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Devan
I’m startled awake from my recliner in the corner when a nurse enters the room. I glance at my phone and see that it’s only 5:30. “Oh!” She gasps when she notices me curled up in the corner. “I’m sorry to wake you.”
“No problem.” I sit up and stretch. “Is it time for a shift change?” I ask, knowing that the day nurse will be coming in to work soon.
“Yeah. I just want to check on her before I leave for the day.” She walks over to the side of Julie’s bed and begins pushing buttons on one of the monitors. I watch with rapt attention as she switches out her IV bag for a new one before turning her sleeping form to her side and propping her up with pillows. It’s surreal watching someone manipulate Julie’s body in such a way. I know it’s to keep her from getting bed sores, but it reminds me of all the ways I’ve failed my angel. She wouldn’t be in this position if I had tried harder to protect her.
Julie continues to breath on her own, only using a nasal canula with minimal oxygen. She still has an IV connected to her wrist for fluids. Physically she’s healed up nicely in the three days that she’s been here in this hospital. Dr. Magee says that she suffered physical trauma and her body is allowing itself time to heal. He tells me that she’ll wake up when she is ready which will hopefully be before they end up putting in feeding tubes.
I’ve been here every day and night since I found her in that warehouse strapped to a chair. I refuse to leave her side. Guilt rages in my veins at what happened to her, knowing that I should have been with her to keep her protected and safe.
“Can I get you anything?” The nurse asks once she is finished with Julie’s vitals.
“No, thank you.” I respond as I move a chair closer to the bedside. I take up my station at Julie’s side, grasping her hand in mine, entwining our fingers together. “Good morning, angel.” I whisper in her ear before kissing her cheek. “I hope you’re ready for guests today. I believe your mother is coming to spend some time with you.” I continue to speak to her as if she were awake and responding. Every day for the last three days, I have continued to do the same. Every day I watch her closely for a response or a reaction to my words. “I miss you, angel. Please come back to me soon.” I lean over the bed, kissing her gently on the forehead and whisper in her ear. “I love you.”
At 7:30 the day nurse enters the room with towels and a wash basin. “Time for her bath?” I ask her as I lean back in my chair and stretch my arms over my head.
“Yep. Would you like to help me today?” She asks as she sets her supplies on the side table.
Releasing a yawn, I reply “No. I think I’ll go get some coffee and let her have some privacy. I’ll be back in a half hour?”
“That’ll be perfect. We’ll be ready for you when you get back.”
I grab Julie’s hand and bend down to her again, kissing her cheek. “I’ll be back, angel. Enjoy your bath.” I grab my phone from the windowsill before leaving the room. Entering the hall, I pull the door closed quietly before pressing my back against it and huffing out a long breath. I push off the wall and continue down the hall toward the waiting room. I never wander far as I don’t want to be too far away from Julie for in case something happens, or she starts to wake up.
I pick a chair against the waiting room wall to sit, placing my coffee on the side table. I put my elbows on my knees, my face in my hands, and close my eyes silently praying that she wakes up soon. I have no idea how long I’ve been sitting before someone lays a hand on my shoulder. “How’s our girl doing today?” I hear a woman’s voice asking before jolting upright in my chair and looking to see who the voice belongs to.
I’m greeted by a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes, and the brightest pink pigtails I’ve ever seen. “Marie. When did you get here?” I ask as she sits in the chair next to mine. Looking around, I expect to see Matt standing nearby. “Are you here alone?”
“I just arrived. I took a personal day today. I haven’t done that in a long time. Figured it was time I come see her, maybe give her some shit for sleeping so much.” She laughs but there is no humor to it. I can see that she’s worried about her friend, even if she is trying to hide it. “Matt’s here too. He’s parking the truck.”
“She’s currently getting a bath.” I smile to myself thinking of the irony in such a simple phrase. Like any normal day, taking it easy and relaxing in a hot bath. “I thought I’d give her some privacy and come get some of this fabulous waiting room coffee.” I wrinkle my nose as I pick up my cup and take a sip. It’s not the worst coffee, but still. She does at least giggle at my reaction to it though.
“You don’t get out much, do you?” She asks while looking me over from head to toe.
“Not much, no.” I reply.
“Yeah. I can tell. You look like shit. Are you sleeping at all?”
“As much as I can in that uncomfortable recliner. Doesn’t matter though, I’m not leaving her.”
“I didn’t expect that you would. But you still need to take care of yourself. She’s going to need you to be strong when she wakes up which means you need to rest. And eat something other than cafeteria food.”
