"Well, well, well... if it isn't the beautiful Kelsey Jones. How are you sweetheart?" a voice cooed mockingly from behind.
Walking faster, trying to ignore him, Kelsey shrieked in surprise as someone grabbed her arm, pulling her back into them.
"Tuh, tuh, tuh, didn't your mother ever teach you manners?" he grinned evily, "it's not polite to ignore people."
"Let her go!"
Turning, the man smiled as he spotted Justin standing there breathing heavily as if he had been running a marathon.
"Look who finally decided to join us," he whirled around to face him, shielding his body with hers as he tightly held her to him.
"Let her go," he growled once more, "she has nothing to do with this."
"Oh, but I beg to differ," he smirked. "You see, she's quite the catch mate, and I wouldn't mind having a piece of this for dinner. Tell me, does she taste good?"
"You son of a bitch!" Running forwards, a force held him back. "What the fuck?" he spat as he tried to break free though nothing was bound to him. Fighting harder, it only amused the others as multiple people stepped out of the shadows now, joining the laughter of Kelsey's captor.
"You can try to break free all you want, she's a goner."
"Justin!" Kelsey screamed as she touseled around, desperate to get away from the foerign hands on her body and to the familar ones she grew to love.
"Sorry babe, but Justin's a little tied up at the moment," he laughed as he turned, pulling her aloing with him.
"Justin!" she cried out while reaching behind her, legs kicking in the air to try and loosen the hold on her body so that she could bolt but no matter what she did, he was too strong for her.
Reaching out to grab her hands, Justin strained to move closer though no matter how hard he tried, it was like he was cemented to the ground.
"Justin!"
No One's Point of View:
No one said a word as they left Lyndon's place in a hurry, all of the guys piling in the car as if their lives depended on it--and in a sesne, it did.
Justin couldn't shake the feeling he felt in the pit of his stomach as he fidgeted in his seat, his heart practically ready to fall from the cage it was hidden behind. It was like his entire world had stopped and crashed around him, an all too familiar feeling that he's gotten one too many times before, but this was different--he could sense it.
It wasn't like every other time in his life where he knew where he was headed and what he was going to deal with. He had absolutely no clue what had happened, and a part of him screamed to turn back and hide from the truth because it was somethinig he wasn't destined to find out. He wasn't ready for this, and his gut knew it--he just chose not to follow it.
Lost in a sense of direction, not knowing where to go from here on out, Justin bobbed his knee like a drugatic on crack; he needed his fix, and he needed it now.
The traffic didn't help either.
"Fuck this," he grunted as they stopped behind another car at a red stop light. Pushing the door open, he didnt even look back as he began running in the direction of the hospital.
It didn't even matter that he ran for five miles straight or that he was sweating like a pig by the time he got to the hospital as long as he made it by her side in time.
Busting through the entrance of the emergency room, he made a beeline for the double doors that led into the busy waiting room.
The white walls made his stomach churn from the countless memories of him coming here. From all the wounds he received over the last few years, and the gun shot to the chest from a couple months back, it made him sick knowing it wasn't for him or one of the guys that he was back here again, but for Kelsey instead.
It didn't make any sense to him. Why it had to be her and not him. He would have taken her spot without so much as a second thought, even if it meant he would die in the process because Kelsey was the angel and he was the devil who had surrendered his soul a long time ago.
Standing there surrounded by so many people awaiting the fate of their loved ones made him internally sick as his hands began to shake on either side of him at the thought of Kelsey's fate being determined.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. He was supposed to give up his old life to start a new one. They were supposed to grow happy and old together, have children some where down the line and now it didnt look like that was going to happen anytime soon.
It was as if his life wasn't meant to happen the way he had hoped, but by someone else who wanted to see him crumble.
Rushing to the receptionist behind the desk, Justin laid his palms flat on the marble counter, breathing heavily. "Kelsey Jones?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Kelsey Jones, what room is she in?"
Parting her lips, she looked down at the screen on her computer screen before the light blue of her irises peered up at him once more through the lense of her glasses, "I'm sorry, but visiting hours are over--"
"I'm her fucking fiance," he snapped, "what room is she in?"
