Chapter Thirty-One
Jonah
He fucking stabbed me. The motherfucker stabbed me. Well I had to let him get one hit in, to be fair but did he have to fucking twist the blade after it was in my side? It fucking hurt. I knew she was ready to end it. She needed to do it. I always knew that. I was here to make sure it was her kill. I owed her that. When I looked at her and told her to do it, she was ready and she only had to make one shot. He lay dead at my feet.
When I looked back over at her, something was off though. She was paler than death. The gun slowly dropped from her hand. She tilted her head to the side and said something. I couldn’t quite make out what it was, but I almost swore I heard her say ‘Grams’.
It hit me like a freight train going 120 miles an hour. That look on her face, it was the fucking look of death. Her body swayed. Her one eye closed and she fell. “No! Ally! Don’t leave me now, baby!” I screamed as I got up and pulled out the knife, not caring how much it hurt and how the blood flowed down my side in a river. I had to get to her now. I couldn’t let her go. Not after all of this. Lightheaded, I stumbled, trying to get to her, swearing under my breath with each faltering step.
The doors flew open and in came Michelle, Frannie and Frank guns up and at the ready. When they saw the two bodies, Michelle ran for me while Frank and Frannie ran for Ally. “Get me to her now Michelle! Now damn it!”
“You’re bleeding out, Jonah. You won’t make it two feet if you don’t let me get this bleeding under control,” she informed me.
I didn’t care. All I knew was Ally was dying and I couldn’t let that happen. Sirens wailed in the distance. I struggled to keep moving. Feeling desperate, I lunged as Michelle tried to catch me. With my forward momentum, I fell next to Ally. Putting my arm around her, I begged her, God and anyone who would listen, to not let her die. Michelle landed on my side with a vengeance. I could have sworn I heard Shane yell at her that she better not let me die, but words were coming to my ears through a tunnel. I laughed mentally because I knew Shane would pay for yelling at that woman. I hooked my arm across Ally’s naked torso to cover her from the eyes that were running into the room.
A voice came from her other side right then, “Jonah, I’ve got her, it’s ok. I’ve got our girl.” At least I thought it was Frannie but the voice sounded different.
“That’s because I’m not Frannie. Don’t you worry. I won’t let anything happen to her. Just do me a favor and remind her to put old Bessie away now.”
I felt something and I couldn’t explain it if I tried. It was a warmth like I had never felt before. Kind of like a loving embrace. I smiled to myself just as I was passing out from blood loss and whispered, “Thank you, Grams.”
Waking in the hospital, I tried to sit up but hands held me down. “Get the fuck off me. Where’s Ally? I have to get to her!” I yelled to the hands holding me down and I looked around. Shane held me down, but when I turned my head I saw my mom, dad and Shayla coming towards me. Based on the expressions on their faces, things were not good. I tried to push Shane off me but he just leaned in more and yelled, “Stop it, Jonah! Stop now, before you tear your incision open again. Listen to me bro, before the nurses have to sedate you again. Neither of us want that. Calm. The. Fuck. Down.”
I stared into my brother’s eyes and held on to his arms for a moment trying to ground myself.
“That’s it man, you got this. Breathe slowly and deeply. Can I let you go now? Or do I need to call the nurses in?” he asked watching me. I nodded at him and closed my eyes as he lifted his body off mine.
“Tell me now. How bad is it? Is she alive?” I was dying inside waiting for his answer. He asked the rest of our family to leave. That was not good.
“She is critical, Jonah, but stable as of right now. She is in the intensive care unit and Frank is with her right now. Frannie will come tomorrow but she had to take care of Sam. The little man isn’t doing well with the news about what his father did to his mother.”
As I heard him speak those words, all I wanted was to go to Sam and hold him and tell him what a brave, strong woman his mother was. “Continue. I want to know all of it. I need to know all of it. Every single detail of what he did to her and the injuries she sustained,” I demanded.
