Here’s a list
of rules and a layout of the building. I’m sure he can help you if you have any
questions. Dinner is at six, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
With that stated, the door was closed and locked shut.
Welcome to my new world, this definitely was going to suck.
BR>
~*~*~*~*~
I waited as AJ shifted
uncomfortably. I didn’t blame him. I was willing to bet he was familiar with my
state of being as of late. He probably didn’t want to be the one to set off
another panic attack. I was pretty upset with all this and I also had that
familiar tense feeling. That, I knew, was Nick. I was used to that and it
didn’t bother me so much. Ever since it started last spring he always
apologized all over the place whenever it happened. I couldn’t say it enough.
It wasn’t his fault and this happens for a reason. The only thing I hated about
it is that everytime it happens, I know something is
wrong. Nick is upset about something and there isn’t a damn thing I can do to
make it better. I’d take it all away if I could, but at the same time, I’m sure
he wouldn’t give it to me. “AJ, I need to know. Not knowing is worse than
anything.” I urged.
“Okay, let’s start with
Brian. He’s on a different floor, but it still treated like ICU. On top of
missing his meds, and the injuries from the crash, he has pneumonia in both
lungs.” AJ watched me carefully for a reaction.
I nodded. Pneumonia is
bad. I’ve had to battle that on more than one occasion. “But he’ll be okay
right?” I didn’t even want to think otherwise and I was relieved when he
nodded.
“He’s going to be fine
okay.” Even though he tried to sound reassuring, the worry in his voice was
evident. “Nick...he’s in a state institution right now.”
I gasped.
AJ’s eyes widened. “Hold
on, let me continue. His attorney wanted to stall for time so he could build up
a good defense. Besides with Nick still having amnesia there is no way that he
could stand trial and try to defend himself.”
I shook my head as the
news settled in. “He can’t be there. Not a mental institute. You know what
that’s gonna do to him on the inside? How that’s gonna affect him!”
“I know, but there isn’t
much choice Lizz.” AJ shrugged helplessly. “I don’t like the idea any more than
you do, but what other choice is there?”
I shook my head again,
more vigorously. “AJ you don’t understand! You know what it’s like to not feel
‘normal’? It’s one of the worst feelings in the world. Being in that place, for
whatever reason, is going to make it so hard. Whatever the reason.” My voice
was reaching the point of desperation. What was going to happen when his
amnesia started to wear off? It was something that I didn’t even want to
fathom.
“Hey, you gotta stay calm
okay? You won’t do yourself any good by getting worked up.” AJ tried to reason.
I took a couple deep
breaths and winced at the pain it brought. I guess those saintly pain meds were
wearing off. I didn’t want to freak out. If I did, they would sedate me and I
wouldn’t hear the rest. “Where’s Kyung?” My voice was very small.
AJ sighed. “They still
have her. We don’t know anymore than that. And your parents...none of you are
allowed outside contact or harm could come to one fo
you guys in here or Kyung. That was reported back from who has Kyung.”
Tears sprung to my eyes.
“Dale and Marcus. They’re the only ones that are left. Oh god, what if she...if
they...” I couldn’t finish the words. I never felt so alone. I pointlessly
tried to fight the tears that were streaming down my cheeks. Agnes’ threat
sprung to mind. “AJ you have to go make sure Brian is okay. You can’t let her
hurt him again.”
He looked torn, but
finally relented. “I’m going to get your nurse. I’ll keep you updated okay?”
I
nodded, anxious for him to get back to Brian. Besides, I didn’t want him to see
me cry. I hated when people saw me cry. I felt like my mind was in a whirlwind.
It was torn between Brian, Nick and Kyung. They were all in trouble and I
couldn’t help them. I pounded my fist down on the bedrail and then cried out
when a sharp pain knifed through the lower side of my back. It was a pain I
felt more than seven months ago. Same place. I bit my lip and reached my good
arm back to feel the area. Every part of my body was sore from Terri’s beating
and I was already tender to the touch. I pushed on the spot where my kidney was
and tried not to gasp. This was bad. Very bad...
~*~*~*~
Before AJ went up to Brian’s room, he snuck outside near the hospital
employee’s entrance to get a quick cigarette and to call Kevin and Howie and
let them know what was going on at the hospital. After a few minutes of
debating back and forth, Kevin and AJ decided it would be okay for Howie and
himself to come up to the hospital.
