Fighting For Life

by Kylie Alyssa Forte

  “Y-you saved me?” she asked in shock and disbelief.

  “We all did. Tommy, B, Bri, and I . . .” I paused and ran my thumb along her jawline. “We were all looking for you. I wanted to talk to you. I was finally ready to get over myself so you could explain everything. B-But then . . . then you were gone.” I sighed and wiped away some of her tears.

  “We looked all over the place for you. I was so terrified in that moment. All the possibilities that ran through my mind weren’t near as bad as what we ran up on. When you screamed my name, I felt this weird mix of relief and even more terror. As soon as we got there, I don’t even know. It was all kind of a blur. Ronnie and Daniel were standing over you. Daniel was a better fighter than I had anticipated, so it took both Tom and me to subdue him, so . . . that left Ronnie there looming over you. I . . . couldn’t take of both of them.”

  “But . . . You said that Ronnie didn’t get to me like that? How did he not?” Aubry asked slowly.

  “Bri . . . s-she just snapped. You should have seen it, it was incredible! She found a knife on the ground and—”

  Aubry gasped loudly and widened her eyes. “I-Is she okay?!” she practically screamed while cutting me off.

  “She’s fine. She managed to stab him in the stomach and that got him off of you,” I said as she looked into my eyes. New tears were forming in her eyes.

  “That stupid girl!” Aubry sobbed. “She shouldn’t have put herself into harm’s way for me! She could have been seriously hurt!” Aubry said with the tears falling down her face.

  “Hey, hey, you did it for her. She was just returning you the favor,” I said and smoothed out her hair. “I agree it was stupid, but you can’t exactly blame her.”

  “That was different,” she stated with determination.

  “Oh, really? How?” I asked and waited for an answer.

  “B-Because!” she said too quickly.

  I raised an eyebrow at her, beckoning her to continue.

  “Because that was me! That was me! It wasn’t her!” She sobbed. “I don’t matter like she does!” she said with tears soaking her hospital gown.

  Tears immediately formed in my eyes. It was all of my fault. I let her believe that everything was her fault.

  “A-Aubry, no . . . you matter. Dammit, Aub, you matter!” I yelled at her. I could feel the tears running down my face.

  She flinched slightly at my raised voice.

  “Aubry . . .” I sighed quietly and buried my face in her hair. I sobbed as I breathed deeply trying to not to completely lose it. “You matter! Jesus Christ, Aub! You are the most important thing to me! I am so sorry that I blamed you. I just . . . I couldn’t come to terms with the fact that my dad chose drugs over us again.”

  She closed her eyes and slightly shook her head.

  “No! You listen to me!” I said and forced her to look into my eyes. “I . . . love . . . you,” I said it slowly for it to seep into her mind. “I am so sorry that I let you believe that this was your fault. It’s not! It never was! Yes, I would still like to know why you were there and why it was you, but I know that it was not your fault! I know that if you weren’t there then he would have bought it from someone else.

  “Aubry, I forgive you, and I don’t blame you. You need to learn how to forgive yourself. You need to believe in yourself. You are so amazing. I wish that you could see that. You don’t deserve any of this, Aub. You deserve happiness!”

  I brought her hand up to my lips. “Aubry, we all love you. Please let yourself feel that love. Let yourself know that you are worthy of all of the love in the world. Please forgive yourself . . .” I finished and hugged her to my chest again.

  I looked around the room for the first time since she had her nightmare. My cheeks heated up severely. Everyone was in there watching us like we were a movie.

  By everyone, I meant everyone. All my family, Brandon’s family, Doctor Reed, Doctor Mitchell, and another nurse, plus, Kelsey was standing on the other side of the bed, and Mark was standing behind her supportively. I was at a loss for words in my embarrassment. I knew that I had to figure out a way to make Aubry understand though

  I moved Aubry from my chest and positioned her bed to where it was sitting up. I sat her back on the bed, and gently moved her head to where she could look out in front of her. Her eyes widened as her cheeks reddened.

