Jaq With a Q

by Jettie Woodruff

  “I’m sure someone will be in as soon as they get a moment.”

  I didn’t respond to the lady walking out, back to her demanding job. Instead I slowly walked to her, my heart beating too fast in my chest. This was as close as I had been, and it felt surreal, like I suddenly had a purpose.

  To prevent ambiguity, I softly spoke her name. “Jaq?”

  Of course she didn’t answer, she was out. Way out. For five whole minutes, I observed her, spoke in quiet words, and I touched her. First her hand, bound by the wrist. Her nails were bitten so low a couple of them had a trace of blood at the tips. “I’m here, Jaq. You’re okay. You’re fine, and I’m not going to leave you,” I promised, my eyes shifting to her moving fingers. Even though she was in a coma state, I believed she knew I was there. Her fingers danced with mine and then relaxed.

  I took in every single bit of her. Her frail body, her perfect, soft skin, her flawless complexion, her soft curly hair, and her lips. She looked taller than I had alleged on camera, and she had a long scar going down her left thumb I hadn’t noticed before.

  “Michael Williams? Oh, Sorry,” a doctor said, looking to Jaq and then to his chart, realizing he needed to be over one curtain.

  “Wait, has anyone seen her yet?”

  “I’m not sure. We’ve got patients in the halls. Someone will be with you soon.”

  “Can you at least tell me what they gave her to knock her out?”

  The guy shook his head, his reaction asking me if I could hear. “I don’t know. Excuse me.”

  I turned back to Jaq, happy that I didn’t choose that route as my career, and spoke sarcastic words to my sleeping Jaq. “I’m glad you’re in good hands.”

  Anxiously waiting for her to wake up or our turn to see a doctor, I concentrated on her. Every single feature. Fifteen minutes of nothing but staring feeling like seconds. I could stare at her all day.

  “Excuse me, we’re going to move her out to the hall. We need this room. We have a gunshot coming in the squad.”

  I looked up to the two nurses, wheeling Jaq out, protesting their priorities. “Whoa, seriously? We’re getting kicked out of the emergency room? What kind of hospital is this?”

  The Doogie Houser looking nurse stopped rolling her out, his deadpan expression on me. “So you want us to let someone else die because you want your turn? That it?”

  I took a deep breath and waved for them to continue. Of course, that’s not what I wanted. “Can you at least tell me what they gave her?”

  The same nurse looked at the identity on her wrist and then the chart below his arm. “Acute mania, chlorpromazine, haloperidol, and lithium. She could be out for hours.”

  At first, it pissed me off. Acute mania, my ass. They didn’t know her, but then—the wheels started to turn. The nurse was right. That was enough to put an Elephant to sleep. With a little help, Jaq could be at the lake house before she woke. I followed them to the hall, my finger already on Silas’s number. This was so crazy, yet I knew it was about to happen.

  Watching them just leave her there in the middle of the busy hall, I begged for a favor.

  “Hey, Oliver. I’m going to have to call you back, getting ready to jump on a plane.”

  “Silas, I need your help. Right now.”

  Of course the desperation in my tone stopped him in his tracks. The worry was heard in his tone.

  “What’s wrong, Oliver?”

  “It’s Jaq. I need you to come here and help me, and, I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I need your plane. Can you get it here? I have four to six hours.”

  “Four to six hours for what, Oliver? What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Please just trust me, Silas. Can you do it or not? I don’t have time for this. Can you do it or not?”

  “Jesus, Oliver. Now? Are you serious? God. Yes, yes. I’ll figure it out.”

  Silas hung up without another word, and I wondered what the hell to do next. I needed to go to my condo, pack a bag, and grab a few things, but I didn’t want to leave her there alone. What if she woke up?

  Knowing my only option, I dialed his number.

  “She okay?” Wallace answered.

  “She will be. Can you get a ride here? To the hospital? I need you to hang out with her while I go to my house for a few things.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  “Sweet, can you run by her place, look for her phone and her medication? Oh, and her laptop. Grab that and anything else you think she might want.”

  “On my way.”