“I seriously doubt that old lady even knows the rest of us guys, it was just
dumb luck on my part or something and with her daughter being out of commission
with her surgery, my theory is tht one of us can
cover Brian and the other cover Lizz,” AJ stated to Kevin.
“Sounds like a good plan to me AJ. I’ll call Howie and we’ll be there as soon
as we can,” Kevin replied.
AJ closed up his cell phone and too one more deep drag off his cigarette before
flicking it to the ground.
“I gotta stop one of these days,” he sighed and then walked back towards the
hospital.
~*~*~*~
I sat on the edge of my bed, facing this Jalen
person. He looked like a bookworm, I didn’t know if he was crazy or semi crazy
like me.
“So Nick, obviously Mandy didn’t formally introduce us,” he held his hand out
for me to shake. “My name’s Jalen, but I perfer to be called Jay.”
Jay? God that name sounded so familiar to me but I couldn’t place it at the
moment.
As I shook the hand that was offered, I couldn’t help but notice the tons of
freckles that ran up and down his arm and hands. He had deep red hair, wore
braces and was wearing glasses like the actor Drew Carey wore all the time.
“Oh, you like these?” Jalen asked. “I noticed you
staring at them. They’re requisitioned here. You can’t have any things that
belong to you here at the nut farm. Have you had your medical eval yet?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Medical eval?”
Jay let out a long sigh. “God, you know, medical evaluation?”
I folded my arms across my chest. “I dunno, she asked me some questions and
stuff, wasn’t that it?”
Jay started to chuckle. “Oh not even close, you’re gonna hate every bit of it.”
He looked at my face closer, pushing his thick glasses up with his finger. “You
wear contact lenses?”
“Yeah, so?”
“Kiss them goodbye after tomorrow,” Jay laughed.
A ringing bell, similar to ones you would hear in a school building caught his
attention. There was a strong buzzing noise and suddenly the door swung open.
“Dinner Nick, come on, green block goes first this week!”
I stayed planted on the bed. “You go on, I’m not really hungry.”
Jay stopped and stared at me. “You better go cause they watch everthing you do and I mean everything. If you don’t eat
they’ll put you in the hole and force you to eat.”
I shrugged my shoulders and stood up and followed Jay to the cafeteria. I had a
feeling this was going to be rough.
*~*~*~*~*
Agnes returned to her daughter’s room, her face flushed with anger. Her plans
were starting to unravel.
“Mommy, what’s wrong?” Terri asked, she could tell by the look on her mother’s
face that something was wrong.
Agnes sighed. “I just met that weird Backstreet Boy again,” she snapped her
fingers, “the one with the tatoos on his arms.”
“AJ mama, it was AJ. Why is he hanging around here, I thought you told them no
outside visitors.”
“Evidently this one isn’t too bright. I caught him in Brian’s room and Lizz’s room. I think I fixed it this time though, I told
him I might have to inject air into Brian’s IV line,” Agnes grinned as she
recalled.
“Better yet mommy find someone that’s dying of some disease and take their
needle and stick it into both Brian and Lizz,” Terri plotted.
Agnes gasped at the thought. “You sure are the evil little one.”
“Just like daddy is,” Terri piped up.
“Speaking of, I have tried their cell number and it just keeps ringing, I’m
starting to get a little pissed off at them,” Agnes stated.
~*~*~*~
Suddenly, the over head lights in the room flickered on.
“What the hell..” I mumbled as I took my pillow and placed it across my face.
“It’s six-thirty, rise and shine,” Jay mumbled.
“What the hell are we getting up for?” I questioned.
“Breakfast, therapy, med line and the most fun, work stations,” Jay replied as
he pulled his scrub pants on.
I heard the distinct sound of keys rattling outside our door. Quickly the door
was opened and Mandy entered our room, holding a chart.
“Nick, still not dressed yet? I need you to get dressed and follow me, you will
have your breakfast during our evaluation. Hurry, I will wait for you outside
this door,” Mandy cheerfully requested.
I slowly dragged my body out of bed and went over to the commode that was in
the corner of our room, no doors to aid in privacy. I got dressed and quickly
splashed water on my face and brushed my teeth and raked my hands through my
hair. I definately was not looking forward to this
medical evaluaton at all.
