Building the Family

by Amy DeMeritt

  My phone starts ringing, interrupting our conversation with a call from the pizza delivery guy. We quickly go downstairs and pay for our amazing smelling pizza and wings. Just as we’re just about to walk in the door, I hear arguing behind me. I look back and see Whitney and her boyfriend approaching. She’s walking ahead of him very quickly towards our building and she’s telling him to go away.

  “Take this and get inside.”

  I hand Madison the food and push her inside and hold the door open enough that Whitney and I can slip inside, but hopefully can get it closed before Darren can get through. Whitney spots me and starts jogging towards me. Darren laughs and picks up his pace. We get inside and get the door closed just before he reaches for the door handle.

  “Open the door, Whitney. This conversation is not over.” Whitney is visibly shaking, she is so scared. “No, it’s over. I’m done. There’s nothing else to talk about.”

  “To hell there isn’t. You’re not going to throw away eighteen months over a misunderstanding.”

  “It’s not a misunderstanding. It’s you being a crazy person. I’m not a psychologist and I’m not going to pretend to be one every time you go crazy. I don’t want a head patient; I want a boyfriend.” He slams his fist against the glass and his face contorts into something scary and vicious. “Fuck you, Whitney!” He turns to leave, so we go upstairs.

  As soon as we get inside our dorm room, Whitney breaks down crying on my chest. I wrap my arms around her and hold her close. Her whole body is shaking. I glance at Madison, who is sitting on the edge of the bed watching with concern. I open my mouth to ask Whitney what happened, but before I can get the words out, our door slams open and Darren comes in. Whitney gasps and clings to me tightly.

  With a shaky voice, she asks, “How did you get in?”

  “Someone else was coming in.” He looks at me with an ugly glare and takes a step closer to us. “This is your fault. You, skanky fucking dyke, slept with her and turned her against me.”

  “Darren, stop.”

  He grabs her roughly by the arm and throws her on her bed. He walks right up to me, pushing his chest against me and looking down at me like he’s going to kill me.

  “Did you fuck her? I want you to tell me to my face.”

  “Darren, please stop. Kayla and I never…”

  “Shut up! I’m not talking to you. Answer me, dyke.”

  I look over at Whitney and she’s trembling so badly I’m afraid she’s going to be sick or have a heart attack or something. I look up at Darren and take a deep breath. He looks like he’s ready to hit somebody and I’d rather it be me if he does.

  “What if I did?”

  His eyes flare with so much rage he looks like he’s envisioning killing me. He pushes against me, getting me off-balance for a moment. He looks at Whitney and starts to turn to her, but I grab his arm and pull him back.

  “I’m your problem, so leave her alone.” He gets in my face and practically growls at me. “Did you fuck her?”

  “If I tell you the truth, will you leave her alone?” His jaw tenses and his eyes flash at Whitney and then down at me again. “Kayla, don’t.” Whitney stands up, but he pushes her back down again and pops his chest against me again. “I don’t want that whore anymore, but I’m not leaving this room without justice. You’re going to pay for breaking up something so beautiful. Tell me the truth.”

  “No, I never slept with Whitney. She is not a whore, so stop fucking calling her one. Now, you made a deal. You have the truth, so now you have to leave her alone.” He lets out a loud evil sounding laugh and pushes me. “I’m supposed to believe you never slept with her? When I’m staring you down about to punch you in the face? I’ll leave her alone, but I don’t fucking believe you.”

  Before I can react, he slams his huge fist into my stomach. I bend over with the wind knocked out of me, and a moment later, his fist makes contact with the left side of my face. I go down hard with hot searing pain radiating through my head and stomach. He kicks me in the ribs a couple times and stomps down on my left hand as he turns to leave. I see him walk out just before I black out.

  Chapter Twenty

  I wake up in a panic, but Madison is quickly at my side with her hand on my cheek. She has tears in her eyes as she bends down over me and gently kisses me on the lips.

  “Where am I?”

