The Past Ain't Through With You

“Looks like something is going on down the block." Ray noticed as they neared the shelter. He had spotted a crowd of people was gathered on the sidewalk. “Wonder what it is?"

Suddenly his cell rang. He glanced down at the unfamiliar number. Pulling to the side of the road he answered.

“Oh Ray." Christa sobbed.

His heart began to race his fear. “Christa what’s wrong?”

“It’s Holly.” She sobbed. “She’s been stabbed.”

Gerard saw the fear in his friend’s eyes. “What?”

“Where are you?” Ray asked gripping the phone tightly in fear.

“Down the block from the shelter”

“Fuck.” Ray jumped out of the car.

Gerard’s heart was racing. “What the fuck is going on?” He yelled trying to catch up with Ray who was sprinting down the road.

“It’s Holly.” Ray shouted as they ran.

Ray was pushing his way through the crowd before Gerard caught up with him. He spotted Christa leaning against Holly’s car. Roughly he pushed people out of the way to get to her.

“Oh Ray.” She cried as he took her into his arms.

“What happened? Are you hurt?”

Christa looked past him and saw Gerard standing there with a look of horror on his face. Slowly he knelt down by the body on the ground. His mind refused to believe what his eyes were seeing. There was so much blood.

“Oh God.” Ray said turning around and seeing Holly for the first time.

Gerard forced his mind to think. “Has someone called an ambulance?” He shouted.

“Yes.”

Gerard looked over at the older woman who was now kneeling on the other side of Holly. “God willing they will be here soon.”

Gerard gently reached out to touch Holly’s face. “Sugar, can you hear me?”

Her eyes fluttered open. “Gee?”

“Yeah, Sugar I’m here.” Tears filled his eyes. “You’re gonna be okay.”

Holly tried to take a deep breath but the pain caused her to cry out.

“She’s losing too much blood.” Gerard heard someone say. “She ain’t gonna make it.”

He looked up, rage in his eyes. “Shut the fuck up.” He screamed.

In the distance the sound of sirens grew closer.

“Holly stay with me.” Tears filled his eyes. She was staring at him but her eyes looked vacant.

It was becoming harder and harder for her to breath. Pain tore through her but when Gerard took her hand she tried to hold on.

“Sugar they’re almost here.” He said softly pushing the hair from her eyes. “It’s gonna be okay.”

She felt so cold. Her whole body began to shake. “Gee I’m so sorry.” She whispered painfully.

Her voice was growing weaker. Leaning down he looked into her eyes. “I’m the one who’s sorry.” One of his tears fell on their clasped hands.

Holly knew she was dying. Suddenly the crowd of people disappeared and she could only see Gerard. “So sorry.” She tried to say again.

Gerard leaned closer trying to hear her words. “Holly please just hold on.”

“Gee…” her breathing was labored. “Sorry….”

He leaned closer to hear her words. A moment later a hand on his shoulder pulled him away from her. Gerard would have fallen if Ray hadn’t caught him. As they watched the paramedics worked feverishly on Holly. What seemed like an eternity was minutes before she was ready to transport.

Gerard rushed up to one of the paramedics. “Is she gonna be okay?”

“We’re taking her to Cedars-Sinai. Best emergency trauma care.” He answered while walking behind the gurney.

“I have to go with her.”

“I’m sorry you can’t ride in the ambulance.” The paramedic answered. “That’s the law.”

“Come on, Gee.” Ray grabbed his shoulder. His other arm was around Christa. “We’ll drive there.”

They raced back to the car. Ray was going to ask Gerard if he could drive wanting to comfort his distraught wife but one look at Gerard’s face and he knew that was impossible. Gerard looked as if he was in shock.

Ray got behind the wheel after helping Christa get in the car. Gerard fell into the back seat covering his face with his hands.

“It’s all my fault.” Christa sobbed as they pulled into traffic. “They wanted my wedding ring and I resisted. It all happened so fast. He came at me with a knife and Holly jumped in the way. She was trying to protect me.”

Ray tried to comfort his wife but it was impossible. By the time they reached the hospital he was afraid she was going into shock. Gerard hadn’t uttered a word.

*************************************************************************

At the hospital Ray took charge of the situation. He spoke to the emergency room admissions first. Then he returned to Gerard and Christa who were seated in the waiting room.

"I’ve got to call Mikey.” He explained. “He and Alicia need to get down here. They want to ask questions about Holly and I think she probably will know me than we do.”

“What kind of questions?” Gerard spoke for the first time since leaving the horrific scene.

“Date of birth, medications she might be taking, insurance.” Ray said softly.

