"?" I answer the unknown call, hoping it'll be Charlie.
"Travis Burr?" a man asks and I tense up.
"Yes?"
"This is Lieutenant Alverez with Boring Police Department. You're the emergency contact for Beverly Bouchard."
"Yes?" I blurt and jump out of bed. "Is she okay?"
"She's been in a car accident and is at Legacy."
"I'm on the way," I shout and hang up, running for the door. "Violet!"
"What?" she yells running from the bathroom.
"Bev's in the hospital!" I'm out the door before I get her response but she's right behind me seconds later, shoes in hand and trying to pull on her coat to protect her from the rain. As I squeal out of the driveway, my phone starts to ring.
"Hello?" I answer Frankie's call in a panic.
"Perv? Have you talked to Charlie?"
"No. Listen, Frankie, Bev's been in a car accident. I can't talk."
"Oh my God, is she okay?"
"I don't fucking know yet!" I snap as I tremble. "I'll talk to you later."
We're directed to Bev's room and when I blow inside harder than the storm outside, she's sitting up in bed.
"Oh, Travis!" she cries and reaches for me. "I keep telling them. Charlie. They won't tell me if Charlie's okay."
"Charlie?" I ask in confusion.
"We were on our way to your house and we were run off the road by a truck! Is she okay?" she screams in desperation.
"Fuck!" I spin, almost slipping as I bolt from the room. It takes fifteen minutes too long to find out Charlie was never brought into the hospital.
I'm supposed to wait for the organization of a search party, but fuck that. The only woman I can love is out there somewhere, unable to fucking see. I know Charlie. I fucking know her! She probably left the car trying to find help for Bev.
"Fuck!" I scream while I race to where I was told the crash took place.
"Hello?" Frankie asks, her voice trembling with worry, but she doesn't even know what happened.
On the ten minute drive, I tell her everything I know. When I pull up to the skid marks of where the crash took place, I tell her, “I have to fucking find her,” and my voice cracks. The worst thoughts possible are filling my head and I want to kick my ass for them.
“Yeah you do, Travis! Don’t wait for that fucking search party! I’ll be there as fast as I can. I have to call her parents." She hangs up.
Jumping out of the car I cup my hands around my mouth and scream her name over and over, trying to hold it together. When you’re scared to death to find someone you love hurt or worse, it’s hard to keep looking, but nothing’s stopping me until I find her. I don't cover much ground before police are here and soon after, a group of people assemble, ready for the search. They told me to stick with other people to help prevent more accidents, but I'm not waiting for anyone. I’m grateful there are people willing to help and all, but organization and safety is the last thing on my mind. My whole world changed a week ago when she broke up with me, and I didn’t think anything could ever hurt that bad, but this. There’s no coming back from this if something happened to her. I have to fucking find her, and alive.
"Charlie?" I scream, frozen to the bone and trembling from fear. "Blue!"
The calls from other people echo through the woods and I'm afraid I'll miss hearing her if she responds.
"Charlie!"
I've been out here a hour already and I can't feel my hands, but I will die of hypothermia before I give up. I will cover every inch of this fucking forest until I find her! And if she’s suffering somehow, I will burn it down!
Suddenly I hear yelling from behind me and I whip around, bolting toward the commotion.
"I see something!" There’s a woman pointing into the distance and I blow right past her, toward the direction she's indicating.
I’m glad they’re here, but pointing isn’t helping anything!
"Chuck!" I scream running toward the blue lump that looks more like a coat than a body.
People are running with me, but they're feet behind, going much slower; I'm running because my life depends on it. As I get closer I see her hair and I almost stop because the mass isn't moving. Accepting she’s dead will not happen!
"No, no, baby, fucking, no." I reach her and immediately scoop her lifeless body into my arms. Her head slumps and her face touches mine. Her flesh is freezing and pale, but her lips are blue. I can’t speak anymore or I’ll drop us both so I do the only thing I know to, run her toward the waiting ambulance that’s almost a mile in the opposite direct. She ended up walking a mile deeper into the forest. My legs don’t stop until I reach the road, but my tears broke free when I was still in the forest. I haven’t even checked her pulse because I can’t accept that confirmation that will kill me.
They let me sit at her bedside while she sleeps. The last time I tried to check in on Bev, she kicked me out of her room and told me not to move from Charlie's side. I didn't want to, but the two most important women in my life are injured in a hospital and I have to divide my time.
I look up when the door opens and my eyes land on her mother. I haven't seen these people since they made sure I knew how unwelcome I was in their home and in their daughter's life.
"You can go now. We're here," her mother states with authority, setting her bag on the chair and her dad just hangs back by the door, his eyes locked on Charlie. I watch in silence as her mom moves to the opposite side of the bed and takes Charlie's hand. "Time to wake up now, Charlie. We're here, you can wake up now."
"Don't wake her up," I state firmly. "The doctor wants her to sleep until she wakes up on her own. If you can't respect that, I'll have you removed from the hospital."
