Save Me

“Ella, be quiet, you’re going to wake her up.” A soft voice interrupted my dreams and brought me closer to edge of consciousness. I snuggled down into the warm softness that was wrapped around me and tired to ignore the whispering around me.

“But look how cute they are. And she’ll feel better if she wakes up and I can give her my present.” There was a muffled sigh and movement before more words were spoke.

“Ella, I really don’t think she’ll want a hug from your stuffed toy.” A gasped echoed through the room and then what sounded like a slap and a moan of “owww.” Caige tried to figure out who the voices belonged to and who in the world this ‘Ella’ person was, but her sleepy drug laced brain only wanted to go back to sleep.

“Shut up stupid. Of course she’ll want a hug from Stitch, you hooker.”

“Well whatever. Come on so we don’t wake them up.” A chair scrapped against the floor and the sound of shuffling feet roused Caige further into consciousness.

She inwardly groaned.

“But…but what if Matt rolls over in his sleep and kills her? Then she’ll be dead and and suffocated.” Caige could detect an almost childish fear in this Ella persons’ voice as she spoke her concerns.

“Come on Elle, he’s not going to crush her.” This voice was calming and reassuring as he spoke to Ella, trying to get her out of the room by persuasion.

Caige heard the door open and shut and then, finally, silence.

For only about a minute.

Then, a low grumble rumbled through Caige’s ear drums and the thing she was laying on began to move. Caige was seriously unimpressed and let out a growl of her own; she just wanted to be able to sleep for once.

“Are you awake?” Caige had to admit, the voice of a man who had just woken up was one of the sexiest things, ever. The voice of this particular man was beyond anything she’d ever woken up hearing.

“No.” Caige’s own voice was scratchy and deep and she felt like she needed a big drink of ice cold water. The chuckle that then sounded finally brought her into full consciousness as her eyes squint open, the sun coming in through the window making it hard for her tired eyes to adjust.

Caige honestly couldn’t care what she looked like at that moment, for when she tried to move into a sitting position, her ribs crippled her in pain, a sharp cry falling from her soft plump lips. Her hand clutched at her side, her eyes squeezed shut until the pain had lessened.

With her cry of pain Matt had jumped off the bed so as not to jostle her further. He stared at her until she let out the breath she had been holding and opened her eyes. “Should I go get the doctor?” Matt asked.

Before Caige even had the chance of replying Matt was out the door, calling for a nurse.

Matt was gone for a little while before he came back, followed by what seemed a mass of people. Caige’s eyes got huge and suddenly she was very aware of how she looked. Her hair was in a messy bun on top of her head, mostly likely looking greasy as hell, and she didn’t even want to know what her face looked like.

A nurse in pink scrub pants and a white scrub top fought her way through the crowd to Caige. She smiled sweetly at Caige and began looking at the machines that were hooked up to the girl in the bed. After assuring Caige, and the people in the room, that everything looked fine, she left the room with a promise to bring Caige some pain medicine.

After the nurse left the room there was a bit of an awkward tension in the air. Caige wished dramatically that a hole would open up and swallow her whole.

“How are you feeling, Caige?” Matt asked stepping closer to her. Caige’s voice was stuck in her throat and her mouth was too dry for her to talk. She pointed to the hospital cup filled with water that sat out of her reach and pleaded with her eyes for Matt to hand it to her.

He did quickly and she took a swig of it, letting the cool substance wash through her mouth so that hopefully she’d be able to speak. Caige was so nervous she thought she might throw up. She was never good with talking to people, especially people she didn’t know.

“Here. This will make her talk.” A girl with light brunette hair stepped out from behind a man Caige knew to be Zacky Vengeance.

Here’s the thing with Caige though, she’s afraid of people. It didn’t matter what you looked like, she was afraid of you. And it seemed that maybe this girl could sense that, because she cautiously made her way to stand beside Caige, holding out a stuffed blue little…thing for Caige to take.

“His name is Stitch. And if you hug him he’ll make you feel better.” The girl standing beside her had such a hopeful look upon her face that Caige couldn’t stand to disappoint her. So, she carefully reached her little hand out to take the toy, afraid that maybe the girl would grab her hand. When the hopeful girl made no move to harm Caige, she took the animal in her hands and looked at it.

“My name is Ella. And I love Apple Juice and chocolate and my boyfriend. Preferably all together.” The girl smiled, pulling up a chair and sitting down. Caige’s face flamed with heat. “What’s your name?”

Caige stared at the little Stitch in her hands and whispered out “Caige Cross.”