~*~*~*~
Officer Mallow sped down
the long stretch of highway toward the station. He was pretty much in the
middle of nowhere and his shift would be over by the time he made it back. He
usually disliked patrolling this stretch because it was out in the boonies and
he never got to see anything good. Today, however, he was relieved because that
meant he would actually get off on time. He heard ESPN and a cold beer calling
his name.
"What the
hell?" He mumbled to himself as a very large object came to view in the
distance. As he approached it he realized that is was a van. An overturned van.
"Shit." He
cursed when he realized that this would prolong his shift. He could kiss that
beer goodbye. He picked up his radio and called for backup. When he reached the
vehicle he could see broken glass everywhere. He turned on his flashing lights
and the strobe effect stood out in contrast to the darkening area. He finally
pulled to a stop behind the van and caustiously made
his way towards it.
"Police! Anyone
injured?" He called out, shining a huge flashlight over the crash scene.
He was met with silence. The van was turned so that passenger side was closest
to him. When Mallow shined his light into the window he saw a man leaning half
inside it and and half out.
"Shit! Sir?
Sir?" Mallow carefully leaned over and put the pads of his fingers agianst the man's throat. It was cold to the touch and it
was obvious that he had been dead for awhile. Mallow shined the light further
and noticed that there was a lot more blood than there should have been for
just one man. Mallow walked around to the other side of the mangled vehicle and
shined his light around some more.
Damn it! Where is my
backup?! He
thought to himself. As he tried to peer inside the van, his light fell onto the
victim's face.
Mallow gasped. He recognized
him from the picture that had been flashed all over the news.
~*~*~*~*~
This was not something I
wanted to deal with right now. There was far too much going on for my kidneys
to decide to start failing on me. They hurt, but with everything that had happened
to me recently, I was getting used to constantly being in pain. It was going to
have to wait. I was going to go see Brian.
I pushed the blankets
away and gasped at the sight of my legs. They were a mess of black, blue, and
faded yellow. Terri's beating. Gross. I carefully edged them over the side of
the bed, wincing as I did so. If I hadn't been on some pretty decent pain meds,
there was no way I would be doing this. I could barely move as it was. Very
slowly and deliberately I went into the long process of turning all the alarms
to silent and removing the bloodpressure cuff and
oxygen that was attached to me. Man, was I going to get it good when I got
caught. Then it hit me that Kyung wasn't here to catch me and my eyes filled
with tears.
"Not now!" I
berated myself outloud.
I was very dizzy on my
feet, but I held tight to my IV pole. I'd just put my weight on it. As I inched
towards the door I caught my face's reflection in the dark window, almost as
clear as an actual mirror. Wow. Sick. I already knew about the white bandage
that covered the stitches above my eye. The black eye from Terri was starting
to fade, but the rest of my face was still pretty bruised. I guess I wouldn't
be winning any beauty contests any time soon.
The hallway was pretty
clear and I barely missed a nurse disappear into someone's room. I walked
unsteadily towards the exit to the ICU, trying to act like I was supposed to
walking around. It worked. I made it to the ICU doors and went right through.
Call it practice from years of sneaking around hospitals or call it dumb luck,
but I made it through. I was so floored that I had made it out, that it seemed
to give me a boost of adreniline. I was still
unsteady and dizzy as hell, but I had made it further than I thought. The elevators
were right outside ICU and I pushed the button to go up. When the doors opened
I noticed only one person inside. As soon as she saw me, she turned quickly
away. Okay, I know I looked bad, but sheesh! That was rude. I didn't even get a
good look at her until the doors shut and we started moving.
"Well well..."
The blood froze in my
veins. That voice. I looked up and Terri's mother stood in front of me.
"What a pleasant
surprise." She smiled, menacingly as she hit the stop button on the
elevator.
Shit.
~*~*~*~
By Marcus’s stupidity, he allowed Kyung to walk in front of him for the last
hour of the hike. He had no idea where he was and was wishing that maybe Kyung
would figure a way out of the mess they were now into.
Kyung’s heart caught in her throat when she thought she saw a disinctive flash of red and then of blue. She decided
before Marcus noticed, she grabbed her bad arm with her good and started
running down the path, the branches on the trees that hung across where beating
unmercifully across her face.
“HEY WHAT THE HELL!” Marcus called out from behind. “I THOUGHT YOU WERE
FINISHED WITH THIS DUMB ASS GAME!”
