Getting Away With You

I sat there hugging Matt and letting him cry on my shoulder for a good ten minutes. I was terrified each second, afraid he’d sob and tighten his arms and break my ribs, or something else that wasn’t meant to be violent, but left me injured in some way. I didn’t like seeing him like this, nor was I used to it. He wasn’t the type of person to just sit and cry like this over anything. I’ve only seen him like this once, and that was when Michelle died. This just showed how much Danni meant to him. He was willing to sit, and cry for hours, letting his hard, outer shell crack and fall around him, and let the broken parts of him visible. He really did love her.

“I’m looking for whoever came in with Mrs. Danielle Taggen.” We both looked up as a doctor looked over at us.

“Is she okay?” Matt asked as we both stood up at the exact same time, and the guard looked over at us cautiously, and the doctor leaned back slightly.

“She’s fine. Possibly a concussion, but nothing severe as far as I can see.” Matt was grinning and I could see he was tempted to hug the doctor, but luckily he didn’t. All we needed on our hands now was the suffocation of an MD.

“Can she go?” I asked, hoping she could be discharged.

“Well, just because we can’t see anything, and just suggest a concussion doesn’t mean nothing’s wrong.” There went Matt’s smile. “We’ve done a cat scan, and there’s nothing wrong from what I can tell, but I’d like to keep her here overnight, just in case. You said she fell from the roof?” He looked over at Matt and he nodded.

“She was trying to fix a shingle while I was at work.” He covered, and the doctor nodded.

“I see.” He stated. “You two can go up and see her whenever you like. She’s in room three eleven.” He smiled and before we could ask anything else he walked off.

“Let’s go.” Matt said, and by the time I looked over at him he was halfway to the elevators, and I had to run to catch up to him. We got to the elevators, and Matt pressed the button a billion times, determined to somehow make the doors open faster until the doors finally opened. We got on the elevator and Matt hit the corresponding button for the third floor another billion times. We waited a moment in silence before he finally broke it. “Have these elevators always been so slow?” He asked, his impatience getting the best of him.

“Matt, the speed of the elevator hasn’t changed.” I said, and then smiled. “She’s perfectly fine, and she’s not going anywhere.” I said, and he nodded, and seemed to calm down , his shoulders falling as he took a deep breath.

“Yea, you’re right. I’m just-” Then the doors opened and Matt rushed out, faster than I had ever seen him move before. I just rolled my eyes with a sigh and walked out, just in time to see him disappear into a room at the very end of the hall.

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^*Danielle’s POV*^
I had too many things running through my mind to really concentrate. I woke up not too long ago, I had no clue how I had got here, but I knew what had got me here; falling off of the roof when Freak tried to kill me. That incident with him was nagging my mind, because he said something that scared me. He said that the guys and I weren’t free yet, and neither was he. I didn’t know what he meant by that, but before I could even begin to mentally list the possibilities, the door opened and I couldn’t even identify the person before, Matt had ran over and had his arms wrapped around me as tightly as possible.

“Oh god you’re okay.” He breathed against my shoulder and I tightened my arms around him.

“I’m fine. The doctor said I had a concussion, but that’s all.” I said and I pulled him away just enough to see his face. It looked tearstained and exhausted. “Are you okay?”

“Hello no!” Jimmy’s voice suddenly came from the door. “He’s been crying on my shoulder for the past ten minutes. Of course not!” Jimmy said and sighed as he sat down in the chair. “Please seriously be okay.” He said, and I couldn’t help but smile. “I don’t think I can go through that again.” Jimmy put his head in his hands and I looked back at Matt.

“I’m okay, Matt.” I said, putting emphasis on my words and he nodded and I sat forward more, crossing my legs as he repositioned himself on my bed, sitting on the edge.

“Do you remember what happened?” He asked hesitantly and I nodded slowly.

“Freak tried to kill me.” I said and then decided now was a better time if any to tell him what Freak said. “Matt,” I said and he looked up at me. “Freak said something, before he tried shoot me.” I said, and I felt Jimmy’s eyes on me.

