Safe (Conquering)

by Ryan Michele

  Rushing out to my truck, I threw it in drive as I called Renzo.

  “Landon, what’s up?”

  “Sadie’s gone. We don’t know where she went.”

  “What do you mean gone?”

  I told Renzo everything that was going on.

  “Maybe she just needed some time away from ya,” Renzo answered.

  “Yeah. I thought that, too, but the panic in Lauryn’s voice told me something else is going on. Remember Sadie came here because she needed a change?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I know there’s more to the story. I’m going over to Lauryn’s to see what else I can find out.”

  “Be there in five.” Renzo hung up.

  I called Lukas next and explained everything.

  His response, “Be there in five.” One thing was for sure: I could always count on my brothers.

  Pulling up to Lauryn’s house, I could see her pacing through the window. She had the phone pulled up to her ear. I didn’t even knock, I just went right in. I was only able to hear one side of the conversation, which I believe was to her mom.

  “She’s not here.”

  “I mean she’s not here. Her shit is packed, and her car is gone.”

  “Mom, what’s going on?”

  “Fine. Hurry Up!”

  Lauryn pushed the screen on her phone and threw it on the couch.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “I don’t fucking know. Mom knows something, but won’t tell me on the phone. She’s on her way here. She’ll be here in a couple minutes.”

  Lauryn kept pacing the living room, back and forth. She was driving me fucking batty. She had the phone up to her ear repeatedly calling Sadie, leaving her a message to call her back, and then she’d do it again.

  Renzo and Lukas walked in the door, also not knocking. It seemed we all felt pretty at home here.

  “What’s going on?” Renzo asked.

  “Don’t know. Waiting for Maggie to get here.” I replied.

  Both Renzo and Lukas sat on the couch. Renzo’s eyes were focused on Lauryn. He watched her pace back and forth never once breaking contact. Lauryn was in her calling Sadie world and didn’t even notice.

  The door opened and Maggie walked through.

  Lauryn rushed to her. “Mom what is going on?”

  Maggie shut the door, and I got up to join in them.

  “Sweetheart, I really don’t know, but it’s not a good thing that she went home.”

  “It’s because of that guy, isn’t it?”

  Maggie let out a deep breath. “Sarah doesn’t know for sure what’s going on. Sadie was with a guy, Rob, for a very long time, and he’s bad news. Sadie was sent down here to get away from him.”

  “Sent … down here?” I asked.

  “Yes. She agreed, but she didn’t want to leave. I don’t know what sparked her to go flying home. I need to call Sarah.”

  “Is she gonna be okay, Mom?” Lauryn asked quietly. I watched as Renzo walked up to Lauryn and wrapped his arms around her. Lauryn began sobbing.

  “So it’s been a few hours. She couldn’t have gotten that far, but we’ll never catch up to her. You need to call her mom and let her know she’s coming.”

  Maggie nodded and began plugging away on her phone. “Sarah?”

  “Sadie is on her way there … No. I don’t know why she took off.”

  “I do,” I interrupted.

  “What?” was said in unison, all eyes pointing at me.

  “I did something today, and I’m not sure what, but she was pissed when I left her here.”

  “So you think she left because of you?” Lauryn asked.

  “What other reason could there be, especially if that asshole is there.”

  Maggie returned to the phone, relaying my words, “She left at least five hours ago.”

  “I don’t know.” Maggie turned to me. “All right. Let me know when she gets there.”

  Maggie hung up the phone and turned to us. “She’ll call when she gets there.”

  “So what do we do? Just wait?” I asked, not feeling at all patient.

  Maggie’s arm wrapped around me. “Yes. We wait.”

  Pain. My head, arm, shoulder … everywhere, there was pain.

  “Uhh,” I grunted, barely audible.

  “Oh, hey honey, come home to visit me?” Rob’s voice cut through me.

  My eyes could barely open, but I could see Rob standing over me in his uniform, smiling down at me. I felt as though I was laying on leaves or dirt, but I had no idea where I was.

