Chapter Thirty-Two…
Jord slumped against me, letting nearly all his weight rest on me.
I stared at him, eyes wide in a panic. He couldn’t have been shot. No, not Jord. Anyone but Jord.
However, when he raised his eyes to meet mine, they showed no pain whatsoever and I soon realised that he wasn’t the one the bullet had been impaled into.
No, but the reality of who had been shot came crashing down seconds later when a high pitched scream echoed through the air.
My head spun round as fast as it could manage, revealing Mel’s body slumped on the floor a short distance away.
Momentarily forgetting Jord’s heavy weight that was encasing me protectively, I moved forwards, only to be held back automatically. “Jord, I have to go to Mel.” I begged him, panic swelling in my veins.
After swivelling his head as well, he nodded, making a move himself to help her.
She was already surrounded though before we’d even moved a muscle. Police were swarming her, all making frantic calls for an ambulance.
Tears were running down my face in a steady stream as I barged my way through, aided by Jord. Grace was on her knees at the side of her, also in hysterics.
“Oh my god.” I muttered, sprinting the last couple of steps and collapsing at the side of her also.
Mel was clearly unconscious, more than likely from lack of blood as I saw the gaping wound on her shoulder where the bullet had torn through her soft flesh. Jord stood behind me, resting a comforting hand on my shoulder.
Whilst I was in need of much greater comfort, I could understand Jord’s hesitance. The police, knowing that Jord was my teacher, would be suspicious of any behaviour that was more than friendly. No doubt his indirect confession had already raised some sort of alarm bells in their minds. We didn’t need that kind of drama right now.
“I can’t believe she was shot.” Grace choked out as she was moved to the side by a police officer carrying what looked like a blanket.
He padded the wound, trying to restrict the blood flow, I assumed. Luckily for Mel, she was out cold and wouldn’t feel the insane pain that would no doubt be filling her senses otherwise.
Blaring sirens entered my hearing range seconds later, as an ambulance swerved to a stop nearby. I was in so much shock that I could barely comprehend anything that was happening around me, it all seemed to be happening in slow motion.
I vaguely realised that Jord was hoisting my up from my feet, a supporting arm wrapped around my shoulder so that I didn’t fall over sideways. I watched in horror as Mel was lifted onto a stretcher and carried over to the ambulance by three paramedics.
It had zoomed off before I even had the chance to argue, to tell them I wanted to go with her.
When the sirens had gone and I was left to look only at the space where Mel’s body had been lying previously, the reality seemed to come crashing back down.
I burst into uncontrollable sobs, clinging onto Jord like he was the only thing left in the world. I buried my head into his chest, uncaring of the consequences. I just needed him to hold me, to bring me some sort of salvation to my shaken up world.
He returned it willingly, resting his hands on my lower back forcefully and pulling me tight against him. He didn’t let his head do anything untoward, and simply rested his chin on my hair, presumably looking out over the devastating scene.
I heard a voice, muffled to my ears, which were being squashed slightly by the pressure I was pushing my face into Jord’s chest. “You can go and see the girl who was shot as soon as you like, she just needed to be seen to immediately.” The policeman’s voice echoed through to me.
Jord’s chest vibrated as he replied. “Thank you,” he acknowledged this information. “I’m sure Jess and Grace will both want to go and see her.”
“Well, we’re going to have to ask you three to vacate the premises anyway, because we need to take some evidence. Although, we will be in contact I’m afraid. We’ve got Arthur Sledhill handcuffed in the car, but we’ll need statements.” He outlined the basic procedures.
I felt Jord nod against my head and thank the man once more, before he pushed me back slightly. His hand rested gently on my cheek. “Jess,” he began softly, his voice reaching my ears and making me feel a hundred times better already. “We need to drive to the hospital.”
I barely managed to nod my head and I let him steer me towards his car, which was among the several police vehicles.
I sat down in his front seat in a daze. Grace entered the back in a similar sort of way, her face stained with tears, her gaze unfocused.
By the time we arrived at the hospital, I had regained some composure. I wasn’t quite so shell shocked anymore and I could understand that I needed to stay strong for Mel, she would need me when she woke up, and she would wake up.
In the hospital, I knew people wouldn’t be aware of Jord’s status as my teacher, so I felt less cautious about leaning on him for support here. If I needed it, he’d be there to give it to me. At least I hoped that would be how it went.
Reaching the front desk, it was Jord who made the request for Mel’s room number, which he was instantly given after outlining the situation.
Silently, we trundled up to her temporary room together. She wasn’t there at the moment, we were told, because she was undergoing emergency surgery to remove the bullet. She would be here within the hour, though.
Collapsing into on of the plastic chairs, Jord sat down beside me, Grace excusing her self to use the toilet.
“Thanks for saving me.” I whispered to him, the first coherent words I had actually spoken to him since he’d turned up.
A sad smile graced his face as he turned his intense stare on me. “I couldn’t not save you Jess. I was distraught when I saw you being taken by him.”
His eyes glinted the pain he was trying to hide at me being kidnapped, but I could read into his face much more than he anticipated.
Boldly, I snatched his hand. “I’m fine.” I assured him honestly. Physically, I had undergone barely any harm and apart from the minor slash Arthur had inflicted on my arm and some bruising, all was well.
“That’s not the point,” Jord argued. “What if something had happened to you? I’d have been killing myself because I hadn’t gotten there in time. If I’d been quicker, if I’d realised what was going to happen sooner, read more into the threat he given you, I could have stopped it. I’d never have lived with myself if something had happened to you.”