“When will we know how she is?” Christa asked through her tears.

“They said as soon as they know anything they’ll tell us.” Ray said taking her hand in his. “You be okay for a few minutes so I can make the call?”

She nodded wiping her eyes. “What about Molly?” she said suddenly beginning to think clearly again. “They shouldn’t bring her here.”

Gerard suddenly stood. “I’ll take care of this.” He said looking at Ray. “Stay with Christa.”

Ray was surprised by Gerard’s words but nodded.

Gerard walked outside pulling his phone from his pocket. Instead of making a phone call he sent a text. A few minutes later his phone rang.

“What is it?” Lindsey asked.

He knew she wouldn’t have answered his call but the text had said it was an emergency. “I’m at Ceder-Sinai, Holly was attacked, she's been stabbed.”

“What?” Lindsey couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

He quickly explained as much as he knew to her.

“Oh shit.” Lindsey whispered. “Of shit.”

“Yeah.” His voice was now emotionless. “I need to call Mikey and Alicia but..”

Lindsey understood. “Tell them to bring Molly to me. I’ll take care of her.”

Gerard lowered his head. “Yeah, thanks.” He disconnected quickly then called his brother.

***************************************************************************

By the time Mikey and Alicia arrived at the hospital the police had taken Christa to a private waiting room to take her statement. Ray had gone with her.

"Gee.” Mikey said rushing up to his brother. “How is she?”

“We still haven’t heard.” Gerard answered. “All we know at his point is they took her directly into surgery.”

“Oh God.” Alicia said, “How did this happen?”

Before Gerard could answer a nurse walked up to them. “We’d like to take you to a private waiting room.” She said nodding slightly to the growing crowd of people who had recognized the band members.

They followed her down a hallway to a small private room.

“When will we hear something?” Gerard asked her.

She gave him a sympathetic look, “She’s still in surgery.”

Gerard collapsed into one of the plastic chairs. The nurse looked over at Alicia. “Are you the friend who can answer some questions about the patient?”

“Her name is Holly.” Gerard suddenly exploded. “Not the patient.”

The nurse looked started by his outburst but quickly recovered. “I’m sorry.” She said softly. Turning back to Alicia she asked again. “Can you answer some questions we have about Holly?”

Alicia nodded slowly. “I’ll try.”

The nurse nodded, “Good. Someone will be right in.”

Mikey sat down next to his brother. “Gee what the fuck happened? And where’s Ray and Christa?”

“The police are getting Christa’s statement. Three guys robbed them in broad fuckin’ daylight and no one did a fuckin’ thing.” Gerard ground out.

“But why did they stab Holly?” Alicia asked her voice shaking.

“One of the guy made a move towards Christa with a knife. Holly got in the way to protect her.”

“Oh fuck.” Alicia started crying. “How bad is she? Did she just get stabbed once?”

Gerard lowered his head, “There was more than one stab wound. God there was so much blood.” He couldn’t go on.

Mikey put his arm around Alicia trying to comfort her. “It’s gonna be okay.” He whispered.

An older woman walked in and introduced herself. She had a clipboard with several papers securely attached.

“Okay.” She said sitting down by Alicia. “What is Holly’s full name and date of birth?”

Alicia tried to think. “I don’t know her middle name. Her last name is Lintz.”

“And date of birth?”

Alicia cast a stricken look at Gerard and Mikey. The truth was she didn’t know Holly’s birthday.

“We’ll skip that for now. Do you now her approximate age?”

“She’s 39.” Alicia answered.

“Is she married?”

"Divorced.”

“Relatives?”

“Only her granddaughter who’s she’s rising as her daughter. Holly’s daughter died a few years ago.”

The woman made a few notes on the paper.

“Is she currently taking any medications?”

“None that I know of.” Alicia answered honestly.

“Does she have insurance?”

Gerard looked up.

“No, she doesn’t.” Alicia answered.

“That don’t matter.” Gerard said suddenly. “I want her to get the best care. I’ll pay of it.”

The woman looked over at him, “We give all our patients the best care regardless if they have insurance or not.”

Mikey placed his hand on Gerard’s arm trying to calm him.

The woman asked a few more questions then said softly. “Do you know if she has a living will?”

Alicia looked stunned by the question but Gerard exploded. “Why are you asking that?”

“It’s hospital procedure.” She answered. “We are required to ask so we know if Holly had chosen anyone to make medical decisions for her."

“Gee.” Mikey said, “Lets go for a walk.”

Gerard shook his head, “I’m not going anywhere until I know how Holly is.”

The woman with the clipboard stood and left.

