Shattered Lives Mended Hearts

by Lena Nicole

  Walking up the back porch, Pierce grabs my arm and stops me. “Wait a second,” he says. I stop and look at him in puzzlement. “Look at your door. It looks like someone has been messing with it,” he says pointing to it.

  “Oh my gosh, did someone break in?” I ask him nervously.

  He gets a little closer, making sure I’m well behind him. The door is open and the frame is damaged with parts of it broken and hanging off. “Stay right here,” he tells me in a firm tone. His reaction to this is making me even more nervous and I look around to see if we are being watched, suddenly no longer feeling safe.

  Pierce puts his ear up to the crack in the door and listens for any movement. He must not have heard anything because he looks like he is about to enter the condo. Wouldn’t Ali have noticed if someone was or is in the house? Maybe she’s loose on the beach now because the door was open. Pierce places his hand on the door and starts to open it when it stops like something is in front of it. It’s only open a few inches so I can’t see anything standing behind Pierce. He pushes with a little more force and the door slowly slides open.

  “Hello. Anyone in here?” he calls out before stepping inside. No lights are on, so he reaches in and flips on the switch. The lights come to life and I see the place is trashed. I place a hand on his shoulder and he looks back to see what I’m sure is a petrified look on my face. “Just wait here a second. I’m going to check everything out, okay?” I nod in understanding.

  He walks through the door, looking to see what was blocking it. I see Pierce drop to his knees as he says, “Oh God.”

  “What?” I say, feeling alarmed as I peek my head through the door. I see Ali lifelessly lying on the floor. I feel my eyes go wide and my hand flies to my mouth. “Oh my God! What’s wrong with her?!” I cry out, dropping to the floor beside her, pulling her into my lap.

  Pierce leans forward and listens for any sign of breathing. I wait for what feels like forever before relief floods through me as I hear him say, “Thank god. She’s still breathing. We need to get her to the vet. Now.” He scoops Ali up in his arms and rushes back out the door and around to the car.

  “It’s okay, girl. We’re going to get you some help,” he says to her placing her into the back of my Mustang. I sit in the back with her, resting Ali’s head on my lap.

  “Do you think whoever broke in hurt her? Maybe she was trying to protect the house and they hurt her. Oh my God, what are we going to do?” I ask him starting to cry.

  “It’s going to be okay. I don’t know what happened to her. I didn’t see any external injuries so I’m not sure.”

  “This is more than just some stupid kids playing pranks,” I say through my tears.

  I see him look in the rear view mirror at me. “What are you talking about?” he asks.

  “I’ve had my power cut at the condo and I’ve been getting a lot of calls from a blocked number. I filed a report with the police when my power lines were cut, but they thought it was probably a couple of dumb teenagers.”

  “How long has this been going on, Addison?” he asks me in a firm tone.

  “I don’t know, a couple weeks.”

  “Are you kidding me? They kept calling after you told me about it the first time, when I told you to change your number? You didn’t think you should tell me something like that?!”

  “I just didn’t think it was worth mentioning or being alarmed over,” I tell him, feeling like a complete fool now.

  I see him rub his hand over his face, which is what he does to try and keep himself from getting upset. “We’ll discuss this later. Right now, we need to focus on Ali,” he tells me.

  We pull up to the 24-hour emergency vet. Pierce throws the car in park, opens his door, and rushes around to get Ali. I follow him as we rush into the vet’s office.

  “We need help. We found our dog lying on the floor, not moving. Our house was broken into. She’s barely breathing,” he tells the lady at the front desk.

  She hurries around. “Okay, follow me this way,” she says.

  AS I’M carrying Ali into the exam room, I notice Addison stops, leans up against the wall outside the exam room, and slides down to the floor. She crosses her arms and dips her head into them. Hearing her sniffling, I lay Ali down on the table, walk back to her, and crouch down in front of her. She still hasn’t looked up at me, so I lift her chin up with my finger.