I felt tears prick at my eyes. Never had I had such an open confession of anything so heart wrenching. “I wouldn’t have blamed you.” I contradicted what he’d said.
“You should have done.”
I leaned closer, clasping his hand tighter. “No, I couldn’t.” I stated, trying to convey how sincere I was. I couldn’t, not at all. I would never blame Jord for this.
“Jess, I don’t think you understand. Did you get the message I was trying to send when I said all that to Arthur?” He inquired, almost concerned that I might not have picked up on his indirect declaration of his feelings.
“Of course I understood what you were saying.” I muttered, embarrassed, before lowing my head slightly. Never had anyone told me with so much conviction before, even if it wasn’t direct.
“Well, I meant it.” He announced. “I love you, Jess.”
I felt the heat rise in my cheeks as I processed what he’d just said. His head was infinitely close to my own now, so that our lips brushed together intimately.
“I love you too.” I reciprocated his gesture, pushing forward so that our lips met in a proper kiss.
It might have been completely inappropriate and completely unconventional, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. It was the sheer emotion that I cared about, knowing that this revelation of love was genuine, that it meant something.
After our mouths had tangled for a couple of minutes, we both pulled away to breath, resting our foreheads against each other breathlessly.
“You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to do that properly for.” He revealed, grinning lopsidedly.
A small laugh escaped my lips. “Probably as long as I have.” I returned cheekily.
When the door opened, we pulled back simultaneously. We might have just done the unspeakable, given in to our feelings in a way that was different to the last two times, but that didn’t mean I was ready to actually tell anyone that yet. We needed to deal with it ourselves first.
“There’s some comfier looking chairs just around the corner.” Grace informed us when she came back into the room, pointing to where she’d just come from and completely oblivious of what had just happened.
Despite knowing she had seen nothing, I still felt the heat rising to my cheeks. I’d been kissing Jord intensely mere seconds ago, and now I was supposed to be acting normally? My heart was still racing and my breaths slightly more irregular than they should have been.
“Right,” I said, still smiling like an idiot from Jord’s confession of love. “We might as well go and sit on them then.” I decided, knowing that Mel wouldn’t be back from surgery for a while yet.
Trudging through to the more public room, I noticed that the chairs were indeed padded rather than the uncomfortable plastic things that we had been occupying. These also had no armrests, and were more like one long bench than individual chairs.
Sighing, I flopped down onto the slightly more comfortable seat, letting Jord do the exact same beside me. This way, we could be inconspicuously close more easily, since we weren’t in separate seats anymore.
Grace chose to sit opposite, so that she could converse with us more easily. “This is still surreal to me.” She commented, scanning the sterile hospital room.
I nodded in agreement. Although Jord’s kiss had brought me back to reality as in where we were, it was still hard to process that Mel had been shot, and was now in surgery, having a bullet removed from her shoulder.
We’d been told that she would definitely live, but that there might be some side effects. We hadn’t had those listed yet though and I wasn’t particularly looking forward to that.
“I know what you mean.” I coincided. “I still can’t believe we’re here, what’s happened to get me here in the first place.”
“So,” Grace pushed. “Are you going to give us a rundown of what actually happened to you?”
I grimaced, and Jord instantly stepped in. “You don’t have to say if you don’t want to.” He assured me.
“No, it’s okay. Besides, you can’t say your not dying to know anyway.” I teased.
He smiled sheepishly. “Maybe…”
I chuckled, but launched into my recap of the story anyway. I got varied emotions from Jord, but when I mentioned the part where I was on the phone to him and I was trying to find out if he was armed, I felt him tense increasingly beside me.
Stretching out my arm and peeling back the sleeve, which I’d only just realised was stained with a surprising amount of blood, I revealed the now scabbed over gash there.
Instantly, Jord’s soft hand was holding my own, his thumb running down the very edge of the cut. His face was tender, but stern at the same time, as he caressed it gently.
“That bastard.” He hissed, his voice now venomous as he observed the laceration again.
I shrugged, expressing that it wasn’t something that really bothered me. It wasn’t painful, and it wasn’t something that I was cursing Arthur for. It was small compared to Mel’s shooting, so I didn’t want to draw attention to it really. “It’s fine.” I assured him. “It doesn’t even hurt.”
Jord released my wrist, but still looked annoyed that I’d been physically harmed. “He didn’t do anything else to you, did he?” He checked.
I shook my head. “I’ll have a couple of bruises from them holding me, but that’s it.”
“It had better be, otherwise he won’t be surviving in that cell.” Jord muttered darkly.
I elbowed him slightly. “Stop worrying, I’m fine.”
Taking a subtle glance at Grace, I realised that she had noticed the little details in our conversation. How we were totally different in an out of school environment. I think she’d forgotten how we used to interact and wasn’t really expecting it so much.
Before it could be brought to attention, though, the doctor came through, informing us that Mel was out of surgery and back in her room now.
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Well, the last couple of chapters have been AMAZING! I've had nearly 40 votes on both of them! And TWENTY comments on the last one! I've never been so chuffed. Also, The Auschwitz Affair got onto the What's Hot list! I was probably more shocked by that!
Then, I come to this chapter, and I don't think I've written it very well :/ The confession, it seemed kind of bad, I don't know...
Anyway, thanks for the amazing response to this story! I hope you enjoy this :)