Chapter Six: Make MeA Chapter by Nikki Halloween's here, which means a bunch of trick or treating. But when the tricks get greater than the treats and the unexpected happens at a Halloween bash, Cole struggles to prove to everyone how much Briar really does mean to him.
Briar and I had now been together for five weeks. It was October 31st. For Halloween, we dressed up and passed candy out to kids who came by.
“Happy Halloween!” Briar called to some kids who were leaving our property. She shut the door gently and set the candy bowl on the small table next to our door. She wrapped her arms around me, smiling. “What cute kids.”
I kissed her head. “You ready to leave?”
She shrugged. “A couple more minutes here, please?”
“Sure, I’ll be back in a minute, I’m just going to call Josh.”
When I got back Briar was at the door talking in a throaty, gentle voice. She smiled. “She’s beautiful.”
“Thank you,” the voice of a woman said.
“How old?”
“Three and a half months.”
“Oh!” Briar sounded shocked. “She’s so tiny!”
I slowly made my way over to her, and saw that she was admiring a small baby in the woman’s arms, dressed up in a pumpkin suit. A grin spread across my face. I walked over to Briar’s side.
Briar looked up to me. “Hi, Cole, look at this baby, is she precious?”
I nodded. “What’s her name?”
“Haylin,” the woman told us.
“She’s very cute.”
Briar and the woman exchanged a few more sentences, and then she said goodbye to Haylin, shutting the door. I stared at her for a few seconds. “I never knew you wanted kids.”
Briar smiled, her cheeks turning a shade of pink. “Yeah… I’ve always loved kids.” She looked up to me. “I loved helping out with my little cousins back in Maine. I’ve always been around them.”
I nodded my head. I never really thought about kids. I guess I just figured when that day would come, it’d come. “Alright, well, ready to go?”
“Yes I am.” She smiled.
I grabbed my keys off the key rack, and set my hand on the door handle. “Bye, Mom! We’ll be home later!”
A muffled response came from the kitchen. I shrugged, looking to Briar, and we took off through the front door. As we were getting in the truck, Briar lifted her long dress. “I can’t wait to take this freakin’ thing off,” she grumbled, slamming the door shut.
I laughed. “You’re not going as Lady Guinevere?”
She rolled her eyes. “As if. No. Believe it or not Cole, I do know how to party.”
I looked at her skeptically. “Okay… well what are you going to be?”
“A Playboy bunny.” She smiled and me, her eyes twinkling.
I cleared my throat, my jaw falling a bit. “A WHAT?”
“A Playboy bunny…” Her eyes widened, and she crossed her arms over her chest.
I bit my lip, and turned the truck on. “Wow… umm… okay. Well… I wasn’t expecting you to say that I guess … Where is your costume?”
“Underneath this.” She lifted up her dress and showed me a pair of leggings and a short, cotton skirt. And instead of what I thought were sandals, she was wearing a pair of black pumps with tiny pink bows on the straps. “You can see the rest when we get there.”
My heart raced a little. I tried to steady my nerves, but all I could think of was Sophie, and how she’d deliberately wear things like that to get attention. “Why are you wearing that to a party with half the school?”
She shrugged. “Well…” She leaned close to me, and kissed the nape of my neck, hands gliding over my thigh. “I thought since we’ve been together for over a month now, that it was time I show off a little.”
I took a heavy breath, exhaling slowly. “Okay…alright…” I pulled out of the driveway, staying. I didn’t really feel like interacting with Briar. I didn’t really want to interact. I believed her, but in the pit of my stomach, I still felt as though her costume was dangerous. I mean, doesn’t she remember anything about Jeremy?
“You okay, babe?” We were at a red light, probably five minutes from the party.
I cleared my throat. I forced a smile, and turned to face her. “Yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry about it.”
She pressed her head against my shoulder. We didn’t talk again until we arrived at Greg’s.
Briar got out and looked around, smiling. “Wow, this place is big.”
I locked the doors and looked around. “Yeah, Greg’s parents have a lot of money. And he’s a senior so they said, hey, why not throw one more huge party?” I huffed. My parents would probably kill me if I had even a small party.
Briar slid out of her dress, and revealed a quite promiscuous bunny outfit. She had on a pink leotard, with gloves, and a bunny tail. She stuck her ears on, beaming. “How do I look?”
Really, she looked incredible. But I felt the jealousy inside me arise.“Honestly? You look great. But I just… feel weird about other people seeing you.”
