When Kat Came Back

Chapter 53

Andy got Jonah's number so they could talk about how to help Ashlynn. After talking through a few ideas, Jonah left.

Patrick and Elisa, Patricia, and Andy sat around the living room thinking and talking. Andy heard the water turn on in Ashlynn's room.

"Guess she's awake," he smiled. "Sounds like she's taking a shower?"

Patricia nodded. It was the sound of the water in the bathtub/shower in Ashlynn's room. They listened as the water ran. It didn't sound like it was a shower. Maybe she was taking a bath?

"Does Ashlynn normally take baths?" Patrick asked Patricia.

"No. She showers. I don't think she's ever taken a bath. Not in her bathroom anyway."

Andy and Patrick looked at each other and ran up the stairs to Ashlynn's room. Her bathroom door was closed. Andy grabbed the handle and tried to turn it.

"It's locked," he said to Patrick, and started banging on the door. "Ashlynn!  Ashlynn! Open the door!"

Patrick and Andy were both banging on the door. Patricia and Elisa came upstairs to see what the commotion was. Andy was slamming his shoulder into the door in the hopes of breaking into the bathroom.

"Ashlynn!" Andy shouted. "If you can hear me, open the door or tell us you're okay. Otherwise I'm breaking down your door!"

Patrick swore he heard water moving and a sniffle.

"Andy - break it down," he said. Andy resumed his assault on the door. Finally, he broke through.

"I'll replace it, Patricia," he said.

"I don't care. If Ashlynn is in trouble a door is the least of my concerns."

Andy managed to break down the door. The first thing he saw was blood. A lot of blood. Then he saw Ashlynn, pale, the water in the bath tinged pinkish red.

Andy ran over to the tub and pulled a fully clothed Ashlynn out.

"Call 911!" He shouted. "Someone call 911 - NOW!"

Elisa pulled out her phone while Andy pulled the sopping wet teenager out of the tub and wrapped her wrists with towels. He held her wrists as tight as he could, applying pressure to the cross wise cuts on her wrists.

Patrick had dropped beside Andy and Ashlynn and was checking her breathing. It was shallow, but she was breathing. She was pale, if it was possible for her to get anymore pale than she'd been.

"Ash!  Come on, Ash. Open your eyes!" Andy was shouting. Patrick was patting Ashlynn's cheek. Andy was holding her wrists, stemming the flow of blood. Patricia was crying. Patrick was crying. Andy was crying. Elisa was holding it together just enough to talk to the paramedics.

Ashlynn's eyes fluttered open as Patrick patted her cheek a bit harder. Staring mostly straight ahead of herself, she whispered.

Andy bent down to hear her.

"Oh, Ashlynn. It's okay. It's okay. You're going to be okay," he sobbed. Ashlynn shook her head and closed her eyes.

"What did she say?" Patrick asked.

Andy looked up, tears in his eyes.

"She said she can't stand the pain anymore," he sobbed.

Patrick looked at his baby sister. Patricia had slunk to the floor and was sitting near Ashlynn's head and was stroking her hair. Tears flowed freely from everyone's eyes. Everyone, that is, except Ashlynn, whose shallow breathing was becoming more shallow.

"Andy, she's not breathing!" Patrick exclaimed. Andy put his ear to Ashlynn's mouth.

"Patrick, hold her wrists. Keep pressure on them. As hard as you can. You won't hurt her."

Andy moved to Ashlynn's side and felt her neck for a pulse. It was thready, weak. But it was there. Her heart was still beating, albeit slowly. But she didn't seem to be breathing well.

"Come on, Ashlynn," he said, rubbing the middle of her chest with his knuckle. Ashlynn drew in a shaky breath but didn't open her eyes.

Elisa led the paramedics in to Ashlynn's room. Patrick hadn't even seen her leave the room. He'd been so focused on Ash.

The paramedics took over while listening to the four adults surrounding the teenager in wet clothing lying in a pool of bloodstained water on the bathroom floor. They dressed her cuts. Patricia sobbed when she saw all the marks up and down Ashlynn's arms when they cut her sweatshirt off. She'd had no idea Ashlynn was cutting again.

The paramedics worked fast. They set up a heart monitor and Patrick listened to the slow, slow beeping indicating Ashlynn's heartbeat.

Patricia followed the paramedics out to the ambulance. Patrick, Elisa, and Andy ran to Patrick's car and followed the ambulance as it sped off to the hospital.

In the ambulance, the paramedics were assessing and relaying information on Ashlynn. They asked Patricia what had happened and why she might have wanted to end her own life. Through tears Patricia explained the assault in New York, the past three months that had turned Ashlynn's life completely upside down and how they'd hoped she was doing well, but clearly wasn't. Despite a therapist and a social worker helping her settle back in with her family, Ashlynn still didn't feel like she belonged.

As soon as they arrived at the hospital, Ashlynn was taken straight to the back. Patricia followed until she was stopped by a security guard and told she'd have to wait until the doctors had assessed Ashlynn.

Patricia sank into a chair which is where Patrick and Elisa, and Andy found her five minutes later.

"Where's Ash?" Patrick asked, dropping to his knees in front of his mom.

"In the back. They wouldn't let me back with her just now," she said, tears streaming down her face.

Andy sat beside Patricia and Patrick sat on her other side. Elisa sat beside Patrick.

"She's going to be okay," Andy said. "She's going to be okay. And then we can start helping her heal for real. She's going to be okay."

The four adults sat quietly, lost in their own thoughts. They didn't see the doctor with bloodstains on his scrubs coming out of the emergency room looking around.

"Is the family of Ashlynn Stumph here?" He asked, looking around. Patricia looked up, and stood up.

"I'm her mother. Is she okay? Is Ashlynn going to be okay?"

The doctor looked at Patricia and the three other adults standing with her, took a deep breath and started walking over.