Majesty Castle

The loud pounding on the front door of the cottage had stopped the conversation that Matthew was having with Brian. Matthew yanked the door open and appeared to be visibly pissed off at the person standing on the other side of the door.

Johnny stood there out of breath and terrified. He reached forward and grabbed Matthew’s arm in an attempt at yanking him through the door. “Come home,” he said breathlessly.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Matthew asked.

Brian stepped up beside Matthew and looked at Johnny. “What’s going on?”

“Come home!” Johnny grabbed Matthew’s arm again and tried to pull him.

“Johnny what the fuck!” Matthew yelled.

“Allegra,” Johnny said in a pleading voice that instantly got Matthew’s full attention.

“What’s happened?”

“She’s dying! Come home.”

Matthew froze. Brian moved past him in a hurry. “I’ll get the horses.”

Johnny was pacing frantically back and forth waiting for Brian. When Brian finally did come around with the horses, Matthew hopped up on Seven and took off in the direction of the castle. Johnny and Brian followed behind.

In twenty minutes they were back at the castle. Matthew charged through the front door and raced through the foyer towards the stairs only to be met with brute force. Johnny and Brian stepped through the door just in time to see Peter and Zakk each grab one of Matthew’s arms and drag him away from the staircase and across the foyer to the study.

Matthew tried as hard as he could to get past the two men, but Zakk shoved him backwards into a chair. “SIT THE FUCK DOWN.”

“WHERE’S MY WIFE!” He yelled back.

Johnny and Brian walked into the study. Brian headed over to the bar to pour Matthew a glass of scotch. Peter stepped forward as Matthew waited for someone to tell him where Allegra was.

“She’s upstairs in your room.”

Matthew tried to stand again, but Zakk put a hand on Matthew’s shoulder and held him down. “You can’t go up there.”

“WHY NOT?”

“Because the doctor is with her,” Peter replied. “She’s been hurt and I could stand here and lie to you and say she is going to be ok, but it doesn’t look so good.”

Brian handed Matthew the glass of scotch. “What happened?”

Johnny was pacing nervously again and Zakk walked over and put his arm around his son. “Calm down,” he told him. “Johnny found her in the stable. Looks like Nightmare trampled her.”

“What?” Matthew seemed to not believe his ears. “Nightmare wouldn’t do that, he loves her.”

Peter gave Matthew a stern look. “We found him wandering around by the lake. We’re gonna have to put him down. Allegra could die, Matthew. Her injuries are pretty severe. When Johnny found her she was barely breathing.”

Simone walked into the study and upon seeing Brian, she ran straight into his arms. “Brian,” she cried. “You should have seen her, it’s so bad.”

“I know,” he said rubbing her back.

Matthew took the glass he was holding in his hand and threw it across the room. It shattered upon hitting the wall and random pieces of glass littered the floor. “How the fuck could this happen?”

Everyone was looking at Matthew, but no one knew what to say. When Jon walked into the room all eyes turned to him. “The doctor will be down shortly to explain Allegra’s condition. I’m sure no one is in the mood for dinner so I’m going to have Pippa keep the kitchen open a little later tonight just incase anyone gets hungry later. It’s probably going to be long night.”

“I don’t want her left alone while the doctor is down here. Someone needs to be with her.” Matthew said.

“Me?” Johnny asked looking up at his father.

“Alright,” Zakk nodded. “Go.”

Johnny raced out of the room and Matthew walked over to the window to open it. He sat on the ledge and waited for the doctor to come down and let him know the fate of his wife.

As Johnny walked down the hall towards Matthew’s room Luke walked past in the other direction. “Pity isn’t it,” he chided. Johnny stopped in his tracks and turned back around. Luke stood there with a hint of laughter in his expression not expecting what was coming. The force of Johnny’s punch sent Luke crashing to the floor with blood sputtering out of his mouth.

“Try talking now, bastard.” Johnny said and walked down the hall towards his intended destination. When he walked into the room, he stood behind a chair waiting for the doctor to finish packing up his bag. When the doctor finally left and Johnny stepped from behind the chair and walked over to the bed.

