Halfway Gone

When Kim opened her eyes again, all she could feel was her head throbbing. Questions filled her head, as to what had just happened? Wasn’t Ivy pointing the gun to her? She wasn’t dead. Of course, Kim was relieved when she realised she was alive, but when she looked around, she noticed a figure sitting upright next to her.

Kim slowly sat upright and turned to the figure besides her to see who it was. She craned her neck and smiled warmly.

“Kim, are you alright?” Nick asked, returning the smile.

The blonde nodded slowly. She was in shock. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, head still throbbing as observed the young man besides her.

His suit jacket was on the floor next to him, and his sleeves on his button up shirt were rolled up to his elbows. His shirt had the first two buttons unbuttoned and a tie wrapped around his lower biceps as he put pressure on it, blood all over his sleeve.

“Nick, you’re bleeding,” Kim eyed his arm worriedly.

“It’s nothing,” he assured her, as more blood rolled down his arm.

“It looks bad,” she commented. “Are you alright? You need to get to the hospital to get that mended.”

“The paramedics are on their way,” he informed here. “They should be here in a few minutes.”

“Nick, what happened?” Kim asked suddenly, realising she couldn’t remember what happened to her.

“Ivy was pointing the gun to you remember?” he reminded.

Kim nodded. She remembered that, but when she blacked out she had no clue what happened then. Where was everybody? Where was Ivy? Where were the police? Were they all outside? Why were only Nick and her in the room?

“I meant after that,” she clarified. “After I blacked out.”

Nick thought for a moment before speaking. “When Ivy pointed the gun to you and was about to shoot, I managed to push you out of the way, but she pulled the trigger anyway. I think she was hoping it’d still hit you somehow, but the bullet hit me in the arm,” he explained. “You landed right onto the floor, headfirst – sorry about that. Maybe that’s why you blacked out. The fall was pretty rough.”

A wave of guilt ran through her body. No, he couldn’t have done that for her. She didn’t want him to. The bullet was supposed to be for her, and not for Nick. She was supposed to get the bullet! She was supposed to die – Ivy swore on it. But one thing that kept on bugging here was, why did Nick stand in the way?

“Nick, you shouldn’t have done that,” Kim said firmly. “The bullet was supposed to be for me, not you.”

Nick shrugged nonchalantly. “Rosie is already dead. I lost her,” he frowned. “I figured I couldn’t lose you too.”

Kim tilted her head downwards, staring at the floor as she felt her heart flutter slightly. She was flattered that someone cared for her that much, but she wasn’t sure. Did he really mean that or was he joking? She looked up at him to see if he was joking, but he wasn’t. He meant what he’d said.

***
Kim peered into the window of the doctor’s office as she watched a nurse tend to the young man’s arm by wrapping a bandage around the young man’s lower biceps, over and over again until it covered the wound completely.

Kim was relieved that it was only a minor injury, and though she was exaggerating, she was still glad that the paramedics came in time before Nick died from the loss of large amount of blood.

There was another person in the same room as the young man and the nurse. It was a policeman. She watched intensely through the binders as the policeman spoke calmly to Nick and Nick responding, nodding quickly before the policeman turned around and made his way out of the room.

Kim quickly turned around and sat down onto the chair outside. Her head was still throbbing from before, but it didn’t hurt as much. Every now and then she’d feel her head spinning in circles, but it wasn’t terrible. Of course, she got checked up, but the doctor told her the symptoms were normal so plenty of rest would do the trick and if it got worst she would have to come back.

“Are you Kimberly Creed, m’am?” the policeman asked as he exited the room, closing the door behind him and approached the blonde.

Kim stood up and faced the policeman. “Yes, sir,” she responded. “Is something wrong?”

“Mr Jonas said you would want to know about Ivy Clark’s current whereabouts,” he continued. “After we arrested her she confessed to everything from murdering Rose-leigh Fowler, to attempting to murder you and Nick.”

A wave of relief and triumph flowed through Kim’s body as a smile grew onto her face. It finally felt as though justice for Rosie was going to be served after all. “Thank you, sir,” Kim said breathlessly.

The policeman smiled and nodded before walking off. And not long afterwards, Nick came out of the room, rolling down his sleeve of a new clean shirt his brothers bought for him.

“How’s your arm?” Kim asked.

“It should heal after some time,” Nick said as he looked at his bandaged arm. “Anyway, I can’t believe Ivy admitted to everything.”

“We make a good team, Jonas,” Kim smiled, satisfied.

“Yeah, we’re a good team – you and me, Creed,” Nick chuckled as the pair walked down the corridor and out of the hospital. They’d both been through enough for once in the lifetime.