Hammered

Chapter 41

     "Jonathon! You're gonna make it buddy. Come on man! Don't do this to me!" Blood spews out of his chest, my heart drops. I can barely see; my tears are clouding my vision. Demi is in shock. Her sobs make my ears stick up. I hate it when she's sad. Jonathon is being placed on the hospital gondola. I can't get a good view of his face. It's as if his whole head turned into a shadow. I wipe my eyes and look the other way. I find Blanche being handcuffed resisting the cops.

  "I have a daughter you bastards! No! You can't do this to me! Erica!" She screams out. Demi tells her to stop resisting but Blanche won't listen. Erica is hiding behind Demi. I follow the gondola into the ambulance car. I watch as Demi gets in. Jonathon reaches his hand out to me. Why can't I see his face? My eyes are dry now, I am all cried out. I grab his hand and in an instant I find myself laying down coughing profusely. What the hell is happening. I open my eyes and find myself in the gondola, Jonathon is looking at me crying holding my hands. Demi is praying over me, tears streaming down her cheeks. Blanche is nowhere to be found. Erica is nowhere to be found. I am strapped to so many wires. I see my blood in a bag hanging next to me. Everything is clear to me now, Jonathon did not get shot, Jonathon was not in the gondola... I was.

   Sirens. Sirens screaming everywhere. No room to breathe; there's barely any air. Forgotten. Forgotten in your sleep. This man was shot, yet he is so meek. Light, light passing through. Muscles tighten, then you realize it was you.

     "I love you so much. Ryan, please don't...don't do this to me. Baby..." Her humming, I can hear her sweet humming. It is as if her songs swipe pass my lips. I lick them and feel her hands land on my cheeks.

"Ryan? Oh God Ryan." She cries. Her head lies on my chest and my hand brushes her hair. I feel weak, my finger is squeezed by a tiny plastic contraption wired to a computer.

"Look at me." I manage to say. My voice is hoarse and I am drowsy from losing so much blood. She looks up at me and I take her hand. I look at the ring on her finger and kiss it.

"Not yet. I'm not leaving yet. Not when I just proposed to the love of my life." She smiles and a tear streams down her cheek. "Kiss me Demi." Her eyes slightly close and her soft lips press against mine. She pulls away and I adjust my seating. I wince in pain, I hold my chest and lay down. I realize there are people in the room with us.

"How are you feeling, Ryan?" The doctor asks.

"Same old, same old." The doctor chuckles and I look at the clipboard in his hands.

"You are recovering very fast. Do you exercise?"

"Yeah. 4 days a week for two hours."

"That's very good. The left side of your chest has been stitched up. You have four stitches, lucky thing the bullet wasn't bigger or you would have been in serious trouble. Ugh...lets see." He flips through his clipboard and I wait for him to speak. "You just suffered a flesh wound, nothing major. You should be able to leave in about 2 weeks. Is that fine with you?" Even though it wasn't I nodded. The doctor smiles and walks out the door.

"How are you feeling honey?" My mother is sniffling excessively into her Kleenex tissue.

"Fine. I'm fine." I smile at her. She grips my hand.

"I was afraid you...you wouldn't make it. My two babies. Just my luck. Both in the hospital." She violently sobs. "I know I haven't been the best mother but I just want the best for you."

"I know mom."

"It would've been terrible not being able to marry Demi." I look at Demi and she shakes her head. I see it in her eyes. She's telling me she hasn't told my mother about the baby. She read my eyes and nodded her head.