Such a Beautiful Lie to Believe In

The car sped along the road, probably going much faster than it should be, but I didn’t care. It was already bad enough that the nearest hospital wasn’t so ‘near.’ As I reached a red light, I grudgingly came to a stop and tried to calm myself by looking out the window. Over on the left side of the road, there was a family doctor’s office. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was only 5 PM, so they should still be open.

I knew the light was going to change soon, so I had to think quickly. One look at Alex, at his bloodied white waiter’s outfit and his paling skin, and I knew what needed to be done. We’d never make it to the hospital in a good enough time. This will have to do.

Since I wasn’t exactly in the left turn lane, I had to burn my tires’ rubber making an incredibly sharp turn from a large angle, in order to get in front of the left lane turners. Of course a series of horns and angry yelling could be heard, but I didn’t give a shit. I have a dying boyfriend in my car!

After parking in the lot, I struggled to get Alex out of the car. I cringed as blood squirted out of a still fresh wound and onto me. I wrapped his arms around my neck and let his body rest on my back like a backpack…only one with dragging feet.

As you can imagine, I was receiving strange looks all the way through the lobby and to the nearest doctor’s office. I burst through the door, causing parents to jump in surprise at my probably horrific sight, while children screamed and hid behind their parents. It was then that I remembered that Alex and I were still in disguise…with our rambunctious hair styles and facial piercings, oh yes, and don’t forget that both of us are covered in blood.

Knowing that I would have to fill out some stupid paperwork of some sort, I set Alex down in a chair that was as far away from other people in the waiting room as possible. “Can I h-help you with something?” the receptionist stuttered out, looking at me warily.

“Ok, I know this may look…strange. But my boyfriend has been stabbed and I needed to stop off here because the hospital is too far. He probably just needs stitches or something. But he needs immediate attention…he hasn’t stopped bleeding,” I cried out.

“Miss, this isn’t an emergency room. This office has order – you need to sign in or make an appointment,” she said sternly.

I obnoxiously looked around the room and then back at her. “I understand you have rules, and correct me if I’m wrong, but it would seem that there is only one person in severe danger of dying!”

“Please don’t raise your voice at me. Look, it’s not fair to all these people sitting here and waiting for their turn. I’m afraid you’ll have to do the same.”

“Excuse me, but I believe my son is next on the list. He just has a little cough. Ma’am you can go ahead of me. I can’t argue that your friend over there needs more attention than my son does,” a man said as he approached the receptionist and I.

He was a fairly attractive man, tall and slightly tattooed. Although I must say, him and his son looked nothing alike. I couldn’t help but smile gratefully. “Oh thank you so much. You’re a real life-saver,” I gushed as the receptionist rolled her eyes and shoved the paperwork into my hands.

He shrugged, “It’s no big deal, like I said, you need the doctor more right now. I’m sorry I don’t believe I caught your name?”

“Oh, the name’s Kathy. And how about yourself?”

“I’m Matt. Very nice to meet you,” he smiled. What a strange change of events these past couple of minutes has been…

I quickly scribbled out the information onto the lines, while sitting down next to Alex in our lovely isolated corner. Once I was done, I returned the papers and waited at the window.

“You can sit down now,” she stiffly replied.

“Well, don’t you need to inform the doctor of this situation?”

She groaned loudly as she got up out of her chair and headed for what looked like a teacher’s longue…only for doctors in this case. “Doctor Davis, you have a patient in the waiting room who is bleeding and requires medical attention,” she informed him.

The doctor ran out to the room and glanced around until he saw Alex and me. “Ok, ma’am here’s what I need you to do. Can you carry him to room 2?”

“Um, sure…if I managed to get him from the car to here I’m sure I can do that.”

“No, allow me. I wouldn’t want you to put any more strain on yourself,” Matt offered, stepping forward.

I was flattered. “Thanks!”

Matt carried Alex into the room while I explained a shortened version of what had happened and why he was stabbed. Once Alex was safely on the table, Doctor Davis unbuttoned Alex’s shirt and observed the wound.

“You’re lucky. If he had been stabbed about four centimeters lower, he would’ve been long since dead. I’m thinking all he would need is a set of stitches and some rest,” he commented.

I breathed a sigh of relief, so thankful that he was going to be ok. But my troubles wouldn’t cease there.

*Normal POV*

This has got to be another one of the most awkward car rides ever. I’m sitting in between Jimmy and Brian, each of which has their arms wrapped around some part of my body. “You know they invented seat belts for a reason,” I announced, hoping they wouldn’t be stupid enough to not figure out that I was incredibly uncomfortable.

No one said anything; Matt turned the radio up louder.

“I’m speaking here,” I tried again.

“Look, we were going to wait till we got home to tell you the new rules, but if you don’t shut the fuck up we might just have to start telling you now,” Zacky said from shotgun.

I rolled my eyes and mumbled, “How terrifying…”

The song playing on the radio suddenly cut out as ringing took its place. “What’s up, man? Got any good news?” Matt said into his Bluetooth headpiece.

“Yeah I do actually. But it’s easier to explain in person. How far away are you?”

“Pulling past the gate now.”