Allegra lay there lifeless and wrapped from her chest down to her waist in white gauze. Her left arm was in a sling and her face save for the cuts and bruises was drained of its usual pink color. The stitches on her head were covered by another piece of gauze, but Johnny could see the wiry wisps sticking up through the bandage. Her skin was pale with a hint of a blue tint. On the other side of the bed there was a contraption that Johnny couldn’t make heads or tales of. It seemed to be a pole with a bag hanging from it. There was a tube that connected from the bag to Allegra’s free arm with a needle.

“Wake up,” he whispered. He knew full well that she wasn’t going to open her eyes any time soon, but he had hoped that if he had any real magic in him, he could make her wake up.

“Please, don’t go away too,” he said as his voice cracked. “Wake up, friend. I need you.”

When nothing happened, Johnny knelt down, rested his forehead on the bed and broke down and cried.

********

Down stairs Zacky, Fawn, James and Nina had joined everyone else in the study to hear what the doctor had to say. Matthew grabbed the window ledge with both hands waiting to hear the news.

“I suppose, since her injuries are spread out, I’ll start at the top and explain my way down.” The doctor seemed uncomfortable. With the size of the men in the room, who could blame him?

“Allegra took a nasty blow to the head. Had to give her some stitches to close the gash. Her face is bruised up pretty badly, but I don’t think her cheekbones are broken.”

Matthew stared at the doctor making him increasingly nervous. “I can only assume she fell on her right side, because her left side appears to be where most of the damage was done. On her left side, her clavicle is broken along with her arm and two of her ribs. Her left hip is badly bruised, but doesn’t appear to be broken. Her left ankle is badly sprained and there are some cuts along her left side as well, none of which required stitching.”

Still Matthew continued to stare at the doctor knowing that he hadn’t heard the worst of it yet. “There is some bruising on her right side from being pushed so hard into the ground. As for the rest of her injuries, would you all mind if I spoke with her husband alone?”

Jon ushered everyone out of the study and into the dining room to give Matthew and the doctor some privacy. When they were finally alone, the doctor began to tell Matthew the awful truth. “I spent the last four hours with your wife.”

“Four hours? Why didn’t anyone come get me sooner?”

“I can’t answer that Matthew, I can only tell you that when you see your wife, she looks nothing now like she did when I first got here. I’ve told you of the visible injuries, but there are internal injuries as well.” The doctor let out a long breath and Matthew was growing impatient.

“Just tell me.”

“Well, as hard as I tried, I wasn’t able to save the baby.”

“What? She was pregnant?”

“Yes,” the doctor nodded. “She probably didn’t know yet, she was only about six or eight weeks.”

That would have meant that M Shadows got her pregnant the night they were together. Matthew rubbed his jaw in an attempt at fighting back his own emotions.

“There’s more,” the doctor said, interrupting Matthew’s thoughts.

“Tell me.”

“Because of the extent of her internal injuries, it would be a miracle if Allegra were to ever have a child.” That hit Matthew like a punch to the face.

“Her left lung collapsed and that’s what is causing her difficulty breathing. In some cases a collapsed lung can lead to cardiac arrest and ultimately, death. Now, because she sustained a head injury, there is a possibility of permanent damage, but I won’t know that until she regains consciousness, if she regains consciousness. For now, I’m afraid I have done all I can do. It’s up to her now.”

Matthew lowered his gaze to the ground not wanting the doctor to see that his eyes filled up with water. “I’ve given her some nutrients intravenously and left some medication for the pain as well as something to stave off infection on the table by the bed. Since she isn’t able to take medication orally, you’ll have to give it to her through a needle. I’ve written down all the instructions for you and you can find my notes by the bedside table as well. Your wife will require 24 hour round the clock monitoring.”

The doctor rose from where he sat and picked up his medicine bag. “Send for me if there are any changes. If I were you, I’d pray and pray hard.”

Matthew nodded still unable to lift his head. “Thanks doc.”