  “The hospital. Darren broke three of your ribs in a few places, fractured one, and broke your pinky finger on your left hand.” She chokes back a sob and bends down to kiss me again. I try to sit up, but I get an agonizing sharp pain in my side and lay back down. “Baby, don’t try to move.”

  “Where’s Whitney? Is she ok?” She nods and strokes her thumb over my cheek. “She’s out in the hall talking to the police. They’re looking for Darren now.”

  “How long have I been out?”

  “Almost two days. Your parents flew out. They got here yesterday, but they’re at the school talking to them about what’s going to be done with Darren and how to handle the time you’re going to miss from school to recover.”

  “Do you know how long I’ll be out of commission?” She frowns and kisses my lips again. “You have to stay in the hospital till your pain is managed and you can walk, but when you’re released, it will be one to two months for your ribs to fully heal. You should be able to go back to classes after they release you from the hospital.”

  “Well, this was not the ending to a fantastic weekend that I imagined. I was really looking forward to pigging out on the wings and pizza with my beautiful girl. Then falling asleep with you on my chest singing to me.” Madison smiles and runs her fingers through my hair. “We will still have that night. Once you get out of here and you’re able to handle me laying on your chest again. Oh, before I forget, I let Sam know what happened. She wanted to turn around and come back, but her friends can’t afford to miss anymore classes. She’s really upset and has been calling and texting constantly to check on you. They got back to campus today. She asked me to have you call her when you wake up.”

  “I’m surprised she didn’t just turn the car around.” Madison laughs in a sad way. “She did. They wouldn’t let her drive anymore once they were able to get her to pull over so they could turn back in the correct direction for school.”

  “You’re awake!” Whitney comes rushing over and bends down to kiss my cheek. “Kayla, I am so, so, so sorry. He has never actually hit anyone over our fights before. I am so sorry this happened. Are you in pain?”

  “Yes, a lot. How do I get some medicine around this place?” Whitney starts to walk away, but Madison lifts a short wand with a red button that’s attached to a long wire. “Here, press this. It calls your nurse.”

  I smile and press the button. Within only moments of pressing the button, a beautiful woman with dirty blonde hair pulled into a ponytail and dressed in slate blue scrubs walks in. She is built similar to Madison and has a very pretty, kind looking face.

  “Well, look whose finally awake! How are you feeling pretty eyes?” I smile and my cheeks blush a little bit. “Like I got beat up.” She smiles compassionately and starts checking some machines that I’m hooked up to. “Let me take your place a moment.” Whitney quickly steps aside and my beautiful nurse leans over me to look at my face. She has really pretty green eyes and her lips look like plump little strawberries. “Kayla, I’m Shannon. I’m just going to check the swelling in your face. I’m sorry if this hurts.”

  She gently prods at my cheek and around my eye, making me wince and clench my stomach muscles, which then makes me groan in agony from my ribs.

  “I’m sorry, sweetie. Take this button. You have pain medicine attached to your IV and this button will release it into the IV, which will quickly get into your bloodstream. You can press this twice in one hour. If your pain is still too severe after you’ve used the IV, we can get you another form of oral medication.”

  I quickly press the button twice and try to take a few deep breaths to relax, but that j
ust causes more pain. I try to breathe more shallowly, but Shannon places her hand on my chest and shakes her head.

  “Don’t do that. You have to keep breathing deeply or you will cause yourself lung complications. Slowly, breathe in till you fill your belly.” She holds her hands on my chest and stomach and I try to breathe in, but it hurts too much and tears prickle at the corners of my eyes. “Just try to breathe like you were before I came in here.” I close my eyes and try to focus on my breathing. “Good, now, try a little deeper, Kayla.” I try to take in a little more air and my ribs scream at me again. I push through the pain and tears leak from both of my eyes. “Ok, breathe normal again.”

  After several minutes of breathing exercises, she gently rubs my stomach and rests her hand there again. I open my eyes and the look of kindness staring back at me is a beautiful contrast from the last look I remember seeing before I ended up here.

  “How do you feel about trying to eat something?”

