Silent Witness

Chapter 41

Ethan

The last 3 hours have been hell, it was like a piece of me was dying every second that I didn't hear anything about him. The man that hit him was drunk and it took every part of me not to go a beat him to a pulp. Wyatt was not able to find out who the bomb came from but a part of me knew it was Tyler. I also wanted him to suffer I knew he still had some of Drakes' followers out there and they did his bidding. I mean I knew his nephew did and he probably found out about Ryder punching him and this was his revenge. The one thing I couldn't figure out though was if the drunk guy was in on it or he was just a piece of shit behind the wheel. Zoey was holding Lacey she finally cried herself to sleep, I wanted to tell my wife to take her home. I knew that if she even attempted at taking her away from her brother she would lose her mind. So I didn't say anything instead I turned to my best friend who was staring at me. "What's up boss?" he said he knew I had something on my mind. "I need answers" I said, "on what part?" he asked, "everything, the bomb, the man who hit him, this can't all be just some crazy coincidence" I said. "You think this was on purpose?" Riggs asked me, "I am not sure fuck I just I fuck" I said, "I get it man, I will see what I can find out" Riggs said as he left. I knew that he would and now my wife was looking at me she had questions.

"Why would someone hit him on purpose?" she said, "I don't know and honestly I might be wrong because it was Lacey that was in the street a few seconds before he came. So it might just be that he was drunk but I just feel uneasy about the whole thing" I said. "I know and I feel like had it been Lacey we would be planning a funeral right now, Ryder is strong love as much as I hate him suffering right now he will fight and come back to us" she said. "I want to believe that, but it has been almost 4 hours since it happened and all we know is he is not good and is critical. Like I feel sick and numb, babe I can't breathe" I said and I started to panic. "You are okay Ethan, deep breaths" Zoey said as she rubbed my back soothing me. It made me feel like a child but it helped and now I knew why it put Ryder to sleep every time I did it. This was all just torture and the longer I needed to wait the more my body hurt. Finally after what felt like forever I saw Dr. Finch she was walking over to us. I wanted to be relieved but I could tell she was not here to tell us good news. "I am sorry it took so long there was more damage than we thought originally, Ryder is currently stable but he suffered a great deal of damage. Although his head injury is my main concern, we also found he had severe damage to his liver, we were able to repair what we could but I am afraid he might need a transplant. I am going have to keep a close eye in him over the next few hours. We also had to remove his spleen but that will heal in time, we also repaired his leg and that too will heal. His ribs will also heal but his head injury worries me and until he wakes up I will not know the severity of it. I am not even sure at this point if he will wake up, he is stable like I said. He will put taken to a room here shortly and you will be able to see him. 

I tried to grasp what the doctor was telling me but all I could focus in where the negative things she said. Liver damage, head injury and not waking up, this all felt so messed up he was 8 years old for crying out loud. As I walked down the hall towards the room we were told he was in I felt sick and I wasn't sure I was prepared to see him hurt or hooked up  to machines. When I walked into the room it was more than I could take and I collapsed, it was just so hard seeing him like that. He was bruised and covered in bandages and hooked up to several machines, his eyes were closed and I tried to think he was just asleep. Lacey was behind her mom she had woken up when we told her we were going to see Ryder. "Mommy" she said, "yes honey?" Zoey said, "what is all this?" she said pointing to everything attached to him. Zoey tried to explain it to her but I knew she was to young to understand all of this. She curled up next to him and it broke me even more, she felt like this was her fault. I knew it wasn't and I hoped Riggs would come back with some answers. "Zoey maybe Lacey should go home" I said, "No daddy I want to stay with Ry" she said. "I know baby but its late and you need to get to bed" I said to her, "No daddy I am not going" she whined at me. I sighed, her being here exposed to all of this was not good for her. Zoey looked tired too and she knew that it would be a long night alone with a screaming 3 year old if she took her home.