Save Me

RaeLynn woke when she felt the warm rays of sun adorning her face. She sighed and rolled over, coming face to face with Matt. She slightly smiled before pecking his lips and walking into the adjoining bathroom. A smile spread across her face as she looked at herself in the mirror. She saw her eyes twinkling with happiness and her bruises were fading. A few scars here and there, but overall she was improving. The smile on her face grew when she realized that she was dressed in one of Matt’s t-shirts. RaeLynn gasped when Matt’s arms wrapped around her waist.

“Good morning, baby.” Matt whispered into RaeLynn’s ear, causing a deep blush to creep into her cheeks from the pet name towards her.

“Good morning.” RaeLynn replied shyly and she turned around to face him. Matt pecked her lips and a giggle fell from her lips.

“So, since today is Saturday, what do you wanna do?” Matt asked curiously.

“Well, umm…I have to leave. I need to go home.” RaeLynn answered feebly while looking down at the floor. Matt clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. The last thing he wanted to do was allow RaeLynn out of his sight. He knew she would end up beaten and bruised again as soon as he turned the other way. But, if going home is what RaeLynn wanted, Matt wasn’t going to be the one to stand in her way. After all, she did have a boyfriend…and he knew it.

“Fine, I’ll take you home.” Matt mumbled as he grabbed a shirt and a pair of pants from his closet. RaeLynn sighed and pulled on her jeans and shoes. Matt silently grabbed his keys off of his nightstand and walked out of his bedroom. RaeLynn bit her lip and followed him. There were no words being exchanged between the two teenagers as they walked out of the house and got into Matt’s car. RaeLynn, afraid to start a conversation, merely stared out the passenger side window. She knew it pained Matt to take her home because she knew he desperately wanted to protect her. RaeLynn shook her head at that thought. Matt couldn’t protect her if he tried…but she wanted him to try. RaeLynn wanted, no, needed him to save her from the hell that she called home.

RaeLynn’s thoughts ceased when she heard a sigh from Matt. They were now parked in the driveway of her home and neither of them knew what to say. The memories of the kiss flooded RaeLynn’s mind, causing her to bite her lip and blush. That kiss meant everything to her. She hadn’t felt that much emotion in a kiss before in her life, not even when she was kissing Chris. She could feel Matt’s love for her radiating off of him when he held her close to him and his love was only emphasized when their lips connected that previous night. But, RaeLynn knew she couldn’t live in the past. What happened just happened and that’s how it would stay in her mind. She desperately tried to convince herself that the kiss meant to her, but she couldn’t ignore the tingling feeling that resided in her lips. She had to make herself forget.

Matt, having been pissed off for the entire ride to RaeLynn’s home, loosened the death grip he had on the steering wheel and looked out of the driver’s side window. He unlocked the doors, a silent statement that told RaeLynn that she was free to leave anytime she wanted. But, RaeLynn didn’t want to leave. She refused to leave the confines of that car until Matt said at least one complete sentence to her.

“Please, Matt. Talk to me.” RaeLynn whispered as she placed her hand over Matt’s on his leg. Matt moved his hand away and ran it through his hair in frustration.

“There’s nothing to talk about. You’re leaving and we both know that’s the last thing you wanna do.” Matt retorted, refusing to make eye contact with RaeLynn. RaeLynn sighed and got out of Matt’s car. When she reached her front door, she gave Matt one last glance before walking into her home. Matt nearly screamed and punched the steering wheel. He was pissed and worried. He was pissed that RaeLynn was continuously putting herself in harm’s way and worried because he didn’t know if RaeLynn would come out of her house broken again or worse. Matt was just about to start his car again when he heard a crash coming from RaeLynn’s house. He froze.

“What the hell is going on?” Matt wondered and he exited his car and approached the front door of RaeLynn’s house. He heard RaeLynn’s screams and anger boiled inside of him. Matt tried opening the door, but discovered it was locked.

“What the…?” Matt busted through the front door and ran into the house.

“RaeLynn, where are you?!” Matt yelled throughout the house, resulting in a scream from upstairs. Matt raced upstairs taking two at a time and found RaeLynn in her bedroom with who he guessed to be her boyfriend. The sight alone made him see red. RaeLynn’s boyfriend was dangling her over their balcony, barely holding on to her. One slip on his hands and RaeLynn would be freefalling from the three story house.