"Charlie, come on. We've all spent enough time in hospitals. Let's wake up and get you home. I made soup. You love soup. Time to get up." She gives her hand a shake and I grit my teeth then look at her husband.
"Bill, you need to get your wife out of here, man," I say, shaking as I start to lose my cool. I pick up the phone. "Man up and stand up to your wife. You know she shouldn't be waking her up." I look toward the phone, ready to call for assistance to remove her psycho parents.
"Carol, come on, let her sleep," he finally says, walking over to his wife.
"She needs to get up and start getting better, Bill." Her eyes pierce mine. "We need to take our daughter home. She should have never left in the first place."
"Come on now, that's not fair. She was doing fine on her own. This accident wasn't at all due to her disability," her dad says.
I grit my teeth and take a few deep breaths and my calm almost snaps when her mom starts shaking her hand again, fussing with the bed sheets.
"I said stop!" Bill bellows. Taking his wife's arm, he pulls her away from Charlie. "We'll be waiting in the family waiting room, Travis. Please update us with any changes." He walks out the door, his wife on his heels bitching about leaving her daughter alone with someone like me. If it weren't for wanting to stay by Charlie's side I'd go out there and give her a piece of my mind.
I exhale a shaky breath and sit back down, dropping my head as tears form in my eyes. "I don't know what's going to happen when you wake up, Blue," I whisper, gently putting my hand on top of the one her mother disrupted. "But I'm sorry." I drop my forehead to her hand. "For everything. God, please don't hate me like your mother does when you wake up."
She starts to chuckle and her fingertips wiggle in mine before she moves her hand slowly to my cheek.
"What happened?" she manages, taking a deep breath and wincing at the pain. "Oh God…where's Bev?" Her eyes shoot open and she sits up in bed. "What happened to Bev?"
"Bev's going to be fine." I grab her arms, trying to calm her down. "She's fine. Shit, Charlie, you fucking scared us." I kiss her watering eyes. "I'm so fucking sorry." My arms wrap around her and I practically pull her into my lap.
"I was so scared," she whispers. "I honestly thought I'd never make it out of those woods. I got turned around so many times. And it was so cold." She starts to cry and I move quickly, sitting in bed next to her and pull her to my chest. "I was so scared. I just wanted to get her help and I couldn't."
I let her tears soak my shirt as I stroke her hair. "She's okay. And you're going to be okay, Blue. You're safe."
"We were coming to your house," she whispers, twisting her hand in mine. "Bev had finally talked some sense into me and we were coming to see you. She didn't really give me a choice." She quietly chuckles. "You're lucky to have her, Travis."
My throat's tight right now and I don't want to cry in front of her. I pull her closer and move my head to nuzzle into her neck until the one and only person that's had a knack of interrupting us from day one bursts into the room.
"Of course you wake up the minute I leave the room," Frankie grumbles, rushing over to the bed. "How are you?" She looks at Charlie then glances at me. "How is she? Oh…Jesus, Perv, are you crying?"
I quickly wipe my face and get off the bed, moving across the room before Charlie feels the tears that I'm not even sure why they're falling. Because I think she's taking me back, because she's alive, because she went through this, because I've never had a more miserable week in my life.
"You should go collect yourself, Travis," she mumbles, staring at Charlie. "Give us a few minutes, please."
"Chuck." I clear my throat and grab her hand, kissing it. "I'll be right back. I'm going to see Bev to tell her you're awake. She's a mess, blaming herself for this."
"God, I'm so happy she's okay. And she can't blame herself." Charlie smiles. "Accidents happen. I don't blame her, so she shouldn't either." She gives my hand a squeeze and before she pulls away, I reach in my pocket and slide her ring back onto her finger. As I start to walk toward the door her voice stops me. "Hey, Travis?" I turn and before I can reply she says, "I love you, you know."
"Yeah?" I smirk. "I think I know."
I hear Frankie snicker before I walk out the door, quickening my steps before she bitches me out for that cocky response. This is the last thing I want to do, but I go to the waiting room and open the door. Kevin stands and I smirk.
"Hey, man." We clap hands and then I look at her parents. "She's awake," I turn to walk out until her mom calls my name.
"Can we go see her?" She's standing from her chair and wringing her hands in front of her; her dad's still planted in his seat, his eyes flicking between the two of us.
"You're her mom." I shrug. "I'll never try and take her away from you."
She nods silently and walks over to me, wrapping her arms around me. "Thank you so much," she whispers, pulling back and wiping away tears. "Thank you for being the man our daughter needs."
I glance toward her dad who's standing now and I nod before walking out of the room, almost stunned silent by that turn of events.
I wander into Bev's room where Violet's braiding her gray hair and chuckle. "Bev, she's dying your hair green."
"Oh, let her. I’ll look cool." Bev waves her hand and smiles. "How's Charlie's state?"
"She's awake," I say and the lines around her eyes crinkle as she smiles. "And engaged." I grin.