Wrecked (18 page)

“You don’t understand Damien. The message was left in blood on the wall, and it was Mylie’s blood but there weren’t any fingerprints. “

“What!” I had never heard anything so ghastly in my life.

“I know. Nik is beside himself. Thank God he convinced his grandparents to go after they all decided they would not take Mylie off of life support.”

“Is she okay?”

“Yes, but the strange thing was the loss of blood forced them to do a blood transfusion. Nik donated blood.” She took a noticeable gulp. “And there was a change. I can’t explain the details, but according the doctor, it was like the person knew that the loss of blood and the transfusion would help Mylie.”

“Is Mylie hurt?” Rhonda shook her head and sniffed again.

“The blood was removed through a needle. It was all very clean and precise. It was all so strange.” I couldn’t wrap my mind around the details, but something seemed off about this.

“What did the message say?”

“I saved her twice, but I won’t always be watching.” She looked confused, but that sounded all too familiar to me. “I need to get to work, but I wanted to keep you informed even though Malory nearly ripped my head off. However, she shut her trap when I told her that Xavier had yet to visit Mylie since this all happened.”

“At all?”

“Strange, isn’t it?” She walked towards the door and turned to me. “Don’t give up on her Damien.”

*******

They had moved Mylie to a separate room, and I sat down. Since I was nine years old, the only thing I had ever gotten from my older brother Drake was an old brass knuckle. On the last night I saw Drake, he had just turned eighteen. When he left, he only said, “Always protect yourself and have no regrets D,” as he clutched the brass knuckle in my much smaller hand.

I have carried it with me since. But why have I have protected myself when I couldn’t even protect the woman I loved? I sat next to Mylie, her natural glow having faded during her time here, and it hurt not seeing the sparkle in her blue eyes. I held her slender hand in mine, and I squeezed.

“Mylie, I know in my heart you can hear me, and you may never understand why I said what I said, but just know that I do love you. I believe that I fell in love with you the moment I met you when I saw you crying by the river. My heart ached for being so cruel, but the last time I gave a woman my heart she ripped it out. She stepped on it with her fifteen hundred dollar designer sky-high platforms that she bought with my credit card.

“She left me for another man, and I vowed to never fall in love again. Then you came into my life and everything changed. Where I thought all women where self-centered gold diggers, you showed me grace and humility. When I thought women were heartless, you showed me how much you cared through the bonds of those friendships you had around you. You love so fiercely, and it scared me.”

I put my brass knuckle and slipped it through her fingers, “Someone wants to hurt you Mylie, and I will find out who it is. Squeeze this and remember, ‘Always protect yourself and have no regrets.’ My brother told me this when he gave it to me when I was a kid, and I want you to remember that, too.” I stared at her face and leaned down and softly kissed the cherry lips that had tempted me since the beginning. “I love you.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Mylie

I felt his warm hand leave mine then I heard the door close. I knew the brass knuckles were threaded between my fingers, but I couldn’t grasp them.
Someone had tried to kill me again?
No, I knew that wasn’t what happened. She said she was going to make me better. They rushed me out of the room after I heard the blood-curdling scream from a nurse. I didn’t know the details, but something had to have happened.

To admit that what Damien had professed hadn’t affected me to the very core of my being would be a blatant lie. However, here we were paying for the mistakes of his past. He obviously loved the woman who had made him jaded and cynical, but I could never forgive how he had reacted and how he treated me when I told him I loved him.

I waited for Xavier’s nightly visit, where he would tell me how sorry he was and that he wished he had met me sooner. I wanted to ask why he was sorry, but he would just tell me about the case he was working on. I would drift off into a fitful sleep where I was stuck like this forever and would never have the opportunity to change the mistakes of my life.

“You need to wake up Mylie. Please! Our lives depend on it. You have to save us Mylie.” I awoke to the familiar voice from before. “Please Mylie! I know you can hear me, but he will kill us if he finds out I am helping you. He tried again last night, but I rang the alarm before he could poison you. Fight, Mylie!”

I heard voices and her curse. She ran out of the room with the door closing behind her.
Who tried killing me again? Lord, please help me. I need to save myself from this monster who has that poor woman scared and who was trying to kill me.

*******

“Her brain activity has been improving, and her physical therapist, who has been conditioning her muscles every night, says she is responding.”
What physical therapist? No one has come here?

“Thank you Dr. Trotter. I’m just really worried, and I miss my sister; she is the only one who keeps me sane,” Nik replied.

“I understand son. As a doctor, I am doing everything medically possible to help Mylie, but sometimes we all need a little help. I pray. Pray and have faith son, it keeps the hope alive.”

“Do you think she can hear me?” I heard Nik’s broken voice and knew he was fighting tears.

“There was a case where a girl was in a coma around two years ago, and she was sent to a hospice. Her family moved away and just sent a check but stopped visiting after a while. Apparently, she recovered and informed her doctor she had heard everything and knew what they were doing while she was in a coma. It was a messy lawsuit, and they paid her to shut her up, but it was too late. Everyone in our community of physicians knew what happened.”

“That is incredible. How come it was never mentioned?”

“Because the family made sure it was hushed up, and then they left our town.”

“Thanks Dr. Trotter.”

“Anytime Nik.”

I heard the door close after a series of footsteps, and Nik squeezed my hand. I tried so hard to squeeze back. I put all my mind and soul in giving him the hope he needed.

“Here goes. God, Mom, Dad, anyone listening. I haven’t done this in a long time, but I need your help. Maybe I am selfish, but I need my sister. Please help me.” He paused, and through tears he spoke words that filled my heart with so much sadness. “I miss you My’. If you can hear me, please give me a sign.” I tried so hard to squeeze his hand. “Anything.” I heard his broken voice plead, and I wanted to scream
I hear you!

