I
was awakened by someone calling my name.
“Julie? Julie?” I slowly opened my eyes. My vision blurred at first, but finally, I
focused on Heidi’s face, which had a look of concern on it. Immediately, relief washed over it when she
realized I was awake.
“What
happened?” I mumbled groggily, feeling dizzy.
“That
guy hit you, Julie,” Heidi said. “You’ve
been unconscious for about half an hour.”
“Oh,”
I moaned. “My head hurts.” Heidi helped me sit up and leaned me back
against a wall. I looked around. We were in a dark room, probably a
basement. There were small windows very
high up on the walls, but they let little light in. It smelled musty in the room, and it was cold
too. Brian sat a few feet away from me,
his back up against the wall, his knees pulled up to his chest.
“Are
you ok, Julie?” he asked, looking at me.
I
nodded. “Yeah, I guess so,” I
replied. “Where are those guys now?”
“They’re
upstairs,” Heidi replied.
“Where
are we?” I asked.
“In
a swamp,” Brian replied flatly.
“Seriously,
they made us walk way into this swamp place to this big old house. That’s where we are now,” Heidi explained.
“Do
you have any idea what state?” I asked.
“I
don’t think we’re in Kentucky anymore,” Heidi replied.
“No,
Dorothy, I don’t think so either,” Brian replied, grinning, and I smiled for
the first time in hours. Heidi managed a
smile too. “No, seriously, I would say
somewhere further down south. Like
Florida or Mississippi or something,” Brian said.
I
sighed unhappily.
“I
wonder how Nick’s doing,” Heidi said softly.
Brian
sighed. “I don’t know,” he said
sadly. “Nicky’s strong. I’m just praying he’s strong enough to pull
through this.”
I
smiled sadly at Brian, not sure what to say.
“I’m praying for him too,” I whispered.
“Me
too,” Heidi added softly.
“Thanks,
guys,” Brian replied, offering us reassuring smiles. “We just have to keep the faith, and
everything will turn out for the best.”
I
nodded, hoping his words were true.
“So,
girls, where are you two from? I just
realized I know almost nothing about you,” Brian said.
“Well,
I’m from Blacksburg, Virginia,” Heidi replied.
“I share an apartment with my boyfriend, Sonny.”
“Yeah,
and I live in an apartment with Josh just outside of Springfield, Illinois,” I
said.
“Cool,”
Brian replied. “So, how old are you
guys?”
“I’m
23,” I replied.
“And
I’m 27,” Heidi replied.
“Do
you guys work?” Brian asked.
“Yeah,
I’m a secretary at a local elementary school,” Heidi said.
“I’m
in med school right now, so I don’t have a job,” I said.
“Oh
yeah, that’s right,” Brian replied. “So,
what kind of doctor are you going to be?”
“A
pediatrician,” I replied.
“Oh,”
Brian said, smiling.
“Yeah,”
I replied. “I love kids, and I’ve always
wanted to be a doctor.”
“That’s
cool. I wish I would have gone to
college,” Brian said wistfully.
I
shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s a lot of
work,” I said.
Brian
shrugged. “Oh well,” he said,
sighing. “I love what I do anyway. Singing’s always been important to me.”
I
nodded. “I know,” I replied. “I think you have one of the most beautiful
voices I’ve ever heard.”
“I
agree,” Heidi said.
“Wow,
thanks,” Brian said, blushing. Heidi and
I smiled.
“You’re
welcome,” we replied in unison.
“So,
how long have you guys been with your boyfriends?” Brian asked.
“Sonny
and I knew each other in high school, but we didn’t start dating until
college,” Heidi replied.
“Yeah,
I’ve been in love with Josh since I was in about seventh grade, but we didn’t
start dating until I was a junior in high school,” I said. “We want to get married after we both finish
med school.”
“Oh,
he’s going to be a doctor too?” Brian asked.
“Yup,”
I replied. “We go to the same school.”
“That’s
cool that you guys want to get married.
Do you want to have kids?” Brian asked.
“Oh,
definitely. Starting a family is the
most important thing to me,” I replied, smiling.
“Yeah,”
Brian said.
“Are
you and Leighanne going to have kids someday?” I asked him.
He
sighed. “We want to, but we’ve been
trying for years, and she still hasn’t gotten pregnant,” he said sadly.
“Oh,”
I said. “I’m sorry.”
He
shrugged. “Oh well. If we don’t have kids soon, we’ll probably
adopt,” he said.
“Adoption’s
nice,” Heidi said. “I mean, it wouldn’t
be your own child by genes, but you could still love it just like it was born
yours.”
“Yeah,”
Brian agreed.
I
sighed and yawned, leaning back against the wall. It seemed like our situation couldn’t get
much worse than it was, but at least I was with Brian and Heidi. I knew they were the only things that were
going to keep me going.
***
“What
time is it?” I asked later that evening.