Gerard’s cell rang. His hand shook as he pulled it from his pocket. “Oh fuck." He muttered looking down at the screen, “It’s Bryar.”

Mikey was shocked, “Well just ignore it for now.” He said believing Gerard wasn’t up to talking to anyone.

For a moment Gerard almost did ignore the call but then he connected. As he explained to Bob what had happened Alicia gently cried as Mikey held her.

Gerard disconnected after several minutes. “He’ll be here as soon as he can.”

“He’s flying from Chicago?” Alicia asked through her tears.

“No, he just landed in LA.” Gerard said softly. “He’s been trying to call Holly’s phone and your house.”

“Why’s he here?” Mikey asked.

Gerard lowered his head, “Holly was planning on going home tomorrow. Bob was going to drive back with her and Molly.”

“What?” Alicia was shocked, “Holly was leaving?”

Before Gerard could answer Ray and Christa walked into the room.

“Have you heard anything?” Christa asked.

“She’s in surgery.” Mikey answered. “That’s all we know.”

Ray led Christa over to the chairs. When they sat he kept his arm tightly around her.
Christa began to cry as he held her close. “This is all my fault. I should have given them the ring.”

Alicia got up and knelt in front of her. “It’s not your fault. Don’t say that.”

“But it is.” Christa said through her tears. “Holly was protecting me.”

Gerard kept his head bowed, his eyes closed. In his mind all he could see was her body covered in so much blood.

Mikey stood. “I’m gonna go make a phone call.” He suddenly needed some fresh air. Gently he touched Gerard’s shoulder. “I’m gonna call mom.” He told his brother.

Gerard nodded but didn’t look up.

When he returned twenty minutes later they still hadn’t heard anything about Holly’s condition.

“Mom’s getting the first flight out here.” He said talking his previous seat. Looking over at his brother he whispered. “Are you okay?”

“No.” Gerard muttered.

It was almost two hours later a doctor finally walked into the room.

“I’m Doctor Swab.” He said introducing himself.

“How is she?” Gerard asked looking up fearful of the look he might see on the doctor’s face.

Dr Swab pulled up a chair. “Holly lost a lot of blood but there was a lot of internal bleeding too. We believe we’ve stopped it.”

“Is she gonna be okay?” Alicia asked.

He gave her a sympathetic look. “She has a collapsed lung, a ruptured spleen and one of her kidneys was nicked. She was stabbed from the front and back. One of the stab wounds also hit her spine. We won’t know how much damage that did until later. Our first concern was of course stopping the internal bleeding.”

"But will she be okay?” Mikey asked nervously.

Dr Swab sighed, “The next forty eight hours are the most crucial. Holly is very thin and there we some things that concerned us in her blood work. You said she doesn’t have any preexisting medial conditions?”

It was Christa who answered. “We recently discovered she has an eating disorder.”

He nodded, “Yes that was one of my first thoughts. She’s anemic and her blood sugar levels are a major concern.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Gerard asked slowly.

“The disorder weakened her body.” He answered.

“Doctor, what are her chances?” Ray asked the question on one else could bring themselves to ask.

“She’s in critical condition. As I said the next forty eight hours are the most crucial.”

“I have to see her.” Gerard said suddenly.

The doctor gave him another sympathetic look. “Right now she is in recovery. After that she will be moved to ICU. When that happens every hour one person can sit with her for fifteen minutes. I must warn you we are going to keep her in a medically induced coma. That improves her chances. It allows her body to begin to heal itself.”

Gerard looked stricken. “A coma?”

“I know how that sounds.” The doctor said kindly. “But it is for the best.”

For several minutes after he left they all sat in stunned silence.

Gerard suddenly stood abruptly and asked Ray if he could use his car. “I’ll be back.” He said looking at Mikey. “Call me if anything changes.”

They all gave him a shocked look wondering why he was leaving but it was Mikey who answered. “Okay Gee.” He wanted to know where he was going but the look on his brother’s face prevented him from asking.

**************************************************************************************

Gerard unlocked the front door and slowly walked inside. He saw a small light burning in the living room where Lindsey sat on the sofa cradling Molly in her arms. The child had woken not long ago crying for her mother.

Lindsey held her breath searching his face. “Gee?” She whispered. “She’s not…”

He shook his head quickly then whispered “But it’s bad.”

As he moved closer Lindsey was still studying is face. His eyes were trained on Molly.

“She must have believed she was dying if she told you.” Lindsey whispered sadly.

Gerard tore his gaze away from the child to look at his wife. “What?”

Lindsey stroked Molly’s hair gently. “That is the only reason she would have told you that you are Molly’s father.”