Dead In The Middle (Rewritting)

Chapter 5.1

After stuffing as many napkins as we could into Dontae's stab wound, we carried him to the backseat of Meek's car and attempted to strap him into the seat without disturbing him. We split into groups and began driving to the nearest apartment to the café, my place.

DJ and I left first, racing to my apartment building to set up everything Dontae said we would need. Behind us, Pam drove Meek's car as he sat next to Dontae holding pressure to the gash. Fred followed them in Pam's car to make sure no one neared the already speeding car. Becca shot straight to the office building after Dontae mentioned that Jen had the only first aid kit in her desk, which came to no surprise considering his job as the boss' personal security required a gun and she was the one nearest to him.

Parking the car by the sidewalk and rushing up the stairs before they could get here, DJ searched through the cabinets for hard liquor while I looked for a sewing kit.

"Are you sure you have anything other than wine?" He shouted from the kitchen to me in the bathroom.

"Yeah! There should be vodka or whiskey," tossing the things out of the baskets on my counter and onto the floor, I remembered that I had moved some things around since the last time he visited. "Which cabinets are you looking in?"

"The top ones where the wine was," the sound of the cabinet slamming shut made my brain rattle, causing me to drop the makeup in my hands into the sink.

The glass shattered loudly as my legs became weak. Holding myself up with the counter, a ringing siren muffled all of DJ's words and my sight began to blur.

The feeling of his warm fingers gripping and turning my face lightly made me jump and almost slip. He caught my body, pulling me close to him, and I raised an arm to maintain some space between us. His closeness made me feel smothered, a feeling I never received from him before. I wanted to push him away from me but I knew that if I did, I would just fall to the ground.

Since my vision wasn't fully back yet, my hands searched for the counter. Once I found it, I pried myself out of his arms and tried to focus my eyes. My other hand found the mirror and I brought myself close to it, attempting to see anything at all. I blinked hard but nothing worked. 

As the ringing stopped, I was able to find my footing without support.

"-iana! Viviana!"

Slowly, I was able to see the worry and sweat on his face as he stood behind me. I gave him a light smile and it seemed to relax him. I straightened myself and turned to him to talk but he quickly grabbed my hands.

"Are you okay?" He asked, inspecting my hands for glass.

I swiped my hands away from him as my body stiffened from his touch, "I'm fine. Did you find any alcohol?"

"Uh, yeah. It was in the bottom cabinets," he replied lowly.

I walked toward my room, "Are they here yet?"

The sound of tires screeching followed by a bang filled my room. I scurred to the window and looked out while DJ bolted toward the door. Smoke fogged the air making it hard to see anything. The sound of Meek screaming for help was all I could pick up.

I quickly went to my closet, found the sewing kit, and ran out of the apartment. Once I reached outside, the sight of Meek's car slammed into the side of the brick building was not one I had expected. DJ pulled Dontae out of the backseat and onto the floor as Fred attempted to get Pam out of the driver's seat.

I can't do this anymore.

I took a deep breath before going around to the passenger's side, helping Fred with Pam. Her head hung over the steering wheel, blood dripping down from it, and her hands were limp at her sides. I used the kitchen knife DJ had grabbed before coming down to cut her out of the seatbelt. She immediately fell onto Fred as he pulled her close and carried her out of the car.

Tears streamed down his face as he brought them to the ground, "Pam. Pam, please answer me. Please, please." He begged, his thumb rubbing her cheek as he slowly rocked back and forth with her head laid on his chest.

I rushed to their side and checked if she was still breathing, "She's okay Fred. Calm down, 'kay? You're going to worry her if she sees you like this. You know she hates when people cry. Let's let her rest."

He nodded, softly laid her onto the ground, and began wiping his tears, her blood smearing across his face, "V, I don't know what happened. The car started swerving like crazy and I told her to slow down while we were on the phone but she stopped talking to me completely. The last thing she said was that she couldn't make it."

"What the hell?" I muttered. "Fred I'm going to help out with Dontae, will you be okay to watch her?"

"I should be fine," he stared at her intently.

I got up and hurried to Meek's side. Once he saw me, he instantly wrapped his arms around me and began sobbing into my shoulder. Without a second thought, my arms wrapped around him and began rubbing his back.

"Dontae, how are you doing?" I asked as I watched him pour vodka into the slash on his side. He had taken off his dirty, ripped shirt to expose the injury and used it to hold the supplies we had brought down.

He slightly winced as the alcohol seeped into the wound, "Doing okay. What's the status with Jen? Where is she?"

"I'll call right now. When I get back, fill me in on what happened."

"Deal. Tell her to hurry," he breathed out, attempting to calm himself. "DJ, give me your shirt." He demanded, DJ did as he was told. Taking the shirt, he balled it and drenched it in vodka before pressing it onto his side. He ripped a piece from his shirt on the side and tied it around himself to hold the balled up shirt.

The phone rang as I waited for Becca to answer and I held my hand out, "Meek, do you want to walk with me?"

He sniffled, "I guess."

He wobbled a little once he stood up straight but reassured me he was fine by walking without help. 

The phone clicked, "We're almost there but there's traffic. Are you guys good?"

I looked down the road toward the office, seeing the pile up of cars waiting to pass through and huffed, "That might be our fault. Pam drove into the side of the building."

"What?!" She screamed into the phone followed by the sound of banging and rustling.

"Becca? Hello? Bec-" 

"It's Jen. Becca threw her phone."

I didn't notice that my face had distorted into a disgusted look until Meek mouthed "What's wrong" and mimicked my face. I mouthed back to him that Jen had answered the phone and began to chuckle silently.

"Ello? You there?"

"Uh-huh. Tell Becca we're clearing up the mess," without waiting for a response, I hung up the phone.

I lightly slapped Meek's back as he began to laugh loudly, "It's not funny! I was all for getting her here because she's the only one who can help but I forgot that would mean we would actually have to interact."

He wiped his tears and scoffed, "I thought you two would've been over this little war by now. You guys have known each other for years and finally started talking to each other like civil people, what? Twenty years ago?"

"It was fifteen years ago and she started it," I mumbled, causing him to laugh harder.

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Nano's in 3 days! Time to write multiple stories at once

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