  Blow after blow. I could feel every single one. His kicks to my ribs and head were becoming more forceful. “You stupid bitch, thinking you could keep away from me.” Kick.

  I knew I needed to stay awake. If I didn’t, it would all be over. Maybe this was what I needed, for it to all be over.

  My eyes began to cross.

  Bam. To my head.

  Kick. To my ribs.

  My arms were so weak I couldn’t wrap them around myself. I tried my best to curl into a ball, but then he began kicking my back.

  “You fucking whore!”

  Kick. Kick. Kick.

  The pain was unbearable, but as it continued, I started to feel numb, and I knew that was bad. But I couldn’t fight back, I couldn’t move. There was nothing there.

  I kept taking blow after blow. A lone tear fell from my eye. I knew this was the end—the end of Sadie McKenny. I didn’t want to die like this. But I didn’t want to live like this either.

  Sadness encroached me. I would never see Seth again. I would never tell him or Mom bye. I would never tell Macy how much she meant to me.

  I would never tell Landon I was sorry for the way I acted. I would never tell him how I felt about him or how much I cared about him.

  This was it.

  Rob suddenly stopped his assault and leaned down to my ear, “I need to fuck you so you know who you belong to bitch.”

  No … no! If I had to go like this, I did not want him to do this, but I couldn’t move.

  He rolled me over to my back, but I kept my knees against my chest where they were. “Come on, honey, you know you want this.”

  “No,” was all I could croak out.

  Rob pried my legs away from my body and placed his knees on them to hold them down. The tears continued to flow down my face.

  “Oh, look the bitch is crying … boo-hoo …”

  Rob began to unbutton my shorts and pull them down. He only got so far since he was pinning my legs down.

  I turned my head and opened my mouth slowly. I tasted the tang of iron in my mouth. I knew I was bloody. I couldn’t stop the tears. I couldn’t find my words. I was just there. I couldn’t escape like before. I. Was. Just. There.

  “Fuck!” Rob yelled.

  My head slowly turned to the bright headlights coming our way. We must be close to the road. Hope washed through my body.

  I felt Rob remove himself from on top of me, but his foot made hard contact with my stomach. I could feel my body jump from the ground, but then I heard the best sound—his footsteps retreating. His boots were crushing the ground, but running farther away.

  I looked around at my surroundings, willing something in my body to work. But nothing would. I couldn’t roll on my side. My arms didn’t want to go anywhere. My legs were like sticks.

  I knew if I didn’t do something, I wouldn’t be found.

  “He-lp …” My voice was soft and croaky, but I tried again. “He-lp …”

  Nothing.

  “He-lp …” My tears kept falling, and hope was slowly fading away when no one answered me.

  There were no more lights or sounds. I didn’t know where Rob was, but I prayed he wouldn’t come back, even though he was the only one who knew where I was.

  “Sadie!” I heard a woman’s voice calling my name from far away.

  “Help.”

  “Sadie!” I heard again.

  I willed my body to move, but nothing.

/>   “Help,” I kept croaking out.

  The voices, now I heard several, were calling out to me. “Sadie!”

  “Help …”

  They were so close to me. I got blinded by their flashlights every once and a while. I kept trying. “He … lp.”

  “Oh my God! Over here!” This came from a male voice I didn’t recognize.

  “Sadie! Sadie! Oh my God! What happened?” I heard my mom’s frantic voice, but I couldn’t move.

  “Mom,” I whispered.

  “Yeah, baby. Mama’s here. Jackson, call 9-1-1 now.”

  “Mom,” I said again. I just needed to make sure she was there.

  “I’m here, baby.” I felt her touch my hair.

  Relief filled me, and then everything went black.

  Nine fucking hours I’d been in this living room losing my ever-loving mind. No one had any answers. No one had called us. Nothing. So I paced. I sat. I paced again. I walked outside and paced. I sat. No one dared talk to me.

  Renzo tried and I nearly bit his head off. I didn’t mean to, but damn it. After that, everyone steered clear of me. I just needed to know she made it home safe. That was it. Anything else, we’d work out when she got back. I just needed the call.