“Please, Chris. Don’t do this. I love you and no one will ever compare to you. I wanna be with you, baby. Please…” RaeLynn pleaded through the tears cascading down her cheeks.

“You think you can just leave me?! Huh?! You think I’m gonna let you walk out of this relationship that easily, RaeLynn?! There’s only one way you’re gonna leave me!” Chris yelled at his terrified girlfriend and with one swift motion, he released his grip on RaeLynn.

“No!” Matt charged towards Chris and gripped his neck in his hands. Chris tried desperately to claw at Matt’s hands in hopes that he would release his death grip on his neck.

“You’re gonna regret ever hurting her.” Matt whispered menacingly to the shaking boy in his hands. He punched Chris in his stomach and repeatedly kicked him once he was on the ground. His foot connected with Chris’s ribs, chest, mouth, legs, back and everything else he could possibly bruise.

“How does it feel to be helpless? How does it feel to be repeatedly beat down when you’re pleading for help? How does it feel to be in your girlfriend’s shoes?!” Matt stopped his beating on Chris and ran downstairs and out of the house. He sprinted to the background and found RaeLynn lying on the ground, motionless. Matt jogged over to her and pulled her into his arms. He moved her hair away from her face and gently stroked her cheek. Tears welled up in Matt’s eyes when he realized that RaeLynn was barely breathing. He silently took out his cell phone and called 911.

“This is Huntington Police Department. What is your emergency?”

“I need an ambulance as soon as possible! Please…” Matt pleaded with the helper on the phone.

“Okay, sir, what is the address?”

“Umm…I-I don’t know.” Matt mentally kicked himself.

“Okay, sir, that’s fine. We will track your phone to find the address. An ambulance will be at the premises as soon as possible. Now, I need you to calmly tell me what happened and I need the victim’s name.”

“Umm…her name is RaeLynn Meadows. I was driving her home and she went inside…and I-I heard a c-crash and a scream. I ran inside and saw her b-boyfriend…umm…her boyfriend was dangling her from their three story balcony…umm…h-he dr-dropped her.” Matt struggled to tell release the details.

“I’m gonna need for you to stay with her, okay. Can you do that for me? I need you to stay right where you are and calm down. An ambulance is on the way. They should be turning on the street right now. I will stay on the line with you until they arrive.” A few seconds later, the sound of sirens filled Matt’s ears and he saw the flashing lights of the ambulance approaching.

“They’re here. Thank you so much.” Matt mumbled into the phone. He hung up the phone and looked down at the fragile girl in his arms.

“Please, RaeLynn…don’t leave me. I love you and I’m sorry. I promised…I promised that I wouldn't let anything happen to you and I failed. I’m so sorry.” Matt allowed the tears fall freely and for the first time in years Matthew Sanders broke down.

“Sir! Sir, are you okay?!” Two paramedics rushed to Matt’s side. Matt looked up at them and then back down to RaeLynn.

“Please…save her.” Matt whispered. The paramedics gave each other a look and nodded. They took RaeLynn out of Matt’s arms and carried her to the stretcher. Matt followed and watched closely.

“Sir, would you like to follow us to the hospital? I’m sure she would like someone to be there when she wakes up.” The female paramedic asked Matt, who simply nodded and got into his car. He silently followed the ambulance to the hospital and, after giving his information to the receptionist, waited in the waiting room until he was allowed to see RaeLynn. Seconds turned into minutes. Minutes turned into hours. Matt was becoming more and more anxious, the anticipation getting the best of him. He jumped when he felt his phone vibrate repeatedly from someone calling him.

“Hello?” Matt said tiredly into his phone. He wasn’t really in the mood to talk to anyone. His primary focus was on RaeLynn’s state of being.

“Hey, man. Did you forget about band practice today?” Brian’s voice flooded Matt’s ear, causing the lead singer to sigh and run his hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry, Brian. Umm…s-something came up.” Matt’s eyes filled with tears once again. He was overwhelmed from the events of the day and he just wanted RaeLynn to be okay.

