Rescue me

22

The next few months flew by. Between working at Family Video, spending my days off with the kids, and the occasional same day off with Eddie, I didn’t have time to think about much else. That didn’t mean the nightmares stopped, in fact they became worse. Many times I had a hard time waking up, but Eddie was always there. I finally told him about them, almost a month after they’d started.

Almost every night, I’d wake up screaming and pushing Eddie away, until I realized it was him and not Josh, then I’d collapse into him and cry while he soothed me, with words or without. I looked into ways to sleep soundly and everything sounded scary except for one thing.

Watching movies before bed became a ritual for us, a way to calm us a bit from the busy day we’d had. I sat between his legs on the bed, arms tangled in his that were wrapped around me, when I had decided to ask for his help. I knew he’d fight me on it, but I had to ask.

“Babe, can I ask you something and can you consider it before saying no?” I asked, playing with his rings.

“Well, that doesn’t worry me at all. What’s going on baby?” Eddie asked, squeezing me a bit.

“I’ve been researching ways to help me sleep, ways to help with the nightmares and I think I found something that might just help.”

“Ok?” he said, drawing the word out a bit.

“Weed. Now before you say no, it’ll help me calm down and, well you know all about it. I just wanna try it and if it doesn't work I won’t do it again. I’m asking you because I trust you and I know you’ve done it before.” I said, turning myself around to look at him. Eddie was quiet for a while before answering.

“Ok baby, we can try it. If it works, only use it before bed and that’s it, ok?” He said, tilting his head to make sure I understood. 

“Yes, of course! That’s all I ask. Thank you so much babe!” I said, pulling him into a hug.

“Ok, since I don’t sell anymore I’ll have to go to Rick and get some. We don’t work tomorrow, so did you wanna try it tonight?” Eddie asked and I nodded.

“Ok, let me give him a call.” he said, getting up. I can’t believe he’s agreeing to this, I really thought he’d say no to me using drugs. Eddie caught my attention when he came back into the room.

“So Rick’s got some for us, I’m gonna head over and grab it.” he said, putting a hoodie on and slipping his shoes on.

“Can I come with you?”

“No baby, I’m not letting you anywhere near Rick’s place. The people that hang out there are, well they’re not good people. I’ll be back soon. Max is just across the street if you need anything.” Eddie said, kissing me before grabbing his keys and leaving. Max must have seen him leave, cause she popped over after he was gone about a half hour.

“BB?” she called out from the front door.

“Back here Maxie!” I yelled. She came in and plopped down next to me on the bed.

“Where’d Eddie go?” she asked, watching the movie with me.

“Well, you gotta promise not to tell anyone if I tell you.”

“Of course! I always keep our secrets.” she said, turning to me.

“I’ve been having nightmares, bad ones. I asked Eddie if he’d let me try weed to help and surprisingly he said yes, so he went to get some.”

“Ahh, I’ve heard it works pretty good. Never tried it and don’t plan to, but I hope it works for you. I know how nightmares can kick your ass.” she said, and my heart fell. I remembered the nightmares she had after Billy was killed. I pulled her into my side, but said nothing. We watched the movie, not realizing that Eddie should have been back already. A loud thumping, the crash at the front door got our attention. We looked at each other for a second before we heard groaning.

“Baby, I could use some help out here.” I heard Eddie call out, and we jumped and ran out to see Eddie slumped over on the floor.

“Babe, what happened?” I asked, dropping to my knees next to him. I helped him into a sitting position, and that’s when I got a good look at him. Someone beat the shit out of him, and I had a feeling I knew who it was. He had a black eye, busted lip and possibly a broken nose.

“Turns out, I owed money to one of the guys at Ricks. Got a bit pissed that I didn’t have it, gave me a parting gift and told me I better have it tomorrow or it’ll get worse.” He said, trying to make light of the situation. 

“Jesus Christ Eddie, we need to get you to the hospital. Do not fight me on this cause you won’t win.” I said, reaching for the phone.

“I figured as much. I’m not fighting you, but who’re you calling?” 

“Steve. I’m gonna need help with you. Why didn’t you just go right to the hospital right away?” I asked, dialing the phone. Max took it so I could talk to Eddie.

“This is why.” Eddie said, pulling a bag of weed from his pocket. I grabbed it and went to hide it in the bedroom. This was all my fault. If I’d never asked Eddie, he wouldn’t have gone over and gotten his ass kicked.

“I’m sorry babe, this is all my fault.” I said, sitting down next to him again.

“Don’t do that baby, it was bound to happen. I’d forgotten about it, it’s been a few years. Drug dealers never forget about money.” Eddie said, completely calm.

“How much do you owe him?” I asked.

“$500. The stash I’d just gotten was confiscated by the police after Chrissy.” He said, straining to breathe in heavily.

“OK, we’ll go to the bank tomorrow, get the money and take care of it.” I said, my mind was already made up.

“Baby, we don’t have that kind of money right now.” He said, and I just looked at him. His eyes widened when he realized what I meant.

“No, absolutely fucking not. That’s not happening baby.” Eddie said, shaking his head at me.

“Oh, it’s happening. I’m not risking this happening again. This is another fight you won’t win.” I said stubbornly. Eddie tried to fight me, but decided against it, letting out a breath of air and nodding. Steve showed up not long after, loading Eddie up in his car and taking him to the hospital. I decided to stay back with Max, knowing I’d just get in the way.

It was 4 hours before they came back. Max was passed out on the couch and I was pacing, not able to relax at all. They walked in, Eddie looked more stable and Steve looked tired.

“Nothing broken, just some serious bruising. Your dad showed up too, the hospital called the cops when he showed up beat to hell.” Steve said as Eddie slowly walked to the bedroom.

“What did y’all tell him?” I asked, eyes still trained on Eddie, who was just sitting on the bed.

“No idea, they wouldn’t let me back with him until he was released. What the hell happened?”

“Thank you for helping us out Steve. I’m gonna get him to bed.” I said, completely ignoring his question and he noticed but said nothing.

“Let me know if you need anything else. I’m gonna head home.” Steve said, and I gave him a little wave as he left. I put a blanket over Max and headed to the bedroom. Eddie was currently trying to take his clothes off.