Our Truth is Painted Across the Sky

It's Empty and Cold Without You Here

Brian's POV

I walked down the hall of the hospital after being told to leave by my wife. She had kicked me out of her room and said she didn't know if she could ever forgive me. I left the hospital so lost in thought about the events of this horrible day that I didn't realize until I was in the parking lot that I didn't have a car there. I had been taken by ambulance to the hospital.

Who could I call? I scanned my contacts and looked for someone in my wife's hometown that I could call. I didn't want to call a family member. Penny's ex-husband Jay Benton was one of the first names I came across. We were friends, one big happy family or so I thought. I called him, I needed to find out what his involvement in this nightmare was that resulted in Penny being shot and my marriage ruined. I called, he said he would be there in 15-20 minutes.

My leg, freshly sutured from a bullet grazing it, was starting to burn. I sat down at a bench outside the entrance to the hospital and waited for Jay. It was a typical November day in Ohio and I was just wearing a light jacket. Luckily, everything I had on was black and made it not so obvious that there was blood on my clothes. The tear in my pants making the bandage visible was the most noticeable remnant of this nightmarish day. I should have been freezing but there was too much on my mind to care.

I thought about all the times that Penny or I had been in the hospital in the five years since we met. We had been through some very rough times, but we always pulled each other through. This time she told me to leave. I deserved it, I left her on her own for four months and didn't tell her that her best friend was coming on to me. Her friend Gwyn, who had weaseled her way on tour with my band had lied and manipulated many people in an obsessive quest to be with me. I thought I was protecting Penny and I was too fixated on her friendship with her Doctor to see that Gwyn was playing me. How could I have known that Penny had recovered from her life-threatening illness? Why couldn't I see that her doctor was lying to her and it was all master minded by Gwyn? Soon Jay pulled up and I got into his car, I was ready for some answers, there is a lot to piece together and I intended to assemble this horrible twisted puzzle.

Jay's POV

I was shocked when Brian called and asked me to come get him. I hadn't heard from him since I had to lie to him about why I ended my visit with Penny so abruptly after he asked me to check on her. He was limping as he walked to the car, I could see a bandage on his leg through a rip in his pants. As he came closer, I realized his clothes were stained with something. I didn't know what to expect.

"Hey man!" I said as he got into the car.

"Hey" he said sullenly.

"What happened to your leg?"

"Gwyn shot me." He said very matter of fact.

"What?" I thought maybe I heard him wrong.

"You heard me, Gwyn shot me. I was brought here by ambulance, that's why I don't have a car."

"Where's Penny?"

He pointed at the hospital, we were still in the spot where I picked him up.

"She's in there. Gwyn shot her too." A car behind us honked for me to get out of the way. I pulled into a parking spot.

"Is she okay? Why aren't you with her?"

"They were able to remove the bullet and luckily it didn't damage any organs. They also had to stitch up the giant gash in her forehead from Gwyn throwing her into a chair leg after she shot her." Brian was clearly shaken. I was in disbelief. "She's going to be okay."

"Good, but why aren't you with her?"

"She kicked me out and told me she doesn't know if she ever wants to see me again."