  “You see all of these people? We all wanted you to wake up and get better. Every single one of us. Aubry, we all love you. Don’t sell yourself short. Don’t let yourself believe that all of us are wrong. Let us love you,” I whispered into her ear and kissed her cheek.

  I got up to let other people visit with her. However, she immediately grabbed my hand and stopped me from walking. I stared at her with wide eyes as I looked in-between our hands and her face.

  “I love you.! Please don’t leave me,” she said with hope in her eyes.

  “Wouldn’t dream of it,” I said simply and kissed her temple. I planted myself into the chair right next to her bed and kept my hand in hers.

  I wasn’t going to let her go ever again.

  I could see her eyes scanning the faces around her. Her face was lit up as she looked at everyone who was there for her. I could see how much love she had for every single person in that room.

  Her eyes immediately stopped scanning the room and widened when she got to one person.

  “K-Kelsey?” she asked while blinking a few times. She was completely and totally shocked to see her sister.

  ***

  Aubry

  “K-Kelsey?” I asked in disbelief when my eyes landed on hers in the crowd before me. My sister, I had to be going insane. Why would she be there?

  “Hey Bee,” she said as tears fell from her eyes. “My baby sister,” she whimpered.

  She opened her arms to hug me. She hesitated as if asking for permission, I nodded my head ever so slightly, as best as I could. Her arms wrapped around me softly and relished in the hug of my big sister.

  Oh, how I have missed her!

  My ribs protested a bit just like with Aiden’s hugs, but I didn’t care even in the slightest. It felt so good to be hugging all of them again. I missed everyone so much.

  “W-What are you doing here, Kelsey?” I asked in a small timid voice.

  “Aiden called me. The doctor said that you might benefit from having everyone you love here with you, so I got on the next available flight and came. I wasn’t sure if that list of people still included me, but I still had to come. Oh my Bee, I should have come years ago. Hell, I should have never left. Oh my God, Aubry . . . I-I thought we lost you. I thought I was never going to be able to see you again! I-I thought—” She broke off, crying profusely.

  “Oh, Aubry! I am so sorry. My little Bee, I-I am sorry. I shouldn’t have left. I should have stayed with you a-and taken care of you! I’m such a horrible sister . . . a horrible person!” She took a breath and wiped some tears out of her eyes. “I- I am so sorry. This—”

  “This is not your fault!” I said, quickly knowing exactly what she was going to say. “Don’t you dare say that. This isn’t anyone’s fault but Ronnie and Daniel’s! And maybe our parents for being such awful parents.”

  I took her hand in mine and stared at her. “Kels, this isn’t your fault. None of this has been!”

  I took a breath and choked back tears. “Kelsey, I have been angry at you for so long for leaving me. I was hurt by you packing up and leaving. I always thought that it was without a second thought, without even a second glance at the sister you were leaving behind. However, now that I see you, I see how hard it must have been to leave me there! I can see the sadness and hurt.

  “It’s easy for me to sit here and say that you shouldn’t have left! To say that you should have stayed with me. But truthfully, I don’t think I would have let you stay for me. I wouldn’t have let you blow your full-ride college scholarship away for me. I wouldn’t have let you stay with me only to get beaten everyday. I know that would have killed you. I me
an, you probably would have ended up killing yourself. Either that, or Sunny and Daniel would have gotten annoyed with you and did it themselves.” My lips sneered at their names.

  “You deserve the life you have. You deserve to be happy! I was never your responsibility. I wasn’t your kid. You are my sister. Like Aiden said to me, I forgive you, so forgive yourself.”

  She sobbed at my words. “Kelsey, I love you so much, and I am so glad that you’re here. I wish we could have talked while you were gone. I wish that things were different. However, they’re not and that’s okay.”

  She shook her head profusely. “We have to live in the present! We can’t keep rehashing old things and reopening old wounds. What’s done is done. Let’s look to the future . . . please?” I paused and caught my breath as my lungs felt like they were squeezing closed.

  When I finally caught my breath, I continued. “Kels, I want you in my life as my sister; not as my stand-in mother, not as someone I have to protect, and not as someone that has to make anything up to me. I want you as my sister who I love so much.” I finished with tears falling down my face quickly.

