Make it Rain (Ed Sheeran)

Chapter 12~ Ed

My phone rings in the seat, beside me. I reach for it without looking, but I can't find it. I accidentally push it into the floor, and mutter,"Shit."

I look for any cars that may be around me before looking at the floor and grabbing my phone. Amber left me a message. I listen to it.

"Hey, Ed... I really don't know what to do right now. Um... Call me back. My parents died." I nearly drop the phone. Amber continues in a different tone,"Don't come back to my house. I won't be there anyway. Go on with your life. Forget me. Please! Some rough stuff is coming for me, and I don't want you to get hurt. Please..." I hear her exhale and pause. Then she hangs up.

I try to call her back, but the signal on this road is spotty and the call wouldn't go through.

I start to think about what Amber may do. She seems to not be able to handle too much emotion without freaking out. She might hurt herself. She may have already...

I can't handle the thought that she may kill herself so I try not to think about it, but I can't stop thinking about her cold, dead body. I look into my mirrors, and turn around. My GPS begins nagging at me, so I turn it off.

On the way to Amber's house, I realize how angry my fans will be about this. I have a concert tonight! I don't think about that, though. I think of Amber, and the way her brown hair looked a million colors in the sunlight.

I pull up to her house, and she was right. She has already left. I have no idea where she went, but I follow her road back to the highway. I follow it into a small town, and decide to look for her car.

I try to call her again, but she doesn't answer. I drive around and look into several cars that look like hers. I remember the inside of her car fairly well.

After about the fifth car I check, I begin to realize how stupid this is. I will never find her like this. I pull out of the parking lot I'm in and drive down the main strip. I keep my eye out for her swishing brown ponytail and dark clothing.

On my left I notice a strange building with an ambulance outside it. Suddenly, the door swings open to the place, and two people are rolled out on stretchers. I look at the road again, but when I glance back I wonder if my eyes are playing tricks on me because I see Amber back there. I turn left and pull into the parking lot.

I park the car, and exit quickly. I jog over to the action. Amber is on a stretcher. Her nose is streaming blood, and she has various bruises covering her body. There is also blood in her hair from some wound on the back of her head.

I cover my mouth with my hand. The other stretcher has a tattooed and peirced man on it. He's in slightly better shape than Amber. They are both unconscious. The guys wheeling them around look very unamused, as if they do this every day. (I suppose that they probably do, since it's their job.)

I ask,"What happened to her?"

One guy says,"Don't you know what this place is? They fought. They both got knocked out. This was the first double knockout in this place's history." He didn't even look at me as he said it, but I could sense an eye roll and a lot of sarcasm.

When I ask what this place is he does look back, though. "This is The Cage."

He looks irritated at me, so I decide to keep my mouth shut even though I have about a thousand questions I want to ask. 

I walk over to an older man, and ask him what The Cage is. He smiles and says,"Hey. I'm the owner of the place." He shakes my hand and continues,"The Cage is a place where people come to fight their fight without stupid rules and regulations holding them back. We are known for the cage that comes around the fighters if they decide to leave before they have either knocked someone out or gotten knocked out themselves."

My eyes widen,"What? Is that what happened to Amber?"

"Yes," He replies with a smile. "She is one of the few female fighters we have. She doesn't always come to fight, but when she fights, she fights to win."

He comes closer to me and whispers," I always root for her because I know what she's got."

"And what is that," I ask him.

He grins again. "She has the willpower to go on when everyone thinks she's going to quit. She has never ran from a fight. She's also not one to give up. She's very passionate about the sport, and has never lost. Not even today." He gestures to the ambulance. "She made history today. Instead of getting knocked down alone she dragged the other fighter with her, and they both blacked out."

I could have stopped this if I would have just drove a little faster. I feel sick to my stomach. The man continues to ramble about closing the place tomorrow to put up her "victory" posters.

I cut him off mid-sentence to say goodbye. I'm not even listening anymore. He's just a random crazy guy with a crazy hobby that he made his job.

I get in my car, and wait for the ambulance to drive to the hospital. It only takes about ten seconds for me to wait. Then, I am driving after the ambulance.

I wonder if Amber is okay. I know she's a tough girl, but that's probably her problem. Her strength is used to exert her emotions physically. She does not need to do that. I'm beginning to see what Nathan was saying. She is vicious. She is the one that did this to herself, and that man.

She did not deserve to have all these things happen to her. It was bad enough to lose her sister, but losing both her parents at the same time is ridiculous.

She told me to stay away from her because she didn't want me to get hurt, but I'm the only thing she has now. So, I will not leave her like this.

In times like these, it is always best to have someone.

I pull in front of the hospital and park my car. I quickly follow Amber's stretcher into the building. I follow it until someone stops me. It's a man in scrubs,"Are you family?" He asks.

I say,"No, but I'm all she's got. Her parents died and she has no one left. Please sir, may I stay with her."

He looks determined to keep me from going down this hall, and Amber continues to get pushed down the hall. He says,"Look. We can't have you back here right now. Just sign yourself in at the desk, and when you can see her we'll let you know."

I've seen enough movies to know this guy will not let me through, so I walk back to the waiting room and sign myself in at the desk. I sit down in one of the uncomfortable chairs and wait.

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