She walked over to me, quite graciously for wearing such high heels. She gave me a peck on the lips. “Listen, I did this to have fun, not to show off. Now c’mon, let’s go.”
I nodded and walked into the backyard where most of the crowd was. When Briar showed up, nearly everyone turned to look at her. She was already turning heads. My cheeks flared with aggravation.
“Nice outfit, Briar!”
“Looking great!”
“What a cute bunny.”
Briar ignored the comments, and looked to me. “Umm…”
I shrugged again. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
Greg came over to us. “Hey, hey, hey! Look who it is. Hi Cole, how are you doing? And Briar.” He smiled, bowing to her. He was a knight. He looked to me. “Nice outfit man. See you got the whole Johnny Depp thing going for you, it’s a good look.”
I smiled grimly. “Thanks, Greg.”
He looked over Briar. “I thought I said that the bunnies weren’t allowed out of the cage? Shouldn’t you be in with them?” He shot her a wink.
I stepped in front of her instinctively. “No, she doesn’t fit in.”
Greg mocked a gasp. “Cole! How could you say that about your girlfriend! Of course she fits in. Look at the others? She looks just like them.”
I turned my head and saw several other girls in one area, being admired by the other men at the party. There were mice and cats and bunnies, outfits similar to Briar. But Briar wasn’t one of them.
“She’s not one of them, Greg.”
He shrugged. “Whatever you say man. Hey, I saw your friends come by. Not sure if they’re still here, but you could look for ‘em.”
I cocked my head to the side. “Who?”
“Um… damnnit let me think… Keagen maybe? He was with a cute brunette.”
“Yeah… that’s Keagen.” I didn’t see him anywhere. Maybe he’d already left. I knew Josh wouldn’t come, and I hadn’t expected Trevor or Brady to show up either, but I thought if anyone was here, I’d have seen them by now.
“Anyways man, you know where you can put her if you want to. The pleasure’s all mine.” He gave Briar a final smile. “Nice seeing you, sweetheart.”
Briar’s fingers balled into fists. They were wrapped tightly around my shirt.
I craned my head to her, since she was hiding behind my back. “Hey, you wanna go home?”
“No,” she snapped, glaring as Greg walked away. “I don’t want him to think he won. He doesn’t scare me, he just pisses me off.”
“Okay. Well…”
“Let’s just go have a good time. He’s probably drunk anyways.”
As the next hour dragged on, we danced and drank punch or sat down to snack on crackers. By eight thirty, most of the crowd had drifted into the house to either watch TV, sleep, have sex, or play drinking games.
The DJ, however, stayed outside, and was suppose to until he was told otherwise. I felt bad for him.
When it was only me and Briar and few other kids, he put on a slow song, something we’d hadn’t hear all night. Enrique Iglesias’s voice filled the crisp, autumn air. I pulled Briar close to me. I shut my eyes, resting my head on top of hers.
“…I will stand by you forever…”
“You can take, my breath away,” I sang to her softly.
She smiled against my neck. “I didn’t know you sang.”
We continued to sway back and forth. “Yes, I’ve always loved to.” The instrumental part of Hero was playing now. I wrapped my arms tightly around her, and sang again once the vocals came back.
“…I just want to hold you, I just want to hold you, oh yeah, am I in too deep? Have I lost my mind...”
“I don’t care, you’re here, tonight.” I kissed her cheek, smiling.
She giggled gently and kissed my chest. I pressed my hand against her back, her skin cooling my warm hands.
The song ended, and I held her there for several more seconds. I realized I was starting to get cold. “You wanna go inside?”
“Sure.” She took my hand and we joined the others in Greg’s kitchen. I spotted Keagen and Molly, and cocked my head to the side. I figured they had left, since I hadn’t seen them. “Keagen?”
He turned his head, facing me. “OH! Hey man, what’s up? How long’ve you been here?”
I thought. “About an hour or so… where were you?”
“Upstairs.” He grinned at me. I rolled my eyes.
He looked to Briar. “Look at you, Briar, you look good.”
Briar gave a short smile.
“You wanna join me upstairs?” He laughed again.
My face turned red. “Keagen, don’t be an a*s.”
Keagen faced me. “Man, relax, I’m only playing. Your little lady knows that, don’t you Briar?” He knocked into her shoulder, leaning down and whispering something in his ear. She shoved him away angrily. “Eww! A*****e! Get a life.” She turned to face me. “How can you be friends with this guy?”
I glared at him. “Shut up Keagen. You don’t wanna piss me off.”
