Girl I Know

Brian and Matt walked into the emergency room and found Blade sitting alone. He sat hunched over with his elbows rested on his knees while his face was buried in his hands.

“Where is she?” Brian yelled frantically at Blade.

“They took her in the back” Blade’s face looked Grim as he spoke to Brian.

“What the fuck happened?” he clenched his fists in anger as he spoke and Matt put his hands on Brian’s shoulders urging him to calm down.

“Dante messed her up pretty bad”

“Son of a bitch, she lied to me when I asked her about that bandage on her wrist” Matt cursed himself for not going with his instincts.

“She lied to all of us” Blade nodded.

Brian turned white as a sheet. He couldn’t seem to catch a break these days.

“Haner?” the doctor yelled from the door of the exam room and Blade stood up while all three of them turned to the face the doctor.

“That’s me,” Brian said.

“Would you come with me, please?” he motioned for Brian to follow him beyond the door and Brian moved as if he was walking into slow motion. He knew something was very wrong, he could feel it and he braced himself for what the doctor was about to tell him.

“Where’s my daughter?” he asked

The doctor motioned to the door on the right “She’s in there”

When Brian started to walk towards the door, the doctor stopped him. “Before you go in there, let me explain something to you.”

Brian stopped and looked at the doctor unsure if he wanted to hear what the doctor had to say. He knew that it was bad news and he just wanted to see his daughter.

“Her body has been through severe trauma. 2 of her ribs were broken along with her ankle. She suffered a mild concussion from being hit in the head. There was a cut on her face that required 9 stitches and another deeper one on her arm that required 27. The cut on her arm caused a blood clot to form and that is dangerous in any situation, but because of the diabetes it’s twice as worse for her. It could kill her. We put her on blood thinners to hopefully dissolve the clot and we’re going to monitor it closely. When she came in, we drew blood and urine to run tests. Her blood sugar was extremely high. It’s lower now, but not low enough for me to not worry. We also found cocaine in her system”

Brian couldn’t find the words to answer the doctor. He heard everything he said, but nothing seemed to be registering. “I want to see her” Brian spoke with a shaky voice.

“Ok” the doctor nodded. “She’s been coming in and out of consciousness. Try not to cause her any undue stress.” Brian nodded and headed for the door that the doctor pointed to when their conversation started.

When his hand touched the knob he braced himself for what he was going to see when he got inside her room.

Meanwhile…

Lyric, Legend, Blade, Matt, Zacky, Stormy and Sydney were out in the waiting area as Dante was brought in on a stretcher followed by police. Lyric and Legend looked at each other knowing that they were the reason he was on that stretcher.

They drove him out to the highway and dragged him through the woods along side it where they beat him sensless. They left him there to die, but he managed to crawl back up to the highway where a passerby found him passed out and called police.

“I want to see my daughter” Stormy cried as Matt held her close to his chest.

“When Brian comes back, we’ll get him to take you back there”

Blade stood up and walked out of the emergency to smoke a cigarette. Zacky followed his son outside to see if he was ok.

“hey” Zacky said as he watched his son rifle through his pockets for something to light his cigarette with. He took out his lighter and lit it for his son.

“Dad, I want to kill him”

“I know you do” he said putting his hand on his son’s shoulder.

“Remember this?” he asked his father as he took the Skeleton Key out of his pocket and showed it to his father.

“Yeah, why is it in your pocket?”

“I’ve carried it with me everyday since the day you gave it to me. Now I need to give it back because you and Matt and Brian all owe me and I want to collect” his eyes started to water as if tears were about to spill over.

“Are you blaming us for what happened to Melody?” Zacky looked hurt.

“No, I’m just saying that I would never have done what Dante did to her, but none of you would let us be together and look where she is now. So take your damn key back and I don’t have to tell you what I want, you should already know.” As he said it the water in his eyes overflowed and streamed down his face.

“Ok” Zacky nodded.

Melody’s room

Brian walked into his daughter’s room and she opened her eyes when she heard him approaching her.

“Hi” he said and sat down on the bed.

“Dad” she whispered. “It hurts”

“I know” he put his hand over hers. “Why didn’t you tell me what was happening?”

Melody swallowed hard before answering him. “He said if I told he would go after mom”

Brian closed his eyes bothered by the thought that Dante had made her so scared that she couldn’t even come to him and tell him.