“Hey.” I say. “Don’t knock the cafeteria food.” I give her a crooked smile, trying to lighten the mood. She is right though. Julie would not appreciate it if I spent all my time worrying over her and neglecting my own needs. “Her mom is supposed to be coming to visit today. I’ll go out while she’s here and get something better.”
“Damn right you will.” I hear Matt’s deep timbre come from the other side of the waiting room. I look up to see him walking this way, both hands in his jacket pockets. He takes the seat next to mine and pats me on the shoulder. “How you holding up?”
“Is that a serious question?” I ask, giving him a crooked smile.
He chuckles lightly and sits back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other and putting his hand back in his pocket. “Not really. I can already tell by looking at you that it’s not going well. You look like shit, dude.”
“That seems to be the general consensus. Honestly though, it’s going about as can be expected. She’s getting a bath at the moment. She’s healing up as well as can be expected. Still no movement though. She still hasn’t woken up.” I drop my head into my hands and breathe out a frustrated sigh.
“Hey. It’s alright, man. She will.”
“How do you know that?”
“It’s called hope, man. If you don’t have hope, then what do you have?”
I nod my head in agreement, not able to say anything in response. He’s right though. I can’t be thinking negatively when I know she needs my support. It’s like he told me the other day before we got the call from Marie. I need to help hold her together. That means I need to keep myself together too so I could be strong for her.
I finish the last sip of my coffee and look into the cup, debating if I actually want another one. “Do you want some coffee?” I ask Marie.
“Oh no.” She replies. “I hate coffee. And judging by the look on your face every time you took a sip, I’m not sure I would survive it anyway.” She giggles.
“You’re right. It’s not that good.” I stand and walk over to the trash can to throw the cup away before checking the time on my phone. “She should be about done if you guys want to start walking that way with me.” Marie and Matt both stand, and we begin to move down the hall. “So, how are things at work?” I ask Marie.
“Stressful and hectic as always.” She grins at me. “Travis has been on a rampage of course.” She continues to talk about work, the stories she has been working on for Travis, and I block most of it out. Just thinking about Julie’s work makes me think about what happened to her. All of this, for trying to chase a better story than what she was getting at Metropolitan Weekly. Julie loves journalism. She is passionate about ‘chasing the truth’, as she puts it. How is she going to feel about it when she wakes up?
We arrive back at Julie’s room and stand outside, waiting for the nurse to appear stating that she’s done. After only a few minutes of standing, the door open and the nurse smiled at the three of us standing in the hall. “She’s all done.” She walked out and headed back to the nurse’s station and I held the door open for Matt and Marie to enter the room.
I walked over to the bed, grabbed Julie’s hand and bent down to kiss her forehead. “How was your bath, angel? You have visitors. Matt and Marie are here to see you.” I kissed her cheek and backed away from the bed, retreated to the uncomfortable recliner in the corner to give Marie space to approach Julie’s side. I chose not to pay any attention to their conversation. Instead, Matt pulled the chair up beside me looking like he had something important to discuss. “What’s up, Matt?” I ask as he sits next to me.
“Nothing. Just making sure you’re okay.”
“I’m as good as can be expected right now. I’ll be better when she wakes up so I can take her home.”
“I understand that.” He gets silent and turns his gaze to the window. Fall was officially starting to paint the southern part of California with bright colors. The sun is still midrise at barely 8:30, and at the perfect angle behind the trees to ignite their bright gold leaves in a ball of blooming flame. As beautiful as it is, I can’t find the peace I once found in the sight. If I were back home right now, I’d be buried under several inches of snow. This time of year, possibly even ice. One thing I love about southern California is the lack of snow and the beautiful fall foliage. But I would enjoy it more if I were viewing the scenery with Julie. “You said her mom’s coming by today?”
“Yeah. She should be here in about an hour. Figured I’d sneak away while she was here. Get myself cleaned up, give Julie some time with her mom.”
“That’s a good idea. Why don’t you come have lunch with me and Marie? We got a hotel room nearby. You could come get a shower, change your clothes. Then we can bring you back after we grab something to eat.”
“You got a room? Things are going good with you two then, huh?”
“We’re working on it. But yeah. Things are going good.” He smiles and I can’t help but feel happy for him. If he can find even half the happiness I’ve found with Julie, he’ll be all the better for it. Still smiling, he looks over to Marie and watches her for a few minutes while she leans close and talks to Julie. She’s probably giving her a hard time for skipping out on work. I recognize the look in Matt’s eyes while he gazes at her. It’s the same look I’m sure I have when I look at my angel. It’s a look of pure love.