Keagen chuckled. “Ooo, I’m scared.” He grabbed Briar’s arm. “C’mon Briar.”
“No!” she hollered, slapping him.
He dug his nails into her skin. “I said, come on.”
“Don’t you f*****g touch her,” I threatened. I grabbed hold of his arm. I knew he had been drinking.
He let go. “Or what? You’re my friend, aren’t you Cole?”
Everyone was facing us now. A bunch of, “ooos” were echoing throughout the house. I balled my fist, grabbed Keagen’s shirt, and nailed him in the face, right between his eyes. I knocked him to the floor. “Briar, get out of here,” I demanded. She backed away slowly. Keagen was getting up, holding his head. He stared at me. He was bleeding a little.
“Cole…” she said quietly, coming near me.
“Briar, go!” I yelled. Keagen came after me, and as he jumped at me, he swung a fist. I ducked, missing the blow, and lunged at him, knocking us both to the tile floor beneath us. I kneed him in the stomach and he grabbed at me, taking both hands and squeezing my neck.
Instinctively, I kicked free, my foot hitting him in the mouth. He released the grip on my neck, but I felt another set of arms grab me by the shoulders and smash my head into a kitchen cabinet.
“COLE!” Briar screamed.
I opened my eyes, and saw the kitchen spinning around me in a colorful blur. “Briar, get outside!” I groaned, spinning around as soon as I regained my vision. No one was on me now, but as I went to throw a fist at the body behind me, I was taken by my hair and again my head collided with the cabinet. I was trying to kick, but I was starting to feel ill. Again, my head was lifted, but this time, it met the tile floor beneath me.
My vision was blurring again. A sick sensation whirled through my system. I heard screams and I swore I heard a gunshot, but I was in so much pain I couldn’t make out if I was shot or hearing things. I tasted blood in the corner of my mouth. Someone was screaming, “Call 911! Call his parents!”
Then I saw black. And I don’t remember anything afterwards.
I wanted to open my eyes. I heard the faint sound of voices around me. And I was trying really hard to listen to what they were saying. I was in so much pain.
“Well we don’t exactly know. I’m so sorry, Mrs. Spencer.”
My heart started to race. What was happening? I had to open my eyes! I forced them to open, and for several seconds I only saw white. Then my vision started to return. I blinked my eyes a couple times. I couldn’t talk, but I wanted to so badly.
“Oh my God, Cole!” Jeanne was there with me, but where was Steven? I looked around for him. I didn’t see him in the room. Noticing the surroundings, I finally registered that I was in a hospital.
“Dr. Evans! Hurry! He’s awake!”
The doctor made his way over to me. He was smiling gently. “Alright, Cole, I need you not to talk and hold your breath.” Like I could talk if I wanted to.” There’s a breathing tube down your throat, and I have to take it out, okay?” Okay, well, now everything was coming together.” Ready, one, two, three, and hold. ”
He removed the tube, and as he did so, I began to cough. Every time I did, my stomach felt like it was going to explode. The pain was the worst pain I ever felt. “Why am I…here?” I looked around again. I saw Briar sitting in the corner. Her head was in her hands. I felt horrible. “Bri?”
She shot up straight at the sound of my voice, and when she realized that I was awake, she slapped her hands over her mouth and big fat tears started to fall down her cheeks. “Cole…you’re awake, I thought I’d never see you again.” She was crying heavily and she kissed my forehead. Jeanne came over to give her a comforting hug.
“What happened to me?” I looked at my body. I was black and blue from head to toe. There wasn’t one part of me that wasn’t ugly and discolored. I had thick bandages around hands, and as I reached up to feel my head, all I felt was padding. I slowly lifted the blankets from my legs, and saw deep, purple bruises spreading from my thighs down. I shut my eyes. Even that hurt. My knee, or right above my knee, was wrapped and bandaged, and was propped up on a pillow. I was trying so hard to remember. “What happened to me?”
Briar rested her hand on my shoulder. I flinched. “Umm.. well… about a week ago-“
“A week ago? I’ve been like this for over a week?” I started to panic. I head an annoying beeping sound. When I determined the noise, it was a heart monitor. My heart rate was racing with anxiety. I tried to calm myself. I was hooked up to so many tubes.
“Cole… please calm down.. please… listen… you’re okay now, just rest. Are you hungry sweetie?” Jeanne’s comforting voice helped soothe me, but tears were still rolling down her cheeks.
I shook my head slowly. “No, I just want to know why I’m here. And where’s Dad?”
“He’s getting some lunch, he’ll be back soon.”
