Say Hello

Chapter Sixteen - Hope's POV

     "OWEN'S DEAD!" I screamed on the top of my voice. "You killed him!" I dropped to my knees next to his very still body. "Owen!" I  screamed his name between sobs and kisses. My tears soaked his face. I cupped his face to kiss his lips once more before I was sure to be killed too. My left hand was completely saturated in blood. I couldn't tell where he'd been shot!

     The maniac behind me continued to rattle on in his drunken stupor. Then something simply snapped inside me and a completely unfamiliar emotion took over. 

     Rage!

     Getting up slowly from the floor, I turned around to face Ryan. 

     To my surprise, he  was crouched against the wall, almost doubled over, sobbing and jabbering incoherently.  He had the gun pointed toward the floor and appeared completely beside himself about what he had just done.

     I moved with intense purpose toward him.

     Ryan looked up, as if he had suddenly snapped out if his stupor.

     He dropped to his knees instantly and placed the barrel of the gun to his right temple. 

     "Ryan, please don't. This is not the answer. Owen needs you!" I pleaded with this broken man, then added, "And you need  him."

     "He's dead!" he whispered, almost inaudibly, liquid pouring from every opening in his face. He didn't even attempt to compose himself. He was raw at the moment. I saw clearly a picture of my own father. Both were desperate people, empty inside, attempting in any way they could to control even a small portion of their world.

     "No Ryan, he's alive."

     "He's dead." And just as he said that, I heard Owen's beautiful voice confirm my declaration.

     His father dropped the gun and scurried, still on his knees, over to his son's side. Owen reached for his hand.

     "I'm not dead, Dad," he said with surprising strength and resolve in his  voice. 

     His father collapsed into Owen's outstretched arm.

     I marveled with my mouth agape at the scene and all that has just taken place. Owen even forgave Ryan when he begged him, sputtering a  tearful apology for all the years of abandonment.

     "Hold it right there!" 

     The police had entered the house unbeknownst to any of us. They share that Owen's open cell phone line and the screams led them to us. They heard everything!

     Ryan was removed into their custody and Owen was taken to the hospital.

     His mother nearly had a breakdown and was immediately released from her unit in the hospital. She joined me by Owen's side and vowed to murder her ex-husband after she saw her son. He stopped her and explained as briefly as he could with all the medical intervention and activity going on around him.

     An interesting conversation transpired between a portly nurse who Owen affectionately  introduced as Nurse Ratchet.

     She accused him of avoiding her, since she hadn't seen him in a while and, turning to eye me, asked if I was the tart that stole him from her. Owen laughed, and with that his mother visibly relaxed. 

     "You know you're my number one girl while I'm here," he said to her while sneaking a wink at me. The beautiful glint returned to his eyes. I breathed for the first time since this drama began.

     He has only suffered a superficial wound to his scalp, just above his left ear. All the tests indicated that he was fine in every regard and all he received was a shave in a small area of his scalp, antibacterial ointment, a tiny bandage and a warning to "not return to the ER unless it's to give me flowers or candy!" That, of course was from his Nurse Ratchet, who hugged him sincerely before darting off to bark orders at a fumbling intern in the next room who had apparently knocked over expensive EKG equipment.

     Owen laughed even more heartily and swung his legs over the side of the bed and stepped onto the floor. He urged us to quickly gather his personal effects and, "Let's get out of here quick before Ratchet changes her mind and puts me on lockdown!" 

     Even Owen's mother couldn't resist a lighthearted giggle.