"Sir, I'm going to need you to calm down," the security guard said as he stepped over towards them after noticing the interaction between the two.
"Don't tell me to calm down," Justin seethed, "I'll fucking snap your neck in half."
Reaching behind him towards the handcufs he had clipped to the loop on his jeans, he narrowed his eyes in his direction. "If you don't take a step back, I will have you attained--"
"For what?" Justin took a step closer, his face now in front of his as he cocked his head to the side. "Hm? Telling the truth? Because I promise I will have my hands around your throat faster than you can blink."
"She's in room 110," the nurse interrupted quickly as swiped her tongue quickly across her lips, putting her hand up to silence the guard who opened his mouth to retaliate, not wanting to be the cause for the debacle that would have started between the two if he had waited any longer.
Turning to face her, Justin gave a clipped nod before glaring at the man before him and shoving past to get through the double doors that led to another hall far bigger than the one he had just gone through.
He was in his own little world that he didn't even notice that the guys had finally arrived until he heard their voices demanding they were Kelsey's brothers as he ran through another set of doors that led to the emergency clinic of those who were severely injured causing his heart to lurch into his throat.
Turning a corner, Justin felt his heart stop when he saw Carly standing there with her arms crossed, looking as though she had been crying for hours. Her eyes were bloodshot, her nose a shade of red from all the sniffling and wiping she had done.
It was like he was stuck in another demension and couldn't grasp the concept that this was actually happening to him right now.
As soon as Carly turned to face him, his entire face fell from the look in her eyes. "Justin," she whispered painfully, her bottom lip quivering slightly at the look in his eyes.
She knew he was going to lose it and he had a feeling he was going to, too.
"Where is she?"
"Justin--"
"Carly," he shook his head, "don't and just tell me where she is."
Looking to the right at the room next to her before gazing over at Justin once more, he immediately began walking towards the door.
"No!" she cried out, "you can't go in there." Blocking his path, she stood there with pleading eyes, begging for him to listen to her, but he refused to give in.
"Move," he ordered.
"She's not the same person," she tried to reason. "If you go in there, you won't see who you're expecting to see. It's going to be someone completely different. Don't do this to yourself," she whispered, "she wouldn't want you to see her like this."
Clenching his jaw, Justin fought back the urge to let out a cry of agony. He wanted nothing more than for this to be a horrible prank, a joke set up by Carly to fuck him up mentally to get back at him for all the shit he's done, but the more he stood there staring at her, the more reality sunk in.
"She needs me," he forced out. "And I need her, and nothing you say or do is going to change that so for the last time, get out of my way." Pushing her, Justin nearly tripped over his two feet as he fumbled with the door knob before managing to turn and push it open.
Walking into the room, he nearly collapsed at the sight of her.
Several wires were criss crossed coming from every vital vein in her body to keep her from losing oxygen. Her head was wrapped as several bruises scattered every inch of her skin, gashes lining her like a veteran who had returned from war. Her left eye swollen and her bottom lip stitched from the slash it has recieved from an unexpected blow.
Standing there, Justin could see what Carly had meant by not recognizing a single feature on her beloved face. She was beaten and bruised, run down by how many he had no clue, but it was miraculous she had even survived a blow like this.
Choked up, and not knowing what to say or do, he couldn't control the emotions that coursed through his body as he took a single step towards her and took her hand into his. Feeling the usual warmth he was used to now masked with a frigid coldness, tears leaked through his pupils as they trailed down the roughness of his skin.
With his shoulders hunched over now, nobody dared to say a word as they stood in the doorway watching as he broke down in front of them. Shaking his head, he used his free hand to wipe freely down his face as he silenced his sounds with the palm of his hand. "I'm sorry--" he cut himself off in a whisper, "I'm so, so sorry."
Falling into the free chair next to her bed side, he wrapped her hand with the both of his while firmly pressing them to his lips before dropping his forehead to their embrace. Silence took cue as he sat there, dwelling on how he could have let this happen.
