Start To Begin Again

Piece Fifteen.

I winced and pulled away when a light hit my eye. I kept my eyes closed and tried to relax but the light came back. I slapped it away and squeezed my eyes closed even more. It was too loud, too many sounds and too many voices. I took a breath in through my mouth but regretted it when my lungs ached. I could hear someone talking but it hurt to focus, so I let go again.

I could hear someone talking, closer, louder this time. I opened my eyes and let in some light briefly before closing them shut again and groaning. Someone grabbed my hand but I couldn’t feel the energy to squeeze back. I took small, tiny breathes because anything to deep hurt. I felt the same hand holding mine squeeze and rub their thumb over the soft top skin.

The voices started to get louder and get even closer. I opened my eyes again and this time the light seemed to be softer. I turned my head and gasped softly at the pain that shot up my neck. Zacky smiled and brushed my hair from my face. I let out a whimper when he hit a tender spot. His smile got smaller but went back to touching my face making sure to not hit the sore spot. I squeezed his hand back after I realized it was his that was in mine.

“Don’t ever do that again,” he said softly. I nodded and smiled. He leaned over to me and kissed my head.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Hospital hallway, the rooms are full. So we’re waiting out here.” I nodded and pulled my hand out from the sheet that they draped over my body. I touched my face and pressed my finger tips lightly on the sore spot on the other side of my face. I shuddered at the pain. I definitely had a black eye. I touched the high spot of my cheek again and winced.

“Stop that,” Zacky scolded pulling my hand from my face, “You’re already banged up enough,” I closed my eyes sighed.

“You don’t look that bad,” I opened my eyes and looked up from where my head was sitting on a pillow. Brian and Jimmy both smiled as Jimmy handed Zacky a Styrofoam cup. He took a sip before offering me the cup. I shook my head and relaxed back on the gurney.

“So, hero? We heard you took down a big bad robber.” I let out a tiny groan and shook my head. Zacky grabbed my hand again and squeezed. I looked at him and begged with my eyes to make his friend go away.

“Leave her alone, Brian. It’s not her fault she has more balls than you do,” I let out a laugh at Zacky’s comeback.

“At least I wasn’t the one who sent her to the damn store to start with,” Zacky stood up and his chair clatter on the floor. I grabbed his hand and told him to let it go. He stared Brian down until I let out a fake a whimper of pain and he looked back at me. I could hear Jimmy slap the back of Brian’s head.

I pulled Zacky’s hand again when I noticed he was looking past me and not at me. He leaned down and kissed me softly, not sure if it would hurt me. I smiled and kissed him back before I pulled away.

“Leave it alone, Zacky.” He sighed and put his forehead against mine, “I love you,”

I don’t know why I said it so randomly but I did and it seemed to make Zacky feel better; calmer. I touched the side of his face with my free hand and kept out foreheads together. He pecked my lips again before pulling away. I pulled his hand back and shifted so he could sit on the bed instead of the chair.

Zacky looked over at his friends and I followed his lead. Both of them were looking off to the side, whistling. I smiled and shook my head. Zacky dropped his head and laughed. I grabbed his hand to catch his attention.

“What did the doctor’s say?” I asked, “I don’t need to stay over night, do I?”

“No, just some scraps and bruises.” I smiled as he leaned closer, “But next time it’ll be worse. Do you know how far my heart jumped into my throat when the hospital called saying they had you here. I thought you were raped, or worse. Just. Next time, don’t, okay?” I smiled and nodded at Zacky’s concerned face.

“Don’t smile; promise me you won’t do something like this again. You scared…me. I don’t like to be scared.” He whispered putting his forehead against mine. I dropped the smile and nodded which made our touching skins grow hot but neither of us cared.

“When can we go home?” I asked finally breaking the silence between us, my voice cracked a little but I fixed it by clearing my throat.

“I don’t know. A doctor hasn’t seen you since you came in.” He said pulling away. He cleared his throat and blinked back his red eyes. My headache that had been building seemed to just get worse now. The shouting of random doctors and people around us didn’t help.

I closed my eyes and rested my head fully on the stiff pillow. Zacky pushed back my hair and kissed my forehead.

“And I get called Lovey dovey,” Jimmy chuckled. I heard a hard thud that no doubt meant Brian paid Jimmy back for the earlier smack. I could hear them start fighting and opened my eyes just in time to see Jimmy take down Brian onto the floor. I looked at Zacky who couldn’t help but laugh
“I just want to go home,” I said placing both of my hands over my face. My head couldn’t stop pounding. It was throbbing before but now it felt a sledge hammer attacking each side of my head. The bed shifted and I knew Zacky was pacing before he even started. He hated waiting. I let out a tiny groan when someone starting screaming.

