Sell Your Soul

Two weeks later..

“The girls are going to be pissed.” Danny said taking a draw from his cigarette. He knew that Andrea would flip her lid if she knew what they were doing.

“Let ‘em be pissed.” Charlie said with a grin as he loaded his gun.

“They’ll never know.” Johnny promised patting Danny on the shoulder.

**

Hannah sighed as clocked out for her break. Today was her last day at Rick’s. Johnny had put his foot down and demanded that she and Andrea quit. It made sense to Hannah, it wasn’t like she really needed the money. But Andrea was adamant about being independent and not letting Johnny take care of her. Hannah had only went back to work the last two weeks with Andrea because she wanted to spend some time outside of the house.

“Have you talked to Johnny since we came to work?” Andrea asked as Hannah joined her at the picnic table out back.

“No. Why?” Hannah felt her stomach flip at the worried look on her friend’s face.

“I can’t get ahold of him or Danny. It’s probably nothing but I have had a weird feeling all day.” Andrea frowned. The pit of her stomach told her that something was wrong, very wrong.

“Maybe you’re getting sick?” Hannah suggested. She didn’t want to think about something being wrong. She was still trying to process the last few weeks of her life, she couldn’t handle much more.

“You’re probably right.” Andrea knew better.

She and Hannah finished their lunch in silence. Hannah kept praying silently in her head, while Andrea checked her phone a thousand times.

Hannah was cleaning the counter when she found the envelope, it had her name written neatly across the front and the back was sealed with a cross sticker. There was something familiar about it both the sticker and the handwriting, but she couldn’t place what it was. She was pulled away from her thoughts by a group of hungry high school students stampeding through the door. Before she knew it her shift was almost over and she had completely forgotten about the strange envelope.

She was in the process of wiping down her last table when Funny and Charlie burst in through the front door. One look at their faces made Hannah’s heart drop.

“Where is Andrea?” Funny was shaking.

“I’m right here.” Andrea’s voice came from the back.

“We have to go, now.” Funny said quickly.

Hannah couldn’t speak. Her mouth was dry and she felt like she was going to throw up everything she had ever eaten.

“What is going on?” Andrea’s voice was shaking.

“Just get in the car Andie.” Charlie said taking her hand.

“C’mon mamie.” Funny’s arm was around Hannah. He led her out to the black SUV. She felt like everything was going in slow motion.

“Charlie, please tell me what is going on?” Andrea begged. The fear was evident in her voice.

Funny put the car in drive and sped off.
“There was an accident, but everything is going to be fine.” Charlie said carefully.

“Charlie. Stop dancing around. What is going on?” There were tears falling down Andrea’s cheeks.

“Danny and Johnny were in an accident. They’re at the hospital. That’s all we know.”
Andrea screamed and then lost it. Hannah unbuckled her seatbelt and wrapped her arms around her best friend.

“It’s gonna be okay.” She whispered fighting back her own tears. Her thoughts were muddy. She couldn’t even comprehend something being wrong with Johnny.

Hannah had no idea what to expect when the four of them walked into the hospital. She held onto Andrea’s hand tightly. It was hard for her to be the strong one when all she wanted to do was breakdown.

It was all a blur as Funny and Charlie lead them into the elevator and down a few hallways. But Johnny’s voice snapped Andrea and Hannah out of their daze and they ran to him.

Johnny hugged his sister and his girlfriend as tight as he could.

“Shhh, shhh it’s okay.” He whispered to them both.

“Where is Danny?” Andrea asked pulling away.

“He just came out surgery. He’s in serious condition but he’s stable.” Johnny kept his voice soft.

“W… what happened?” Andrea stuttered. Hannah squeezed her hand tightly.

“Another car t-boned us. It hit on Danny’s side.” Johnny explained.

“I want to see him.”

“I’ll take you.” Kurlz offered.

Hannah let go of Andrea’s hand and Johnny wrapped his arms around her again.

“You scared the hell out of me Johnny.” Hannah told him.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry Hannah.” Johnny held her close.

She pulled away from him, there were tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Johnny no - you guys weren’t.” Her heart dropped as she put two and two together

**

“I’ll give you guys some time alone.” Kurlz said leaving Andrea at the door.
She took a deep breath and walked in. There was a nurse taking his vitals.

“Are you his girlfriend?” She asked as Andrea got closer.

“Yeah, I’m his girlfriend.”
“He’s a fighter. I’ve got faith in him.” The woman said giving her a small smile.

“Thanks.”

Andrea walked over to Danny. His eyes were closed and he had tubes in his nose and his mouth and there were heart monitors on his chest. Andrea felt the tears running down her face.

“So I told that nurse I was your girlfriend. I know that would make you really happy. It felt nice to say it finally.” She looked around the room. It was weird to be talking to someone who probably couldn’t hear you. But it made her feel better anyway. She took his hand in hers.

“Listen to me Danny. You have to be okay. I can’t lose you. I swear to God if you just wake up and get through this I’ll tell everyone I’m your girlfriend.”

“Just. Don’t. Tell. Your. Brother.” Danny said slowly. He was still groggy from the anesthesia.

“Danny!” Andrea jumped up. She wanted to hug him but she was afraid of hurting him.

“Hey girlfriend.” Danny smiled.

Andrea had to keep herself from crying again. She had never been so happy to hear someone’s voice in her life.

Hannah had forgotten about the envelope in her pocket until that night when she was getting ready for bed. She picked it up off the floor and opened it up slowly.

Ye who wanders from the flock leads the wolves to the den.

She froze. It was a verse from The Book of Faith. It was the Bible that Father Brinks preached from – but Hannah was pretty sure he wrote most of it himself, or made it up as he went along. Before her grandparents passed away she went to church with them, and even though she was pretty young – she remembered it being a lot different from the “church services” that Father Brinks had held.

How had he found her? Her first thought was to run to Johnny and tell him everything. But Andrea interrupted her thoughts.

“Hey! There you are, I was afraid you were already asleep. Danny’s doing a lot better. He doesn’t have any internal bleeding and his vitals are good. He might get to come home day after tomorrow. As long as he does good tonight.” She smiled.

“That’s wonderful.” Hannah realized then that she couldn’t put all of this on Johnny now – not with his best friend in the hospital. Maybe it wasn’t even a big deal. It could have been a coincidence, right?