After Marie finishes her one-sided conversation, she turns to us with tears in her eyes. Matt stands to wrap her in his arms as she approaches him, resting his head on top of hers and rubbing soothing circles on her back. I grab the chair he was sitting in and move it closer to Julie’s bedside so I can sit and hold her hand for a while. I feel better when my hand is in hers, like she’s still here with me.
Matt sits on the recliner, helping Marie to curl up in his lap while he continues to comfort her and whispers something into her ear. She sits up and nods her head to him before wiping underneath her eyes and turning her gaze to me. She looks where my hand is connected with Julie’s and smiles. The two of them are quite a sight to behold. Matt, with his dark colored clothes, boots and leather. Marie with her bright colored clothing, pink hair and pigtails. They say opposites attract, and this definitely fits the bill.
“I’m glad she has you.” Marie says, her voice broken with emotion.
“Yeah.” I agree, leaning down to kiss the back of Julie’s hand. I focus on her face as I rub circles on her hand with my thumb. She looks so peaceful, and I’m glad to see the purple color fading from her bruises. The swelling goes down more and more every day that she lays here, helping her to start looking more like herself. Maybe it’s a good thing that she hasn’t woken up yet, I’m not sure how she’ll react if she sees her reflection in a mirror right now. And I don’t want her to relive the memory of what all happened to her every time she sees the bruises around her eyes. It’s going to be bad enough for her to see the new scars she has all over her body from where she was cut up and stabbed.
“You said her mother is coming today?” Marie breaks into my thoughts, bringing me back to the present.
“She should be here any minute actually.”
“I’m surprised she hasn’t already been here. Has she been by at all before now?” Matt asks me.
I hadn’t thought about it before. I does seem strange, though, that she hasn’t been here before now. Julie was found three days ago. Detective O’Neil called her as soon as Julie was loaded up in the ambulance to let her know that we found her and that she was alive. He even told her what hospital she was being taken too. I had him give her my number so she could contact me if needed until she was able to get here herself. I’ve heard from her a few times over the last couple days, but she hasn’t actually come before now. If it were my child laying in the bed unconscious, you wouldn’t have been able to keep me away. “Now that you mention it, she hasn’t been here at all until today.”
“Doesn’t that seem weird to you?” Matt raises a single brow in question obviously thinking the same thing I am. He’s only met Julie the one time, and even he came by to see her.
“I’m not going to read too much into it right now.” I tell him, turning my head to look at the clock over the door. “She’ll be here soon, that’s all that matters. Anything else is between Julie and her mother.” Neither Matt nor Marie say anything else on the subject. We sit silently for the next several minutes until there’s a knock at the door.
“Hello, hello!” I turn toward the door as a high-pitched voice pierces the silence. The door opens slowly giving way to a gross display of helium ‘Get Well’ greetings attached to a massive floral arrangement. I see behind the gigantic balloons, their wielder is Melody Harrington, Julie’s mother. “Oh my. I didn’t realize there would be so many people here. Where’s my daughter?”
I stand to greet her and relieve her of her gifts. “Let me take those from you. Nice to see you Mrs. Harrington.” I walk over to the window to set the flowers and balloons on the wide ledge.
“Devan. Nice to see you.”
“Please, have a seat. I’m sure Julie will be happy to know you’re here to visit with her.” I smile even though I know it doesn’t reach my eyes. “This is my friend Matt, and Julie’s friend Marie.” I introduce everyone quickly.
“Of course, she will.” She sits in the seat that I vacated and reaches out to touch Julie’s cheek. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner dear.” She quiets and lowers her head to the mattress.
“Mrs. Harrington.” I say quietly, afraid of interrupting her thoughts. “I know you’d like to spend some time with Julie. I’m going to go out and get cleaned up while you’re here if that’s okay.”
“Oh, of course. I don’t have anywhere else to be.” She stands and walks over to me. She reaches out and places her hands on my shoulders and purses her lips. I stand awkwardly not knowing how to behave. “Thank you for all that you’ve done for her. I’m so glad she has you here to watch over her. Go. Take care of yourself for a bit. We’ll be here when you get back.”
“Thank you.” I nod to Marie and Matt as they stand and we all walk out into the hallway together, leaving Mrs. Harrington alone with Julie.
“Thank you, guys, for doing this for me.” I say to Matt and Marie. Even though I don’t want to leave Julie’s side, I know I need to take care of myself. I’ve been by her side for the past three days and haven’t so much as changed my shirt. I could really use a shower and some clean clothes. “I don’t have anything here with me though. Is there a store we could go to or something so I could pick some things up?”