  “Beautiful, Ali needs us. You can’t fall apart right now. She needs to know that her mommy and daddy are both there waiting for her to pull through,” I say while lifting her up from the ground. I take her hand and walk into the examination room. She’s still hiccupping, trying to hold in the tears that are threatening to surface, so I rub my thumb back and forth over her hand trying to soothe her.

  The doctor is examining Ali while the nurse is taking some blood work from her. We both stand there frozen in our spots, and I keep watching her chest as it barely rises and falls. I can’t believe this happened. A bunch of emotions are coursing through my body and I want so badly to let them out, but I know I need to stay calm and strong for Addison and Ali.

  The nurse finishes taking the blood work and Addison stops her before she can leave the room. “Nurse? Is she going to be okay?” she manages to ask in between sobs.

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t have any answers right now. The doctor is almost done examining her and he will fill you in on her condition,” she says, giving us an apologetic smile before leaving to go run the blood work.

  Addison turns to face me and I quickly have her in my arms, her cheek resting against my chest while we silently wait for the doctor to tell us something.

  “Mr. Whitmore, Ms. Ramsey, I’ll have to wait on the blood work to confirm, but by the looks of it, it seems Ali has been poisoned.”

  My whole body stiffens and Addison clutches onto my arm tightly. Did he say she was poisoned? That can’t be right. How?

  “I’m sorry, did you say poisoned? How can you tell?” I ask.

  He walks back over to Ali and nods his head toward the table she is lying on. Lifting her gums, he places his finger above her canine tooth and releases it quickly saying, “Do you see this? Her gums should change from white to pink in two seconds. They are black and spotted, which is one indication.” He lowers her upper lip. “Normally, we would also check her balance, but since she is pretty out of it, we took samples of her blood and stool. Her shallow breathing is another indication and her temperature is elevated. I can wait for the results if you would like, but the sooner we treat, the better the chances of her recovering from this.”

  Before he can continue, I interrupt him. “Please, start the treatment. Whatever you have to do to save her.”

  Nodding his head and writing something down in Ali’s chart he says, “Okay, I will have the nurse come in and start an IV. We will want to keep her overnight and possibly a couple more days to be sure treatment is working. You are more than welcome to stay and wait as long as you’d like. We should have her results back shortly.”

  After they take Ali to the back of the clinic, Addison and I take a seat in the waiting room. I have my arm wrapped around her and am rubbing my hand up and down her arm, trying to relax her. She lifts my hand off her arm and places a soft kiss on it. I close my eyes, needing this small comfort from her. I’ve been trying to hide it, but she must sense that I’m just as upset about this as she is. I look down at her, wishing I could make this all go away. She reaches both hands up, cupping my jaw and slowly pulling me toward her, and places a quick, gentle kiss on my lips before pulling away.

  “She’s going to be okay,” she tells me.

  “What if she isn’t?” I ask, voicing my number one fear at the moment.

  “She has to be. She has the two best parents in the world. She is a fighter and she will pull through. We just have to have faith that she will.” She squeezes my hand in reassurance. I nod and kiss the top of her head.

  After waiting for what feels like an eternity, the doctor finally come
s out. Addison and I quickly rise to our feet, meeting him in the middle of the room.

  “Ms. Ramsey, Mr. Whitmore, thanks for waiting patiently. We have the labs back and they confirmed what I suspected. It seems that Ali has rat poison in her system.”

  “Oh my God, how is that possible?” Addison says, clinging to me.

  “Well, she could have gotten into your cabinets and thought it was a snack. It happens more often than you would think. We have to treat our dogs like babies and baby proof the toxic items.”

  “I don’t have any rat poison in my house,” she says, looking up at me with confusion in her eyes.

  “Addison’s condo was broken into tonight. We found Ali passed out by the door. Is it possible whoever broke into her condo could have done this to Ali?” I ask knowing that it’s the only possible explanation if Addison doesn’t have any rat poison in her condo.