  “Is it going to hurt?” She smiles sympathetically and nods. “Yes, but you have to eat to get well again. We’ll have to incline the bed so you can eat, which will cause some pain and discomfort.”

  “Can I wait to see if this medicine kicks in?” She pats my stomach and nods. “Ok, sweetie. I’ll come check on you soon.”

  After she leaves, Whitney takes her place by the bed.

  “Kayla, would you have seriously told Darren we slept together, just to get him to leave me alone, even though he basically promised to do this to you if you admitted it?”

  “Yes, but since he said he was done with you either way, I didn’t want to tarnish your reputation by saying you had slept with this skanky dyke.”

  Whitney laughs in a sad way and bends down to kiss my cheek and wraps her arm around my shoulder, hugging me the best she can while I’m lying in my hospital bed.

  “You are not a skanky dyke. I can’t even believe he called you that. His mom is a lesbian and is married to a woman. He was raised by lesbian mothers and never knew his father.”

  “Ah, that could be why he was so hell bent on you and I messing around. Maybe he thinks that’s why he didn’t grow up with a father and thought he was going to lose you the same way his father lost his mother.”

  “Actually, I think that is the way it went down. But he is crazy if he thinks that every lesbian is going to steal his woman from him. I mean, it wouldn’t be the worst thing to be with you, but I’m not into girls. No offense.” I laugh and bend over in pain. “I’m so sorry, Kayla. I really should have been a better roommate all this time. I don’t deserve what you did for me at all.”

  “Oh, shut up, Whitney. Just let me bask in my wounded hero moment without you playing the martyr and stealing my attention.” Both Madison and Whitney laugh and I choke back my own laugh so I don’t have another shooting pain in my side. “So, what’s happening with the manhunt for Darren?”

  “His roommate told the police he never came back home that night and he hasn’t been back since. His roommate texted him a couple times to see where he is, but he hasn’t responded. They tried to track his phone, but either the battery died, or he has it pulled out of the phone. Campus is on high security alert till they find him. He is definitely going to be kicked out of school, but I don’t know what the police will do. I guess part of it depends if your parents are going to press charges.”

  “Wow, I guess that zero tolerance for violence disclosure in the student code of conduct wasn’t a joke or a scare tactic. I’m not interested in pressing charges, so I’ll talk to my parents about that. I just don’t want him causing you anymore problems.”

  “You better hold onto this one, Madison. She is the sweetest thing in the whole world.” Madison smiles and giggles a little bit. “I know.”

  “How you feeling?” Shannon comes in pushing a cart with another weird machine and Whitney quickly steps back again so Shannon can come stand next to me. “How quickly should this medicine kick in?” She looks at her watch and looks down at me thoughtfully. “It’s been about fifteen minutes. Still no improvement?”

  “Not really.” She gently presses a couple fingers to my bruised cheek and smiles. “You sure? You didn’t react that time. Here, let me try down here.” She very gently places her hand on my ribs. “Can you feel my hand?”

  I nod and bite my bottom lip, preparing for her to apply pressure. She smiles and tugs my lip free from my teeth with her thumb.

  “You don’t want to bite that off if this hurts really bad. Do you feel this?” I feel some pressure against my side and just a small twinge of pain, but nothing too bad to wince at. “Yes, but it doesn’t hurt too much.” She laughs a little and looks at me with a playful smile. “So, I guess you are feeling better.” I shake my head. “Not if I laugh or move.”

  “Well, that’s normal, sweetie. It will be awhile before those things don’t hurt so much anymore. I’m just going to take your blood pressure, temperature, and a couple tubes of blood and then I’ll order you some lunch.”

  “Why do you need my blood?” She looks at me with a cute grin. “Afraid of needles?”

  “No, just curious.” She wraps a blood pressure sleeve around my upper arm and just before she puts the ear pieces of her stethoscope in her ears, she says, “They look for many things in the blood, but mainly to make sure your chemistry is balanced and working to heal your body. Now, sit still for me and no talking for a moment.”

