Perfectly Dysfunctional

Dave had let me go to shoot the hole through his ceiling and my knees had given way beneath me. As soon as I was clear of him, Dave had a bullet through his chest. I moved as far right as I possibly could to prevent Dave from falling in top of me. He crashed to the floor and I screamed when the gun he had in his hands shot another bullet but this time through the floor. He landed on his side with his eyes wide open and I scrambled away from him. Nathan grabbed me from behind and I yelped out a little in surprise before collapsing in his arms.

“Get me a-away from him-m,” I stuttered through my tears and he easily picked me up and carried me out of the room past the scene of police officers surrounding Dave and his dad. Jay and Tom were in the hall with Max who still couldn’t see straight or walk properly. When Jay saw us, he nudged Tom who picked Max up and followed us outside where I made Nathan put me down on the snowy kerb. I sat crying in shock with my head in my hands and my hands leaning on my knees. Jay was talking to a police officer whilst Tom was keeping an eye on Max. Nathan was rubbing my back. After about ten minutes I began to calm down enough to talk. When I straightened up, Jay’s eyes bugged out when he clocked my t-shirt and he quickly ripped off his hoodie and wrapped it around me.

“Jenny, did he-?” Jay started but I shook my head, feeling sick again. “What happened?” he asked softly. I shook my head again indicating I didn’t want to talk about it and instead pointed at Max.

“What happened to Max?” I asked. My voice was quiet and horribly strained and I had to clear my throat a few times.

“I went in first and that guy grabbed me then when Max tried to hold him off he injected him with something and he was all disorientated and couldn’t see or walk straight,” Nathan said all the while holding me to his side. He turned to kiss my head and I yelled out in pain. He flinched then studied my head as best he could in the dim light of the street. Suddenly he growled and stood up, “I’d say I’d fucking kill him, but the cops took care of that,” he said bitterly, as if he was disappointed he didn’t get to murder someone. Soon enough, a police officer came over and asked me for a statement, saying the quicker I had it over with the better.

I sighed, only wanting to ever have to say it once but I knew that wouldn’t be the case. He told me to start from the beginning, so I did. I had to explain about how I had been at uni and told them the date it happened, only to find out that it was nearly a whole twenty four hours later. When I got past that part, Nathan, Jay, Tom and even Max became more interested. “I’d gone to wait outside for Nathan and he called me saying he’d be another few minutes because of the ice on the roads. I heard a noise so I moved to a pole that’s right beside where the cars that pick people up or drop people off stop, so I stood there. Someone must have sneaked up on me though, cos I heard running steps behind me and when I turned around they were right there. They grabbed me and held me against them and covered my mouth. I hit them with my phone because I had it in my hand and they let me go so I started to run but they caught me and tripped me. I dropped my phone and my student card that were in my hand and they picked me up by the hair. I bit their hand and they smashed my head into the pole twice. Then I woke up in there,” I nodded towards the house, “I tried to leave but Dave caught me before I could and he took me to the living room,” I gulped and took a shaky breath, “He started to like, feel me up,” I felt the atmosphere changing around me due to the guys, “And when I tried to push him away he just got more forceful. Uh...” I glanced around then up to the skies, “Long story short,” I had tears forming but I didn’t want them to fall, “He tried to rape me, but I managed to fight him off. Then I went to run out again, but his dad was there and he told Dave that ‘they were here’. At that point I ran for the door and managed to unchain it, but I got pulled back into the living room. His dad stayed in the hall and I could hear them,” I pointed to Max and Nathan, “Dave tied my hands up with his belt but just before he’d managed to... to...” I trailed off, waving my hands in front of me. The police officer nodded, “I brought my hands down over his head with the buckle hitting his head a few times which knocked him out. I pushed him off of me, got the belt off and got to the hall to see Max sitting against the wall and Nathan kneeling on the stairs with his dad pointing a gun at his head. Eh... he didn’t see me and he thought I was Dave so he said ‘how was she, son?’, then when he saw it was me he ran in to wake Dave up. Then Dave took the gun and held it against me then pushed us into the living room when his dad stayed outside again. Then Jay and Tom,” I pointed to them, “Came in and then that’s when you guys got there.” I finished and kept my eyes on the ground.

