Status: In writting just a draft still developing the story
LOVE, LOSS, AND LIFE
The Hurt
CH 3. The Hurt
I woke up in the hospital plugged into various machines and IV’s in my arm. Here is where I really freaked out. The last time I was in a hospital was when my mother died, so as you can imagine I avoid them at all costs. In fact I freak the fuck out when I am brought in the vicinity of a hospital. I started to pull things out of my arm and heard the beeping of all the machines. I needed to get out of here before all the nurses and doctors came. I jumped out of the bed and that was as far as I made it. I had forgotten all about the gunshot wound and collapsed on the ground from the pain. Through the door walked Michael, my father and Jason with a nurse and a pissed off doctor.
“I need to get out of here now.” I said through clenched teeth as I bore through the pain. I locked eyes with Michael pleading with him. I couldn’t be in here. I noticed then that Jason wouldn’t look at me, but I didn’t have the energy to deal with that right now. I could feel the tears start to form in my eyes; they were a mixture of fear and pain. I tried not to blink; I didn’t want these tears to fall, especially in front of my dad.
Michael came to my aid as the doctor came forward. “Can you guys just give us a minute?” Without hesitation the rest of them turned and left, and as soon as the door shut behind them the tears fell. Michael sat down on the floor and held me. “Mike I can be in here, you need to get me out.” I pulled away from him searching his eyes. “Please.”
He gave me a nod and put me back into bed. “Let me see what I can do.” And he left.
I sat there with my eyes closed picturing that I was anywhere but in the hospital. Trying to keep the flash backs of my mother’s bloodied body out of my head. I focused on breathing and feeling my heart beat one breath and beat at a time. I didn’t know how much longer this was going to last, I could feel myself getting nervous, my muscles tensing.
I had never been happy to see a doctor, until one came through the door with my release papers. He explained to me what I needed to do to let my leg heal and the care for the stiches, but I heard nothing. All I remember is changing into a set of clothes someone had got from home, grabbing crutches and heading out the door with an entourage behind me. I stopped in the sidewalk and took a deep breath, the air was clean, the smell of disinfectant was gone and the noise of machines was behind me. Note to self-next time you get shot make sure it kills you.
“Haley you’re going to ride with me.” And the peace was broken. My father stepped forward as his car pulled up and opened the door for me. I looked at Michael hoping he would save me but he and Jason were already walking towards the parking lot. This was turning out to be a wonderful fucking day. I got in the car and buckled I smiled at the driver, he wasn’t a face that I knew.
We sat in silence for a few moments; I kept my eyes from looking in Sonny’s direction. I heard the privacy partition go up and knew that I was going to be forced to talk to him. But I wasn’t going to let him get the first word… or the last for that matter.
“Let’s just skip the small talk. Why are you here?” I put as much distain and bitterness in my tone as I could muster at that moment.
He chuckled. Jesus everything he did made my blood boil. “You are so much like your….”
“Don’t! Don’t you dare!” I cut him off there. He had no right to compare me to her. It was his fault that she was gone; it was his enemy that killed her, his men that failed to save her. His fault that I watched her take her last breath, if only it was him….
I felt the fight coming, the one we always had. It always ended with him leaving and that’s why I always picked it, the less I had to see him the better. But then he hesitated. The anger in his face subsided has he sighed and ran his hand over his cleanly shaven face. I didn’t know what this was, what to expect.
“I didn’t come here to fight with you Haley.” He looked at me for some sort of signal for a truce. I gave him nothing.
“Ok.” He paused studying my face looking to see if there was something he missed…. There wasn’t. “We will do it your way then.” He pulled out a file from the storage unit in the limo. In it was a bunch of papers and pictures with an assortment of men’s photographs. This explained everything… there was some sort of mob war going on and guess who was caught in the middle? For some reason my father’s enemies always came after me. It’s like they saw some rich daddy’s girl, well hell I could shoot a gun with the best of them. And I sure as hell was not daddy’s little princess.
I put aside some of my anger, as much as I hated my father I did want to live. I took the file from him and started memorizing the faces; I didn’t recognize any of the men. Must be new guys trying to make a name for themselves. Which was usually more dangerous than some turf war or stolen shipment fight, new guys would do anything to make themselves known. “So how bad is it?”
“Bad. Especially since they now know where you live.” He pointed to two of the pictures “These men you no longer have to worry about, they were the ones that shot you. “ Shifting in his seat he came closer to me. “The main guy this time is Vostro, they are trying to get in on our shipping business. Stir things up with my enemies to get them on their side. So far it hasn’t worked, nobody wants to side with this guy he is too unpredictable. He has some great pyrotechnic guys and has already blown up a few of my ships. My guess was that he was trying to blame it on Cruz, Romano, and Palamara but we have all come to a sort of truce.”