“Jonah, I don’t know if you can handle all of it right now, but I can see in your eyes that you will get out of this bed and find out from someone. Prepare yourself, Jonah. But you can take comfort in the fact that she nearly blew his head off and he is now in hell.” I would fucking hurt Shane, if he didn’t just tell me.
I reached for the collar of his shirt since he was sitting on the bed next to me and with a deadly grip, I pulled his face to mine. “Tell me now or I will hurt you Shane.” I meant it and he knew it.
Letting him go, he leaned back and said, “The most severe injury right now was from a fall or a blow to the head, most likely both. She was hit so hard that she has a brain bleed that they had to do surgery for. She made it though. But it’s touch and go.” I growled deep in my soul, picturing what he did to her in my head.
“Keep going Shane. All of it,” I rumbled.
“She has a hairline crack to her pelvis with deep severe bruising to her entire private area.” He grabbed my hand when my snarl grew so deep, it sounded like a wounded animal.
“She was hung by her wrists in that room we found her in. She was cut down. They think that is part of what gave her the head injury and the reason for her broken shoulder. She has over a dozen lash marks from a variety of electrical cords they found at the scene. They are all over her body not just her back this time. Everything else is superficial and will mend quickly. But the brain bleed is the worst. The doctors are amazed that she was able to shoot and kill him. Its’ a miracle that she is alive Jonah. If we hadn’t gotten there when we did…” He let that hang in the air between us and quieted when he heard the deep mournful growl growing in me.
My Ally. My girl. My Freckles. The strongest person to walk the earth. Was lying somewhere in this hospital dying and I couldn’t go to her. What he had done to her was more than sadistic. As I thought of all the pain she endured trying to protect all of us, I realized she was the true hero here. She had always been a hero and she never even knew it. I started to cry then. There was no holding it back. Shane sat quietly with me and never said a word. Just his presence was enough.
I finally worked up the courage to ask one last dreaded question and if I was honest I wasn’t sure if I could have handled it if the answer was yes. But if she endured it, so would I. I loved her. “Was she raped?”
Shane was too quiet. “The exam shows that along with blunt force trauma, which was hard enough to crack her pelvis, injuries to her vagina indicated she was sexually assaulted but they couldn’t tell me with what. There were deep scratches internally and externally. I am so sorry, Jonah. I am so sorry that we didn’t get to her sooner,” he told me as his voice cracked.
That was it. I lost it. I had to go to her now. I had to get up. I hit my brother repeatedly and he just took it. Why? Because he knew I was in pain and that was the only thing he could do for me if it helped. Soon nurses rushed in to sedate me. When the meds kicked in, I just lay there and cried for what my beautiful girl had to endure. I had failed her. I swore to protect her, but I was too late. Would she forgive me? Hell, I would never forgive myself.
In my drug-induced haze, Shane relayed how much damage the knife wound caused from that fucker twisting it. They had no idea how I ever got up off the floor, let alone walked to Ally. Shane told me when he came into the room Michelle was using her full body weight to try and stop me from bleeding out. And even with all that, I kept talking to Ally and covered her nude body from even the paramedics. I had undergone two surgeries over the past week to repair the internal damage. I was shocked to realize we had been there that long.
“Shane, get Michelle for me. I need to speak with her right away.”
Shane looked confused, but did as I asked.
Michelle arrived later that afternoon and I told Shane to go get updates on Ally.
“Michelle, I need a favor. A big one. Do you know everything that happened to Ally?” I asked her in a quiet voice. She nodded yes and then looked out the window.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to open old wounds for you. I just found out everything. I didn’t realize we have been here for over a week and I haven’t been able to see her yet. I need to see her. I feel like my chest is about to explode. I can’t live without her. And being kept away from her? I am about to lose my fucking mind. Those moments in the warehouse can’t be the last time I see her alive. I have to have more than that.”
Michelle started crying while listening to my request and as she wiped at her eyes she nodded in agreement and said, “How I wish that I had found someone like you to help me when I went through it. I will help her too, Jonah. We will get her through this. Get rid of Shane for a few hours and I will be back, but you have to promise to not injure yourself when you see her. It’s bad, Jonah. I won’t lie to you. They had to shave most of her head for the brain surgery and most of her face is bruised and swollen. If you can abide by that I will get you to her.”
