Forever, For Always

by Quinn, Sabrina

  Vincent steps through the doorway with his usual unlit cigar hanging out of his mouth. With his all white suit and crisp black undershirt, he looks like the epitome of a bad ass gangster if there ever was one. Miami must really be getting to his head. I wonder if he ever thought of the fate of Tony Montana. Things definitely did not end well for him. Vincent holds out his arm, guiding the all men set of buyers to their seats. I start to get worried when I don’t see Isaac at first, but I’m relieved when I finally see him walk in behind a massive burly biker looking man. He and I both break my rule of no eye contact for a brief second before I look down at the table. I glance up to see that he managed to sit directly beside the corner where Benny is sitting, who is still entranced in his movie. I let out a small breath of relief just as Vincent makes his way beside me at the table.

  “Welcome and thank you for choosing Rossment. I’m happy to present you tonight with an array of beautiful women. Age ranges include between sixteen and twenty-four years old.”

  I take a quick glance at Benny and notice Shayla is already nodding off. Her head wobbles as it falls forward, waking her back up. Not a second later her eyes fall once again.

  “I must warn you that most of them do not speak English. I am a little rusty on my Spanish.” Vincent laughs. “But, who cares what they have to say, huh?” The rest of the room erupts in laughter, making the bile in my throat rise. The sound must have interrupted Benny’s concentration as he looks up from the screen at me and then over toward where Isaac is sitting. I see the recognition in his eyes and freeze with horror. I read his lips as he whispers to him. “Officer Monroe.” Vincent is still rambling on with his not so funny sickening speech that luckily no one hears him, except for Isaac of course. Vincent walks over to the first woman and when his back is to the buyers I see Isaac slowing raise his index finger to his lips and mouth the words, “Clark Kent” to Benny. Shayla is in full on sleep mode now. Benny shakes his tiny head acknowledging what Isaac means and goes back to watching his movie just in time for Vincent to start the first bidding. I’m the one who calls the winner with the highest bid, so I have to be on my toes.

  By the fourth woman, Isaac has caught onto bidding at just the right amount that is not too low, yet not high enough to win. Each time he holds up his hand for a bid, his eyes burn into mine. I know he is nervously anticipating whatever’s going to happen. I wish I could ease his mind.

  I think I can finally smell smoke, but I’m not sure if it’s really what I’m smelling or if it’s my brain willing myself to smell it so I know my plan is working.

  As we are in the middle of bidding on the third to last girl, the building shakes as a deafening explosion rocks the foundation. Almost immediately the back wall fills with violent flames. The room irrupts in horrific screams. I catch Isaac’s eyes as they stare at me wide-eyed in shock. I don’t think he had imagined it would be something like that.

  “Go!” I scream at him as everyone in the room is already pushing and shoving to get out of the small doorway. Isaac swoops up Benny from the ground that he was thrown to from the force. Wrapping his arms around him as a shield, he barrels his way out of the room with him. Shayla was luckily awoken by the sound of the explosion. I wasn’t sure how she was going to get out alive if not, which would have eaten away at my conscience, evil person or not. My ears ring after a second explosion goes off somewhere in the building. I can barely hear it, but know that people are screaming and yelling as they fight their way out.

  “The paint cans,” I say out loud to myself as I put two and two together on what must have caused the explosions.

  I try to shove my way out of the doorway when I’m jerked backwards by my neck by a strong hand that has grabbed a hold of it. Vincent seethes as he growls at me. “You did this!”

  Everyone is gone. They all escaped. This is the part that I had decided I wouldn’t care anymore. Benny got out. The girls all got out. That was all that mattered. But, then a little voice echoes in my mind.

  You’re a fighter.

  You’re a survivor.

  That’s all you know.

  Don’t waste all of that by giving up hope now.

  You find a way out.

  Don’t let him win.

  Dominic believed in you and so do I.

  That lights a fire to the rage that has been building up for years against Vincent Rossi. I won’t let him win. I elbow him in the face with all the force I have in my small body. He yells in agony as he lets go of my neck to grab his nose that is now spraying blood all over his white suit. I yank off my heels one by one and take off in a sprint out the door. The smoke is so heavy I can’t see where I’m going. I get down on my hands and knees and crawl toward the front of the building where the fire has not yet made its way to. Just as I make it to an area with fresh air my ankle has a crushing pain as something stomps down on it. Vincent stands over me with his smeared blood face. I try to stand but am unable to. I scream in agony as I fall back to the cold concrete floor.

  “Did you really think I would let you get away with this if I didn’t even let my own son live for trying to take me down?”

  I inconspicuously look around my surroundings for something to protect myself with. A bucket sits near the edge of the scaffolding about three feet away, I’m not sure what’s in it, but there has to be something, anything that I can use to help me. I scoot my body backwards across the floor like a one legged crab as fast as I can while Vincent’s howls with laughter at my fear. The fire is getting closer. The hallway we were once in now has dancing flames of bright orange, reds, and yellows that are making their way near the only door I know out of in the building.

  “The best part of it all was Dominic’s parting words. No apologies. No sorry dad.” He shakes his head disappointedly. “He firmly believed that I would never find you. Oh was he wrong.”