How he let things get to this point, he'd never understand. He was finally beginning to let his walls down, the life he had grown so used to slowly fading into a distant memory so he could make new ones with her, but he was denied the opportunity time and time again.
Upon hearing a soft knock at the door, Justin didn't dare to look away from her as foot steps emerged from the doorway, "Mr. Bieber?"
When he didn't budge, he continued.
"I'm Dr. Spinelli, I'll be taking care of Kelsey this evening. I'm going to need you to step out for a few seconds so we can run somes tests. Will that be alright?"
"Is she going to be okay?" he whispered.
"We're going to try our best--"
Suddenly the chair scraped hard against the floors as Justin stood up before whirling around and grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, "you're not going to try. You're going to do it."
"I'm going to need you to calm down--"
Shoving him back, Justin stared venemously at the man who stumbled backwards, nearly hitting the wall from the amount of force thrusted upon him. "Don't," he warned, "tell me what to do. Do you're fucking job instead and save her."
"Justin, man," John intervened, knowing this was a tough situation to be in, but he knew Justin didn't want to get kicked out because of this, "don't."
"Shut the fuck up," he countered sharply, " no one fucking asked you."
"This is a hospital, Mr. Bieber, and just like any other one, we request that our vistors keep quiet and if you fail to do so, we will have to force you out of this room."
"Do you know what it's like?" he asked, "to feel like you're fucking drowning and you can't breathe? Like you're entire life was ripped out from underneath you and you're falling endlessly into a dark hole?" Turning around to face Kelsey, he shook his head, "this girl right here is everything to me. Do you understand that because I don't think you do." Running his hand through his hair, he tugged at the ends, "I've been here countless times, because I deserved to be here, because I did things to be here, but she? She didn't deserve this," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"I deserve to be laying there," he pointed to himself, "me. She didn't ask for this. She didn't want any of this, but she still fucking stuck around and I have no idea why."
"Justin, why don't we get some air?" Bruce gestured towards the door as he motioned with his hand to come over.
"No," he breathed out, his vision clouding as he stared long and hard at the bruises tainted across her skin, the skin he's kissed before, the skin he would protect as if it were his own. "I fucked her up. I fucked her up so bad and there's no going back from this."
Reaching out to grab a hold of his arm, Bruce was taken back by the outburst that soon followed.
"Don't touch me!" Justin screamed at the top of his lungs, shattering the hearts of everyone in the room.
Silence.
"We were supposed to be happy you know," he whispered as his eyes looked over her face once more, "we were finally supposed to be happy."
Taken back by the first sob that filled the air, Bruce stood there dumbfounded as he watched the scene unfold before him.
With his shoulders shaking violently from all the emotions coursing through his body, Justin doubled over as he fell to his knees on the ground.
Knowing he had to get this off his chest, Bruce gestured for everyone to get out, respectfully bowing his head towards the doctor whispering that he needed just a minute before he forcefully agreed.
"A minute and not a second sooner," he hushed back. "If we wait any longer, it's only going to hurt her in the end."
"I fucked her up... I fucked her up so bad," shaking his head, Justin choked on his saliva as he swallowed hard, trying to shake the growing headache, but just like his heart, it wouldn't go away.
"Listen to me," Bruce stressed as he kneeled down beside him, "she wouldn't want you to do this."
"Nothing will ever make up for this," he robotically responded, as if he was in an entirely different world.
"Justin?" shaking him, Bruce pulled his brows into a frown as realization began to kick in and worry puddled in the middle of his stomach. "Justin!" he yelled in a whisper, catching his attention.
With his eyes red, Justin sniffed like a child who had been crying because he missed his mommy, "yeah?"
"Come on man, let the doctors do their job..." he murmured while standing and bringing him up with him as they walked out together, leaving the doctors to attend to their work.
Standing there waiting for news on Kelsey's condition, commotion was heard from around the corner as a couple emerged, looking fussy and agitated; like they hadn't slept for days and had just woken up for the first time.