Nathan held me to him and Max had an arm around me, but most likely to keep him upright, although his arm did rub up and down my back occasionally. Nathan took over and the four of them got their side of the story out. “When I pulled up outside the uni Jenny wasn’t there so I tried calling her because she’d already told me she was outside waiting. She didn’t answer so I switched the engine off and called her again. I heard her ringtone so I got out of the car and looked around for her phone which was lying on the ground beside her card. I picked them up then spotted that the snow around the pole was covered in blood. Eh... Yeah, then I hung up and called Jay and told him about it. I hung up and that’s when he called you guys and we were up all night answering questions before you left. When you left I wanted to go out and look but stressed myself out a little too much,” he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, “And sort of gave myself an asthma attack and passed out a little bit...” I couldn’t help the corner of my mouth that curled up a little before it fell again, “And when I woke up again, Jenny’s phone had a text with this address on it. Emma tried to convince us not to go, but in the end we came here after we told you about it. Max and I went in first, and his dad held the gun on me and stabbed Max with whatever it was and then... yeah... that’s it.”

The officer thanked us and told us he’d be in touch before letting me and Max go to the ambulance. Nathan rode with us and Tom took Nathan’s car and followed behind. As they were helping Max into the ambulance I watched as they arrested Dave’s dad and brought out Dave’s body in a body bag. They’d tried to save him but failed – apparently he wasn’t actually dead when they’d shot him, but died soon after.

When we got to the hospital, they took me into surgery and checked up on Max too. After I had been in surgery they took me to my room where Nathan was waiting on me. “Hi,” I smiled at him, just a little groggy from the medication.

“Hey; how’re you feeling?” he asked gently as I sat up cross-legged and leaned against the pillows. He sat opposite me on the bed copying my posture.

“Uh...” I thought about it for a minute, “My head’s feeling a lot better but I still feel sick.” Every time I closed my eyes now my heart raced at the thought of what could have happened tonight. Nathan grabbed my hand in his and rubbed his thumb along it. I smiled as best I could at him.

“I’m just so fucking glad you’re okay,” he leaned over and kissed my forehead, “I’ve got no idea what I would’ve done if I had lost you,” he whispered and I felt tears spring to my eyes with how concerned he was being.

“Well you didn’t lose me,” I whispered back and he kissed my forehead again making my heart pound loudly against my ribcage, but this time it was a good pounding.

He sighed happily, “I know. We were all panicking though,” he managed a smirk, “Emma nearly dislocated her hip cos she ran into the side of the counter.” I laughed; that sounded like Emma, “And I’m glad you were strong enough to, well, fight him off, I guess,” he sounded as uncomfortable as I felt.

“Let’s not talk about it now; he’s never coming back,” I said quietly. Something within me changed when I said it aloud. I wasn’t frightened anymore. It was as if I had been living in fear – consciously and subconsciously – and now that he was dead and there was no way he could ever come back, I felt the world being lifted from my shoulders. Tears welled in my eyes and I let out a sob, alarming Nathan.

“Hey, hey, don’t cry,” he moved so he was closer to me then pulled me to his lap. I continued to cry and he wiped my tears.

I sniffed as I looked up at him, “Sorry, it’s just, he really isn’t coming back,” I smiled slightly and he smiled back at me.

“Of course he isn’t,” he moved some hair from my eye as my tears stopped falling and I cleared my throat as I wiped my eyes.

“I feel like I don’t know what to do...” I trailed off. “When can I go home?”

“They said it depends on how your head looks; the earliest you can go home is two days from now.”

“That’s not so bad...” I huffed out some air, “I’m fucking sick of hospitals,” I said. “This better be the last time I’m ever in one.”

Nathan suddenly burst out laughing and I frowned at him, “Sorry, it’s just... your face there!” he laughed again.

“I’m glad I amuse you,” I said then yawned as he calmed down. My eyes were getting extremely heavy so I balled my fists up and rubbed my eyes. When I blinked again I caught Nathan smiling at me.

“Bedtime for you,” he smirked a little and I pouted.

“Can’t I stay up and talk to you?”

He smiled, “As much as I’d love that, I’ll be here when you wake up,” he gently pushed me down and tucked me in as if I was a child, “I promise,” he leaned over and pressed his lips to mine; gently at first, but I didn’t want to let him go, so I pulled his face closer to mine. The kiss was passionate. When he pulled away he rested his forehead against mine and we both gasped for air. “I know this isn’t ideal or anything,” he said quietly with half a smile as he looked into my eyes, “But I love you Jenny, so much.”

As if I wasn’t breathless enough, the rest of the oxygen in my body was momentarily knocked out of me. I blinked a few times before a smile formed on my face, “I love you too.” I kissed him again and I felt him grinning into the kiss.

“Okay,” he mumbled against my lips before gently pushing my shoulders. “Sleep now,” he grinned, “I’ll be here, I promise,” he smiled at me and kissed my forehead one more time before sitting on the chair beside my bed. I only just realised how groggy the medication made me as I closed my eyes, because I didn’t open them again. The last thing I heard was Nathan humming mindlessly to him self above the gently beeping of the machinery surrounding me.