  Lauryn calmed down, and she fell asleep on the couch. Renzo and Lukas were watching some shit on TV. Maggie had been cooking up a storm. I guessed trying to stay busy, and Jim had been sitting at the island with her.

  Me. I was waiting.

  Maggie’s phone began to chirp and all eyes swung to her. “It’s Sarah.”

  “Sarah.”

  “Oh my God.” Maggie placed her hand over her mouth, gasping.

  “What!” I yelled. Maggie held up one finger for me to wait. I didn’t want to wait. I’d been doing that the past ten hours.

  “Is she okay?”

  “What do you think happened?”

  “Call me as soon as you talk to the doctors.”

  Doctors. I felt the blood rush out of my body. Doctors mean she was hurt. Sadie was hurt. Fuck. Maggie hung up the phone. Her skin now pale, she didn’t say anything.

  “What happened?” I yelled, causing her to jump.

  “Sadie was in a really bad car accident. Her car hit a tree. But the weird part is she was found quite a ways away, and her injuries aren’t adding up.”

  “What are you talking about … not adding up?” I asked, getting closer to her.

  “Well, when they found her, both of her eyes were swollen almost shut. She wasn’t able to move her body at all. She had bruises on every single part of her.” Maggie stopped and looked at me and whispered, “Some looked like boot prints.”

  “Boot prints? What the fuck?” I yelled.

  “Oh my God,” I heard Lauryn gasp behind me. “Mom, did he find her?”

  “Wait …” My patience was wearing extremely thin.

  Maggie began to talk, not letting me finish. “He … is the reason she had to leave. Sadie has had lots of ‘accidents’ in the past few years. We all chalked them up to accidents.”

  “But they weren’t,” I said, stunned. Sadie was getting away from an asshole that was hitting her, and he found her. “Fuck!” I yelled.

  The blood that left my body was now back in full force, and it was boiling hot. I wanted to find this fucker and kill him with my bare hands. “You mean to tell me that some fucker was beating on Sadie?” I asked Maggie.

  “Landon, she never came out and said that was what was happening. Sarah overheard Rob telling Sadie he would kill the people she loved if she talked. There’s something else you should know.”

  “What?” I barked.

  “He’s a cop.”

  “A fucking cop was beating her? And no one did anything about it?” I was beyond irate. How could they not help her away from this creep?

  “Landon, she never told any of us.”

  “Bullshit. You see that shit, you take care of it.”

  I grabbed my keys and phone from the counter and walked to the door.

  “Where are you going, bro?” I heard Renzo ask.

  “I’m getting on a plane. I’ll be there with her. It seems no one else gives a shit some asshole is beating her up.”

  “I’m coming with you,” I heard Maggie say.

  “I am, too,” Renzo added.

  “Fine. Lauryn can I use your computer?” I needed a flight, and I needed it now.

  Getting a flight and then actually getting to Michigan took for-fucking-ever. Not to mention the pain in the ass of renting a car with GPS so we could find our way around this place.

  Maggie called Sarah as soon as we touched down. The doctors said Sadie had a concussion, several broken ribs, a partially collapsed lung, a broken nose, and something going on with her back; not to even mention that she was purple from head to toe in bruises.

  She was in such a state that they put her in a drug-induced coma. The doctors still didn’t know when they were going to try to pull her out.

  Her injuries were still too bad to judge, and they needed her to heal more first. There was still no change. Sadie had machines breathing for her.

  The thought of this crushed me. I knew it would be hard to see her like this, but I needed to get there. And now we were here, and part of me was scared shitless to go inside the hospital.

  “Come on, Landon. Let’s go.” Renzo’s voice was commanding. He knew that I needed it to get my ass moving.

  I began to follow them in. Maggie was in the lead. Sarah had told her exactly where to go—the ICU. I needed to get to her.

  Passing the elevator, we turned down a long corridor, turning into a large room. A petite woman with auburn hair jumped up and ran into Maggie’s arms, immediately crying. Maggie wrapped her arms tightly around her. “It’s okay Sarah. I’m here,” she said in her ear.