“Are you okay, Matt? You sound like something’s upsetting you. Where are you?” Brian asked, concern laced throughout his voice.

“Umm…no. No, man, I’m not okay. I’m at the hospital right now.”

“What the fuck are you doin’ at the hospital?!” Brian practically yelled into the phone.

“RaeLynn…RaeLynn got hurt. I’m in the waiting room and I’m about to lose my mind. It’s been an hour and a half and they haven’t told me a damn thing. No update or anything.” Matt informed his friend.

“Damn. Me and the guys are on our way right now. We’ll be there in a few. All I can tell you to do is calm down and hope for the best, man. We’ll here for you.” Brian responded.

“Thanks, man.” Matt mumbled and hung up his phone. A few minutes passed before Brian, Jimmy, Johnny, and Zacky walked through the doors of the hospital. They spotted their broken friend in the waiting room with his head in his hands. They sat beside him and tried their best to comfort him.

“I said that I would protect her. I promised her that I would do everything in my power to ensure her safety. I failed...I wasn’t able to protect her like I thought I could. I failed her.” Matt whispered.

“She’ll be okay, Matt.” Jimmy reassured him. Matt shook his head as more tears fell from his eyes. Silence fell between the five friends as they waited for the doctor to give them news on RaeLynn’s condition.



“Matt. Matt, wake up.” Zacky shook the sleeping teenager. Matt awoke with a jolt and looked around.

“What?” Matt asked through clenched teeth, somewhat annoyed at a certain rhythm guitarist waking him up. He glanced at his watch and rubbed sleep from his eyes.

“It’s three in the morning. What did you wake me for, Baker?” Zacky rolled his eyes at Matt’s comments. Zacky motioned to the doctor, who was silently laughing at Matt’s abruptness. Matt quickly scrambled to his feet and stood in front of the doctor. He cleared his throat and ran his hands through his hair. Zacky, Jimmy, Brian and Johnny followed and stood behind Matt. The doctor shook each of their hands.

“Hello. I’m Dr. Mitchell. I’m here regarding the condition of RaeLynn Meadows. I was told to speak with Matthew Sanders.” Matt nodded, acknowledging himself to the doctor, who nodded in known acknowledgement.

“Since all of you seem to be concerned about this young lady’s well being, as expressed by the looks on your faces, I’ll speak with all of you. Please follow me.” The doctor informed the five men standing in front of him. Matt, Jimmy, Johnny, Brian and Zacky glanced at each other before following the doctor. All of their eyes widened when they noticed that they were in the Intensive Care Unit. They stopped just short of a glass door and Matt’s eyes filled with tears again when he looked through the glass window and saw RaeLynn lying on the bed, motionless. He didn’t like that. It reminded him of when he found her in the backyard, close to death.

“Her condition is critical. We discovered a gash on her lower back that was about two centimeters long and one centimeter deep. She lost some blood which caused her to slip in and out of consciousness. She also acquired a concussion from the blunt force trauma to her head from hitting the ground, which sent her into shock and she slipped into a coma shortly after arriving to the hospital.” The doctor explained. Matt’s heart shattered when he heard the news of RaeLynn’s condition. Tears spilled over and in a matter of seconds Matt and his friends were crying.

“Miss Meadows should awaken from the coma in about twenty-four to forty-eight hours. We’ll do everything we can to help her, Mr. Sanders. I promise.” The doctor told the young men and he turned swiftly to return to work. Matt turned to look in the window to RaeLynn’s room.

“She’ll be okay, Matt. She’ll make it. We know she will.” Johnny tried to console the older man. Matt shook his head and placed his hands on the window.

“Come on, Matt. She needs her rest. We’ll come back tomorrow. Maybe she’ll even be awake by then and you two can talk about anything and everything. You guys can go back to recording your CD and maybe even end up together. We know you love her and she would want you to be strong. You have to be strong for her, Matt.” Zacky added. Matt simply nodded and followed his friends out of the hospital. As they all piled into their respective cars, Matt gave one final glance before driving out of the hospital parking lot. Part of him wanted to be strong for RaeLynn, but the other part was slowly breaking down from the pressure of knowing that he could lose someone he deeply cared for. Someone he loved.