  She takes my blood pressure, and then after jotting my numbers down on a clipboard, she rolls a device across my forehead and makes another note.

  “What was that? You scanning my brain for something? You might not want to see inside there.” She laughs and looks at me with an amused grin. “I just took your temperature. But if I did scan your brain, how bad could it really be up there? You’re in here for rescuing a friend from an evil giant, after all.” I laugh and immediately regret it and groan in pain. Shannon places a hand on my stomach and one on my shoulder. “Relax, Kayla. Don’t clench your body. It only makes the pain worse.”

  I try to relax my body and close my eyes for a minute. Damn, this really sucks. How could this really be the way my amazing weekend ended? How much worse would this have been if I had told Darren that I had sex with Whitney? Would he have kept beating me and then maybe Whitney and Madison? Oh, god, what if something had happened to Madison? I feel a soft cool hand on my cheek and I open my eyes. Madison is looking down at me with her beautiful loving smile. She wipes tears from my cheeks and bends down to kiss my forehead.

  “That spot is radioactive from Shannon’s brain scanner. It would be safer to kiss my lips.”

  All of them laugh and Madison bends down again to kiss my lips a moment. Shannon pulls the blood pressure sleeve off my arm and then preps my arm to take my blood. Before she inserts the needle, she looks in my eyes.

  “You ready?”

  I nod and she gently pierces my skin. I feel a small pressure in my arm and a slight sting as she pulls out, but it wasn’t bad at all.

  “Ok, I’m going to have your lunch brought up soon. Do you need anything? Maybe something to drink while you wait?”

  “Can I have orange juice with Sprite?” She smiles and puts her hand on her hip. “Do you think this is cocktail hour? I’m guessing you’d like some cherries in that too?” I laugh and wince a little. “Do you have cherries?” She shakes her head. “I doubt it, but I’ll see what I can do. You know, that drink is better with ginger ale.”

  “I’ve never tried it that way.” She smiles and starts to turn away. “Today you will. I’ll be back soon.”

  Whitney comes over to my bed and flicks me in the forehead. “Hey, what was that for.” She puts her hands on her hips and looks at me sternly. “You are flirting with your nurse right in front of your girlfriend.”

  “What? No, I’m not. Don’t you dare turn Darren on me after I just took a beating from his crazy ass for you because of him accusing you of that shit all the time.” She laughs and bends down to kiss my forehead. “
I’m just teasing you, but I think your nurse likes you, so you better watch it. Do you mind if I leave to go get some lunch? I’ll come back later.”

  “No, just be careful. No one knows where Darren is. I don’t want him finding you and hurting you.”

  “I’ll be careful. Cops and campus security are all over the place so I should be ok.”

  When we’re alone, I pat the bed next to me and Madison carefully sits down next to me. She brushes her fingers through my hair a few times and then holds my cheek in her soft palm.

  “Are you going to get in trouble for missing classes?” She shakes her head. “The dean gave Whitney and I a few days off from classes. We just have to make up the work we miss. We also have to talk to the school counselor to make sure we weren’t completely traumatized by the experience.”

  “Were you? Traumatized, I mean?”

  She frowns and bends down to hug me. She kisses the side of my neck a few times and then brings her face within inches of mine, looking in my eyes. She gives me soft kisses all over the bruised side of my face and my lips and then sits up.

  “Seeing that happen to you and watching you sleep for the past two days in a hospital bed with serious injuries has been really hard. I’m not traumatized, but I was very scared. It also brought up some old memories that I try not to think about.”

  I suddenly sit bolt upright, groaning and wincing. Madison grabs my shoulders and tries to push me back down. I shake my head in pain, but I force myself to stay up, even though I feel like the pain is enough to make me black out. I slowly breathe in shallow breaths and look at her.

  “Maddi, what happened? Did someone do something to you?” She grabs my face and kisses me. “Oh, baby, no, it wasn’t me. Please lay back. You’re in so much pain. It makes me hurt to see you hurt so much. Please, baby.”