  Promise me you will never let him find you. Go and live.

  The last words I said to Dominic were ‘I promise.’

  I reach behind me for the bucket, toppling it over as I do so. A hammer slides across the floor toward me as nails spill out in every which direction across the cement floor. Before he can react, I throw the hammer at Vincent, hitting him square in the forehead, temporarily making him see stars. I use this opportunity to climb the ladder up the nearest scaffolding. I have to concentrate as I hold onto the railing tightly to help work my bad leg up to get to the window on the third story. I’m going to have to jump out of it. It’s the only way out.

  I finally reach the top of the third floor board and begin to crawl my way across the wood to make my way to the window. I can feel dozens of splinters pierce the palms of my hands and knees, especially the one that is dragging from my injured ankle. The window’s still a good ten feet away.

  Vincent is almost up the ladder. I can hear him huff and puff as he climbs each step.

  “We may both die here, but at least I’ll die knowing I’m the one that killed you.” I turn my neck back to look at him standing over me as he cocks his gun and aims it at me.

  “Vada!” Isaac’s voice yells from below. Vincent turns and instantly fires three shots down below.

  “No!” I scream as I kick him with my good leg, sending him over the edge. The eerie crunch of his body hitting the concrete from plummeting three stories is a sound that I wish I could unhear.

  I heave myself down the ladder to try to get to Isaac, who is lying motionless on the ground.

  Blood.

  All I see is blood.

  Vincent is lying not far from him. I quickly turn away from the gruesome scene and focus on getting to Isaac.

  “I found some people! In here,” a muffled voice yells. Five firemen make their way into the open space we are in that has just recently filled with heavy black smoke. Several begin to grab Isaac and Vincent to carry them out while another rushes up the ladder to me, He shoves a breathing mask over my face, not giving me a chance to speak. I didn’t realize until now, just how bad my lungs burned. The fresh
, pure air being forced into my nostrils makes my eyes heavy.

  Once I’m loaded into an ambulance I finally become aware of what’s going on. I start screaming for Benny and Isaac but all the paramedics do is push me back down onto the gurney telling me to calm down. I’m finally able to slightly compose myself enough to talk.

  “The man you found in the building with me, the younger one. Is he alive?”

  “Is he a relative?”

  “No, but he’s my boyfriend. And he saved my son when the warehouse caught fire. Where is my son?”

  “Ma’am, I won’t have any answers for you until we get to the hospital.”

  “But you can at least tell me if you saw a little boy outside.” I begin to cry as I describe him. “He’s three years old, dark black curly hair?” I begin to hyperventilate as I worry that Benny could have been left behind.”

  Someone places a mask back over my face to give me some air. ”You need to calm down. We’ll be at the hospital in just a few minutes. I promise we’ll find where your son is once we are there.”

  The ambulance finally comes to a stop and the back doors swing open. I’m wheeled out on my gurney and as they turn it to make it through the hospital doors I see two more ambulances pulling up to the front of the building. I’m wheeled into the hospital and right into a room before I can see who’s in them.

  ~

  I’ve been promised three times by three different people now that they would find out Isaac’s condition and where my son might be. It’s been twenty two minutes and thirteen seconds since anyone has been back in my room. I know this because I have watched every second of those twenty two minutes pass by on the clock up on the wall of my hospital room.

  Finally the door opens and a one of the young nurses from before walks in with two police officers behind her. I recognize one of them as Isaac’s old partner, Officer Luna, and he’s carrying Benny. He lays him down beside me as I weep.

  “He had a little smoke inhalation but was treated on the scene. I brought him here to you as fast as I could.” Benny’s face has streaks of black soot still on it but other than that he seems okay to the eye.

  “Officer Monroe saved me from the fire, Mommy. He really is a super hero. He told me to not move and that he was going back in to save you too.”

  I will myself to stop crying, knowing that my son is forever back in my arms. I look up at Officer Luna with questioning eyes. He ever so slightly shakes his head back and forth, making me hold back a gasp as I cover my mouth.

  “It’s not good, Vada. All I know is that he was coding when they got him out. I haven’t heard anything else.”

  You can tell he wants to cry but it holding it in for mine and Benny’s sake. They’ve been partners for four years and were roommates in the Police Academy before that. I know they were close.

  The nurse speaks up, “Are you speaking of the younger gentleman? The one who is a police officer?”

  “Yes, he’s my partner,” Officer Luna answers hesitantly. Neither of us is really ready to hear he is dead.

  “You’re right. He actually coded the whole way here. They lost him at one point but they were able to revive him. He’s in emergency surgery, but last I heard, they are expecting him to survive. He is very lucky that one of the bullets just barely missed his heart.”

  “Thank God,” both Officer Luna and the other Officer say in unison.

  The nurse turns to both of them. “I will keep you all updated once I hear more on him.”

  “Thank you,” Officer Luna says to her as he shakes her hand. “We’ll be leaving now to give Vada some rest. Vada, I’ll be back in the morning to check on you two.”

  “Thank you, Officer Luna, for everything.”

  The men walk out of the room and quietly shut the door behind them.