“Ok, I’ll see you shortly then. I guarantee you’re gonna love this, Shads.”

And if I felt uncomfortable before, then I wouldn’t even know how to explain this feeling now, knowing that something that would make that monster happy is waiting at their house. Brian tugged on my arm once the car had come to a stop and threw me down onto the pavement. I glared up at him as I helped myself up and followed them inside, knowing that this wouldn’t be a very smart time to attempt to escape.

The doors opened before Matt had time to touch the doorknob. I was met with a slightly familiar face…this man worked for the gang, and in fact I think he was one of the ones who was ordered to search for Alex, Brittney, and Kathy. What would he be doing here?

“I have a gift for you guys,” he said as he stepped aside revealing none other than Kathy, lying on the floor with a bloodstained shirt, a beaten face, and a look of fear.

*Kathy’s POV*

Even though the doctor suggested I wait in the other room, I refused to leave Alex’s side. He eventually gave up once he saw how stubborn I could be. “He’s going to need to spend 24 hours under our watch. I’m not sure that we have the facilities to keep him here like that, but if you would like I can have a helicopter from the hospital come here and pick him up?”

I wasn’t sure what to do…I knew Alex needed to stay under medical supervision, but at the same time it was unsafe for us to be in public so long like this. I mean, who knows when one of those men who had been following us will continue their evil mission.

“You’re taking a pretty long time to answer…” the doctor pointed out, knowing that in typical situations, this isn’t a very hard question.

I guess it wouldn’t hurt to fill him in a little bit. “As you can imagine, it’s not everyday that someone gets stabbed in their chest…we’ve kind of gotten tangled with the wrong group of people, if you know what I mean.”

He nodded and seemed intrigued although I can’t say for sure whether he truly was.

“Anyway I guess it would be best to fly Alex over to the hospital,” I agreed.

The doctor didn’t waste any time calling in a helicopter, luckily. The blades of the helicopter were massive, and doing a good job of blowing air around. But even though the wind was whipping my hair around at almost painful proportions, I just continued to focus on Alex. He was safely lifted up and heading toward the hospital. I felt my heart finally return to normal levels, as relief seemed to become more and more apparent.

I wasn’t sure if I had to sign out or something back in the waiting room, so I turned around and headed for the building again, but my trip was stopped short as I ran into someone’s chest. I glanced up and saw that I had run into Matt, who seemed to be going out to his car…without his ‘son.’

“Um, do you know if we have to sign out or something back in the waiting room?” I asked.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that. I wouldn’t want the nurses and doctors wondering where you’ll be going,” he replied with some sort of evil look in his eyes that wasn’t there before.

“I don’t think they will mind if I’m going home,” I replied, a little annoyed that he was trying to block my path.

“You seem to be confused, Kathy. We’re going for a ride,” he grinned, pulling up his hoodie slightly to reveal a gun tucked into his pants.

I groaned, “You’ve gotta be kidding me. I’ve had enough shit happen today, I don’t need to add crazy robber to the list.”

He started laughing. “More like kidnapper, if you want to be accurate.”

He lunged forward and wrapped an arm around my neck and pushed me back toward the parking lot with his body. “I think we should take your car,” he said, allowing me to take the driver’s seat, as long as he held the gun in his hand, clearly pointed in my direction.

He began giving me directions to our destination, and obviously by now I knew he worked for A7X because I was generally familiar with the area that they lived, thanks to Joie’s descriptions.

Although my car was unfairly involved in this ordeal, I am sad to say that I may have to give it up to survive. We were on an empty stretch of road, which would make it a perfect place to jump out of a moving car. I was already unbuckled because he hardly gave me time to do anything at all. Not that I mind though, considering this helps me out quite a bit.

I put the car in cruise control and took my foot off the pedal. Since the road was straight I was able to let go of the steering wheel without it being obvious that I had done so. Finally, I took a deep breath and opened the door, throwing my body out of the car and rolling across the pavement.

Needless to say, it hurt first upon impact, but after I was on the ground, it was bearable. I propped myself up on my elbows as I watched the car continue to drive forward and heard Matt scream all sorts of dirty words. My plan was going perfectly well, until he stopped the car and got out like a civilized person. I realized that he would be pissed once/if he ever caught up to me, so I started running as best as my aching legs would allow me to.

But it wasn’t good enough. He caught up to me in less than a minute and had tackled me to the ground, him sitting on my back. “Since you like the concrete so much, I think I’ll let you have a little more of a taste,” he sneered, gaining a tight grip on my hair as he tugged, lifting my head up off the ground.

He then pushed downward, sending my skull flying into the concrete. I cried as the rough concrete scraped away at my face, ripping away pieces of flesh and loosening teeth with each shove down. He eventually gave in, as I spat out more blood and a tooth, which made it all that much worse because I had absolutely perfect teeth…didn’t even need braces.

“Now let’s get moving. You have people who are dying to meet you.” Even still, I struggled in his grasp as he dragged me to the car.

“Yeah, I’m sure. I don’t see why those bastards need me anyway.”

“You want to know why? It’s because your friend Joie has been a very bad girl, and needs to learn a lesson. And the best part is – you’ll be the one to teach it to her.”