I continued flipping through the pictures as he talked, noticing any blemish or scars. On the back of each picture was some notes on height weight and usual MO. This Vostro guy had a lot of men working for him, and I had to admit with this one I was uneasy. If this guy was bad enough to have my father and his enemies on the same side, I would prefer to be in a different country.
We sat in silence for a few moments and as I moved on to the next picture Sonny spoke. “You don’t have to worry about that guy, Ranger and Tank caught him fleeing the beach.”
So this was the little shit that shot me. Who knows where he was now and what kind of state he was in. Sonny Corinthos had never really been the torture type he would just as easily blow your brains out. Still if this whole situation was as bad as it was this guy could be missing a few fingers.
I felt the car slow down and looked out the window to see my house coming into view. I put the pictures back in the folder and handed them back to Sonny. “No that ones yours. I want you to show those pictures to Melissa and Finoa, they could be in danger too.”
As the car came to a rolling stop I unbuckled the faster I could get out the better. “No so fast I want to talk to you for a few minutes.” Sonny signaled to the driver to make another loop around the block. “You need to listen to what Jason, Ranger and Tank tell you. I don’t want any of your ditching body guard stunts.” I had to laugh at that one; I was really a pro at that, I couldn’t tell you how many times I got my father’s men in trouble. But hey I was a teenager I didn’t want big burly men following me around.
“And as for Jason, I don’t know what is go.”
“Ohh no. You have no right to come meddling to in my personal life. Jason is my best friend and nothing you say or do is going to change that.” I had raised my voice and I could feel my heart beating faster. The last thing I needed was to have my father messing with whatever Jason and I had.
The car came to a stop and as I reached for the handle I felt Sonny’s grasp on my arm. “He told me what happened on the beach…. Just be smart.”
I stopped for a moment feeling like everything in my body froze. From the look on Sonny’s face I could tell that Jason left out very little if any detail. At this realization everything snapped back into focus, I ripped my hand away from Sonny and hobbled out of the car being sure to slam the door as hard as I could.
Surprise, surprise the first person I saw on the walk to the driveway was Jason. Well he was in for a rude awakening.
I woke up in the hospital plugged into various machines and IV’s in my arm. Here is where I really freaked out. The last time I was in a hospital was when my mother died, so as you can imagine I avoid them at all costs. In fact I freak the fuck out when I am brought in the vicinity of a hospital. I started to pull things out of my arm and heard the beeping of all the machines. I needed to get out of here before all the nurses and doctors came. I jumped out of the bed and that was as far as I made it. I had forgotten all about the gunshot wound and collapsed on the ground from the pain. Through the door walked Michael, my father and Jason with a nurse and a pissed off doctor.
“I need to get out of here now.” I said through clenched teeth as I bore through the pain. I locked eyes with Michael pleading with him. I couldn’t be in here. I noticed then that Jason wouldn’t look at me, but I didn’t have the energy to deal with that right now. I could feel the tears start to form in my eyes; they were a mixture of fear and pain. I tried not to blink; I didn’t want these tears to fall, especially in front of my dad.
Michael came to my aid as the doctor came forward. “Can you guys just give us a minute?” Without hesitation the rest of them turned and left, and as soon as the door shut behind them the tears fell. Michael sat down on the floor and held me. “Mike I can be in here, you need to get me out.” I pulled away from him searching his eyes. “Please.”
He gave me a nod and put me back into bed. “Let me see what I can do.” And he left.
I sat there with my eyes closed picturing that I was anywhere but in the hospital. Trying to keep the flash backs of my mother’s bloodied body out of my head. I focused on breathing and feeling my heart beat one breath and beat at a time. I didn’t know how much longer this was going to last, I could feel myself getting nervous, my muscles tensing.
I had never been happy to see a doctor, until one came through the door with my release papers. He explained to me what I needed to do to let my leg heal and the care for the stiches, but I heard nothing. All I remember is changing into a set of clothes someone had got from home, grabbing crutches and heading out the door with an entourage behind me. I stopped in the sidewalk and took a deep breath, the air was clean, the smell of disinfectant was gone and the noise of machines was behind me. Note to self-next time you get shot make sure it kills you.
“Haley you’re going to ride with me.” And the peace was broken. My father stepped forward as his car pulled up and opened the door for me. I looked at Michael hoping he would save me but he and Jason were already walking towards the parking lot. This was turning out to be a wonderful fucking day. I got in the car and buckled I smiled at the driver, he wasn’t a face that I knew.
