Chapter
13
Leighanne’s point of view
I sat worriedly by Brian’s hospital bed. I had found him that
morning, unconscious, in the bathroom. I wasn’t sure what had happened. He
looked as if he had been pushed against the wall and hit his head, but I
suspected that he had taken an overdose of painkillers at first. I was shocked
to find he was holding a bottle of them in his hand, with some of the small
pills scattered on the floor. My guess was that he had taken, or tried to take,
an overdose then slipped on the tiled floor of the bathroom and hit his head
against the wall.
I shook my head, slightly angry with him. It had been a year now
since Kevin was murdered. They never found who had killed him. And I thought my
husband had got over this tragedy. I never believed he’d try this after all
he’d been through, and survived.
“Leigh, are you OK?”
It was Nick. He was closest to Atlanta when I called the three of
the remaining band members to tell them of what had happened. He came straight
away, and the others were on their way.
I nodded unconvincingly.
“Look, he’s strong.” Nick stated. “He’ll pull through.”
He put his hand on my shoulder for emotional support. I thanked
him quietly.
“I still can’t believe he’d try to……”
He trailed off and I gave him a hug in return for his comfort, and
also to comfort him.
“I thought he’d gotten over it, Leighanne!” he wept.
“Me too, Nick. I don’t know what could have possessed him to do
it.”
AJ and Howie arrived breathlessly through the door.
“Just…. Arrived….. from…. Airport…..” AJ panted, obviously from
running.
“How is everyone?” Howie asked as he tried to catch his breath.
“We’re both OK, but a little upset.” I replied.
“No word on poor Rok here yet?” Howie quizzed again.
I shook my head.
“So… what did you…. Say you thought…. He done?” AJ questioned,
still breathless.
“Overdose,” I replied simply and sadly.
“Or not.” Another voice contradicted.
We turned to see a doctor, standing by the doorway Howie and AJ
had just come through.
“Pardon?” Nick frowned.
“The only painkillers Mr. Littrell has in his system are the one’s
we’ve given him for his head. He has a few minor fractures on the back of his
skull, but nothing serious.”
I sighed in relief. Yet, I was still confused as to how he had hit
his head so hard.
“By the way, I’m Dr. Lakeman.”
He shook our hands.
“Dr. Lakeman, how did he get those fractures? I mean, he couldn’t
have hit the wall that hard, could he?” I queried.
“Well, in most cases, the patient was pushed, or forced, against a
hard surface, but in the absence of such a force, I have to put it down to
being unlucky when he fell. From what you’ve told me, there were no signs of a
break in or stolen items, so there was no one to push him.”
He told us some more but soon left to see to other patients.
“That’s a relief!” AJ spoke all of our thoughts out loud.
“See, I told ya he’d be OK!” Nick smiled.
We were interrupted when Brian began to moan and thrash about.
Howie and Nick quickly held him down for his own safety, until his eyes snapped
open in terror.
“Oh my God! Kevin!” Brian yelled.
I hugged him in shock. “Bri, you’re OK!”
He hugged me back tightly, terrified.
Howie’s point of view
AJ, Nick, and me all looked at Brian in confusion as his wife
hugged him.
“Brian….” I began.
He looked at me silently.
“Why did you just say that?”
“K…Kevin… I saw him.” Brian wept.
“You saw him?” AJ
replied to the answer with disdain. How could Brian be playing some kind of
sick joke about Kevin?
Brian continued, regardless: “He was right in front of me…… he
spoke to me….”
Wanting to know where this was heading, I asked him further
questions.
“What did he say?”
“I… I can’t remember… but he was angry! He didn’t know what he was
doing….. I doubt he recognised me, but ……” Brian trailed off from his tale as
his eyes widened in pain and despair. “He hit me! He pushed me back into the
wall!”
Brian suddenly held his chest astonished.
“Here …. That’s where he hit me.” He gestured to the place his
hand was covering.
We all exchanged doubtful and worried glances. Brian paid little
heed to us though.
“W… where’d he go?”
Leighanne hugged him again, tears forming in her eyes.
“Oh, honey, you must have hit your head hard!”
“What are …..?” he looked even more confused than us right then.
I stepped forwards to explain for him, tears coming to my own eyes
at the memory: “Brian….. Kevin has been in the same place he always has been
for the past eight months or so – the cemetery near his house in California.”
Brian, all of a sudden, changed his expression dramatically, and
looked as if this was the first time he’d been told Kevin was dead.
He definitely must have hit his head hard!
“I’m not kidding about this guys; I know what you’re thinking. I’m
not cracking up! I don’t know how but it was him!”
Brian suddenly clutched his head, and it was evident the
painkillers were wearing off earlier than normal. I helped Leighanne ease him
back onto his pillow.
“Brian, you hit your head pretty hard.” I stated. “It might just
be ‘cause of that.”
Tears of pain were clear again on Brian’s sorrow-torn face. I remembered
how much worse he was than us when he was trying to get over Kevin’s murder.
His life fell apart when we lost our oldest brother. It could only be worse for
him if it was Leighanne who died.
I watched as his hand slipped back to that area on his chest; that
spot where he claimed that Kevin had pushed him.
He winced as he touched that spot.
“If it’s all just a figment of my imagination,” he began, then
lifted up his hospital gown, “how do you explain this?!”
We all gasped as we saw the burn-mark on Brian’s chest, his skin
raw and red as if he had been scalded there; a burn-mark ………in the shape of a human hand.
***