With his arms crossed, Justin didn't bother to awknowledge their existence as he kept his eyes trained on the door that was now closed excluding them all from what was going on inside the room.
"Shit," Carly cursed under her nose.
Curious, he turned to see Kelsey's mother and father making their way with Dennis soon trailing behind. Parting his lips, he sucked in a sharp breath, having not seen them in so long, "oh fuck me to hell."
Taking this as her cue to be the first to talk so a war doesn't break out, Carly manuvered her way through the guys, "hey Mr. and Mrs. Jones," she greeted with a small smile that was masked with evident sadness.
"Oh honey," throwing her arms around her neck, Kelsey's mother dug her head into the nape as she clung onto her for dear life. "How is she? Is she okay?"
"We don't know yet," Carly whispered as she squeezed once before pulling away and tucking a dtrand of her hair behind her ear, "they're still running tests."
"How long does it take?" Kelsey's father piped in rather impatiently - as any father would in a situation like this.
"James," she retorted as she scolded him knowingly.
"Maria," he countered back just as sharp.
Shaking her head with her lips pressed in dismay, she creased her forehead in evident displeasure before turning and noticing Bruce and the others standing side by side, "and who are these gentleman?"
It didn't take long before the couple trailed through the group of men before their eyes landed on Justin.
Freezing under their intense gaze, a disgusted scowl pulled at the ends of James' lips, "these aren't gentleman, sweetheart," he drawled, "they're monsters."
"Enough, James," Maria exasperated, "we talked about this."
"We also talked about keeping our daughter safe but look how that turned out."
Biting her tongue, she blinked back the tears that threatened to surface while forcing a smile to grace her lips, raising her brows in continuation to her question.
"This is my boyfriend, John," Carly quietly introduced him as he wrapped an arm tightly around her shoulders, pulling her into him as he placed a gentle kiss to the side of her head.
"You're associated with them?" James roared in sharp laughter, "now I know where my daughter got her bad choices from."
"Excuse me?" she furrowed her eyebrows.
"I expected more from you, young lady."
"No offense sir, but you're not my father," she bit back.
"Oh?" he cocked his head to the side, "then where is he?"
"James!" Maria shrieked in shock at the harsh words that fell from her husband's lips.
"You son of a bitch," John growled as he took a step forward just as Carly stopped him with her hands to his chest.
"Stop it," she hissed, "not here, okay? Don't. I'm fine," she reassured.
When he looked down at her, she nodded to confirm it though the look in her eyes told him otherwise, "I promise."
Gritting his teeth together, he set his eyes hard on Kelsey's father as he returned the gaze, never once faltering from the battle they were currently taking part in, in a game to see who would break first.
However it was short lived once the door opened and the doctor stepped out, clicking his pen closed as he stuffed it into the pocket of his coat.
"How is she?" they all questioned at once.
Looking up, he was almost taken back by the amount of people now huddled in the hallway when just moments ago there wasn't as many, "hello. I don't think we've met." Holding his hand out, both Maria and James shook it, "I'm Dr. Spinelli."
"I'm Maria, Kelsey's mother and this is her father, James," she gestured beside her as he took a step forward to get closer as if it would help his daughters results even in the slighest.
"Is she alright?" Justin tried once more, his eyes wide with desperation.
Not knowing exactly how to approach the matter, he swallowed while gazing over everyone before settling on the clipboard in his hand, knowingly making it obvious that this wasn't going to be good news.
"She suffered serious head trama which resulted in the shift of her brain causing the blood vessels and nerve fibers to tear automatically adding to the swelling," pausing momentarily to let it all sink in, he continued, "the swelling presses down on the blood vessels, blocking the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain, and because of this she had fallen into a deep coma."
A gasp emitted through the air.
"It's severely up to her whether or not she's going to wake up. Usually it doesn't take longer than two to four weeks until we decide to declare them brain dead or in a vegetable state."
"But she's going to be okay, right?" Dennis inquired from behind his father's shoulder.
"At this point, it's all up to her. We did everything in our power to help make her comfortable and that's really all we can do right now. I'm sorry," he bowed his head in condolences, "we'll let you know if something comes up."