“That’s a pretty name. Would you like to keep Stitch with you for a little while? I don’t mind sharing him.” Caige’s oddly colored eyes swerved to the kind girl and nodded her head as she tucked the blue animal to her good side.

Caige’s eyes filled with tears at how kind this girl, who she didn’t even know, could be to her. Caige had never been treated in such a way before. She wasn’t sure how to handle it.

“Caige, would you like to meet my friends?” Ella asked quietly. Caige fought her tears back and nodded yes, looking around the room.

Ella introduced everyone by their first and last names, ending with Matt. Of course Caige already knew their names, she just didn’t want to seem rude or worse, a stalker.

“I like your tattoos Caige. They’re really awesome.” Caige looked to the person who spoke and smiled at the tall man with piercing blue eyes. “Thank you, Jimmy.” After that the atmosphere in the room relaxed and everyone just started talking quietly.

Matt sat himself back down in the bed with Caige as Jimmy took a seat at the foot of her bed. She slowly moved her foot over to the left so Jimmy could have room and he gave her a big happy smile.

“So, Caige.” Jimmy spoke in faux seriousness turning his body to face the tattooed girl. “Tell me all about yourself. How old you are. Where you work. Who did your tattoos. Why your head is shaved on both sides. Your favorite brand of shampoo. Everything.”

Caige smiled weakly and thought through the questions he wanted her to answer. “My favorite brand of shampoo?” Caige asked with a hint of a smile, what an odd question. “Don’t question my questions just answer!” Caige couldn’t help but giggle quietly as she snuggled into Matt to begin Jimmy’s inquisition. Caige couldn't help but to wonder why she felt so comfortable cuddling up to Matt. She just didn't feel scared, and that wasn't something she was used to.

“Uhm, I guess my favorite brand would be…I don’t know, Wen.” Caige had to explain what ‘Wen’ was before continuing because he had no idea what it was.

“My head is shaved because if it’s not I have a ridiculous amount of hair and it never dries after I take a shower. I still have a ridiculous amount, just not as much. And plus I like the way it looks.” Jimmy was content with that answer so he pushed her to answer the next question.

“A guy I work with did them, his name is Nick. Best artist I know hands down. I work at a tattoo shop over on Sixth Avenue. And I am nineteen years old.”

“Holy fucking shit! You’re only nineteen fucking years old? What the fuck!” Caige jumped at Jimmy’s outburst and shrunk back into Matt’s arms, suddenly afraid of the tall man.

“Jimmy, dude, calm down. You’re scaring her.” Matt said forcefully before Jimmy could start his next line of curse words. Jimmy calmed down immediately and profusely apologized to Caige, to which she assured him over and over that it was okay.

“But seriously, wow. You’re only nineteen?” Jimmy spoke with wide eyes. Caige nodded in confusion, not understanding what the big deal was that she nineteen. She wasn’t that young. And her birthday was in a few months.

“Why did you freak over my age?” She asked curiously

“It’s just…you have sleeves, mostly. And you work at a tattoo shop. That’s just impressive for your age.”

“Oh,” She mumbled out “well I’ve been sort of apprenticing since I was sixteen. My…m-my boyfriend, Jay, is a tattoo artist and has been apprenticing me, along with Nick.” Caige became scared again, just by thinking of Jay and when she noticed that all eyes were on her and she became very nervous.

For some reason, Matt felt his heart give a lurch of disappointment at the mention of her having a boyfriend. He wondered where he was now? His girlfriend is laying in the hospital with broken ribs and a broken leg after nearly being beaten to death. If he cared so much, then where was he?

And then a sort of seed planted in his head. The way she stuttered out that she had a boyfriend. The way her body shook when she mentioned his name. Was her boyfriend the one who did this to her? Was her ‘boyfriend’ the one who raped her?

He was suddenly furious. But he tried to rein it in so he wouldn’t scare the small girl in his arms.

“Caige,” he forced out, wanting to ask her if he was right. But he was stopped. A voice at the door caused them all to turn their heads and stare at the tall blonde standing in the door way, a bouquet of roses in his hands.

And Matt knew, without a doubt that this was the guy who had been hurting Caige. He felt Caige grab his hand in a death grip, scooting as close to him as she could. He wanted to squeeze her to him, but knew he couldn’t because of her ribs.

Matt took his eyes off of the man in the doorway for a second to look at Caige’s beautiful face. And he knew, she was petrified.

“I said, what’s going on here?”

The only noise that could be heard in the small white room was the frantic beating of Caige’s heart monitor.