“I see a highway, maybe we can find help!” Kyung yelled over her shoulder. She
fell down once into the soft dirt as she climbed the hill, grunting when she
hit the ground.
“Take it easy,” Marcus hollered. He realized he was losing control of the
situation.
As Kyung crested the hill, she started screaming. A state trooper’s car was
parked alongside of the road, investigating an accident. She starting running
blindly towards the car.
Marcus was about ready to yell at Kyung but stopped. He crested the hill in
time to see her furiously running towards a policeman standing near an
overturned suburban.... their suburban! He suddenly realized that they had been
wandering through the woods in a complete circle. Marcus immediately did a
quick turn around and ran into the dense woods, trying to put distance between
himself and his hostage.
~*~*~*~
“Well, well, look what we have here,” Agnes glared at Lizz. “You look pretty
sad and pathetic, I guess that Nick Carter really did a job on you.”
Lizz narrowed her eyes at Agnes. “Don’t play that shit on me! You forget, I’m
not the one with trouble remembering things.”
Agnes laughed sarcastically. “Oh yeah, it slipped my mind. Well, you know what?
We have things fixed up pretty good for your friend Nick and your friend Kyung
too.”
Lizz felt her heart starting to beat faster, her chest was tightening.
“What do you mean?” she asked, trying to keep her composure.
“Well, Kyung is out in a cabin in the middle of the woods in Tennessee and as
for your young friend Nick, we have him convinced that the only way to save his
friends is to take the guilt and spend the rest of his life in prison. He’s
accepted it and he will be talking to a judge before the week is done. You can
kiss any chance of seeing him again in oh, about forty to sixty years from
now.”
“He won’t,” Lizz gasped, unable to get air into her lungs.
“Ah but he has to. You see, we told him if he screws with us Brian gets it.
Brian is his best friend and it will be easy to do him in unsuspectingly. A
little puff of air in his IV line and,” Agnes snapped her fingers, “poof, bye bye Brian.”
Agnes pushed the button on the elevator to start up again.
Lizz was clinging onto the IV pole, trying to keep from falling over as a full
blown panick attack was building. By the time the
elevator stopped on a floor, Lizz was now doubled over, coughing and hyperventilating.
“Oh dear lord, somebody please! Someone help her! Help!” Agnes barely yelled
out as the doors opened. As she stepped out, she ran head on into a man. She appologised quickly and then looked into the face and
gasped.
I couldn’t catch my
breath. God, I hope Nick isn’t feeling this. My heart was threatening to pound
out of my chest and my legs were shaking so bad that I could barely keep
standing. I heard Agnes start hollering for help and then apologize when she
ran into someone. When I heard the reply, my head shot up at the familiar
voice.
“YOU?!” Brian glared at
Agnes as she stood there, looking uncomfortable. He was out on physical therapy
rounds. The therapist was hovering behind him since he wasn’t very steady on
his feet. He was ghostly pale and looked exhausted, but determined. His eyes
shifted to mine and his jaw dropped.
“Brian.” I choked out,
stumbling towards him. I started to fall, still gasping frantically, but his
therapist caught me before I hit the ground.
“Easy now. Just try to breathe.”
She urged. “Hey we need some help over here!”
Brian very slowly and
carefully knelt down in front of me. “Lizz what’s wrong?”
“Brian...she...can’t...she...can’t...”
I couldn’t even get the words out. I was totally panicking and everything was
spinning around me.
“Shhhhh.
Lizz, breathe!” Brian said softly, trying to calm me down.
“No! You...” I clung to
him, determined to keep Agnes away. The frustration of not being able to get
any air was too much. I was so afraid that Agnes was going to do something to
Brian.
“Lizz, just take it easy.
You’re gonna be fine. Take deep breaths.” He coaxed.
Meanwhile other nurses
had appeared, one with an oxygen tank. I felt someone put a canuala
on me and it got a little easier to breathe. The PT looked at Agnes.
“What exactly happened
here?” Marilyn had a bad feeling about that woman that was standing there. The
look of horror on her face when she ran into Brian was odd. It wasn’t fear of
what was happening with this girl, but a fear of Brian’s reaction.
Agnes shifted her feet
and wrung her hands nervously. “I...I don’t know. She stepped on the elevator
and suddenly started freaking out. She doesn’t even look like she should be up
and around.”