Breaking into a sob, Maria turned to cry into her husband's shoulder as he stood there shell-shocked.
Carly cried into John's chest as he rubbed her back comfortingly as tears sprung to his eyes at the possibility that she wouldn't survive.
Holding his head in his hands, Marco shut everyone out as he closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down before he lose it just like everyone else as Marcus stood off to the side, staring blankly at the wall.
"No," Justin said.
Turning to him, Bruce's eyes saddened immensely as he took cautious steps towards the younger man, "she's going to be okay."
"NO!" he barked as he whirled around, punching a hole in the wall beside him as he fell to the ground with Bruce trying to pull him back up again.
And just like that, the suffocating silence soon erupted into chaos.
"This is all your fault," Dennis called out, "so don't try to act like you didn't see this coming."
Snapping his head over to the right, Justin's face fell in pain and exhaustion, having expected a reaction like this, but still hoping he didn't have to hear it.
Staring at his son in shock, James stood quietly as he watched on, surprised he wasn't the only one who thought so as Maria debated whether or not she should interupt, but just like any other human being, he had the right to state his opinion - even if she didn't entirely agree with it all.
"You have to understand--" Justin began, but was soon cut off.
"I don't have to understand anything! It's all here, in plain sight. You are a monster," he whispered in disgust with himself for having trusted him for so long, "my dad was right."
Justin's heart broke at the words that escaped his lips, "Den--"
"You promised me!" Dennis cried out, the anger coursing through his body something nobody's ever seen in the young boy.
"Please," he begged, desperate for someone to hear him out.
"You said this wouldn't happen," he urged on, "you promised you would keep her safe and I believed you," his teary eyes met his in disbelief, "I trusted you--I defended you."
"I know, and I'm sorry," he whispered in a broken voice, but Dennis wasn't having it. Not anymore.
"Save it," he spoke thorugh gritted teeth, "nothing you say is going to fix this."
"You don't think I know that?" Justin spoke in justification with himself and his choices, "you don't think I know that this can't be fixed?" he snapped.
"Dennis," Carly reached over to try and calm the boy down before this got anymore out of hand.
There was still so much no one understood about this life, and she wasn't going to stand there and let Justin get the backlash of it all.
"Don't!" he snapped, "I'm not a little kid anymore Carly," he hissed. "You can't make this better by giving me a hug and telling me it's going to be alright because you and I both know that's a bunch of bull."
"Come on, kid--" Marco began but was soon interuppted by the sharpness that came from him.
"My sister is fighthing for her life right now!" he screamed, his entire face red from the amount of fury he felt towards everyone in the room - even his parents, "so don't you kid me, asshole!"
"Dennis sweetie," Maria whispered softly as she came to stand beside him while rubbing his shoulders comfortingly, "why don't you go inside and speak to Kelsey, okay? I'm sure she'd love to hear from you."
Suddenly his ears perked in interest as he turned with slightly wide eyes, "do you think she'll hear me?"
"She may not be able to respond, but I'm almost certain she can hear you."
Nodding, he shot a glare Justin's way before shoving past him and into the room.
Straightening up, she turned to face him as she nodded towards the open hallway, "I think we should talk."
Silently agreeing, he sighed, knowing he couldn't push the ineveitable any longer. This talk was bound to happen, and he prepared to hear every profanity of them all.
"Maria," James grabbed her hand, "I don't think this is a good idea."
"Don't worry," she said while pulling away and pecking him on the cheek. "Go comfort Dennis, I'll be there in a second."
Despite not wanting to, he did as told, disappearing into the privacy of his daughter's room.
Leading the way into the small cafe, she took a seat next to the vending machines, waiting for Justin to follow suit.
Falling into an empty seat beside her, Justin swallowed down hard as he avoided her eyes all together, not being able to cope with the disappointment.
"I tried to do right by her, you know," he broke first just as she opened her mouth to say something.
Looking over at him, she stayed silent, waiting to hear what else he had to say.