Briar was stroking my hair. “Do you really want to know?”
I listened closely for the next forty minutes. The whole situation sounded unreal.
“Keagen?” I whispered. “But… he’s my best friend…”
Briar stared at her feet. “Well… you didn’t care. That didn’t stop you. You were protecting me… I’m so sorry Cole… if I knew that this was going to happen I…”
I shushed her. “Don’t. Do not. You didn’t put me here.” I sighed. “So… he was trying to go after you?”
“Yeah… and you wailed him in the face and started beating on him. But then Greg got pissed off, too, and he started beating on you, and then brought out a gun and… he shot you in the knee, and then when you were blacked out, I suppose they were trying to kill you. They were beating you in the stomach, and you were bleeding… and… they dragged you off the porch, and your hands got all cut up, and they chucked you in the bushes and I called 9-1-1 and stayed with you the whole time…and then they didn’t know if you’d ever wake up... again or what not…and…”
She started crying too hard to finish. I felt terrible. “Briar, hey, listen to me, you didn’t do anything wrong, okay? You did what I told you.” I looked down to my arms. I was hooked to an IV, and along with the drip, there were a couple other bags with antibiotics, or at least I guessed that’s what they were. I was hooked to a heart monitor, and I did have a supply of oxygen. I felt so foolish lying there, useless. I shut my eyes.
My doctor arrived in the room, clipboard in hand. “Alright Cole, let me explain to you what’s going on. As of now, you’re knee is healing wonderfully, and you should be able to walk on it no problem, with therapy however. You did, rip your large intestine, which required surgery, and you’re going to be on an all liquids diet for the next few days. You suffered head trauma, and a concussion, and you are suffering with amnesia, since you cannot remember the accident at all. There are several superficial cuts on your arms and hands, and you had a large gash above you right eye.” He looked at me. “You weren’t in good shape when you arrived here. However. You are doing wonderfully, just within the past hour, and we can’t guarantee how long you’ll stay here, that depends on the progress you make, okay?”
I agreed. He went on to tell me I was hooked to a heart monitor, this was to monitor my stress level, and an IV drip with potassium and several antibiotics and pain killers if I requested them. He told me I had stitches in my knee, stomach, and head that would eventually have to be removed, and I couldn’t eat anything for the next couple days.
That night, I was starting to feel hungry. But I couldn’t eat, I wasn’t allowed to.
“It won’t be like this forever,” he promised.
Four days later, I fell extremely ill. My temperature shot up to a high-grade fever of 104.5, and my whole body ached. I had trouble breathing, and my lungs felt like shriveling away and giving up. I was rushed to the X-Ray lab where they determined I was suffering an pneumonia on top of my weakened body. They already said I would probably be staying for the rest of November.
The next couple days were horrible. I couldn’t stay awake, and my body felt like shutting down every time I woke up. My fever continued to stay unsteady, even with the heavy antibiotics pumped into my system. Briar stayed with me every day. She never left my side.
One day, when she was lying in the bed with me, careful not to hit the IV or touch any part of my body that was in pain, she looked into my eyes and kissed me, the kiss deep but in the gentlest way. When she pulled away, she bit her lip. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” I muttered, shutting my eyes. The only reason I stayed as strong as I did was for her.
After another week and a half passed, most of the pneumonia was healing. My lungs were stronger, my stitches were out, my bruises were turning yellow and light purple. The therapy for my knee was coming along really good. I was starting to feel more like myself again.
“How are you feeling, Cole?” Dr. Evans was smiling at me. It was the fourth week of November, three days from Thanksgiving.
“Fine…”
“Do you have any special requests?”
I gave a feeble grin. “Well… kinda. I’d like to go home for Thanksgiving.”
Dr. Evans smiled again. “Well, it’s looking promising. You lungs are sounding tremendous, your heart’s strong, you’re fevers down, you’re walking again, your bruises are healing, I don’t see why not.”
I beamed. “Thank you.”
“You were an awesome patient, we liked having you.”
I told Jeanne and Steven the good news. They were thrilled. “Oh Cole, we can’t wait to have you home, we’ve missed you so terribly.”
On the twenty-sixth, I was discharged from Newton-Wellesley Hospital. The nurses said goodbye to me, and wished me the best of luck. I was wheeled out, with Briar by my side. Steven drove me home, they didn’t want me driving home. I think it made them feel needed.
I turned my head while we were pulling out, sighing in relief. I prayed I would never have to go back again.
© 2009 NikkiAuthor's Note
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