Chapter 16: Andy

I woke up to the sound of fists slamming against my door.

I sat up with a start, and instantly regretted it. My head spun, making me instantly nauseous. I leaned over the side of my bed and threw up, the whiskey coming back out the way it had gone down, along with my breakfast. My throat burned, and the stench made me throw up again. I wiped my mouth with my arm and looked around my room. I was naked, although how I had gotten to be like this was completely beyond me.

“We have visitors, baby.”

When I saw Hannah walk into the room, it all came rushing back to me like a tidal wave. I jumped out of bed, rushed towards her and grabbed her by the neck, pushing her against the wall. He raged inside me burned like wildfire, and I wanted to slam my fist into her face.

“You drugged me!” I spat. “You fucking cunt, you drugged me!”

The slamming continued, breaking my concentration as I realized that I had not been dreaming it. Hannah slapped my hand away and pushed me back, gently massaging her neck. “Go open the door, you asshole.”

I pointed an angry finger in her face. “Get dressed and get out before I kick you out and you could walk home naked!”

I grabbed my jeans from off the chair by the door, slipped them on, and left to answer the door. The knocking was now coupled with the bell.

“I’m coming, I’m coming, calm the fuck down!” I yelled at the idiot outside.

I swung the door open, and Bobby raced inside. “Is she here?” he demanded, looking frantic. Behind him, just outside the door, stood Jeremy and another officer I didn’t recognize.

“Is who here?” I asked.

“Andrea!” Bobby yelled. “Is she here?”

I frowned in confusion, suddenly just as worried. “What? You mean she’s not with you?”

“If she were with me, would I be looking for her, you jackass!”

“You were supposed to be watching her!” I yelled.

“Fuck you, Andy!” Bobby countered.

Jeremy stepped inside. “Okay, can we all calm down?” He looked at me. “Andrea didn’t stop by here?”

“Oh, yeah, sure she did,” I said, my tone laced with bitterness. “This is the face of a man who knows exactly where she is!”

“Actually, she was here earlier.”

We all turned to Hannah, standing half naked at the door to my bedroom, still massaging her neck. She was looking at me I anger, her eyes shooting daggers.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“She came here about an hour ago,” Hannah spat. “She was looking for you. I opened the door for her, and when she saw me, she just took off.”

That last bit was said with a small smile, and I quickly understood what Hannah was getting at. I immediately knew what Andrea must have thought seeing Hannah like that.

“Great, Andy, just fucking great!” Bobby yelled.

“You little bitch,” I cursed.

Hannah only shrugged, and I made for her, my hands balled into fists. Jeremy stopped me, quickly pulling me back. “Slow down, cowboy,” he warned.

“This is her fault,” I hissed. But Jeremy wasn’t looking at me. Neither was the other officer. They were both staring at Hannah’s breasts. I quickly looked to Bobby for support. “She drugged me!”

“Save it!” Bobby spat. “Her car’s outside. Where the fuck is she if she’s not here?”

“I have no idea!” I shot back, pulling on a shirt and shoes, getting ready to go out and look for her all over town if I had to. “Do you think she walked back home?”

“I swear to God, Andy, if anything happens to her, I’m going to fucking kill you!”

“No one’s killing anyone,” Jeremy said, still staring at Hannah.

I smacked him across the back of the head. “She’s a crazy bitch. Keep your eyes off her before she drugs you, too.”

“Can you quit it with drug thing?” Bobby yelled.

“Call her phone.”

“She doesn’t have her phone!”

“How did you fuck this up?” I slammed a fist into the wall, ready to beat Bobby to an inch of his life for being so stupid.

“If you hadn’t been convincing my sister that you liked her, while the whole time fucking Crazy Hannah, maybe none of this would have happened in the –” Bobby’s cellphone rang, cutting him off. “Chief! Anything?”

Bobby’s eyes went wide, and he stared at me with a frozen look of shock on his face.

“What is it?” I asked frantically.

“My truck! Now!” Bobby ordered, pocketing his phone and racing out of the apartment.

I stopped Jeremy when he began to give chase. “Her!” I said, pointing at Hannah. “I swear to you, Jeremy, she drugged me. Check the glasses and the whiskey.”

I didn’t wait for him to reply and quickly raced out after Bobby.

***

Bobby was doing eighty on the Boston Turnpike, weaving through the scant traffic like a madman, on more than one occasion almost driving off the road and killing us in the process. I didn’t tell him to slow down, though. The minute he realized Andrea had left the house, he had called everyone, asking them to call him if anything at all popped up.

Apparently, there had been a car accident on the 44 heading towards Manchester. The description of the car matched Dennis’s.

“What the fuck were you doing with Hannah anyway?” Bobby was yelling. “You told me you were through with her!”

“I am,” I yelled back. “She came to my house, pretended to care about the fight I had with Dennis, and then the bitch drugged me.”

“You actually believed she was being your friend?” Bobby scoffed. “How fucking naïve can you get?”

“Can you shut up already?” I shot. “I get it, I fucked up, now keep your eye on the road and try not to get us killed before we reach Andrea.”

“I swear, when this is over,” Bobby spat, shaking his head in anger. “I’m going to beat the shit out of you.”

“More driving, less talking!”

Bobby swerved past a car at an exaggerated angle just to throw me against the door and upped the speed. In the distance, we could see the distinct glow of flames, and my heart instantly dropped.

No one had said anything about a fire.

***

It really was Dennis’s car.

We arrived at the sight of the accident before any police or fire fighters had, which would have struck me as odd if I had not been jumping out of the truck before Bobby even stopped, racing towards the overturned vehicle. Flames engulfed the hood, igniting the wheels and making their way through the rest of the car. There was only one other car by the side of the road, a man waving frantically at us as I ran towards the crash site.