"I swear I did. I wanted nothing more than to give her everything she ever wanted," his vision blurred as he blinked down at his shoes, a silent tear falling to land on his shoes.
"Justin--"
"This wasn't supposed to happen. I was giving it up, I was giving it all up just for her."
"Justin..."
"And now she's in there fighting for her life because of me."
"Sweetheart," she reached over to grab his hand, "it's not your fault."
"How can you say that?" he snapped, his eyes meeting hers, "your daughter is hanging by a thread because of me! This all happened because she was mine!"
Shaking her head, she held onto his hand tighter, "that's not what I mean. Look, what you do for a living, is that wrong? Very. On so many levels, but did you know this was going to happen?"
When he didn't say anything, she grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her, "did you?"
"No," he replied, baffled that she would even be serious to ask him that.
"Exactly. I'm not going to justify that yes, part of the reason why my daughter is here is because she's associated with her, but you didn't ask for this. No one did."
"I should have left her alone," he whispered. "That night, when she... when I met her. I should have just left her alone, but I was selfish and self-centered and only cared about myself. I didn't think of the consequences. I didn't even think I could fall in love with her."
"But you did," she patted his hand softly.
"But I did," he repeated with a slight scoff of disbelief with himself, "and at the time I thought it was the best thing that could have happened to me - she was the best thing that could have happened to me..." looking down at his intertwined fingers, he closed his eyes envisioning her beautiful smile before it vanished, "but now that I look back on it," he looked up to stare at the wall opposite from where he stood, "and all the signs were there."
"The first time she ever got hurt because of me, I should have known to stop, that this would go too far, but my pride stood in the way and I refused to give her up because it's not fair. Why should I suffer because I fell in love again? Why should I get the boot out of all the people in the world?" laughing humorlessly to himself, he shook his head for the hundredth time that night, "and then I realized people like me don't get happy endings."
"The world has a funny way of getting back at us, but we can't let them see us fall," she wrapped a comforting arm around his frame, laying her chin softly on his shoulder.
"Yeah..." looking over at her, he licked his lips, frowning, "why don't you hate me?"
"You made my daughter the happiest I've seen her. How could I ever hate you for that?"
After an hour of talking, Maria had joined her husband and son in Kelsey's room to spend some time with her daughter to reassure her that they were there and they weren't going to leave her side.
As soon as she saw the damage however, she fell onto her like a shield, her motherly instincts kicking in as she sobbed uncontrollably into her shoulder, wheeping my baby over and over again as if her tears would heal the wounds on her body - but they never did.
It didn't take long before everyone was forced to leave besides Justin, whom Maria had demanded the doctors let stay despite her husband's discomfort.
Standing outside the room with his hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his jeans, he looked through the windows, between the slits of the blinds, watching as Maria reached over and tucked Kelsey's hair behind her ear while singing lullabies.
Sitting in a chair, Dennis had fallen asleep holding Kelsey's hand while James watched on as his wife serenaded their daughter.
Turning at the sight of a shadow peeking in through the small openings of the blinds, he shifted to see Justin standing there and immediately his blood ran cold. Walking over, his eyes met Justin's, his own blazing hot with fire - a fire that was nowhere close to dying out as his jaw locked furiously at the hatred he felt for the young man Kelsey had fallen in love with.
Grabbing the small hook near the right that was attached to the covers over the windows, he twisted it, blocking view from anyone outside, purposely making sure Justin had no way of looking in at his daughter.
Having expected this reaction, his own wife warning him of the anger her husband was currently experiencing though she reassured him it would die out soon enough, Justin turned away.
Not wanting to cause anymore of a scene than he already had, he grabbed a chair and sat in it, wondering if sleep would consume him or his thoughts would eat him alive until he couldn't handle it anymore and passed out.
Either way, nightmares were all he grew accustomed to and it wasn't much of a surprise to him when Justin found himself tossing and turning for the remainder of the night, screaming for Kelsey as a pair of men pulled her away into the darkness just as she called out for him, begging for him to save her.
And no matter what he did, he could not reach her.