“What did he say?” Matt asked, a twinge of something in his voice that I couldn’t quite place.

“He said that we weren’t free yet, and neither was he, and he said that you had made a mistake, and I was going to be a message.” I said and Matt fell silent.

“We’re not free yet? What does that mean?” Jimmy was the first to speak after a minute of silence.

“I-” Matt couldn’t seem to speak correctly, seemingly shocked by my words. “I don’t know.”

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^*Brian’s POV*^
“Brian.” I heard a voice, but I was too deep in sleep to care. “Brian!” I jolted awake at the voice, startled, and pains shattered through my back. As I saw who had woke me up, I froze. It was him.

“No.” I said, not wanting to believe it. “You’re dead. You’re not…” I trailed off, and he just smiled. “How did you…” I didn’t understand in the least bit.

“I know how you three think, Brian. I knew there was a large possibility that rather you or James would try and keep her from getting shot, then Matthew would take the first chance he got to turn the gun on me. That’s why the first was a real bullet, and the rest were just silicone filled with fake blood.” He grinned. “You guys aren’t going to do me in that easily.”

“Just leave me…the hell alone.” I cried and he brought a roll of duct tape out of his pocket, and held my hand to the rail before wrapping it tightly in tape. “What the fuck?!” He taped my other hand down, and before I could scream for help he put a piece over my mouth as well and then stood back up straight with a smile. I watched as he took a bag of liquid out of his pocket, and disconnected the bag hooked up to my IV before tossing it in the trash and hooking up the new one. I stared in horror as he opened up the valve to drip continuously, and faster than the first.

“I’ll be back to take the tape off soon.” He said and then lightly smiled. “You were a good son.” He patted my head and then turned and walked out, shutting the door. After he was gone I heard metal jingling and my heart sunk as I realized he had a set of keys, allowing him to lock the door. I tried to scream, but couldn’t. I was fucked. I looked over at the valve as the new clear liquid dripped into the line. This was it. There was no stopping him this time. He’s finally got his wish. He’s already killed me. Now I won’t be here anymore to help Matt and Jimmy protect Danni. They’re on their own. I felt a burning in my hand; the one with the IV, and as I looked over I saw that whatever he had hooked up to my bloodstream had reached my hand, and the burning was only getting worse. Like someone had set my hand on fire, the heat only got worse. I felt my muscles tense as I kept trying to scream, the pain surging through my back from my relentless struggling was nothing compared to the scorch. I tugged furiously at my hands, trying to get them loose I finally calmed down enough to fight through the pain and lean down to my other hand. I twisted my hand around, feeling my eyes burn with tears as I ripped the piece of tape off, and screamed as loud as I could, the acidic like liquid finally taking over as I screamed at the top of my lungs, my throat burning with the strain, praying for the burning to go away until I sunk into an unconscious state.

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^*Matt’s POV*^
A scream echoed from down the hall, cutting off our conversation about what Freak had said to Danni. Jimmy and I both shot up from where we were sitting at the scream and I looked over at him with terror stricken eyes as the scream finally got cut off.

“That sounded like Brian.” I said, and Jimmy ran for the door. I hesitated, looking at Danni, not exactly wanting to leave her side.

“Go! I’m fine!” She ushered and without another word I ran out the door behind Jimmy. I stopped as I exited the door, almost worried when I didn’t see anyone at Brian’s door, or on the floor, for that matter. I ran down to his door, and watched Jimmy as he furiously tried to open it.

“It’s locked from the inside.” He said, and I shook my head.

“Back up.” I said, and he backed away from the door and took a deep breath, bracing for the pain before I brought my foot up and kicked the door as hard as I could. It flew open and Jimmy and I rushed in, stopping in our tracks as we saw Brian. His hands were duct taped to the rails of the bed, and there was a sizzling noise coming from somewhere.

