Tattooed

“Chuck, get her cap and gown from her room. The key is above the door. No. Don’t tell anyone where you’re going. Just get there as fast as you can. Then tell everyone something happened with her mom and she’ll meet them at the ceremony. Chuck I don’t give a fuck! Get your asses to the hospital.” I heard David’s voice break through the dark. A sharp pain shot through my left shoulder down my rib cage. My eyes fluttered open slightly but everything was blurry. We must have been in the ambulance. I could feel every bump.

“Her pulse is dropping!“ A voice called. I inhaled to cough but the pain just made everything go black again.

“Come on Rory… Wake up…” I could hear David’s voice again finding me in the dark. Something was in the palm of my right hand. I weakly tightened my grip on it. It squeezed back. I tried to pry my eyes open but I couldn’t. I inhaled only to have the pain return. I closed my hand tighter around whatever was in it and tired harder to open my eyes. After a few attempts I was greeted by white light and several figures. Everything was blurry so I couldn’t make out anything.

“Nurse!” Pierre yelled. In a matter of seconds there was another figure standing over me.

“Danielle, Can you hear me?” A woman called. I tried to speak but the pain shot through my body and I couldn’t open my mouth. I squeezed what I realized to be David’s hand.

“She’s squeezing my hand.” He said. I felt him let go and a smaller, softer hand replaced it.

“Danielle can you squeeze my hand?” She woman asked. I tightened my weak grip. “Can you see clearly? Squeeze once for yes twice for no.” I squeezed twice before blinking a few times. My vision started to clear up slowly. I tried to speak again; I got my mouth to open but no words. I ended up coughing causing pain to burn my upper left side and I felt a liquid come up my throat. Even with my vision blurry I could see the red splotches on the white sheets.

“Come on Heartbreaker. You’re almost there.” I concentrated on David’s voice. I realized I was propped up into an almost sitting position.

“What happened?” Were the first words I could force out. They were rough and quiet. I could almost clearly see everything. I knew I was in the hospital.

“We went for a car ride and we got t-boned on your side. The car flipped a few times. Thank God you remembered your seatbelt.” David said stroking my hand. “You’ve gotten 4 broken ribs, broken collarbone, one of your ribs punctured your lung, and a concussion. They’ve already set your ribs and drained the gas and fluid from your lung.” His eyes were locked on mine. “I got a few cuts and bruises.” I was surprised at how quickly his accent had faded. He had only known English for 4 years now.

“Zack…” I croaked out as the memories flooded my mind.

“Rory… I’m so sorry… Pierre said he’s kicking his ass when we get out of here.” Sympathy filled his voice. The nurse was checking my eyes.

“No. The others?” My words were still shaky and ragged but I remembered David on the phone.

“Don’t know anything. Including what he did. I told them your mom was having problems with Aaron and you went to help her. They think you’ll be at graduation in a few hours.” Chuck said looking down at me.

“Oh, she’s not going anywhere.” The nurse said pushing something into my IV.

“Time?” I looked confused at the guys as all the pain dulled to an annoying ache.

“2 pm. You’ve been out for about 10 hours.” Pierre was standing by the door. It looked like he was waiting for something.

“Sorry you don’t get to walk.” Chuck said from behind David, who was sitting on my right. He too was watching the door.

“What are you two waiting on?” My words were spaced out and uneven.

“Jimmy called about an hour ago. He said he was coming but swore not to tell anyone until we knew for sure you were going to wake up. You took a hell of a hit to the head.” David’s gaze when from mine to the left side of my head and back. I hadn’t noticed the pain until now.

“Gummy worm!” Jimmy yelled worried as he shoved Pierre out of the doorway. “I saw you take off and Pierre said it was something about your mom, are you ok? Wait, your mom’s place is the other direction.” He rushed through his words.

“Jim, I’m fine. Mom is fine.” I smiled weakly at him. “How did the accident happen?” I looked back to David.

“Some drunk guy plowed through a red light. He’s fine.”

“But, I thought…” I shook my head.

“Are you sure that cough syrup didn’t go straight to your brain?” He gave me that I’m-saving-your-ass look.

“I don’t know.” I shut my eyes tightly only to have the image of Zack and that blond fill my mind. The tears started to sting my eyes again. I looked up to the ceiling in a failing attempt to keep them from spilling. The thin river ran down my cheeks and dropped onto the hospital gown.

“Are you still in pain?” The nurse asked. I nodded slowly. It wasn’t the type of pain she meant but I was in pain. I felt like someone had ripped my heart out before using it as a trampoline. No, not someone, my husband. My left hand went cold again as she gave me another dose of morphine.

“Can I sleep?” I asked looking up at her, tears still falling.

“Only for about 10 minutes.” She said looking me over. “Do you want everyone to leave?”

“I need to call Zack and let him know, anyway.” Jimmy started to walk out of the room but was stopped by Chuck slamming him into the wall.

“You can’t.” I whispered. Jimmy walked over and knelt down beside the bed with a concerned look.