  “Yes, I do believe that’s a possibility. We started her treatment and you can head back to see her now if you’d like.”

  We both nod and follow the doctor to the back. We walk up to Ali, both taking a place on each side of her.

  “We sedated her, so she’s going to be out of it for a while,” he says before leaving us alone with her.

  Addison grabs her paw and squeezes it. “Mommy and Daddy are here, baby girl. You’re going to be okay. Just rest and get better for us.” She leans down and places a kiss on her head. I do the same and continue to stroke her.

  “Come on, we should go home and get some rest. And when I say home, I mean our home,” I say, hoping she understands my meaning and that she won’t be staying at her condo.

  “I have to stop at my condo, Pierce. I have to go home and call the police. I need to file a report,” she starts to tell me.

  I hold up my hand to stop her, “Already done.”

  She looks up surprised. “What do you mean, already done?” she asks. I start the car and pull out of the parking lot.

  “While we were sitting in the waiting room, I text messaged Garrick and gave him a brief rundown of what happened. He and Lexi went there and called the police. He told them what I described in the text and where they can find us if they needed anything further.” I take in a deep breath and say, “Addison, I’m trying really hard to stay calm, but why didn’t you tell me about your power being cut or the blocked calls continuing?” I start grinding my teeth, feeling nothing but anger at the thought of someone targeting Addison.

  “I honestly didn’t think it was anything to be worried about, Pierce. Morgan and I were just relaxing, having some wine when it happened.”

  “Christ, you were home when this happened?” I say, banging the steering wheel with my hand.

  “Yes,” she says hesitantly.

  “Why didn’t you call me?” I feel my nostrils flaring out as I take in deep breaths; I grip the steering wheel until my knuckles turn white.

  “Morgan called Jeremy. He came right over and we called the police. They said it was probably just some kids pulling a prank,” she says, looking down at her hands that are wringing together.

  I let out a huff. “We’re getting you an alarm system installed. Tomorrow,” I say in a firm tone.

  Addison doesn’t argue with me, so she must know that I’m right. I can’t risk her safety like that. The thought of her being harmed makes me sick to my stomach. I have a strong urge to throw her over my shoulder and lock her away in my bedroom just so I know nothing bad is going to happen to her. I know that’s a little irrational, but I’d die if something happened to her.

  The rest of the ride home is made in silence. We pull up to her condo so she can grab some clothes, and I see Garrick’s car parked out front. I open the door for her and we make our way inside her place. The door is cracked open and I push it open, yelling out to let Garrick know we are here.

  “Garrick?” I say.

  “In the kitchen,” he calls out. We head toward the kitchen and see Garrick and Lexi cleaning up.

  “Thanks for helping tonight. I really appreciate it,” I say, patting Garrick on the shoulder.

  I take a moment to look around and see that some of the damage that has been done earlier is cleaned up. I stare at the spot on the floor where Ali was laying and close my eyes as a fresh wave of anger envelops me. I feel two small hands touch my back. I turn around and see Addison, so I wrap my arms around her and rest my cheek on the top of her head. Lexi comes up and hugs us both.

  “I’m so sorry about Ali, A. I know things haven’t been that easy for us lately with everything going on, but if you need anything, just let me know, okay?” Lexi says to her after pulling away.

  “Thank you, Lexi,” Addison replies in a strained voice.

  I give my sister a hug and say, “Thanks for helping Garrick clean up a little.” Lexi nods and walks back into the kitchen.

  “Come on, Beautiful. Let’s get you some clothes and you can change out of this dress,” I say softly into her ear.

  We head to the bedroom and Addison sits on the bed, looking to be deep in thought. Giving her a minute to herself, I grab her overnight bag and place it on the floor by her feet.

  “She’s going to be okay. The doctor is very optimistic and said we got her to him just in time.”

  She nods before asking, “Do you think it’s okay for them to clean up?”

  “Garrick said the cops checked for fingerprints and came up with nothing. Whoever did this wore gloves so they couldn’t be traced back to this. Now, come on. Let’s get you packed and we will go home and get some sleep and visit our baby tomorrow.”