“Oh my god.” Jimmy muttered as he rushed over to him and began ripping tape off of his left hand. I was still trying to pinpoint the sizzling noise. I walked over to the IV, and listened closely, and realized it was coming from whatever was inside. “Shit, what the fuck is this?” I heard Jimmy panic and I looked over at him as he looked at Brian’s right hand; the one with the IV. His veins going through his hand and up his arm were bulged out, beginning to blacken with every second. Jimmy checked his pulse. “He’s dead.” He said, his voice hollow and filled with sorrow. I quickly pulled the IV from his hand, and immediately the clear liquid started oozing out. “What is it?”

“I don’t know. But you need to go out there and get a nurse or doctor, now.” I said and he nodded before running out of the room. I looked at Brian’s face, and felt my heart lurch. I knew who did this. Jimmy did too. We just didn’t want to face that fact at the moment. We didn’t want the truth to be our reality. But, we were bound to the mast again, forced to sail along with our heartless leader in a sea of deadly waves, each one threatening to drown us even more quickly and painfully than the last, while leaving that heartless fuck alive and well. Brian had to be in it from the get go. He never had a choice; hell, Jimmy and I didn’t either. But we weren’t forced into it as hard as he was. Through all that we’ve been through, we’ve all become best friends, helping each other through every round of this game we’re forced to play. Brian though… Brian’s always been mine and Jimmy’s right hand man. He can go through what seems like anything and come out unscathed. If there’s something that neither of us can do, because rather we just flat out can’t, or we don’t know how to go about it, he’ll do it for us. He’s always seemed to have this…this shield of sorts around him, protecting him from everything. Jimmy and I have always believed that shield was his father protecting him from above. But it seems that lately, he’s let that shield fall; he’s gotten rid of it, and taken every bullet he can, and purposely put himself in the line of danger. It’s been scaring Jimmy and me to the point where we almost don’t want to leave him alone in a room by himself in fear that he’ll find some sharp object, or a gun one of us have hidden away for safety purposes. I just wish I knew for sure who did this to him. I want to know so I can go and rip them to fucking shreds. He didn’t deserve to die like this. Suddenly Brian took a strangled and deep breath through his mouth, and I couldn’t stop from smiling. “Brian?” I questioned as he kept breathing deep. He opened his eyes and if I wasn’t still petrified from thinking he was gone, I would have hugged him. I really have no clue about what is up with me and hugs lately.

“Where’d he go?” Brian asked, his voice rough. “Matt, please tell me…that was a dream.” He begged becoming more alert.

“What are you talking about? Who did this to you?” I asked and he sighed, still breathing deeply.

“It was him, Matt. He’s…he’s not dead.” I still didn’t want to believe it.

“Are you alright?” I asked him, trying to get the subject off of…him.

“I feel like my veins are on fire…” He muttered, and I began wondering where Jimmy was. “The fuck is that stuff?” He asked through gritted teeth, lifting up the hand that once had the IV in it. The clear liquid had a pungent smell like vinegar and was still oozing out, leaving a red streak off the side of his hand. His veins were beginning to go down and fade back to their rightful shade. I took my finger and wiped some off of his hand.

“Fuck!” I wiped it off on my jeans as my finger began to burn.

“Matt, I had to go down to the second floor- Brian!” He came over, but I was still too occupied with this acidic stuff to really pay attention to him.

“Jimmy,” I took the bag of sizzling liquid down, and pulled the tube of the IV out. “Give me your hand.” I said and he looked at me skeptically before holding his hand out. I poured a little in his palm, hoping he would be able to help me out on what the hell it was after he felt what it did.

“Ow! Goddamnit, what the fuck, Matt?!” He screeched, wiping the stuff off of his hand. It immediately began to get red, as he looked up at me like I was crazy, and I saw Brian struggle to hide a smile. “What is that, some kind of chemical?” He asked and before I could say anything, nurses and doctors stormed the room, yelling out orders, and working so fast we could hardly catch up. It was all frantic and made us worry some, but Jimmy and I didn’t exactly get scared until they made a very disturbing chemical emergency call to poison control.