When the doctor left, Jon walked back into the study. “How is she really?” he asked resting a hand on his son’s shoulder.

“We were going to have a baby,” Matthew’s voice cracked as he said it. Jon’s heart broke for his son and his loss.

“I’m sorry. I’m sure you can try again.”

“No,” Matthew shook his head. “She can’t have anymore children.”

Jon didn’t know how to respond to that. “Do you want to see her now?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “But first, I have to go out to the stables.”

Jon understood what his son meant and he felt for him. “The shotgun is behind the stalls.”

Matthew nodded and walked out of the study towards the front door. His heart was heavy in his chest at the thought of what he was about to do. As he walked towards the stables the reality of the situation started to set in.

The one girl he had spent two years running away from was the one girl who had stolen his heart. He wasn’t fair to her from day one and now regretted never giving her the chance back then because now that he finally realized that he loved her, she could be the one leaving him.

When Matthew walked into the stable, Nightmare lifted his head and made a low sound showing Matthew that he recognized him. “What did you do?” He asked the horse.

“How could you hurt her, she loved you.” The horse nudged Matthew with his nose. “NO! NO GOD DAMN APPLES.” Matthew shouted at the horse out of frustration. Before he lost his nerve he walked past Nightmare’s stall and headed for the shotgun.

When he came back out, he noticed something glistening on Nightmare’s hindquarter.
He set the shotgun down and walked into the horses stall heading to the back to get a better look. His hand touched the horse where he glistened and Nightmare made a disapproving sound.

The tips of Matthew’s fingers were red. It was blood. Someone spooked his horse. Upon closer inspection, Matthew could see slight puncture marks. It was as if someone had poked the horse with a pitchfork.

“FUCK!” He shouted and walked back up to the front of the horses stall. He rested his forehead between Nightmare’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” he whispered and walked out of the stable.

Matthew ran back to the house and walked right into the dining room. “Where’s Brian?”

“He’s in the kitchen with Zacky,” Simone replied.

That’s just where Matthew went.

“That was fast,” Brian noted.

“I didn’t do it. I need to go see my wife, but I need you to find the vet and get him out here right away.”

“Why?” Brian and Zacky both looked at Matthew with confused gazes.

“Because someone stabbed Nightmare with a pitchfork. He was provoked.”

“Fuck,” Zacky muttered.

“I’m on it, go see Allegra,” Brian said.

Matthew nodded and walked up to the counter. He took an apple from the fruit bowl and tossed it to Brian. “Bring him this.”

Brian nodded and walked out the back door while Matthew exited the kitchen back into the dining room. After letting everyone know that he didn’t want to be disturbed for the rest of the night, he made his way to the staircase.

With each step he took his emotions grew stronger. His legs seemed to get heavier as he walked down the hall. As his hand touched the doorknob he braced himself for what was inside. Stepping through the door, the first thing he saw was Johnny sitting in a chair hunched over.

The rage that filled his body overwhelmed him. Matthew walked over to Johnny and lifted him up by the collar of his shirt. Johnny’s feet weren’t even touching the ground. “Four hours? You waited four fucking hours to come get me?”

“Couldn’t find you,” Johnny said nervously. “Tried. Looked everywhere. Didn’t know where you were.”

Matthew set Johnny back down on the ground and let go of his collar. “Sorry.”

“It’s ok.” Johnny said. He nodded towards Allegra’s bed and walked out of the room to give Matthew some time alone with his wife.

Matthew finally got the nerve to turn around and face his wife. Upon seeing her lying in the bed as broken down as a rag doll, he covered his mouth with his hand and shook his head. “No,” he cried and walked over to the bed.

He kicked off his shoes and climbed onto the bed beside her. Softly he kissed her cheek. “You can’t leave me, I just found you.”

He touched the side of her face as tears began to cover his. “You’re my rebel and all that’s good in my life, please come back to me.”

Matthew stayed beside her though out the night taking the doctors advice and praying for her life.

“I swear love, if it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to kill the person that hurt you.”