The Flood

‘Beep…Beep…Beep’ came from beside me. What the hell was the beeping about? And why didn’t anyone shut if off? I opened my eyes and found that I was surrounded by a vast expanse of white, teal and beige, the smell of plastic and ammonia in the air, a hospital room.

Everything came back to me in a rush, Ronnie, Max, the oxys all of it. I felt like hell, my stomach was sick, my body felt like I’d gone a few rounds with Mike Tyson. My arms were bandaged from my wrists to above my elbows and I had an IV in my hand and it was connected to the infernal machine that insisted on beeping.

There was a noise by the door and I turned around just in time to be hit by bolt of black. “Oh my god! You’re awake! You’re finally awake!” Eden sobbed into my shoulder. “Eden you spilled you fucking coffee-Loran!” came Robyn’s voice and Eden was roughly removed from around my neck and replaced by Robyn.

By the time that Robyn had let me go I was in tears myself. “Shhh…it’s okay.” Robyn said comforting me. “I’m just so happy to see you guys.” I said wiping the tears from my eyes. “We are too. We were so scared.” Eden said sitting down beside me on the bed.

She looked worn. Her hair was messily done and her makeup was smeared. Robyn stood beside her, her long hair in a ponytail with dark circles under her eyes. “Where’s Max? Is he okay? What about Zacharie?” I asked a million questions filling my mind.

“Max is fine, Craig and Robert are with him, he hasn’t woken up yet. They’ve had the two of you sedated for the past week. They said that with the trauma that you two had been through that withdraw would be too much. Therefore they knocked you out.” Robyn said. “Withdraw?” I asked.

“Yeah. Apparently Ronnie was shooting you up with the max amount that he could without making you OD. Your bodies are coming off of the drugs. However they said there shouldn’t be any lasting effects, it wasn’t long enough for you two to get addicted even with Max’s past.” Eden said. “Thank god.” I said with a sigh.

“That’s what we’ve all been saying the past few days. And as for baby little Zacky she is currently at Robyn’s mom’s house with Luke.” Eden said. “Luke? Who’s Luke? OH!” I said as I looked at Robyn and noticed her highly deflated stomach, “You had your baby! I missed it! I feel horrible!” I said and broke into more tears.

Robyn grabbed my wrist and looked at me, “Don’t cry.” she said firmly, “It’s not your fault what the fucking jackass did and there was nothing that you could do to prevent him from doing it. Now are you done?” she asked. I nodded and wiped the last of the tears away. I sat up more in the bed and grimaced at the lame hospital gown that I was wearing.

“I hate these damn things.” I said pulling it from around my neck. “Well that’s why we brought you these.” Eden said and bounded over to the corner and pulled out a bag. “Here you can change in the bathroom.” she said. In the time that we’d been talking a nurse had been in and removed the IV from my hand and stopped the beeping.

So I slid out of bed, one hand holding the bag and the other holding the back of my gown as I walked to the bathroom. I couldn’t have been more thankful for my friends at that moment. In the bag were a pair of plaid pj pants, a plain black cami, a MCR hoodie that I hadn’t touched since high school but was none the less thankful to have since MCR had always brought me comfort when I needed it, a pair of knee-high Skelanimal socks and my Jack Skellington slippers in addition to clean underwear.

I undid the gown and cringed as I saw the bruises. They were about two inches wide and ran across the front of my body from where the straps had held me down. All of them looked like they were healing or at least that’s what I hoped them turning yellow and brown like an old banana.

I pulled the clothes on and put my hair up into a scrunchy before heading back out. When I emerged from the bathroom I found Craig and Zacky talking to Robyn and Eden. “Hey! I heard that you were up!” Craig said standing up. He and Zacky walked over, Craig gave me hug and kissed the top of my head, “Yeah, Congratulations Daddy.” I said with a smile. “Thank you.” he said obviously very proud.