  It took nearly twenty minutes for Silas to call me back, and forty for Wallace to finally get there. And yes, we were still hanging out in the hall. Nobody even paid attention to her, nobody cared.

  Silas would be on the ground in an hour and a half. All I had to do was grab a few things from my house, and get Jaq there. After making Wallace promise not to leave her side and call me if a doctor happened to take time to see her, I dashed out, deciding a cab right out front was quicker than fetching my own car.

  I gave him directions, offering an extra fifty to get me there in ten minutes. It wasn’t the safest idea, and I may have prayed for my life a couple times, but it worked. I made it there in nine minutes, took five to throw things in two oversized duffle bags, and be back within thirty-minutes.

  “They come and see her yet?” I panted, my hands on my knees while I tried to catch my breath.

  “Nope, not a one. Watch you gonna do?”

  “I’m taking her back home to Maine with me. Can you help me get her out of here?”

  “We gonna steal her?”

  I came to an upright stand, shooting daggers at him with my expression. “No, it’s not stealing. Do you think anyone else is going to take care of her? Are you in or not? I don’t have much time.”

  “What we gonna do?”

  I looked around the busy hall, and gave Wallace directions. “Go grab that wheelchair over there.”

  Wallace walked away and I unbuckled the straps, holding Jaq to the bed. “Stop looking like we’re doing something wrong. You look way too suspicious.”

  “We about to steal a person,” Wallace reminded me in a loud whisper.

  “Shhh, shut up. We’re not stealing her. She’s mine.”

  Jesus, what the hell was wrong with me?

  “Can you drive?” I questioned, my hand covering Jaq’s wrist as a nurse passed, her eyes meeting mine.

  Wallace took the keys from my hand, wearing a smile. “’Course, where’s it at?”

  “L3, in the parking garage.”

  “I’ll be out front in five minutes.”

  I took a deep breath and watched him scurry down the hall, a ball of nerves stuck in my throat. With a deep breath, I looked around and scooped her up, knowing with everything in me this was right. Her head dropped to my chest and I kissed her forehead, soft curls tickling my nose. “I’m going to take care of you now, Jaq. You’re okay. You never have to worry again. I’ll take care of you, I promise.” With another kiss to her soft skin, I placed her in the chair, propping her hand below her chin to make it look more natural, and wheeled her out. Down the hall, past three nurse’s stations, and right out the double doors, my anxieties jumping clean out of my skin, and nobody caring. Not one.

  Wallace jumped out and opened the back door and I slid Jaq into the back seat, a deep sense of relief taking over my body when I closed the door and looked around.

  I smiled at Wallace and pulled a crisp one-hundred-dollar bill from my wallet, slapping it to his hand. “You’ve got a lot of potential, Wallace. Stay away from that gang and make your mama proud.”

  “Nah, man. You keep it.”

  Wallace tried to shove the bill back into my hand, but I wouldn’t take it. “You keep it. Thanks for your help, and I mean what I said. Don’t be a thug. You’ve got too much possibility. You already know how good it feels to help someone else. That’s you being true to you. Keep doing that, you’ll be way happier.”

  Had I had
more time, I would have tried to talk to the kid more, maybe even befriended him, taught him a few things, but I didn’t. I didn’t have the time and I had someone else to take care of, someone not tough and rough around the edges like Wallace. He could take care of himself, Jaq couldn’t.

  Wallace stuck the money in his front pocket and walked backwards toward the approaching bus. “She ever gonna come back?”

  “Never. You take care.”

  “See, ya, man.”

  I repositioned Jaq in the backseat, making her more comfortable, before jumping into the driver’s seat. The nerves weren’t from kidnapping a girl in broad day light at all. It was the stupid plane. Silas would never agree to take her without me. I had to get on it. On a plane.

  Traffic was horrible. Of course, it was; it was New York. Thoughts bounced in and out of my mind, causing quick bouts of adrenaline to shoot through my veins, over and over and over. A girl wearing a hospital gown, knocked out cold, slept in my backseat, my brother was headed my way to pick her and me up in a plane, I was taking her to the lake house and keeping her like she was mine. Like she belonged to me. Yes, my mind had been lost. Jesus, what the hell was I doing?