“They’re still in there!” the man was shouting. There was manic laughter coming from the car, sounding a lot like Dennis. “I tried to help, but the flames, man, I was scared!” the man went on. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t!”

I didn’t reply and pushed past him, racing towards the car and quickly falling onto my stomach, looking inside to assess the extent of the damage. Dennis was fully conscious, laughing like a madman and shaking from side to side like he was listening to some techno beat in his head. Andrea was strapped in her seat, her hands tied together, her hair falling over her face.

“Lover boy!” Dennis screeched in glee. “Lover boy to the rescue!”

I ignored him, reaching in through the broken glass, carefully not to cut myself, and checked Andrea for a pulse. I found it, but it was weak. I checked her seatbelt, tried to unbuckle it, but got nowhere. Bobby slid onto the ground beside me.

“Andrea!” he shouted, reaching in and shaking her.

“And Bobby!” Dennis screamed. “The knights in shining armor are here, Andrea, you see that? Your gladiators have arrived, oh damsel in distress!” He let out a screech of manic laughter and slammed his fists against the steering wheel.

The heat of the fire was unbearable, but I pushed past it, trying to force the buckle open. It wouldn’t budge.

“The shears in the back of my truck,” Bobby said, slapping my shoulder to get my attention.

“Go!” I said. “I’ll see if I can get Dennis out.”

“Leave him,” Bobby called back. “Maybe he’ll just burn with the car.”

“Oh, hallelujah!” Dennis called after him and laughed again.

I shook my head, forcing myself up and around to the driver’s side. Dennis’s face was scratched in several places, and a piece of glass was stuck in his cheek. His mouth was oozing blood, and I could tell he had broken a few of his teeth.

“She fucking swerved the car!” Dennis screamed in my face. “I didn’t even notice she woke up and she grabbed the steering wheel and slipped us over! What a fucking bitch, right?”

I grabbed him by the back of his head and slammed his face into the steering wheel. I heard his nose crack, and he screamed out in pain, making me cringe.

“You broke my nose!” Dennis cried out. “He broke my nose, Bobby!” Then he began to laugh again.

“Sorry, man, my bad,” I said, then slammed his face into the wheel again. That shut him up completely, and I was able to unbuckle his belt without having to endure anymore craziness. I pulled him out of the car, then dragged him away, not really caring about being careful. Bobby raced past me with the sheers, and when I was far enough, I dropped Dennis like a bag of potatoes, his head hitting the asphalt hard.

A part of me hoped he’d get a concussion. If he didn’t already have one.

Sirens sounded in the distance, and I quickly ran back to the car, telling the other man to stay with Dennis. I dropped onto my knees beside Bobby as he worked the sheer into the seatbelt, ripping it and freeing Andrea. Her body slumped forward, and I reached in quickly, so she wouldn’t hit her head, my arm receiving a nasty gash from some broken glass. I held her head up, praying her neck wasn’t broken.

“The glass,” I said, wincing in pain. “We need to get rid of it before we pull her out.”

Bobby quickly broke the shards sticking out, clearing a path for me to carefully maneuver Andrea around and out of the wreckage. The heat was scorching my skin, and I began to cough violently as Bobby helped me carry Andrea away from the flames.

We laid her down on the grass just off the side of the road, and I bent down, listening to her breathing. It was weak, but it was there.

“Andrea?” Bobby knelt down beside me. He shook his sister’s arm frantically.

I stopped him, shaking my head. “Don’t,” I warned. “We don’t know if anything’s broken.”

The sirens grew louder, and an ambulance screeched to a halt behind Bobby’s truck. I waved the paramedics over with their gurney. They hesitated when they saw Dennis.

“Forget him, he’s fine!” I shouted. “This one here’s the real problem.”

They rushed over, one of them briefly looking back at Dennis’s still body. They pushed us back and bent down around Andrea, fitting her with a neck brace and checking her pulse and breathing before moving her onto the gurney and rushing her back to the ambulance. Two police cruisers pulled up behind the ambulance, and I sighed in relief when I saw Jeremy stepping out of one of them.

They moved Andrea into the back of the ambulance, and Bobby climbed in. I started to follow when one of the paramedics stopped me. “Just one,” he said.

“That’s bull –” Bobby started, but I quickly cut him off.

“It’s fine, go with her, she needs you,” I said. “I doubt she’ll be very happy to see me if she wakes up. Besides, someone’s gotta drive your truck back.”

Bobby threw me the keys. “Where are we going?” he asked the paramedic.

“Closest hospital is Coventry Mercy,” the paramedic replied.

Bobby looked at me, making sure I got that, and I nodded at him. I helped them close the ambulance doors and smacked the side twice as it pulled away.

I watched it disappear down the turnpike, my heart racing, slamming inside my chest like a jackhammer. My breaths came in short gasps, and Jeremy had to hold me up when I tried to move and felt my knees buckle.

“You’re okay, buddy,” Jeremey said, helping me to the side of the road and sitting me down on the grass. “Stay here, okay? We’ll take care of the rest.”

As he walked back, another ambulance pulled up, followed by a fire truck and two more police cruisers. I watched them move about, the paramedics racing to check on Dennis and hurry him off as well, most probably to Coventry Mercy.

I closed my eyes and ran a hand through my hair, waiting for the pandemonium to end so I could drive after Andrea and Bobby. Jeremy would probably want a statement.

I lay down, staring up at the night sky and the flashing lights, the sirens deafening.

I couldn’t believe how fast everything had gone downhill since this morning.