“Melody I have to ask you something”

“Ok”

“The doctor said there was cocaine in your system”

She looked at her father and saw the disappointment all over his face. “Dante made me do it.” A tear fell from her eyes as she explained.

“Ok” he nodded.

“Are you mad at me?” she asked

“Not a single bit, sweetheart” he smiled weakly.

“Is mom here?”

“She should be now, do you want me to go get her?”

“yes”

“Ok” he got up and kissed her head. “I love you” he smiled.

“I love you more, dad” she smiled and he walked out of her room to head back to the waiting room.

He found Stormy waiting with Matt and Sydney and he walked over just as she looked up from Matt’s chest. “She wants to see you” he said. “Through that door, and it’s the second door on the right”

She nodded and walked back through the first door. No one seemed to notice that Lyric had disappeared. He went to find out Dante’s condition and even lied to the doctor and told him he was Dante’s brother just so they would give him the information. It turns out that Dante had slipped into a coma before they brought him into the hospital.
The doctor had agreed to let Lyric see Dante and gave him his room number. As Lyric walked down the hall his face bore no emotion. When he reached the room, he stood in the doorway and glared at the body that was lying in the bed before him.

He walked over to the bed with slow even steps and when he reached the bed he looked down at Dante’s face. He looked like he was sleeping and Lyric wanted to make sure that he never woke up. After looking around to make sure there was no one else in the vicinity of the room, Lyric took the pillow from under Dante’s head and put it over his face and held it there until the line that was moving up and down on the monitor went completely flat. He then placed the pillow back under Dante’s head and walked out of the room and down the hall as if nothing had happened. Behind him, a blue light flashed over the door of Dante’s room.

--

Melody’s room

Stormy walked into her daughter’s room and stood before her bed.

“Mom” she smiled.

“Hi” Stormy sat and took her daughters hand. “You gave us all quite a scare”

“I’m sorry”

“It’s ok, it’s not your fault.”

Melody squeezed her mother’s hand. “Mom, I want to come home”

“Ok” Stormy nodded.

“But I want to come home to my family”

Stormy knew what her daughter was asking right now she would have done anything in the world to make her happy. “Ok” she nodded and smiled at her daughter who had a glimmer of hope in her tired eyes.

Stormy stayed with her daughter a little while longer and when she came out to the waiting room everyone was waiting for her. Sydney put her arm around her sister and walked with her out of the emergency room while Brian and Matt headed out together.

Brian lit up a cigarette and watched as Stormy got in Sydney's car. Shortly after Lyric and Legend walked out of the hospital and headed to their car as well. Zacky nudged his son who was leaning against the wall and walked away from him to go and talk to Matt.

“Brian?” Blade said and lowered his gaze to the ground.

“Yeah?” Brian turned around to face him and took a drag from his cigarette.

“Can I see Melody?” he asked

Brian nodded and turned his face towards Matt’s car. “She’s tired. Don’t be too long.” he said and walked away heading over to where Matt and Zacky stood.

Blade didn’t wait even a second; he walked right back into the hospital and went to see Melody.

When he walked into her room and saw her lying there with a cast on her leg and bandages on her face and arms it pained him. Her eyes were closed and they were so evenly bruised it was like she was wearing eye shadow on her eyelids.

He grabbed a chair and quietly pulled it up to the bed making sure not to wake her. He sat down in the chair and gently took hold of her hand and held it in his. “Damn it” he whispered and no longer could he control the emotions he was holding on to. He let the tears fall from his eyes as he looked at her lying there battered and broken. Inside he was blaming himself for not sticking up for the two of them when their fathers tore them apart.

More than anything right now he wanted so badly to go back to that day when he sat in the lounge with his father and choose her over the band. If he were to be given the choice again, he would walk away from Fiction without giving it a second thought. He stayed with her just a little while longer before letting go of her hand and getting up to put the chair back in it’s place. When he walked back over to the bed he leaned forward and gently pressed his lips to her forehead. After moving a strand of hair out of her face, he stepped away from her bed.

“Blade” she whispered and he turned back around to face her. He sat down on her bed and grabbed her hand again.

“I’m right here” he smiled.

“Stay with me a little longer, please?” she asked.

“Ok” he nodded and she closed her eyes again.

He wound up staying with her for most of the night. For most of the time that he was there she slept soundly and only woke up when the nurses came in to take blood, which was every few hours. Every now and again she would open her eyes and look around to see if he was still there and when she saw him she would close her eyes again and go back to sleep.