I could tell it was getting to be night, for the light that had been
shining through the small windows earlier was slowly fading. Luckily, we had found a single light bulb
hanging from the ceiling, and it worked.
The basement was still dim, but it was better than total darkness. We had realized early on that we were trapped
in this room when Brian had tested the doorknob of the door to the room we were
in. Sure enough, it was locked from the
outside.
At
least there was a tiny bathroom leading off the room we were in that we could
get to. It was small and dirty looking,
but it was better than nothing. Other
than that, our conditions were bad. They
had thrown one old ratty blanket on the cement floor for us, and that was
it. The air conditioning was way too
high, and it was freezing cold in the basement, especially as night fell.
Brian
glanced at his watch, squinting to make out the time. “It’s 8:00,” he replied finally.
I
nodded and sighed, shivering.
“8:00?”
Heidi asked, her eyes widening. “Shit!”
“What’s
wrong?” I asked, alarmed.
“I…
uh… nothing,” Heidi stammered, looking worried.
“Heidi,
what is it?” I asked again.
“I
don’t have my meds,” she whispered, looking panicked.
“What
meds?” I asked, my heart skipping a beat.
Brian stared at Heidi, waiting for her reply, his blue eyes full of
concern.
“Well,
uh, Julie… I never told you this, but I have a medical condition,” Heidi said
softly.
“What?”
I asked.
“Epilepsy,”
she replied. I gasped in shock. Brian’s eyes widened in fear.
“And
you don’t have your medication?” he asked.
She
shook her head, looking ready to cry.
“I’m supposed to take it twice a day, in the morning and at night. I have my pill bottle in my purse, back at
the hospital.”
“Oh,
my God,” I whispered, near tears myself.
“What are you going to do?”
“I…
I don’t know,” Heidi cried, her voice shaking.
“We
have to get out of here,” Brian said, his voice low, yet firm.
“How
are we going to do that?” I asked, my voice rising shrilly.
“I
don’t know,” Brian admitted sadly. “I
don’t know.”
***
Back
in the waiting room, AJ and Kevin were in Nick’s room, when Heidi’s cell phone
rang again. Josh sighed and picked it
up. He pressed ‘talk’ and put the phone
to his ear.
“Hello?”
he said.
“Uh,
hi, this is Sonny, Heidi’s boyfriend. Is
she around?” a voice asked.
“Oh,
hi Sonny. This is Josh, Julie’s
boyfriend,” Josh replied. “I’ve got to
tell you something, man.”
“What
is it?” Sonny asked. Josh could tell he
knew something was wrong.
“Ok,
well, you knew Heidi was going to Lexington for the Backstreet Boys concert,
right?” Josh asked.
“Yes,”
Sonny replied. “Has something happened
to her?”
“Well,
it’s a long story. I’m sitting here at
St. Joseph’s hospital in Lexington. Hei-“
“Oh
my God, did she have a seizure?!?!” Sonny cried.
“A
seizure? No,” Josh said, confused.
“Oh,”
Sonny said, sighing with relief. Then
his voice filled with panic again. “But
what happened? Is she okay?”
“Just
listen, man. I told you, it’s a long
story. Anyway, she and Julie went to the
concert, right? Well, at the concert,
Nick, one of the Backstreet Boys, fell off of his harness or something when
they were hanging over the crowd and got hurt really bad. My girlfriend, Julie, who happens to be a med
student, was right there near where he fell, and she gave him CPR and got his
heart beating again. Then, when the
ambulance came to take him away, the other Backstreet Boys came up to her and
asked if she wanted to come with them to the hospital because they were so
grateful that she had saved his life, so she and Heidi went with them. Anyway, the police think now that someone intentionally
cut the cord on Nick’s harness to kill him.
Then, this morning, Heidi went down to get some aspirin for Kevin at the
gift shop, and she didn’t come back for awhile.
So then Julie and Brian, another one of the Bsb, went down to look for
Heidi, and they never came back. AJ and
I went to look for them and all we found was Brian’s sunglasses and Heidi’s
necklace with your class ring on it,” Josh explained sadly, nearly becoming
choked up with tears as he thought about his girlfriend.
“And
you haven’t found them yet?!” Sonny asked, his voice rising with panic.
“No,”
Josh said. “The police are on it now,
and they think it might be connected with Nick’s fall.”
“Oh,
no, Heidi,” Sonny said, sounding as if he might cry.
“I
know what you’re going through, man, believe me,” Josh said
sympathetically. “My girlfriend’s gone
too.”
“I
can’t believe it,” Sonny moaned. “Where
did you say you were again?”
“St.
Joseph’s in Lexington, Kentucky,” Josh replied.
“I
can be there in four hours,” Sonny replied.
“Look,
Sonny, it’s not going to do Heidi any good for you to come tearing down here,”
Josh reasoned, although he knew that if he were Sonny, he would be doing the
same thing.