  “In the meantime, Mrs. Bruno, we are going to keep you overnight to monitor you. You inhaled a great deal of smoke and you also have a very badly broken ankle that will need set and a cast tomorrow. As long as everything is fine overnight, you will be released after seeing the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow.”

  “Thank you. My son, can he please stay?” I beg her. I don’t care what she says he is not leaving over my dead body.

  “Of course. I know you two have been through a lot tonight as it is. I will grab an extra pillow for him.” As she makes her way out of the room, she stops short of the door. “I forgot to ask. Are you of any relation to the other man?” the nurse asks me. “They have been trying to find next of kin to relay his condition.”

  I nod my head yes to her. “He is my late husband’s father.”

  She places her hands on top of her heart as if the news she is about to tell me hurts her to say it. “I’m sorry, but he unfortunately did not make it.”

  I shake my head at her. I’m sad to be happy that the most evil man I have ever known is finally gone from our lives forever. I’m sad because it feels so wrong to be happy over someone’s death, but happy knowing that many lives have been saved because of this. I hope all the girls were able to escape tonight once out of the warehouse between the chaos.

  I hear a faint snore and look down to Benny who has fallen fast asleep. It’s almost 2:00a.m. He has to be exhausted. I cradle him on my chest as he sleeps, never wanting to let go.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Hi, Mommy.”

  I wake up to Benny’s round face staring down at me. I grab a hold of him and hug him tightly. It wasn’t a dream. I got out alive and have my baby boy back in my arms where he belongs.

  “Good morning, Sunshine.”

  He giggles. “I missed my Sunshine song. I sang it to myself though.”

  I frown at the thought of him singing to himself, all alone.

  “Mommy, where’s Isaac? I want to see him.”

  “Honey, remember how Isaac went back inside to save me? Well, he got hurt really bad when he did. Hopefully we’ll know more and can see him today, okay?”

  His lips downturn into the saddest pout. “Okay. He really is a superhero. My superhero.”

  I smile. “Yes, Benny, he is.”

  A soft knock taps against the door as it slowly opens. “Is it okay if I come in?” Officer Luna asks before walking all the way into the room.

  “Yes, you can come in.”

  He walks around the curtain carrying an orange box. “I brought breakfast for you Benny. I hope you like doughnuts!”

  Benny happily bounces on his knees up and down on the bed. “Yea! I love doughnuts!”

  Officer Luna sets the box down on the little table and then lifts Benny off the bed, sitting him on the chair at the table. “Dig in buddy, they are all for you!”

  As Benny ponders on which doughnut to eat first, Officer Luna pulls the other chair to my bedside and sits down.

  “Have you heard any new news? Is Isaac awake?”

  I need to know he is going to be okay.

  “He is. He just woke up about an hour ago. Gloria is in there with him right now. He has a few more days before they will release him, but he’s going to make a full recovery.”

  I close my eyes while thanking the Lord for sparing his life.

  “The doctors said his first words were yours and Benny’s names. He almost ripped out his IV to come find you two.”

  I laugh. “Sounds like Isaac.”

  Gloria bursts through the curtains all while making the sign of the cross when she lays eyes on me and Benny. She comes straight at me with her arms wide open, embracing me in the warmest hug as she makes it to my bed. If I were to have ever had a mom, Gloria is who I would have imagined she would be like.

  “Dear heavens, I have never been more worried in my life than I was last night when I got the call from the hospital.” She turns around and swoops Benny up out of the chair into her arms as he is mid bite into a chocolate filled doughnut.

  “Hi, Glory-ya,” he says with a mouthful.

  She laughs and kisses the top of his head over and over. “My little Benny boy, I’m so glad yo
u are okay. You’re filthy, though!” She sits him back down in his chair and turns back to me. “If it’s okay, I would like to take him home with me to get him cleaned up. I heard you are about to be taken back by the orthopedic surgeon for your cast, so Benny won’t need to be here right now for that.”

  “That would actually be wonderful, Gloria. Thank you.”

  “Officer Luna, would you mind driving Benny and I back to my apartment?”

  “Of course not, Gloria. I need to get home before Dayana heads to work anyway.”

  “Bye, Mommy. I love you and if you see Isaac, tell him I love him, too.”

  “I will, sweetie.”

  ~

  My lime green cast starts at my calf and covers my entire foot, leaving my toes poking out. They fitted me with crutches, which seem to be a lot harder than I had thought they would be to maneuver in. Especially when carrying a big vase of flowers that I purchased at the gift shop after being released.

  A nurse points me to the hall Isaac is in and tells me his room number. When I get to his room the door is cracked open, but I can’t see past the curtain. I inhale a shaking breath as I prepare myself for the worst when I walk in. “Knock, knock,” I say as I slowly crutch myself through the door. I stop short in front of his bed. Other than being hooked up to a bunch of wires and IVs, he really doesn’t look too bad, just tired.

  “Hi,” he beams.

  “Hi,” I copy with the same smile.

  I slowly make my way over to the window ledge and place the vase on it before making my way to him.

  Isaac grabs my hand as I sit down on the side of his bed and kisses the top of it.