  We’re back at my house, lying in bed. Addison is snuggled up to me with her head resting on my chest. I’m rubbing circles up and down her back, trying to comfort her the best way I can. I think she’s finally asleep, but I’m wide awake. I can’t quiet the thoughts that keep circling my mind. The fact that Addison has been keeping things from me is bothersome. If she had told me sooner, we might have been able to prevent tonight’s break in.

  And poor Ali. I’m so fucking furious that someone thought it was cool to poison my fucking dog. Who does that? A fucking animal, that’s who. I promise that when I find the asshole that is responsible for this I will make them pay.

  I’m so thankful that Addison wasn’t there. I don’t even want to think what would’ve happened to her if she was home when the intruder broke in. If they’re willing to poison a dog, I can’t imagine what they would have done to her. The thought alone has me clenching and unclenching my fists. It’s my job to protect her and I feel like I’m failing. That changes now. I’m going to have the best security system installed. I’d really feel better if she just moved back in with me, but I have a feeling she’s not going to go for that.

  I look down at Addison’s beautiful face with her hair spread out across my chest and thank God she’s safe. Taking her in, I notice her breathing has slowed to an even pace. Her lips are slightly parted and she is completely out. Inch by inch, I slide out from under her, careful not to wake her. I stand up and walk to the living room, closing the bedroom door behind me.

  Grabbing my phone, I dial Garrick’s number and wait for him to answer. He picks up on the third ring.

  “Hello,” he says in a groggy voice.

  “Hey, man. Sorry to wake you. I just needed to talk to you about tonight,” I say.

  “It’s okay. What’s up?” I hear rustling in the background.

  “Did Lexi ever mention to you any problems she had while living at Addison’s condo? She never said anything to me, but neither did Addison.”

  “Hold on,” he says. A moment later I hear a door shut before he comes back and says, “Okay, sorry. I didn’t want to wake Lexi. No, she never said anything to me about it. Do you want me to wake her and ask?”

  “No, no. That’s okay. I just think it’s strange that these things are suddenly happening to Addison, you know?” I take a seat on the couch and run my hand through my hair.

  “Wait, what things? Is this not the first incident
?” Garrick asks. I almost forgot that he doesn’t know about the other shit that’s happened to Addison recently.

  “This is the first time someone has broken into her condo, but tonight she told me that she’s been getting weird phone calls from blocked numbers constantly, and the power to her house was cut.”

  “Did she report any of this?” he asks, sounding concerned.

  “She says there was a police report filed for the cut power cords but the cops dismissed it as a couple of kids probably pulling a prank. But with everything else, I’m just getting this feeling that it’s more than that.”

  “Do you think she’s being targeted or something?”

  I let out a sigh and sit down on the couch. “I don’t know. It’s not like Addison really has any enemies. I can’t think of anyone who would want to do her any harm. But these incidences seem like they’re happening just to mess with her, not actually hurt her.”

  “What do you mean? Do you think the break in was planned for when she wasn’t home?”

  “I don’t know about that, we could have just gotten lucky. But the cut power cables, the blocked phone calls, they seem like things intended just to annoy or scare her. Not actually hurt her.”

  “Oh, I see what you’re saying. Who knows? Maybe it is someone just playing a sick joke on her. A kid who’s bored and has nothing else to do.”

  “Maybe…” I trail off. For some reason that just doesn’t seem right either though.

  “Well, I’ll let you get back to bed. Thanks, man” I say.

  “No problem. I’ll call a security company first thing in the morning for you, okay?” he replies.

  “Thanks, I really appreciate it.”

  Once I hang up, I lean my head back against the couch. I can’t shake the feeling that this isn’t a random act of vandalism. The power cable and phone calls? Maybe. But poisoning someone’s dog seems personal. I don’t want to frighten Addison, but I’m going to have to dig around to see what I can find before something else happens.