We sat in silence for a few moments; I kept my eyes from looking in Sonny’s direction. I heard the privacy partition go up and knew that I was going to be forced to talk to him. But I wasn’t going to let him get the first word… or the last for that matter.
“Let’s just skip the small talk. Why are you here?” I put as much distain and bitterness in my tone as I could muster at that moment.
He chuckled. Jesus everything he did made my blood boil. “You are so much like your….”
“Don’t! Don’t you dare!” I cut him off there. He had no right to compare me to her. It was his fault that she was gone; it was his enemy that killed her, his men that failed to save her. His fault that I watched her take her last breath, if only it was him….
I felt the fight coming, the one we always had. It always ended with him leaving and that’s why I always picked it, the less I had to see him the better. But then he hesitated. The anger in his face subsided has he sighed and ran his hand over his cleanly shaven face. I didn’t know what this was, what to expect.
“I didn’t come here to fight with you Haley.” He looked at me for some sort of signal for a truce. I gave him nothing.
“Ok.” He paused studying my face looking to see if there was something he missed…. There wasn’t. “We will do it your way then.” He pulled out a file from the storage unit in the limo. In it was a bunch of papers and pictures with an assortment of men’s photographs. This explained everything… there was some sort of mob war going on and guess who was caught in the middle? For some reason my father’s enemies always came after me. It’s like they saw some rich daddy’s girl, well hell I could shoot a gun with the best of them. And I sure as hell was not daddy’s little princess.
I put aside some of my anger, as much as I hated my father I did want to live. I took the file from him and started memorizing the faces; I didn’t recognize any of the men. Must be new guys trying to make a name for themselves. Which was usually more dangerous than some turf war or stolen shipment fight, new guys would do anything to make themselves known. “So how bad is it?”
“Bad. Especially since they now know where you live.” He pointed to two of the pictures “These men you no longer have to worry about, they were the ones that shot you. “ Shifting in his seat he came closer to me. “The main guy this time is Vostro, they are trying to get in on our shipping business. Stir things up with my enemies to get them on their side. So far it hasn’t worked, nobody wants to side with this guy he is too unpredictable. He has some great pyrotechnic guys and has already blown up a few of my ships. My guess was that he was trying to blame it on Cruz, Romano, and Palamara but we have all come to a sort of truce.”
I continued flipping through the pictures as he talked, noticing any blemish or scars. On the back of each picture was some notes on height weight and usual MO. This Vostro guy had a lot of men working for him, and I had to admit with this one I was uneasy. If this guy was bad enough to have my father and his enemies on the same side, I would prefer to be in a different country.
We sat in silence for a few moments and as I moved on to the next picture Sonny spoke. “You don’t have to worry about that guy, Ranger and Tank caught him fleeing the beach.”
So this was the little shit that shot me. Who knows where he was now and what kind of state he was in. Sonny Corinthos had never really been the torture type he would just as easily blow your brains out. Still if this whole situation was as bad as it was this guy could be missing a few fingers.
I felt the car slow down and looked out the window to see my house coming into view. I put the pictures back in the folder and handed them back to Sonny. “No that ones yours. I want you to show those pictures to Melissa and Finoa, they could be in danger too.”
As the car came to a rolling stop I unbuckled the faster I could get out the better. “No so fast I want to talk to you for a few minutes.” Sonny signaled to the driver to make another loop around the block. “You need to listen to what Jason, Ranger and Tank tell you. I don’t want any of your ditching body guard stunts.” I had to laugh at that one; I was really a pro at that, I couldn’t tell you how many times I got my father’s men in trouble. But hey I was a teenager I didn’t want big burly men following me around.
“And as for Jason, I don’t know what is go.”
“Ohh no. You have no right to come meddling to in my personal life. Jason is my best friend and nothing you say or do is going to change that.” I had raised my voice and I could feel my heart beating faster. The last thing I needed was to have my father messing with whatever Jason and I had.
The car came to a stop and as I reached for the handle I felt Sonny’s grasp on my arm. “He told me what happened on the beach…. Just be smart.”
I stopped for a moment feeling like everything in my body froze. From the look on Sonny’s face I could tell that Jason left out very little if any detail. At this realization everything snapped back into focus, I ripped my hand away from Sonny and hobbled out of the car being sure to slam the door as hard as I could.
Surprise, surprise the first person I saw on the walk to the driveway was Jason. Well he was in for a rude awakening.