“There’s a Walmart next to the hotel we could stop at.” Matt says as we climb into his truck. Thankfully, he drives a big crew cab truck since it’s convenient for his business to have the extra seating room, so we can all fit without sitting on top of each other.
“So, how long are you guys staying?”
“We actually drove up last night.” Marie answers. “Figured we’d stay through the weekend, leave Sunday to go back home so we could get to work again Monday.”
I don’t waste any time rushing through the men’s wear section of the store while Matt grabs some toiletries and shaving gear over by the pharmacy. Marie runs around grabbing snacks and drinks to stock the mini fridge in their room at the same time. We meet at the self-checkout and are on our way shortly after.
After taking a shower at the hotel and changing my clothes, we go to lunch at a small café not far from the hospital. We exchange easy conversation while we eat, mainly Matt trying to keep my mind off of Julie laying in the hospital bed. It’s not easy though, she’s always at the forefront of all my thoughts.
After lunch, they drop me off at the hospital entrance with promises of calling later to check in. We agree that we’ll get together again tomorrow so Marie can visit with Julie again. I tell Matt to bring me coffee tomorrow since the waiting room coffee leaves quite a bit to be desired. I wave as they pull away before I go back inside and ride the elevator up to the tenth floor.
I find Mrs. Harrington standing in the hallway outside of Julie’s door and narrow my eyebrows in confusion. “Is the doctor in with her?” I ask as I approach.
She bolts away from her lean against the wall as if startled. “No, no. I’m giving Edward some privacy.”
My vision starts to turn red around the edges as I start at her for several seconds. “You left him alone with her? What’s he even doing here?”
She backs away from me, obviously disturbed at my angry tone. “It’s not like that. He was my ride. I didn’t feel comfortable driving all this way alone, so he offered to bring me. He wanted to talk to her for a few minutes and I decided to wait in the hall. He hasn’t been in there long.”
I took a few steps closer to her, trying to reign in my anger to keep from lashing out. “I don’t think you understand, Mrs. Harrington. Edward overstepped quite a few boundaries over the last couple of weeks with Julie. She’s made it clear to you that she didn’t want him hanging around.” I took a deep breath. “Now if you’ll excuse me.” I pushed past her and reached for the door. “I’m going to sit with my girlfriend, and I don’t give a damn if he’s done or not.”
I open the door slowly before entering, expecting her to say something or try to stop me. Thankfully, she knows she was properly chastised and stands clear. That’s when I hear it.
“I’m sorry, Julie.” I overhear Edward say in a soft voice. “I tried to warn you, but you didn’t listen. Thank God they went to my building though or they would have never found you. You have no idea how horrible I feel about all of this.” He takes a deep breath, and I can hear the concern in his voice when he speaks next. “I wanted to tell you. He said he knew someone was asking around, one of the business owners had mentioned it to him. He knew you were a reporter. He just mentioned it to me in casual conversation. I promise, I didn’t know it was you until your mom told me about the story you were working on. I had no idea they would take it so far to try to get you to stop. I wish you would have listened to me sooner.”
I look over my shoulder to see that Mrs. Harrington heard the conversation too. I have my answer when I see her wide eyes, her hand placed on her chest, and her mouth hanging wide open. I pull the door shut and back out into the hallway before turning to face her. “Mrs. Harrington. Is there anyone else that you can ask to take you home tonight?”
She just looks at me but doesn’t say anything.
“Mrs. Harrington?” She finally blinks but doesn’t talk. I know this is a shock to her. “I think I need to call the detective and tell him what we just overheard. But I can’t leave him in there alone with her. Are you able to go in and sit with them? Quietly?”
“Yes. I think I can do that.”
“Okay. I’m going to walk down to the waiting area and make a phone call. I’ll be right back.” My heart is beating hard against my ribs and I’m struggling to keep my breathing even. I want to march in there and ring Edward’s neck after hearing what he just said to Julie. I stood and watched Mrs. Harrington walk into the room and close the door before retreating to the waiting room. I called Detective O’Neil and told him about the conversation I just overheard with Edward and he agreed to come pick him up. I promised to keep him in the room until he got here, luckily, he was in the area would only take twenty minutes to arrive.
Once Edward was arrested and Mrs. Harrington had someone coming to give her a ride back home, I was able to settle back into my seat next to Julie. After everyone left, I curled up in the recliner chair and fell asleep.
Saturday morning, I took up my spot in the chair next to Julie. I knew that Matt and Marie would be arriving within the hour with fresh coffee and hopefully breakfast, so I wanted to spend a little time with just the two of us.
“Please, baby. I love you.” I plead. “Please come back to me. I miss you.”
And then her tightens around my own.