When Michelle came back, it was just after shift change. She had somehow coerced the doctors into letting me go see Ally. How? I didn’t care but was utterly grateful. After helping me get into the wheelchair, we headed to the ICU. Turning the corner, we were met by her doctor. Then I knew why we were given permission. He was retired military. He sat down so we were eye-to-eye to talk to me. “I am going to give it to you straight, son. We have her in a drug-induced coma to try to reduce the swelling and to give her body the rest it needs to aid in healing. We are going to remove her from it soon if her scans keep showing improvement. Her shoulder and pelvis will heal in time, but she will need a lot of rehabilitation. She is going to need twenty-four-hour nursing care. We are consulting with a plastic surgeon for the lashes and the old healed lashes, to help minimize scarring. Right now, it is all basically up to her, and how strong her will to survive is.”
“Thank you, doctor.” I nodded to let Michelle know I was ready for her to wheel me in.
Entering Ally’s room, I thought I could handle seeing her like that. Her head wrapped in gauze, tubes helping her breathe and bruises covering almost every inch of her body. It was too much. Michelle put a hand on my shoulder and left. I picked up her bruised hand and kissed it gently. I started to pray to every god that would listen.
I continued to go in several times each day for a long time. They took her off the meds that kept her in the coma. Then they talked to me about her ventilator. They didn’t know if she would be able to breathe on her own with how long she had been on it. Frank, Fran and I discussed the options. They started bringing Sam for visits. I held him while he cried and begged his mom to wake up. I promised she would and that no matter what, I would take care of him. He just clung to me for dear life. My boy was as brave as my girl. My family was strong and we would make it through this.
I spoke with my mother and got advice on in-home care for Ally. Mom asked if she could get everything set up for me, and I was relieved and thankful at the offer. Frannie would take care of Sam until we could and she would get my house ready to bring them home when it was time. I told her to let Sam pick any of the three spare bedrooms, gave her my credit card and tasked her with making it fun for him to decorate for himself and his mother when she came home. I would not give up on Ally.
The weeks passed and finally, it was time to try removing the ventilator to see if she would breathe on her own. She would. I just knew it. Her mind and body had needed this time to heal and rest. She had been through so much. I was released a while ago, but I continued to stay at the hospital. I would not leave her alone. She would never be alone again.
We all stood around her bed as the doctor removed the tubes. Frannie went out to get Sam once that was done. Nothing. She didn’t breathe. She was as still as death. Sam started talking to her, then begging her. Frannie and Frank had to take him out of the room. I went over leaned down to her ear, “Baby, it’s been long enough. It’s time to wake up. Come on, you can do it. I love you, Freckles, and want to marry you and I want Sam to be mine, dammit. Wake! Up! Woman!” I ordered.
Just then her chest rose, then fell and that was it. I kissed her lips. And her chest rose and fell again but the motion didn’t stop this time.
“Yes! Come on, baby. You can do it. Come on, open those beautiful green eyes of yours for me.” I leaned in and kissed her longer this time, not closing my eyes though.
She started blinking her eyes, trying to focus. I waited for her to acclimate as patiently as I could. But I had to kiss her again. This time she gently kissed me back.
“Baby, I’m here. I’ve got you and I am never letting you go. Did you hear that?” I asked her, wanting desperately to hear her voice. She mumbled something that I couldn’t quite make out. I looked at her with confusion, so she said it again in a dry scratchy voice.
“Karma really freaking hates me dammit.”
That’s when I knew, she was going to be ok. Anything that came at us, we would handle and we would do it together, as a family. Instead of the two musketeers like she told me a while back, we would be the three musketeers now. I said that out loud on accident and she just laughed at me and told me she loved me. It was amazing that after everything she had gone through in her life, she could still find the happiness to make jokes and smile. That was a true hero. A person that didn’t give up, no matter how dreadful things got. She kept going. Kept living life to its fullest. That was Ally and she was my hero.