My Heart is Yours (12 page)

With a pained grunt Jason rolled onto the concrete
clutching his leg.

Sam sat up and noticed red coating her arm. She
turned towards Juliana, who was clutching her shoulder. Derek was
lying face down. Motionless. The rest of the guys ran toward
them.

“Someone call for help!” John yelled. Matt ran back
inside.

Chris ran to check on Juliana and Derek.

Sam put her hand on Jason’s sweaty cheek. “Are you
okay?” She asked.
Stupid question,
she thought.

Jason nodded slowly. “Are you okay?” He asked
her.

“Me? I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

Jason was struggling to sit up. “Don’t move.” She
said, gently putting his head on her lap.

John knelt down next to her. He had a bunch of
gauze. She hadn’t even noticed him run back to the house. Maybe
somebody else had. “Ambulance is on its way.” He said. “They said
to try to stop the bleeding till they get here.”

“Oh God.” He said looking from Sam’s arm to Jason’s
leg, both covered in blood. He reached over to Sam.

“No.” She said. “Take care of Jason first.”

“But Sam-” Jason started to say.

“Shhh. Don’t argue with me. You know you won’t win.”
She said smiling.

He smiled back at her. “Okay.” He said softly.

Shawn ran out from the house with more gauze and
towels for everyone else.

Sam pushed Jason’s hair back. John wrapped gauze
around his leg tightly.

“John.” Sam said. “Did you get anything on the
car?”

“Make. Model. License plate.” He answered, his face
unreadable as chiseled stone as he finished bandaging Jason’s leg
and moved on to Sam’s arm.

Sirens came wailing down the street and stopped in
front of their house. Jason and Sam went in one ambulance and
Juliana and Derek in the other. John and Craig jumped in the
ambulance with Sam. The paramedics slammed the door shut and sped
off down the road, sirens blaring.

***

S
am was sitting in an
exam room with John. She closed her eyes and squeezed John’s hand
tight as they stitched up her arm. When Sam looked down, she saw
nail marks in his hand.

“Sorry, John.” She said. He looked down at his hand
and laughed shortly. “It’s okay, hon.”

“You’re okay.” The doctor said. “The bullet didn’t
do any real damage. You were lucky. You can go home soon.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Craig and Matt along with Juliana’s mom, Karen, came
in. Matt and the guys had followed them in Craig’s car after they
called Juliana and Derek’s parents.

“Is she okay?” Sam asked.

“She’ll be fine. They just want her to stay
overnight to keep an eye on her.” Karen said.

“Oh, good. Did we hear anything about Derek?” Sam
said softly.

“Not yet, honey.” Karen shook her head. “His parents
haven’t come out of the room yet.”

Then Sam looked at Craig. “What about Jason?”

“They’re not telling us anything.” He said. “They
said they can’t because we’re not family.”

“But his family doesn’t care!” She said.

The doctor walked in again. “How’s Jason?” She asked
him.

“I’m sorry miss, but we can’t tell you that. You’re
not family.”

“But she is.” John said. They glanced at him. “She’s
his fiancée.”

Sam hesitated for only a second before going along
with it. “Yes. I’m his fiancée. Can’t you tell me?”

The doctor thought for a moment. “Alright.” He said
finally. “We got the bullet out and stopped the bleeding. He’ll
have to use crutches and go to physical therapy, but don’t worry he
will walk. After some PT. He’s stable, but because of the pain
medication he’s asleep right now. Powerful pain meds. But the pain
should be less soon.”

“Okay.” Sam said quietly.

“I’m also prescribing you some pain medication to go
home with. Make sure it’s at least six hours between doses
though.”

She nodded staring at a spot on the wall just beyond
the doctor. Thinking about Jason she didn’t see the doctor trying
to hand her the pills. John reached out and took them for her.

“Can we go home now?” He asked the doctor.

“Yes.” He said. “But come back in a couple of weeks
to get the stitches out.”

“We will. Come on, Sam.” John said and put an arm
around her waist and gently pulled her down from the exam table. He
held her arm gently and led her to the car.