Brian looked up and
glared at her. He was about to open his mouth to inform the small crowd that
this woman was lying, but he stopped when he felt Lizz grip his arms harder. He
looked at her questionably and she shook her head vehemently. Her eyes were
wide with fear.
“What did you do to her?”
Brian demanded angrily.
Agnes looked shocked.
“What do you mean? I don’t even know her.” The last part was said with a hint
of malice. None of the nurses seemed to notice it, but Brian heard it and
obviously Lizz did because she began to tremble.
“Brian, please.” Lizz
said softly, pleading.
The look in her eyes was
desperate and he finally relented. Agnes smirked at them. How pathetic.
She thought to herself.
Marilyn noticed the look
on Agnes’ face and grew uncomfortable. Her patient looked furious and the girl
that was clinging to him was obviously terrified for some reason. Two of the
nurses began to lift Lizz onto a gurney so they could take her back to her
room. They covered her up with a blanket and attended to the IV pump which
began beeping shrilly.
“No! You can’t make me go
back! Please!“ Lizz cast a pleading look towards Brian.
He watched helplessly.
She needed to go back to her room, but he also wanted to know what had
happened. He was totally spent and Marilyn noticed.
Let’s go back to your
room okay?” She said softly, taking his arm.
He nodded and turned back
to Lizz. He wanted to tell her it was going to be okay. That he would figure
something out. She was already being pushed down the hall though, her voice
softly carrying through the hall. He glared at Agnes, wanting to say something.
The look that Lizz had given him stopped him though. He needed to find out what
was going on first. She smirked at Brian and went back to talking to one of the
nurses.
Brian sighed in
frustration. His stomach hurt and he felt so tired suddenly. Too much had
happened so fast. He and Marilyn walked slowly down the hall and upon turning
the corner, he was relieved to see the familiar face that rushed towards him.
~*~*~*~*~
I was so disoriented.
Things seemed to spin in and out of focus around me and every fiber of my being
hurt. Was I ever going to get better? Probably not if I kept causing myself
this damage. At least I accomplished something by doing this; I found out
Agnes’ little scheme. My eyes filled with tears. I needed to warn them, but how
did I do that without endangering their safety?
“Oh sweetie, I’m so glad
you are okay. You sure gave me a fright!” Agnes suddenly appeared alongside the
gurney and my chest immediately tightened. Damn it, I was just finally being
able to breathe. I glared at her, but didn’t say anything.
She leaned close and
whispered in my ear. “Don’t worry, you’ll be getting a nice visit later. Brian
too. Too bad, he was the least annoying of all of you. Tsk
tsk...You’ve already lost Kyung and now Nick, very
soon Brian will be gone too.” She patted my shoulder and then walked down the
hall.
Shit. Shit. She wasn’t
going to do this. I couldn’t catch my breath all over again.
“Lizz? Lizz?” Their
voices were a blur and I couldn’t stop the spiraling darkness.
~*~*~*~*~
“Help!!! Please!!! Help
me!!” Kyung screamed frantically.
Mallow jumped a mile,
dropping his flashlight, when he heard the sudden noise from the woods. “What
the...” Ghosts? Surely not...
Kyung stumbled up to the
accident site and dropped to her knees in fatigue. Her broken arm was throbbing
her, but she didn’t care. She found someone. “Please, help me!” She cried.
Mallow retrieved his
flashlight and shined it towards the young girl’s voice. His eyes bulged when
at what the beam of light revealed. A young Oriental girl, not more than her
younger twenties, smeared with dirt and blood. Her tear-streaked face was
etched in a mixture of fear and relief. Realization dawned on him, it was one
of the girls that was kidnapped. The one that hadn’t turned up. Until now.
“Miss? Shit, are you
okay?” He mentally smacked himself for such a dumb question as he rushed
towards her. She was shaking and crying.
“He...he’s
out...there...” Kyung gestured over her shoulder into the woods.
“Who? Who’s out there?”
Mallow demanded.
“Marcus...kidnapped...”
She stopped and started to sob. Mallow took his jacket off quickly and wrapped
it around her. She looked like she was going into shock.
“Miss? Look at me okay?
Can you look at me?” Mallow tried to get her attention to no avail. Her sobs
started to subside, but she had begun to rock back and forth, staring blankly
ahead.
“Shit.” He reached for
his walkie talkie. “I need backup!!”
***