  I took a brief pause as I just breathed, though it was a little difficult. I looked around the room at all the people that I loved who were left in the room with us. I loved everyone who was in there with me.

  Well, everyone except the guy that was standing protectively next to my sister. He was obviously connected to her somehow.

  “Okay, Bee. You’re too good and amazing. How did you get so selfless?” She wiped a few tears away. “I love you so much.” She wrapped me up in a hug again. “I am so sorry! I love you,” she whispered.

  She pulled back from me and noticed my gaze on the guy beside her. She instantly smiled as she wrapped her hand around his. She beamed widely at me. “Aubry, I’d like you to meet my husband, Mark Richards. Mark this is my sister, Aubry.”

  “You’re married?! That’s amazing, Kels!” I said with a broad smile. It truly was amazing as long as he treated her right. However, I could see how much he cared about her by how protective he was acting.

  “Yeah, it was a simple courthouse marriage last year,” Kelsey said quietly while looking lovingly at her husband.

  He stepped forward and smiled at me. “Is it okay if I give you a hug? I would really like to thank you for watching out for Kelsey and protecting her as much as you did when you were younger,” he said with the smile still on his lips.

  I nodded skeptically. He wrapped his arms around me and whispered into my ear. “Thank you. You really are an incredible person. You are so strong and selfless. Kelsey is so lucky to have you.”

  He released us, and I stared at him completely shocked. Did he really think that? Someone was lucky to have me?

  “If you hurt her, I’ll hurt you. Do you understand?” I said with a serious face.

  Mark nodded wordlessly.

  Kelsey giggled slightly at my words but winced in pain and clutched her stomach slightly. She shook it off quickly and smiled at me.

  “Here, let me give you some time with your . . .” Kelsey paused as she looked around slowly. “. . . family.” She smiled at me and kissed my head. “I’ll still be here; I’ll just be in the waiting room. I’m so happy you’re alive, Bee.”

  “Okay.” I nodded. “Hey Kels, do me a favor and get that baby checked out?”

  “What? how did—”

  “Please? Just do that for me?” I asked softly.

  Kelsey was still looking me bewildered as Mark led her out the door.

  “We will, I’ll make sure of it,” Mark said before they left. I looked after them worriedly.

  Without a second to spare, a small blonde came barreling towards Aiden. “Aubry!” she screamed and jumped onto Aiden’s lap to give her a better reach to me. She sobbed as she hugged me around my neck. “I’m so happy you’re alive! It wouldn’t have been like Pawpaw if you died, you have so much to do and stuffs before you go! You and Aiden have to get married, we have to go to Disneyworld and go camping! There’s so much stuff!” she said with a serious look on her face.

  I looked at Aiden and his cheeks were a slight pink color. I smiled at his embarrassment.

  “Oh, my Cece! I would have missed seeing your beautiful little face!” I said as I tried to kiss her cheek. I still couldn’t move my neck too well though, so it didn’t work out.

  “Does this mean you’re gonna come live with us again? We have an extra room now since Pawpaw is gone! Or you and Bubba can share one like before! You know, he barely slept since you left? He been a giant poop head since you left too! Please come back home? He a big meanie, but he’s not when you’re there!” she said super quickly.

  My eyes were like saucers at the mention of me moving back in. I wasn’t even sure of what to think.

  “Ce, why don’t we give her some time and we’ll talk about that later?” Dana asked and tried to pull her away from me.

  “B-But Mooom!” She whined. Dana gave her “the look” and Cece immediately stopped. “Please Aub? I really want you to move back in and be Aiden’s girlfriend again! He loves you so much! He never even left the hospital while you were here!” she said and kissed my cheek again as her mom exasperatedly pulled her away and out of the room.

  I looked at Aiden with an eyebrow raised. “You really didn’t leave me while I was here?” I asked incredulously.

  “Once,” he replied sheepishly.

  I squeezed his hand and smiled at him. “You’re too amazing,” I stated seriously.