  Silas walked out of the ginormous garage dressed in a suit minus the jacket, his tie hanging out of his front pocket, his shirt unbuttoned, and his eyes covered with expensive shades.

  I looked back to Jaq and got out of my car, anxiously worrying. I didn’t have time for this. I wanted her in her tranquil room, with soft white linen and calming lavender scent. “Where’s the plane?”

  Silas pointed out to the cloudy sky to a small plane a few miles out. “I flew commercial. What the fuck are you doing, Oliver?”

  For an odd moment, I felt like a kid again, defending myself for my wrong doing. “I had to, Silas.”

  With his hands in his front pockets, Silas looked into my back glass. “A hospital gown. Why is she in a hospital gown? Are we kidnapping this girl?”

  “No. It’s not kidnapping.”

  Silas walked around two quick circles, his fingers running through his hair and a muffled groan coming from deep in his throat. “Did you take her from a mental hospital?”

  “No.”

  “Thank God.”

  “It was a regular one.”

  Another two spins around the blacktop, the same moan, but this time his tie went around his throat and he pretended to tighten it, taking himself out of the picture. Silas walked toward me closing the distance between us in three quick steps. He scratched his chin like he had some sort of horrible itchy rash, a nervous gesture to calm his nerves. I knew exactly how he felt because I felt it, too.

  “We are. We’re fucking kidnapping a human being. We’re both going to spend the rest of our lives in prison.”

  “We’re not going to prison, Silas. Nobody even knows this girl exists.”

  Silas walked away, spun on his heels, and walked right back, stopping right smack dab in my face. “She came from somewhere, Oliver. She didn’t just fall out of the sky. She’s someone’s daughter, someone’s sister, someone’s cousin.”

  It was hard to be strong and stand up to Silas when an airplane was moments away from landing, taking us high up in the sky, but I did manage. I achieved in spouting off reminding words of where we came from. “Like us?”

  “If we get caught, so help me, God,” he warned, a wagging finger right to my nose.

  “We won’t, but listen. Do you think you can get her there in the plane? I’m going to need my car once I get there.”

  Silas smiled with a cocky smirk and dialed a number. “Yeah, I’m going to need you to deliver a car from New York to Maine for me. Great, sure, no problem. I’ll text you the details.”

  I crossed my arms and shook my head, knowing for sure that I wouldn’t be getting out of it. “I hate you. You’re a dick, you know that, right?”

  “Hey, you’re making me kidnap a girl. This is my chance to get your stupid ass on a plane. I’m taking it.”

  I watched the plane land, trying like hell to talk the nerves down. “You’re still a dick. I’ve got some bags in the back. You get them, I’ll get her,” I ordered, my eyes trying not to notice his scrutiny on me, taking Jaq from the car. That only lasted a minute. Her soft forehead landed on my lips as I scooped her up, and suddenly, Silas didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but her. It was strange actually. I was the one protecting her, yet I felt a strong sense of security myself.

  Silas continued to watch while I attentively took care of her, placing her safely in her seat and strapping her in. As safe as you could be in one of these things, that is. I sat beside her, taking the window seat, noticeably clenching my jaw.

  It had been nineteen years since my feet left the ground, and I was doing it for a girl. Who would have thought?

  Silas “Relax, we’re not going to crash.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard that before. How long is this going to take?”

  “A little over an hour. How long will she be out?”

  I looked to Jaq, her eyes closed, and her head on my shoulder. Refraining from kissing her head again in front of Silas, I looked out the window to the guy refueling the plane. “I would say a couple hours, maybe a little longer.”

  “Here, take this. And then what?”

  Normally I wasn’t a pill popper, but this was an exception. I didn’t even ask what it was, I tossed it to the back of my throat and dry swallowed it, hoping like hell it worked fast. “Nothing. She’s going to wake up in her room and I’m going to take care of her.”

