Chapter 25
TYSON
Stepping off from the white wooden stairs, I toss my half full beer to the ground. Everyone can go fuck themselves. My strides turn into a light jog as I go for my car. My legs being heavier than anticipated. Turning my car on, I press the gas, my heavy foot helping me in the process. I’m starting to sweat as I drive off to follow Jewels in the car. It doesn’t take long for me to see headlights up ahead. Now I wished I had taken note as to what car she drove away in.
My Bluetooth rings through and I fumble to press the answer button on my dashboard.
“I wanted to thank you personally, Tyson.” McKinley’s voice is screeching throughout my car.
“Soon you will start to notice that your limbs are getting heavy and your mechanical motions will become more difficult. I put a sedative in your beer while I distracted you with Jewels leaving.”
A fucking diversion. I fucking know better than to listen to him.
“Now you need to make a judgment call. You will have enough time to catch up with Jewels in that car or see if I’m playing you and come back. Good luck.”
He cuts the line and I move my fingers. I know myself. He’s bluffing. There is no way he could have put anything in my drink. I am no fool. Moving my fingers more, they feel fine. I feel very alert and in control actually.
Realization hits me, Jewels is still at the party. I know her better than to think she would leave. It’s not her style. I should have never jumped to conclusions like that. I hit the steering wheel, knowing that McKinley played me.
Before my hands can do anything, bright lights come at me in slow motion. My limbs refusing to move as my brain screams at it. I can see the glass shatter from my passenger side window, one piece at a time. It looks beautiful. Then it goes black. I can hear sirens and voices. But I can’t open my eyes or twitch my fingers. Then the sounds dissipate.
*
JEWELS
Slowly, it’s like my brain starts working beyond my egocentric self. But it’s too late. I stand up from my hiding place on unsteady feet as I watch Tyson get into a car, pulling up any loose rocks or dust from the road before he speeds away.
Richard gives me a smile and wink, placing his hand out and gesturing for me to walk back inside. I shake my head before he enters the house, leaving me in the dark. I hear clapping and the speakers announce Mr. McKinley to the stand.
Andrea steps out of the shadows and stops. How had I forgotten she was there? I shake my head. I feel confused.
“Oh, honey,” she patronizes me. “You will never have what I have.” Her look is sympathetic; one you would give a small stray cat that you know won’t make it outside in the winter. “You will never have the wealth, power, or respect that Tyson craves and needs.” She shakes her head. “It’s always been him and me. You just wait and see. They always come back. You are nothing but a minor distraction.” She gives me a smile before walking into the room full of prominent businessmen and a few wives.
A flash of McKinley’s lips on me lights up behind my eyes. It was like it happened yet it was a dream. I fight harder to think, but I can’t see myself kissing him. I love Tyson. Hearing McKinley’s voice through the speakers makes me shiver. Quickly, I send a text to Mandy telling her that she needs to pick me up as soon as possible.
“In all seriousness, I want to thank all of you for your support. I will always have all of your backs.”
I feel a weird sensation as if I’m sobering up, but my head is foggy. My thoughts don’t seem to be coming to me right, and it’s confusing me. I slip into the house, into the open room looking for answers. I hide in the back, watching what seems like an acceptance speech. Everyone looks happy, there are a few laughs at his joke attempts. All eyes are on the stage, waiting for his words of wisdom.
“My gratitude for the late Mr. Lewis.” He pauses for effect. “And Mr. Bennett humbles me.” McKinley looks into the crowd, scanning it blankly.
“Another thank you is to Tyson Bennett.” His eyes land on mine when he says Tyson’s name. “Who passed on his congratulations to me just a few minutes ago when he headed out.”
I begin to hear a few murmurs within the crowd.
“Don’t hold it against the boy, I know I don’t.” He chuckles.
Then a few gasps are heard throughout the crowd, as Mr. Lewis makes his way toward everyone. He is so weak, he falls down before getting close to anyone. Hysteria follows throughout the room as everyone had thought he was dead. Andrea screams and faints at the sight of her father.
It looks as if Lewis is trying to say something but the volume is far too loud to hear anything. I am frozen in the back, watching everything in slow motion like a movie.
