Run Baby Run

Feeling my heart sink, my eyes fell on the man standing over Matt, as he laid motionless on the ground. The man then looked at me and that’s when I realized he was the man from the bar and that he had a partner with him. They both ran off and I looked around the area surrounding me and it was official that I have met my horror. Brian was on the floor face down, Zack was leaning against the wall with his hand holding the left side of his abdomen, Johnny was holding his bleeding head, and Jimmy was limping as he tried to walk to where everyone was. It seems that he was the one who tried to run but they caught him. I quickly ran to Matt as the tears burned through my eyes and met my face. I kneeled down on his right side and noticed a gun shot wound on his left shoulder. His eyes snapped opened as he met mine and groaned in pain. I gripped his hand in mine as I tried to see if he would respond anything.

“Matt” I my voice cracked as I whispered.

His eyes brimmed with tears as he tried to answer back “Belz, I-I’m so sorry”

“Shh,” I cooed and sobbed “don’t be sorry, you didn’t do anything wrong”

He shut his eyes and then reopened “I love you baby”

“I love you too” As I answered him he closed his eyes and that brought me in close contact with my fear “Matt, wake up” I tried shaking him but he didn’t respond. I turned around to see Brian face up with his hand in Kristey’s. I couldn’t make out what anyone was saying because all I was worried about was losing Matt. I turned back to him and tried moving him to see if he would wake up but he didn’t. Feeling my heart stop beating, I scattered in my pocket for my phone and dialed 911.

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

“M-my friend’s where shot at the dance club, Roxxy. I don’t know the address, please hurry”

“Are they breathing?”

I looked back to the others “Are they breathing?” Kim and Kristey nodded their heads and then I turned to face Matt “Yeah they are but my boyfriend isn’t responding but he’s breathing”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know but I think he’s shot”

“I’m sending EMT’s right away”

Without responding I hung up the phone and let tears fall “Matt wake up! Please!”

After what it seemed to be 10 minutes I was pulled away from Matt to the side with Kim and Kristey. We all had tear stained faces as they pulled the boys on the stretchers and into the ambulances. I pulled one EMT to the side “What hospital are you taking them to?”

“Are you immediate family?”

“No but-”

“I’m sorry then I cant release that information”

“Fucking tell us where you are taking them! They are our fucking boyfriends and fucking best friends now you will tell me where you are fucking bringing them!” Kristey yelled at the top of her lungs. The man looked at us and then answered.

“Huntington Beach Hospital”

“Thank you” Kim responded as we all ran back to the car. Kristey unlocked Brian’s car and we all climbed in as we followed the ambulances. It took us 15 minutes to get there. As we ran frantically to the emergency entrance, we found the front desk.

“Where is Matthew Sanders, Brian Haner, Zachary Baker, James Sullivan, and Jonathon Seward being treated?”

The nurse looked at me and shook her head “Are you family?”

I opened my mouth to respond but Kim beat me to it “Yes”

She cocked an eyebrow at us “Whose family are you?”

Kristey begged “Alright, we’re not going to lie to you but they’re our boyfriends and-”

She shook her head “I’m sorry but I can’t release that information”

“Please, you have to”

“I don’t have to do anything, now sit in the waiting room”

Feeling defeated we all sat in the waiting room. Kristey kept pacing the room, Kim shook her legs impatiently and I just cried. Hearing our names being called, we looked up to meet a group of officers. The taller one of the three, with brown hair and eyes, came up to me.

“Are you here on behalf of Zachary Baker, Brian Haner, Matthew Sanders, Jonathan Seward and James Sullivan?” I simply nodded and he continued “I know this is a difficult time for you ladies. My name is Detective Elliot Foster and I’m going to be on this case but before anything I’m going to need a statement from all of you”

I looked at him “I don’t know much,” and whispered “there were two men but I only got an okay look at one of them. He was tall about 6 foot something, had black hair and that’s all I remember”

He nodded and then took Kim and Kristey’s statement and left us in peace. Our silence was yet interrupted by our parents. I looked up as my dad came to me in a hurry. I got up and hugged him tight and started a new cycle of tears “Dad,”

“Are you okay, baby?”