“How’s Max?” I asked Craig. “That’s why we were in here, we were going to tell the girls that he was up.” Craig said. “What?!? None of you told me!?!” I said and took off at a run not even knowing what room he was in. Luckily it was just down the hall from mine. “Max!” I said and threw my arms around him.

“Oh my god Loran I’m so happy to see you.” he said into my neck his voice thick. “I know the feeling.” I said. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, that you had to see that.” he said. “It’s not your fault Max.” I said and pulled back pressing my lips to his.

We stayed like that for a moment or two before I pulled back for air, “Scoot over.” I said and kicked my slippers off and climbed under the covers with him, settling in the crook of his arm. It felt so good to be close to him again, it made me feel safe, something that I didn‘t feel at this point in time.

“Did you know that Robyn had her baby?” I asked. “Really?” he asked. “Yeah, a little boy, Luke.” I said. He nodded, “I wonder how our baby is.” he said. “She’s at Robyn’s mom’s house with Luke.” I said and he nodded again. “So do you feel like total hell too?” I asked. He laughed, “Yes. Welcome to the wonders of withdraw baby.” he said bitterly and kissed my forehead.

I sighed and curled up closer to him, laying one of my legs over his. “They’ve been awake for less than an hour and they’re already in the same bed.” I turned and saw Robyn, Craig, Zacky and Eden standing in the doorway. I flipped them off and curled up closer to my boyfriend.

Everyone came in and sat down, “How’re you feeling Max?” Robyn asked. “Okay. This hospital gown sucks ass though.” he said. “Oh my god you two are too much! Loran complained about the exact same thing. Here we brought you some clothes too.” Robyn said. “What can I say? Great minds think alike.” he said taking the clothes and walked to the bathroom in the same manner I had earlier.

He emerged a few moments later in a pair of black lounge pants, a t-shirt and a Marilyn Manson hoodie. He sat back down on the bed and I leaned back into him. “Shayla called when we were looking for you, she’s going to pick up Zacharie and bring her here.” Eden said with a smile. “Oh my baby!” I said tearing up again. Max wrapped his arms around me and kissed my neck and it made me instantly relax.

“So h-how did you guys find us?” I asked trying to bring my tears to a close. I saw Robyn and Eden’s eyes darken and Zacky and Craig wrap their arms around them, “It wasn’t easy.” Robyn said after a few beats.

“The day that that asshole attacked you was the day that I went into labor. We tried to call you but you didn’t answer. We thought that maybe you guys went out of cell range and didn’t know it or something but when you didn’t show up that night or the next morning we got worried. We called the cops and they came over and asked us if there was anyone that had a grudge against you guys and of course the first name that popped up was Ronnie."

"They started looking into it but they didn’t think that there was anything to it. We told them about what happened with him on tour and they said they’d look into it. A few days later Robert said he saw him at the grocery store but he drove off before he could get in the car and go after him. That gave the police enough info to know that he was here in Myrtle Beach. After that it was all tracking him down.” Robyn said.

“There were times we weren’t sure what was going to happen. Matt, Johnny and Brian flew in from California to help out. I don’t think that any of us got much sleep. We drove around on shifts, just driving around trying to find any trace of you guys, of Ronnie, something that we could use. Finally they said that they’d found the car that he was driving and fallowed it to a house over on 27th avenue? Yeah, 27th so I called the others and we met up there and you guys know the rest.” Zacky continued picking up where Robyn had stopped.

“So what’s going to happen to him now?” Max asked, his brow furrowed as he picked at a piece of non-existent fuzz on my hoodie. “Well after he gets out of the hospital…” Robyn said trailing off. “He’s in the hospital? Why? A punch to the face did that?” I asked. “Who punched him?” Max asked. “Matt did.” I said. “Yeah but that’s not the only thing he’s been put in for. Robyn kicked him in the ribs and broke three of them.” Eden said. “Oh my Gerard.” I said covering my face with my hands. “Hey the asshole had it coming.” Robyn replied.

