Kidnapped

Two Halves Make a Whole

Chapter 20:

I wanted to smile at my bravery, but at the same time, wanted to shatter like a porcelain doll dropped from the hands of a careless child. Jerry didn't get the satisfaction of breaking me, but he got satisfaction out of me. My body was pulsing in agonizing beats, keeping time to the pounding of my heart.

The paramedics set me down in an ambulance, the doors slammed shut and the cleaned the blood from my legs as the vehicle lurched forward.

"Are you hurt?" One of them asked. Her head was shaped like a vertical football, her chin coming down to a point. Her dark brown eyes were small, her eyebrows neatly trimmed, and her straight brown hair pulled back into a tight sock bun.

"Just bruised and- this." I pointed at the remaining lines of blood trailing down my legs. I shuddered. The memories were still too fresh to extract from my mind, I closed my eyes to fight my hysteria, just as I had done when they were over me. The fragility of my composure was terrifying, everything felt like it was going to shatter around me.

"Bruised where?" She pushed my hips, arms, and abdomen.

"My wrists, and my head." I showed her my inflamed wrists where my restraints had rubbed raw. She worked vigorously to clean them before we reached the hospital.

"Where's Andrew?" I asked as I was wheeled out into the hospital and down a too bright hallway. It smelled like hospitals always do, disinfectant with an underlying smell of death.

"Who?" They took me to a private room and pulled the curtain to inspect the damage done.

"That boy that was with me." I said. "He needs more help than I do!"

"And he's being taken care of." My paramedic left the room as a male nurse entered. He could have been a twin to the EMT, brown hair, football shaped head. "Right now we need to worry about you." He was flipping through poorly written notes that must have been scribbled down two seconds before he entered my room. "Did they inject you with anything, is there anything that I need to be aware of that could kill you in the next twenty-four hours?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Okay." He relaxed a bit and sat down on the edge of my bed. A few nurses came in and began hooking me up to a heart monitor and other various hospital equipment. "I know you've been through a lot, and the last thing you want is someone else down there. But I need to do some-"

"I know." I swallowed hard. "I know. Just- get it over with."

He held my hand tenderly. "You're a strong young woman. It won't take long."

He left, but returned a few minutes later with a swabbing kit. After he gathered the evidence, he patted my knee and told me to rest. I pulled the thin white hospital sheet over my body and curled up on my side.

"It's okay now." I whispered to myself. I took one shuddering breath, and let everything out. Pain exploded in my chest, a yearning for any news on my dad and my dog. The two lopsided pieces of my broken heart cried out for Darren, I still longed for his love, his touch. My boyfriend of three years was gone, my dad was gone, my four-pawed best friend was gone, my virginity was gone, my home was gone, everything I loved was GONE! I trembled beneath my thin garments, frozen by an inner cold that wouldn't seem to melt.

I don't know how long I was wailing into my stiff pillow before Joyce came in to see me. Her entrance was silent, and I jumped violently when she laid her hand on my shoulder.

"Kevin told me, honey." Was all she said. She pulled me into a tight embrace, pressing her cheek against the side of my head, and rocked me side to side. I buried my face in her neck and let her hold me. The sugar scent of her baking ways coated her clothes and slowly chipped away at my frozen insides, but not enough to do any good. Her fingers felt nice combing through my hair. I soon realized that I had stopped screaming, and only silent tears were falling from my eyes as we rocked slowly.