Richard races to Lewis and tries to hold him up just as Lewis says something to Richard. Richard says Tyson’s name loud enough for everyone to hear, making it seem like Lewis had said his name. As if Lewis is pointing his finger at Tyson for causing Lewis’s disappearance. As more people surround Lewis, Richard backs slowly away, scanning the room as he goes. Everyone else is so focused on Lewis that they don’t even see him attempt to make an escape.
That’s when I notice William pull out a gun and shoot Richard. The gunshot rings through the room. People start frantically screaming and running. No one stares back at William, everyone is too far lost in the commotion.
I slip out as everyone is finding different exits and begin to walk up the driveway to wait for Mandy to pick me up. The driveway is long and dark; I keep to the very edge of it, not needing crazy, scared people to run over me.
I still can’t believe I am so calm. It’s like my mind can’t fully comprehend everything. I know what has happened, but I hold no emotions to anything.
Not long after reaching the end of the driveway, I see Mandy’s car. She slows down and I hop in.
“You look beautiful, darlin’.” She leans in to give me a hug. “What’s wrong?” she asks me.
“Just start driving.”
She looks at me in concern but starts on our way home.
“Why isn’t Tyson driving you?” She looks over while she asks me.
“I think we broke up,” I say, sounding unsure. “I don’t know what happened.” I am so confused over the events of the evening. “I wasn’t myself, and I feel weird,” I tell her honestly.
I can tell she wants to say something but doesn’t. I know Mandy, this must be taking all of her willpower. She typically doesn’t hold back.
Slowing down, we see a car crash, both cars involved look totaled, and the ambulance is just taking off from the scene with its sirens on.
We slow, watching the wreck as we go by before I recognize the totaled car. “That’s Tyson’s!” I scream. “You need to follow that ambulance!” My hands go into a pray stance on the bridge of my nose. I cry more. My emotions are everywhere. They seem to be at each side of the spectrum. Neither Mandy nor I say a word as she drives, following the ambulance. My mouth goes cotton dry over the anxiety I am feeling that we cannot go fast enough.
Mandy drives in front of the large glass sliding doors that have the bright red word Emergency across them. Her car slows but I open the door and jump out before she has a chance to come to a full stop.
Running inside, I am vaguely aware of the eyes on me. I bypass the line where everyone waits to be signed in and go straight toward the glass screen where a nurse sits, the hospital emergency area behind her. I am able to get a glimpse of Tyson in a stretcher, the EMT rushing him in as nurses bustle toward him. His mouth looks to be covered with what I assume is an oxygen mask, his skin beginning to form purple bruises.
“Tyson!” I call out his name in hopes for a reaction, but I don’t get one. He passes by me as his stretcher is pushed down the hall.
“That’s my boyfriend,” I tell the nurse as I point to Tyson.
She turns her head in the direction I am pointing before she returns with a small sad smile on her thin lips. “Only immediate family,” she tells me matter-of-factly before she returns to the paper on her desk.
Taking a few steps away from the glass window, I turn to the waiting area and see Andrea and William come running in. Standing up, the nurse greets each of them by name. “William and Andrea, this way.” She presses a button on the wall, a small gate opening for them. Taking a step toward the gate, and then another, I hope to get in, too.
“Only family.” She looks down at me in a condescending manner, far different than she seemed a moment ago. Just then I see Mr. Lewis also being rushed in on a stretcher. The door closes, cutting me off from the doctors and patients.
I pace the waiting room, watching people come in and out, Mandy patiently waiting in a hard seat. Finally, after three hours of waiting, I realize that there is no use.
“Honey, I think we should go home to get you all changed up.” Mandy places her warm hand into my cold one.
I nod, feeling defeated. When I look at myself in her car mirror, I don’t recognize the face reflecting back at me. I have raccoon eyes, my mascara having run from all the tears I cried tonight. My face is pale, my lips nude. My eyes now look dull, red, and tired. Life is kicking my ass.
Just like when we were kids having a sleepover, Mandy and I share her bed. If I had any tears left, I would still be crying, but thankfully sleep beckons me quickly.