“I hear you!” I said in a muffled voice, realizing there was a tube stuck in my throat.

I started to choke and cough, causing so much pain that my eyes sprung open. Blurred images started to become clearer, and I couldn’t stop choking, but I saw Nik with tears in his eyes as he started to yell out for the doctor and nurses.

“Calm down, Mylie. You’re gonna be okay.”
Dear God, was I going to be okay?

Moments passed by where doctors tested me. They took the breathing tube out of my mouth and kept me on observation. The neurologist sent me to get an MRI to check my brain activity because I couldn’t speak. They believed I had damaged my vocal chords when I tried to speak with the tube in my throat. A phlebotomist came into the room, and he took my blood but never said a word.

It was strange, how I stared at everyone with new eyes, always wondering if he was the one. Finally, Dr. Trotter informed me that the physical therapist was coming to see me. I was anxious because I didn’t remember ever having a physical therapist. I signaled to Nik for a paper and pen. I scribbled on a pad that was handed by Dr. Trotter and told him:

“I heard everything.”

His eyes widened, and he proceeded to ask me various questions, but I couldn’t focus. I shook my head and finally wrote:

“I heard a woman. She saved me.”

Once again Dr. Trotter appeared surprised and gave Nik a look.

“Are you sure Mylie?” Nik asked me hesitantly.

I nodded my head again and then winced from the pain in my throat. I was frustrated and exhausted, but they had to know. I couldn’t say anything more because a knock alerted us that the physical therapist was there. I started to breathe erratically, and Nik urged me to calm down.

“Dr. Trotter. Mr. Mier,” a pixie cut, raven-haired woman said with a brief nod, but my eyes gave away my surprise. It was she! “Hi Mylie.”

“Mercy. So nice of you to come early.”

“No problem at all sir, but I will need privacy to perform the muscular testing since she is in a gown.”

“Of course. Nik, I will buy you a coffee.” The doctor put his strong hand on Nik’s broad shoulder.

“I’ll be back Mylie.” Nik smiled reassuringly, and I nodded weakly. As the door closed behind them, Mercy lifted a hand.

“I know you are freaking out right now Mylie, and I am sorry for everything you have gone through. I will explain everything. How much do you remember?”

I pointed to my throat and scribbled on the note pad.

“Everything.”

“You can’t talk?” Her eyebrows pinched, and I just nodded. “You have to know what I am going to say is going to be crazy so just give me a minute to explain.”

She pulled out a picture and put it in my hand. My hands shook because I knew this girl. I looked up and looked past the dark makeup and hair. Sure enough, it was really her, Mercy Whitehead. I looked at her pageant picture and remember her being one of the biggest snobs, but she was older than me by a few years so we never went to school together.

“I know what you’re thinking. Yes, I was the biggest snob, and Lord, did I pay for that life.” She proceeded to do exercises as she told me everything and then she got to the part of falling in love.

“You have to understand Mylie. He was so amazing, handsome, and rich. My family expected me to marry him for the name, but I didn’t care. I loved him.” Tears glistened in her eyes. “One night, he heard a discussion I was having with my father. It changed everything. He turned into this cold monster. I was so scared, so I asked for help from his brother.” She sniffed. “But before I could get to his brother, he tried to kill me.”

“WHO!”

“It was--,” Someone knocked, and the door opened as Dr. Trotter came in with Nik, but she didn’t say anything more.

“All done?” Dr. Trotter asked, and she smiled.

“Yes sir, and her muscles are responding perfectly. I don’t see her having any problems walking, but I will continue to work with her until you discharge her.”

“Very well Mercy. Thank you.” She gave him a slight nod and looked at me.

“I’ll see you soon Mylie.”

She left the room, and all I could think was damn it! Who was it! Brother. Damien had a brother, could it have been him? Oh my God.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Damien

My phone rang, and I looked at my caller ID and remembered the number.

“How did you know?” I yelled into the phone.

“Because it happened to me,” she said calmly. “Look Damien, I just left the hospital, and Mylie is awake, but you need to watch over her. She’s still in danger; he tried again last night.”

I could hear the faint echo of footsteps and her breath coming in and out as she walked quickly. I had a terrible feeling, and I couldn’t shake it.

“Are you all right?” I asked her, but she didn’t answer. I could hear her speaking to someone.

“What are you doing here?”

“Did you think I was going to let you interfere in my life again?”

“Please. Don’t do this,” she cried, and I screamed into the phone.

“Your time is up Mercy. Say goodbye.”

“Save her,” she whispered.

I heard the gunshot, and I dropped the phone. I heard the rustle of the footsteps and grunts. I needed a clue, anything that could help Mercy. The phone went dead, and I knew that the only person who could’ve told us what was happening was dead, and I had just heard her final plea.
Save her.

I dialed 911. I told the dispatcher everything, and I was connected to a detective.

“Detective Brower.”

“Detective, my name is Damien James. I am a professor at P.H.U.”

“Yes, we met before with the attempted rape of Mylie Mier.”

“Yes. Well, this involves her but also Mercy. I don’t have her last name, but I have a number. I just received a call from her warning me that someone was going to kill Mylie.”

“Go on.”

I continued with everything that had been said over the weeks and with Mercy’s cryptic message. When I told him about the gunshot, he reacted. I heard him as he yelled to get a cell phone trace, to call the hospital, and to cross-reference the name Mercy. “Professor James, we’re going to need to get your statement. I will have an officer come and escort you.”

“Of course. But--”

“We are sending someone to stand guard at Mylie’s door, sir.”