  “I’m happy you’re finally awake. You had everyone seriously scared!” B said with a frown as he engulfed me in a hug, interrupting Aiden and I.

  “I’m sorry,” I said with a sheepish look.

  “It’s not like it was your fault Aubry, but I swear to God, if you ever do that to me ever again, I’ll kill you!” he said with a small smile playing at his lips.

  “Noted.” I rolled my eyes at him.

  He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “I was afraid that all my hard work of getting everyone back together wasn’t going to pay off. You owe me big time now!” he said and ruffled my hair messily.

  He turned his attention to Bri, making me do the same.

  “Aubry . . .” she whispered softly. Suddenly she wrapped her arms around me and cried into my shoulder. My ribs slightly whined, but I ignored it all together. I was simply just so happy to be hugging her again.

  “Aubry, I am so sorry! I was such a bitch. You have every right to hate me!” she said but I shut her up by wrapping my arms around her as well. She froze in surprise at my movements.

  “Thank you Bri. Thank you for saving me. Aiden said that you were the one that saved me. So, thank you for overcoming your fear of Ronnie to save me,” I said into her ear gratefully.

  “I was just doing what you did for me, Aubry.” She wiped her tears away. “I love you. I’ll never doubt you ever again. I am so sorry.”

  “So am I. I love you too . . . best friend.”

  “Best friend,” she confirmed with a laugh and another hug.

  “Well I am appalled!” I heard a voice say from behind them. I drew my attention to the voice and immediately laughed through the pain.

  “Here I thought that I was your best friend!” he said with a chuckle. “I guess I’ll just have to settle for favorite cousin-in-law,” Tommy said and patted the top of my head. “I’m so glad that I didn’t have to kill you for dying. I wasn’t sure how that was going to work out!” He snorted. “I’m so glad that you’ve awakened from your beauty sleep. I wasn’t sure if Aiden could have handled another two weeks in this hell hole!”

  My eyes widened. “Two weeks?! What is today’s date?” I asked in a panicked voice.

  “Friday, May thirty-first.”

  My stomach dropped to the ground.

  As if on cue, there was a knock on the door. Several men sauntered in carelessly without waiting for an invitation. “Could I have a moment with our little Aubry?” a familiar voice asked calml
y.

  My blood went cold, and the heart monitor began beeping incredibly quickly once again.

  Well, there goes my happy ending.

  Chapter Sixty

  Debt

  Aiden

  “Demetri!” Aubry’s voice squeaked out. She cleared her throat and looked around the room at everyone.

  “Um, yeah . . . go ahead and give us a few moments. We have something to discuss,” she said in a fake strong voice. I say fake because I knew that was exactly what it was. She was terrified.

  I could see the hesitance in everyone’s eyes to walk out, but that was exactly what she had asked for. So, everyone else obliged her request. She let go of what little pressure that she was able to squeeze my hand with meaning for me to let go of hers. I didn’t budge. I stayed put.

  “Aiden, seriously I need you to leave,” she said shakily.

  I sighed and let go of her hand. She looked up with a look full of relief and terror. I got up from my chair., instead of leaving like she assumed I was doing, I went over to my backpack that I had stashed in the small linen closet. I pulled out the brown sack that I needed and went back over to my chair. I sat down slowly. All the while, Aubry’s eyes were on me.

  “Aiden, I seriously need you to go.”

  “I’m not leaving you,” I said fiercely as I grasped her hand firmly.

  “Aiden . . . You don’t understand, please just leave,” she said cautiously as she casted a looked at the intimidating man.

  “Aubry, you asked me not to leave you, so I’m not going to,” I said casually.

  “Aiden, please I-I need you to g—” she began, but the man cut her off.

  “Look boy, this is between me and—”

  I cut him off instead.

  “How much does she owe you?”

  The whole room was silent for a moment.

  “H-How do you know?” Aubry asked perplexed.

  “You told me that you owed someone money, and Daniel said that somebody named Demetri was looking for you when he came to tell me what happened with my dad. It’s not hard to put two and two together,” I answered with a shrug.