“Danni,” he used my real name meaning he was serious. “He is your husband. He was flipping out when you left. He said you just took off without saying anything. He needs to know you’re ok. Why would you just leave without saying anything to him?” He had taken my hand from David.

“Jim… I left because… He… He was upstairs… with a…” I shut my eyes trying to force the image from my thought. “He was with another girl…” The tears were full force now. Jimmy stole a look to David who just nodded.

“Gummy worm.” I could see how sorry he was in his eyes as he pulled me into a tight embrace. I screamed like someone was trying to kill me. “Sorry!” He stepped away from me completely with his hands up. “I didn’t mean to.” He looked scared. I was sobbing now which just made my body hurt more.

“Help…” I couldn’t stop sobbing and the wrenching motion was causing more and more pain. I felt like I was being ripped to pieces. The nurse rushed to my side with another syringe half full.

“This is morphine and valium.” She said shoving it into the IV. “I need you to try to calm down.” David had a death grip on my hand by now. My body slowly relaxed and the sobs became less intense. I ended up falling asleep only to have the thought of my husband with another girl burn into the inside of my eyelids.

“Mrs. Baker, I need you to wake up now.” A woman spoke. I slowly came back to reality. A new nurse was standing over me tapping my right arm.

“Please don’t call me that. My name is Danni.” I said softly. David and Jimmy were the only other ones in the room.

“Ok, Danni, I need you to stay awake for a bit.” She said looking over the machines. “I’ll be back in a bit to check on you.”

“Jimmy, go to graduation. Everyone needs you there.” I looked at him fighting sleep.

“No. You need me more.” He patted my leg smiling. “I’m not leaving. You were always there for me and I’m going to be here for you.”

“Jim, you can’t let this get between your friendship with Zack. I didn’t get to tell you but Dad called… You guys are getting signed to a small label called Good Life Records.” I sank back into the bed.

“What?” He sounded like he hadn’t heard me/

“You guys are going to meet a guy in a few weeks. It was going to be my graduation gift to you all.” I repeated as David ran a hand through my hair.

“Gummy worm… I don’t know if I can do that without killing him… He hurt my baby sister.” He was chewing on his lip.

“Look, Plague, if you don’t take this I’ll kick your ass. Put your feelings aside. Don’t let anyone else know about it either. I don’t want the band to fall apart. Our little secret?” I held my hand up offering my pinky. It took all the energy I had.

“Our little secret.” He said and locked his finger with mine after a minute. “But what are you going to do? You can’t just disappear into thin air.”

“Pretend I don’t remember.” It pained me to say it. “You guys can’t let anyone think anything different.” I looked between my 2 best friends. They both nodded as my phone went off. David took it from his pocket and looked at the caller ID before handing it to me.

“It’s your dad.” I took the phone from him.

“Hey Daddy.” My voice was strained.

“Are you ok? I saw Zack’s car on the news. It said someone slammed into the driver’s side. Is Zack ok?” My dad was worried not just for me but for his son-in-law. I’d seen what he had done to Aaron -He was beaten badly- and I didn’t want the same thing to happen to Zack.

“Yes Dad. I was driving and David was with me. He’s ok. Zack was at home.”

“What were you doing out at 4 am?”

“We needed to go to the store for some milk.” I lied.

“Don’t ever scare me like this again, do you understand me young lady?” He scolded.

“You sound like a dad for once.” I laughed but ended up coughing.

“How bad is everything?” Worry dripping from his words.

“Few broken ribs, broken collar bone, punctured lung, and concussion. I’ve had worse.” I tried to play it off.

“I’m coming to see you.” He said before the line went dead.

The week passed, most with me sleeping, everyone had come up after graduation once they realized I wasn’t there but my mom was. They thought I got in the accident while going to see my dad. Zack had this guilty look on his face every time he was around me but I continued to make him think I didn’t know anything. I had a hard time being around him so David stayed with me most of the time. David let him know he remembered. I was released from the hospital. David stayed with us for 4 months until he knew I was fully healed. My mother gave birth to another girl named Demeter Grace Hawley -Aaron’s last name- on August 5th. The guys started recording ’Sounding The Seventh Trumpet’ in October after recruiting Matt Wendt as a bassist but he was quickly replaced by Justin Sane. I had started on my tattooing and piercing apprenticeship once I was released from the hospital, only doing the learning everything part. I didn’t pick up a needle until the beginning of November. Upon the release of the record in January, I tattooed all of the guys. I did the album cover on Matt Sander’s chest, baseball with bat wings on Zack’s lower back -he chose the band over his baseball career-, a yellow deathbat on Jimmy’s upper left arm, and a deathbat on Justin’s leg. I’d had gotten a deathbat on the back of my neck. Brian joined just after the record finished.

“Hey baby. When you get out I have a surprise for you.” Zack said from the doorway while I was in the bathtub soaking. The guys were leaving today.

“I’ll be out in a few.” I closed my eyes and rested my had on the tub. I screamed when something splashed into the water with me, my eyes flying open.