Could've Said It Back to You

Zalistie

I felt the heat of the smoke rising up the side of my body. The fire was traveling closer to me, and I still hadn’t answered Chris. But what could I choose? I didn’t want him, and I didn’t want to die. Chris would probably leave me to be consumed by the fire before he could be burned, so my death wouldn’t help anyone else…

Stop thinking that way! I scolded myself. But what could I do? I knew Chris was too dangerous for me to think he’d actually spare me. If I faked him out, he could throw me into the fire, or kill me some other way. Every other time he’d confronted me, there had been witnesses. Now, we were alone, and I could die with one wrong move. So I remained silent, hoping that I could use the excuse of being unable to speak.

“Well?” Chris said, sounding frustrated with my silence.

I stayed silent, but I gulped.

“Talk, woman!” Chris shouted. He grabbed my head, holding me on the wall with his body, and shoved it back against the wall. I heard a sort of cracking noise. My nose began to throb, and my eyes started tearing up from the pain. I could be pretty sure it was broken.

I heard a whimper come out of the back of my throat. Great. Some wood to feed the flame. I could bet that he was smirking right now, glad he was hurting me. I could try, at least, to defy him before he killed me.

“I’m not going to take you back,” I said. My voice sounded strangled, and I could barely move my lips against the concrete wall, but he heard it.

“Stupid girl,” he said, clearly angry now. I felt myself be lifted off the ground.

By instinct, I struggled, trying to get out of his grasp before he could throw me into the fire, but his grip was tight on my waist. Why did he have to be so strong? I closed my eyes, unwilling to see my final moments. I could imagine happier things…

“Hey!” shouted a voice that I didn’t recognize. I felt Chris’s movements become more rushed, and then he fell to the ground, pulling me with him. I felt the heat of the flames, and I felt Chris sitting on my face, making my nose throb even more than it already did. It was hard to breathe, and Chris’s butt stunk. I tried to push him off, then I felt his hands take one of my arms and push it so it bent the wrong way. I heard something spray, and Chris got off me.

“The fire won’t kill you, so I guess I have to,” he hissed, and I felt his fists hit my face one, two, three times. Now my entire face was in pain. I tried to open my eyes, but I found I couldn’t. I felt like I was losing consciousness again, another thing every encounter with Chris had in common. I tried to fight it, but it sounded like such a good idea, escaping the pain…

As I gave in, I heard hazy voices that didn’t seem Chris-like at all.

***

I opened my eyes in a hospital room with a cast on my arm and my nose. The room was too bright…

I saw a big bouquet of flowers beside my bed. The flowers in it were assorted, just the way I liked it. I wondered who it was from. Other than the bouquet, I was the only living thing in the room.

A nurse came in. When she saw that I was awake, she came to the bedside.

"Oh, good, you’re awake! Zalistie, is it? How do you feel?” she asked.

“Um…I feel like I’ve got the world’s worst headache,” I answered, surprised at the clarity of my voice. Hadn’t I just been punched in the face and been shoved against a wall? Shouldn’t something be wrong with my vocal chords?

“Yes, well, you’re lucky that the only bones that were broken were your nose and your arm! Otherwise, the doctor wouldn’t be able to let you out today,” the nurse said. She sounded like my father.

“How long have I been out?” I asked.

“It’s ten in the morning on November 19th. I don’t know when you fell unconscious, but that may tell you something.”

I sighed in relief. “That’s good, I haven’t been out very long.”

“Oh, and you’ve got a few people who want to visit you. Your friend - Tamea, I think it was? - said she wanted to visit you first, but we need your permission to allow her in,” the nurse said.

“She’s allowed,” I said, smiling a little. Tamea sometimes acted like a mother - caring, constantly worried when bad things happen, the first response to anything.

The nurse left, and a few moments later, Tamea came in. She stopped when she saw me.

“No offense, Zae, but you look like hell,” Tamea commented. Well, she wasn’t completely motherly…

I grinned. Tamea wasn’t acting all mega-concerned, a nice break from what I thought everyone else would be doing. “I bet. So how bad’s my face?”

“It’s pretty bruised up. I’m sure it’s nothing a little makeup couldn’t cover, though,” Tamea said. That was probably optimistic. I mean, Chris was strong, and he certainly hadn’t been holding back when he hit me. And besides, I didn’t exactly know how I was going to apply any makeup with my arm broken. But I could let Tamea think what she wanted.

“So who are the flowers from?” I asked.

Tamea gulped. “Hinder,” she said.

“Aw, that’s nice of them!” I said. Then I realized it could be offending to Tamea. “Oh, wait, sorry…”

Tamea half smiled. “Y-yeah, I guess it is nice of them,” she stammered. I felt bad for her. It must have been awkward to talk about them in a positive way.

“Did any of them wanna talk to me?” I asked.

“Uh…I think so,” Tamea answered. “But if you let them in, I’m staying here,” she added.

As soon as I had convinced the nurse to let the Hinder guys in (she thought it would be too much excitement - yeah right…), the five filed in around my bed. I asked, “So does anyone know how the hell I got out of that?”

“Cody and I pulled him off you,” said Blower, flashing a grin.

I smiled. “Thank you! I guess I owe you one,” I said. I sounded grateful, but not nearly as grateful as I should have. I would make it up to them someday, I swore to myself.

“No problem,” said Cody, smiling like I was. It occurred to me that that was the first I’d heard from him.

“What happened to Chris?” I asked.

“Is that the bastard’s name?” Austin said. “The police got him. Good thing he’s gone. Why the hell was he back there, anyway?”

I tried to decide how to tell them, but Tamea beat me to it. “He’s some guy that Zae used to date, but she dumped him because he stalked her. Now he stalks her more than he used to, demanding she take him back. When she refuses, he hurts her in some drastic way. Believe me, Zae’s no stranger to the hospital.” Then she turned to me. “They didn’t give you Room 64 this time,” she said.

“Aw, I didn’t get my room. What room is it?”

“58. What, were you hoping it was Room 21?” Tamea asked.

A few of the guys snickered. “Who would I get in the room with me?” I asked.

“Hmm…” Tamea said. “How about…Mike?”

“He hasn’t even said anything to me yet, I don’t think I’d wanna bring him to Room 21…yet,” I said. I tossed a wink at him, so he wouldn’t be offended.

He grinned. “Hi?” he said. We laughed. I was glad to be happy. No one was making a big deal out of my broken bones, and I’d be able to get out of the hospital soon!

The doctor cleared his throat as we stopped laughing. “Excuse me, Miss Morgan?”

I looked up. “Yes?”

“I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.”