“I’m
coming,” Sonny insisted.
“Ok,
fine, man. I’ll see you when you get here,
ok? Drive safe, now,” Josh said.
“Ok,
I’ll see you in a few hours. Bye,” Sonny
said and hung up. Feeling Sonny’s pain
as well as his own, Josh hung up.
Howie
offered him a sympathetic smile. “Was he
really upset?” he asked.
Josh
nodded. “Yeah, he’s coming down
here. He said it should take about four
hours.” Howie nodded wordlessly.
Just
then, Kevin and AJ walked back in.
“How’s Nicky?” Howie asked them.
“No
change,” Kevin muttered sadly. He sank
down on a couch and sighed. AJ sat down
next to Howie on the other couch.
“Heidi’s
boyfriend just called, and Josh told him what happened,” Howie said. “He’s driving down here.”
“Poor
guy,” Kevin said.
“Yeah,”
AJ agreed. “I’d be frantic if Amanda was
missing like this.”
“Tell
me about it,” Josh remarked bitterly. “I
just hope they’re all okay.”
“Don’t
you worry about Julie, Josh. If Brian’s
with her, he’ll protect her and Heidi.
Always the gentlemen, that guy is,” AJ said.
Josh
managed a tiny smile, although AJ’s comment didn’t comfort him much. He wished it were him in that situation,
instead of Brian. He would have given
anything to be with Julie now, even if it meant risking his life for her. He loved her, and he hoped she knew
that. He wondered where was right then, and
wherever she was, if she was thinking of him too.
***
I
lay on the cold, hard floor, tears slowly running down my cheeks, thinking of
Josh. I missed him so much, and the
worst part was, I didn’t know if I would ever see him again. I was cold, hungry, and completely
miserable.
“Julie,
come here,” Heidi called. I slowly
turned over to see her sitting against the wall, the blanket wrapped around
her.
“What?”
I asked softly.
“Come
here,” she repeated, motioning to me. I
sighed and crawled over to her. I
noticed Brian curled up in a little ball on the other side of the room,
sleeping. I couldn’t help but
smile. He looked so cute when he was
sleeping. “Here, take some of the
blanket,” Heidi offered as I sat beside her.
“You must be freezing.”
“Yeah,
I am,” I admitted. I wrapped part of the
blanket around me, and we huddled together for warmth. Then I looked again at Brian across the
room. I stood up and walked over to
him. I gently rubbed his hand to wake
him up. It was freezing. Brian jerked awake. “Brian, you’re freezing cold!” I
exclaimed. “Come get under the blanket
with me and Heidi.”
Brian
glanced over at Heidi. “No, that’s okay,
you two take it. I’m fine,” he said.
“No,
you’re not,” I insisted. “Look, there’s
goosebumps all over your arms.” Brian
glanced down at his arm and grinned sheepishly.
“Come on, there’s plenty of room.”
“We
need to find something to lie on,” Brian said.
“This floor isn’t the most comfortable place.”
“I
know,” I said. I looked around the
room. It was pretty much empty. I wandered into the bathroom. Then I noticed a cupboard in there. I opened it and grinned at what I saw. It was filled with sheets and blankets. I pulled them all out, and found three bath
towels too. The cupboard was small, and so there weren’t very many, but it was
enough. I carried the small stack of
folded blankets back into the room.
“Look at what I found!” I declared happily. Brian’s eyes lit up. So did Heidi’s. There were two sets of sheets, and two big blankets. They were all old and tattered looking, but
they would at least make us a little more comfortable.
“Hey,
what if we put these two blankets down on top of each other on the floor, and
then we could all lie on it. That would
give us some more padding than if we each made our own beds,” Brian
suggested.
“Yeah,
good idea,” I said. Together, the three
of us spread the two blankets on top of each other. We folded up the towels and used them for
pillows. Brian immediately lay down in
the middle of our bed. Heidi and I
grinned widely at each other and lay down beside him. There was just barely enough room for the
three of us on the blanket, but for me and her, that was perfect. We used the sheets and the big blanket that
was remaining as covers and pulled them over us. According to Brian’s watch, it was only about
9:00, but we were all exhausted and cold, and there wasn’t much else for us to
do but sleep. I got up and turned off
the light bulb that was hanging from the ceiling. Now the moonlight shining through the small
windows was the only light we had. As I
lay down beside Brian, I felt much better.
Brian surely wasn’t Josh, but still, I had to admit I was enjoying lying
there next to him. In fact, I was loving
it. I knew Heidi was too.
“’Night,
girls,” Brian said, his voice cutting through the darkness.
“Goodnight,
Brian,” Heidi replied. “’Night, Julie.”
“Yeah,
goodnight, Brian and Heidi,” I replied, yawning. It was only a matter of minutes before I was
sound asleep.
***