  Silas rested his ankle over his knee, his hand grasping gray socks, and his eyes hooded, on me. “You know you sound like a real freak right now, right?”

  “I don’t care what you think, Silas. Whoa, what was that?” My posture stiffened, my hands white knuckled the arm rests, and my eyes widened.

  “Nothing, relax. It’s just the crew buttoning everything up for takeoff. Another ten minutes and you won’t give a shit.”

  “What the hell did you give me?”

  “Just a valium, don’t worry, get your mind off the plane. Are you just going to lock her in her room?”

  I tried to ease up on my grip, but it didn’t work, I didn’t want to do this. “No, I’m not locking her in anywhere. She’ll be free to come and go as she pleases,” I replied, although I was sure she wouldn’t.

  Silas looked to his phone, his thumbs typing out a full length message while he talked to me. “And what about when she wakes up and freaks out on you? What are you planning on doing when she comes after you with a knife?”

  I frowned at my idiot brother, sure that would never happen. “She wouldn’t do that. She’s not like that. You don’t even know her.”

  “And you do?”

  My fingers began to tap both arm rests when the plane moved, slowly making its way to the runway where it would take off, high into the sky. I held the air in my lungs waiting for it, trying not to relive the feelings of the last time I was on a plane. It felt real, exactly how it had that day when I knew we were going to crash, that terrified feeling that slams into you from out of nowhere.

  “Oliver, will you relax? This plane is not going to crash. You’re being silly.”

  “Am I?” I questioned as the lines beside me moved faster and faster, gaining momentum for the liftoff. That’s when I closed my eyes.

  “Maybe you should count the colors in Skittles.”

  “Shut the fuck up.”

  Silas laughed, but without counting Skittles, he did try to keep me calm. “You want a drink?”

  “You just gave me valium. I can’t drink.”

  “Not if you play by the rules. Since when did we ever do that?”

  One eye opened, seeing the land below moving further and further away. “I’ve been playing by the rules since dad died. Yes, give me a drink.”

  “Um, you just kidnapped someone. That’s not playing by the rules.”

  “I mean until now, Silas. I know you don’t understand this, hell, I don’t under
stand it, but it’s a fire I just can’t put out and ignore. I have never been so captivated in my entire life. I’ve spent the last thirteen years of my life learning more and more, jumping from career to career to try to be like everyone else. Jaq did just fall from the sky, purposely being dropped in my path for a reason. I truly believe that, Silas.”

  “That’s because your dad was a quantum physics geek, and he gave it to you. This has nothing to do with the positive energy and the vibrations you’re emitting. This is a real life, Oliver, a real human being.”

  “With no one. You of all people should know how that feels. What if we didn’t have each other?”

  “You wouldn’t have anyone to help you kidnap people.”

  “I’ll make it up to you.”

  “I’m holding you to that.”

  Silas spent the entire hour-and-fifteen minutes counting Skittles with me. Every time he sensed my tension, he asked me questions that took my attention away from it. I’m not sure if it was the strong drink or the valium, maybe the mixture, but he was right. I never freaked out a bit, not really. The landing was a little frightening, but it was quick, over before I knew it.

  “There’s a rental car waiting on you. Grant will be there sometime tonight with your car. Leave the keys in the ignition so he can take the rental back.”

  A shot of panic hit me, but only for a second. Thanks to my brother, the adrenaline rush seemed to bounce off, squashed by an uncaring feeling. “You can’t leave. I have to go buy her things. She’s in a hospital gown. What if that dickhead sheriff pulls me over going through town?”

  “I can’t Oliver. I’ve got a big meeting in four hours. I have to get to Connecticut.”

  “Some business deal is more important than this? Than me?”

  “Really? You sound like you grew a vagina. You’re a big boy. This is your deal, not mine. I’ve got obligations, and you already fucked up one of them.”

  Of course, my tail feathers rose with my ego. My hand went to my crotch and I aimed it toward him like a teenage boy again. “I’ve got your vagina.”

  Silas laughed and stood to help with my things. Once again, I lifted Jaq into my arms, letting her head rest on my lips, and followed him out.