“Yeah, they won’t tell me what’s going on” I sobbed. He rubbed my back and kept telling me that everything was going to be alright. The room went silent for about 2 hours before it was interrupted by 3 doctors. Out of all of them, only one spoke up. His face was contorted with hurt and disappointment which made my stomach flip and my heart stop. He met eyes with everyone of us,

“I’m Dr. Nicholas O’Neil and I was one of the doctors assigned to your sons and significant others. We took care of five patients and I don’t want to seem that I am careless but I will be reading their diagnosis’ to you, is that understandable?” We all nodded and he continued, “For Zachary Baker he has a stab wound on the left side of his abdomen. He is now stable and a good thing is that he will heal without any complications” The expressions on Kim’s and his parents’ face were a sign of relief. “As for Jonathon Seward he has a concussion and some cuts and bruises, nothing we can’t fix. For James Sullivan, he has a broken ankle and also cuts and bruises. Matthew Sanders,” my heart dropped to my stomach when he mentioned his name “he has a gun shot wound to his left shoulder but he will be ok, he is also stable” I felt a tide of relied wash over me. “As for Brian Haner” he exhaled deeply and locked gazes with Kristey who seemed to be holding her breath “he is stable but he received a gun shot wound to his chest and is now in a coma” Once those words left his lips, Kristey fell to the floor in sobs. The doctor quickly said he was sorry and immediately left the room. I hurried over to her, as did Kim, and held her in our arms as she cried for Brian.

I slowly entered Matt’s room, hearing the heart monitors going off. I no longer had any tears due to the fact that my eyes were sore from all that I have cried already. Its been 2 days since I have seen him, since they didn’t let me enter when he was first admitted into the hospital. I sat down in the chair that was on his right side and pulled myself closer to him. I held his hand into mine and placed it on my cheek feeling his warmth comfort me. Waiting in silence for him to wake up, my wish was answered when he slightly moved his head. His eyes opened slowly as he locked gazes with me. He tried to move his side but then winced in pain and discontinued to try.

“Hi” I whispered.

He gave me a dopey smile “Hey, how are you?”

“ I think I should be asking you that question” I laughed lightly.

He shrugged and then sighed deeply “I’m fine, I mean I’m alive”

“Yeah, I know” I laughed again but with tears threatening to fall.

“Did anything happen to the guys?”

“Yeah, but they’re okay now, except Brian”

“What happened to him?”

“He got shot in the chest and he’s in a coma now”

He quickly shut his eyes and then opened them as a tear streamed down his cheek “This is all my fault, this guy came up to us and he pushed me out the way and…fuck”

“He’s going to be okay”

“How is Kristey taking it?”

I exhaled deeply “Dealing”

“I should have listened to you”

“What’s done is done. Stop dwelling on that, you guys are alive and okay, everything is going to be back to normal”

He stayed quiet and gripped my hand as he tried to pull me onto the bed. Realizing he was weak he patted the side beside him and I silently obeyed him and rested my head on his good shoulder. We laid in silence for a while just enjoying each others presence before Kim ran into the room.

“He’s awake! Brian’s awake!”

I quickly sat up “Oh my God! Is he alright?”

She nodded “Yeah, and Kristey is not leaving his side at all” she then smiled “I can see Matt is awake”

I smiled “Yup, how’s Zack?”

“Alright, he might leave next week” I got off the bed and hugged her. After a few moments passed she left and I quickly went back to my original place. Matt hugged me as tight as he could and whispered,

“I love you so much”

Matt was discharged from the hospital four weeks after the incident along with Brian, the rest of the guys were released earlier. Everything was back to normal although they were all limited to what they could and couldn’t do. We all hung out at my house because that was the only way their parents would let us out to be together without being paranoid. Things from that night weren’t mentioned besides the fun that we had and since then they had always looked after each other more than before. Matt was spending more time at my house and also spending the night became an everyday thing for him.

As I opened my eyes, I quickly ripped Matt’s arm off me and ran to the bathroom. Falling to my knees I gripped on the sides of the toilet as I threw up all the contents that my stomach held. My throat burned and itched as I kept vomiting non-stop. Matt held my forehead as he patted my back.

“Babe, you okay?”

I tried to spit the distasteful flavor out of my mouth as I nodded “Yeah” Walking to the sink, I washed my mouth and then turned to him “It’s probably something I ate yesterday”

He hugged me and pulled away “I’ll go get you some medicine” I nodded as he disappeared out of the bathroom. I stripped out of my clothes and then turned the shower on. Stepping in the shower, I felt a sense of relief and comfort as the hot water hit my skin. I felt a breeze of cold air and arms wrap around my stomach. I exhaled deeply and shut my eyes as he started to kiss behind my ear and then down to my neck. I then turned around and met his bare chest with mine as he slowly kissed me. My mind was full of blissful thoughts as his hands traveled my body and he kissed my neck to my chest. He then faced me “I want you Belinda Warner, I really do”

I then kissed him sweetly and then responded “Then have me”