I started laughing and it felt good, like all the bad stuff that was lurking at the corners of my mind was slowly being pushed into nothingness.

“Hey what’s going on in here?” came a voice. I looked up and saw Matt poking his head into the room, his dimples very prominent thanks to the huge smile he had on his face. As soon as he walked in I saw why, in his arms, dressed in an A7X t-shirt, mini converse, jeans and a bright pink bow in her curly hair was Zacharie.

As soon as she saw us she began to make babbling noises and reaching for Max and I. I took my baby from Matt’s arms and pulled her close. She smelled like heaven, baby shampoo, fresh diapers and her little natural scent all blended together. “Oh Zacky baby mommy missed you so much. You’ll never know how hard it was being without you.” I said showering her small face with kissed. Max pulled me onto his lap and joined in with the cooing.

We were so happy to have her again, there had been time in that basement when we’d thought….NO! I couldn’t think like that. I was home, I had my baby, my boyfriend and my friends. It was going to be okay. I handed Zacharie to Max and stood up. I walked over to the small group that had formed watching the two of us and Zacharie. “Thank you guys so much.” I said tears falling yet again that day.

“It wasn’t anything that you wouldn’t have done.” Matt said a blush rising in his cheeks. “Yeah so cut it with the tears kid.” Brian said pulling me into a hug and wiping the tears from my cheeks.

I smiled, “It really is. You guys brought me back to my baby. You’re my angels.” I said and with that I hugged Matt, Brian, Johnny, Zacky, Robert, Bryan, and Craig and gave them all kisses on the cheek before hugging Robyn, Eden and Shayla.

There was a sniffle behind me, I turned around, “Brian? Matt? Are you crying?” I asked trying not to laugh. “NO!” they both said trying to hide the evidence. “Riiiighhhtttt…” I said and went back and joined my little family on the bed.

Later that night everyone had gone to get dinner leaving Max and I alone with a sleeping Zacharie. “Loran?” Max asked. “Hmmm?” I asked. “I have a question.” I said. “Shoot babe.” I said snuggling closer to my boyfriend and baby girl. It had been a long day and I was sleepy. “Will you marry me?” he asked.

I opened my eyes, “What?” I asked. “I wanted to know if you will become Mrs. Maxwell Scott Green.” he said and from the dresser pulled out the blue box that Ronnie had tossed carelessly aside our first day of imprisonment. He opened it and I looked down at the silver ring. It had a beautiful flower design to the diamonds.

“The inscription on this ring is truer now than it ever was Loran. Please say that you’ll be mine.” he said. “Yes. Max, I will marry you.” I replied and kissed him softly as he slipped the ring onto my finger. “I love you.” he whispered to me. “I love you too.” I replied and with our hands intertwined and our daughter between us we fell asleep.

I woke a few hours later when Robyn and Craig came back into the room. I looked at Max and Zacharie sleeping beside me and smiled and got up carefully in order to avoid waking them.

“Let me see it!” Robyn said. I looked at her, “What do you mean?” I asked. “The ring dumb ass! Let me see your ring!” she said. “What? How did you know ?” I asked. “Max told Craig and Craig told me, duh! Now let me see the damn ring.” she said and grabbed my hand. “It’s beautiful!” she said. “Thank you, my baby has good taste.” I said with a smile.

“We’ve got news on Ronnie.” Craig said. I took a deep breath, “Okay…give it to me.” I said. “We talked to the police and they said that after they get your statements that it should be enough to charge him. He’s already in custody for drug charges since they found quite the supply of illegal Oxys and al l the paraphernalia that goes with it. They’re also going to get him on false imprisonment and after you give your statements sexual assult and whatever it’s called when you shoot someone drugs against their will.” Craig said.

“Really? He’s going back to jail?” I asked. “Yes. For a long time too.” Robyn replied. I felt every muscle in my body relax, I was safe, my soon to be husband was safe and our little girl was safe.

With that I stood up from my chair and crawled back into bed with Max and Zacharie, for the first time in a while relaxed.