“Hey Sam?” John said, walking over to where she was
standing in the middle of the living room.

“Hmm?” She said absently.

“Are you okay?” He tucked a loose strand of hair
behind her ear.

“Do you think Jason and Derek are going to be okay?”
She asked as she turned toward him.

“Well, we didn’t hear anything about Derek, but when
his parents are ready they’ll tell us. And Jason’ll be fine. You
heard the doctor, he’ll probably just be out for a bit and he’s
even gonna walk again.”

“Yeah, I know.” She said and took a deep breath.
“I’m really tired; I think I’m going to try to sleep.”

“Hey, take one of these.” John said, popping the cap
off the pain pills.

“I’ll get you a glass of water.” Craig said.

“It’s okay, I can do it.”

“No, it’s okay Sam, let me do it.” Craig hurried to
the kitchen.

“Okay.” She played with a frayed string on her blue
jeans.

Craig came out of the kitchen and handed Sam the
glass of water. Each of her brothers gave her a hug before she
walked away.

Safely in her room, she took out her journal to
write about what happened, but she couldn’t bring herself to. She
curled up and drifted into an uneasy sleep.

John flopped down on the couch and popped open a
beer. He handed the other one to Craig.

“At least they got ‘em.” Craig remarked before
taking a sip. “They probably wouldn’t have so soon if you didn’t
get all that information on the car.”

“Yeah.” John said flatly.

“Hey, they did get ‘em.” Craig nudged John in the
shoulder half-heartedly.

John took a sip of his beer. “That doesn’t make it
any better.” He said.

***

S
am woke up the next day
with a terrible headache and a shooting pain through her arm. She
glanced over to her nightstand and grabbed her pain pills, quickly
downing them without any water. Then she sighed and reluctantly
climbed out of bed.

I look like crap,
she thought as she stared
into her dark grey eyes in the reflection in the mirror.

She had bags under her eyes as well as dark shadows.
Her eyes were blood shot. The scar on her arm was bright red and
she was so pale.

I look like I died and came back.

She was too tired to care. She shrugged it off and
walked out into the kitchen. The first thing she saw made her stop
in her tracks.

“Jason!” She ran over to where he was sitting,
throwing herself at him and hugging him tightly.

“Ow.” He said. She pulled away. “Oh, I’m sorry. Are
you okay?” She gently touched his cheek.

He smiled at her. “Yeah, I’m fine. Are you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” She beamed. She took his
face in her hands and placed a soft kiss on his lips. He put his
hands on her waist. After a few minutes they pulled away. Jason was
blushing.

“I love you.” Sam said.

“I love you, too.” He said, and pushed her hair back
out of her face.

The phone rang and Craig walked from the living room
to pick it up.

“Hello?” He said.

“Oh yeah, Sam and Jason are fine thanks. How’s
Derek?” He asked.

Then he was completely silent, listening intently to
the people on the other end. Derek’s parents probably.

Craig hung up the phone with a grim look on his
face. He let out a long breath.

“Craig? What is it?” Sam asked, leaning forward from
her spot on the couch.

“Derek.” He said.

“What about him?” Sam asked slowly.

“That was his parents.” Craig began.

“How is he?” She shot the question at him.

“Sam, Derek was shot in the chest . . .”

“I know . . .”

Craig sighed again. “The bullet went right through
his heart, they did everything they could but he didn’t make
it.”

Didn’t make it . . .
the statement wasn’t
sinking in.

“Sam, he died. I’m sorry.” Craig dealt the blow to
his baby sister’s heart.

“He’s . . . he’s dead?” She said to no one in
particular. Then she shook her head trying to shake off the thought
and walked toward her room because she felt tears beginning to form
and she wasn’t one to cry in front of people.

“Sam.” Craig said. “Sam.” She shook her head and
walked past him.

They heard her bedroom door close and Craig sighed,
pulled out a chair and sat next to Jason.

“You think she’ll be okay?” Jason asked his brow
furrowed, looking in the direction of Sam’s bedroom.