Zacky’s sneakers squeaked to a stop. The added sound only made it worse. The screaming got more shrill and louder. I felt the body warmth of Zacky by me. I opened my eyes and looked at him as he stared down at someone down the hall. I sat up and held myself up with my elbows. I saw what Zacky was staring at.

A woman clutched to what I assumed was her son; he was too young to be her husband. He was holding her up as she cried but I could tell she wouldn’t let herself fall to the ground. She seemed to have a moment of clarity when she saw something that caught her eye. She pushed the younger man away and charged down the corridor.

“You!” I jumped off the gurney and hid behind Zacky when I made the connection she was pointing out to me. Brian pulled me behind him and Jimmy creating another barrier between me and the woman. I closed my eyes and saw the boy charging at me in the store. I hid my self behind Jimmy and grabbed his shirt.

“You did this! You’re the reason my little boy is in there hooked up and a vegetable,” She shouted.

“Ma’am,” Zacky said keeping the outer barrier between me and the woman. I kept my face hidden in Jimmy’s back when I heard something that sounded like a slap.

“Don’t ma’am me. If it wasn’t for your little whore, my son wouldn’t be a veg- a Vegetable,” her voice cracked.

“Mom, leave her alone.” I guessed the voice was of the younger guy that was with her. She said something else but I blocked it out. Finally I saw Zacky and let myself fall against him and stared at a spot on the wall.

“It was when he tackled me. When we both hit the ground and there was just this crack. I… knew I did something, I just. I just didn’t think,” Zacky hugged me tighter as I stumbled over my words until I just stopped making sounds and stayed quiet.

“I’ll go get the doctor and see if we can take her home,” Brian announced, “And Jimmy will help,”

“Yeah, we have to make sure that we don’t get one the three stooges. You know Paging Dr. Howard and all that,” I let out a forced chuckle and shifted so I could see the guys and mouthed a thank you.

Zacky walked me back to the gurney and sat me down. I looked at him while he thought. He moved my hair from my face and kept his hands on either side of my face.

“It wasn’t my fault was it?” I asked.

“No. You defended yourself. You’re smart enough to know that a simple on the bump of the head can be a lot more serious then it seemed.” He said softly. I smiled. I knew he got that from all of our nights watching CSI. Still it comforted me slightly, but it helped and that helped me.

I kissed Zacky and thanked him. He shook his head but didn’t say what was bothering him. I kissed him again and smiled at him. He was beating himself up. I knew that from the start. I knew he was probably thinking. I should’ve gone and gotten the food but I didn’t want to think of what would’ve happened if it was him who was face to face with the robber.

“Hey, we found a doctor, guess what his name is?” I looked at the doctor who couldn’t help but laugh at Jimmy jumping up and down.

“What?” I asked playing along.

“Dr. House! Isn’t that awesome!?” He shouted. I gave him a dirty look for shouting but I let it go because he excited.

"His real name is, Dr. Corbin." Brian said. Jimmy shot him a dirty look for ruining his fun.

We stayed at the hospital long enough for a C.T scan X-rays to check out my ribs and made sure nothing else was wrong. Zacky didn’t like it. The questions the police asked while we waited for results. Brian had to take him out to get coffee on another floor while Jimmy sat with me.

Eventually I was leaning against Zacky for support as we walked out into the parking lot. I said a thanks as Brian grabbed a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and slipped them over my eyes. I wrapped my arm around Zacky’s before slipping my hand into his. He squeezed it as we got closer to Jimmy’s SUV.

I felt something vibrate against me and moved so Zacky could grab his phone from his pocket. I leaned back against the car as Jimmy opened the driver’s door and the locks clicked open. I watched Zacky talk on the phone behind my tinted vision. Brian cleared his throat and opened the back door. I slid in till I hit the opposite door and leaned my head against the window.

“Linette, Leana is over at our place. She wanted to make sure you were okay when we got back,” I nodded but stopped.

“There’s more isn’t there?”

“The other girls are over there, so is Johnny and Matt.” I shrugged. That wasn’t an issue. I didn’t care. I wouldn’t mind it as long it was quiet and knowing that five girls were there we wouldn’t have to worry about food, either someone cooked or ordered food. I looked over to Zacky before leaning over and putting my head in his lap.

He ran his fingers through my hair and made sure not to touch any of the sore spots. I relaxed against his stomach and waited for him to say something else because I knew I there was more but I was too tired to care.

“You can sleep when we get home, they’re just worried, if it gets to be to loud we’ll just send them over to Jimmy’s till you can handle it, okay?”

“It’s fine, I don’t mind.” In all honestly I didn’t. Right now I just wanted to be surrounded and right now, the band and the girls seemed like a perfect choice.