  “Where is she?” I said, breaking it up.

  Sarah’s eyes met mine. “You must be Landon,” she croaked through her tears.

  “Yes. I don’t mean to be rude. But where is she?” I didn’t want to be a prick, but damn it, I needed to see her.

  Sarah stared at me as if I had grown seven heads, but finally spoke, “Go through those doors there. They’ll ask you who you are, who you’re here to see, then they’ll take you back.”

  I took off without another word. Turning the handle to the door, I slipped through. The room was U-shaped with a nurse’s station in the middle of it. I walked slowly up to the woman in the purple scrubs sitting and looking at her computer.

  “Can I help you?” she asked in a very quiet tone.

  “I’m here to see Sadie McKenny.”

  “And you are?” she asked.

  “Landon Ellison.”

  “Hello Landon. Sadie’s mom said you’d be coming. She’s in room five on the left hand side. You’re welcome to go there.” The lady pointed in the direction I was supposed to go and I went.

  This place was scarily eerie. Everyone was super quiet and talked all in hushed voices. I knew it was the ICU, but there seemed to be no life here. That thought alone scared the shit out of me.

  I walked past doors slowly, but I didn’t dare look inside them. One, two, three, four, I finally turned to face five. Blowing out a deep breath, I reached for the handle on the door.

  Turning it slowly, I felt a wave of fear crash through me. The uncertainty of what was behind the door tore my insides apart. Letting out a huge breath, I pushed the door open.

  The first thing that assaulted me was the smell of alcohol, the rubbing kind that Mom used. It was strong and attempted to knock me on my ass. Beeps and buzzing filled the air of the room. I assumed those were the breathing machines and such.

  Looking over at the bed, I saw someone. They told me this was Sadie’s room, but whoever was in that bed looked nothing like her.

  This person was purple and black on every part of her skin—head, neck, face, hands. Eyes were swollen shut and bulging. Her entire neck and face had swollen up, and even with the large white bandage wrapped around
her head, it looked twice the size it should.

  The large tube down her throat was what made all of that noise. It was also keeping her alive.

  Hair—Sadie’s hair.

  Oh. My. God. It really was her.

  Part of me was hoping I was in the wrong room. But I wasn’t. My beautiful Sadie was lying there, barely alive. I rushed over to the seat next to her and carefully took her bruised hand in mine. “Sadie?” I whispered. “I’m here, baby.”

  I leaned down to her hand and placed a small kiss on her unusually hot skin. I needed to ask someone about this. I laid my head down on the bed next to her hand, looking at her beautiful face. Her beautiful face that someone hurt.

  I held her hand tightly, and I felt an enormous amount of sadness wash over me. How could anyone lay their hands on a woman? How could anyone lay their hands on Sadie? Why would someone do this to her? How long had this been going on? Why hadn’t anyone put a stop to it?

  Tears began to fall down my face and crash onto the white sheet of the bed. My entire body ached for Sadie’s pain. I wished it was me in that bed instead.

  She did not deserve this. Sadie was such a beautiful person; no one should ever hurt like this.

  I closed my eyes and let all these overwhelming emotions crash into me. My tears turned into sobs, but I was very careful not to squeeze her hand too tightly.

  “Landon?” I heard my brother’s voice whispered from behind me.

  I didn’t move a muscle. “Yeah,” I choked out between my tears.

  Renzo muttered, “Fuck.” I could hear his boots clicking on the tiled floor.

  He placed a hand on my shoulder, not saying a word, and I continued to sob.

  “Who did this?” I barked at the room in front of me as I burst through the door. The earlier sadness I felt was still there, but something more powerful hit me full force—anger.

  The entire room jumped at my words and began to all look at each other frantically. “Who. Did. This?” I barked again. Why was no one fucking answering me.

  Sadie’s mom, Sarah, stood up from her chair and walked over to me. I really didn’t want her close to me because I was liable to blow at any given second. The fact that she wasn’t saying anything as she walked toward me was pissing me off more.

  “Landon, I’m Sarah, Sadie’s mom,” she said in a very calm voice.