Someone Like You | Toni Kroos

Chapter 37 - Déjà vu

Toni's POV

"Gabi," I whispered as I saw her running out from behind the bushes, before there was a flash of a wooden bat and she was flat on the ground. I picked Johann up and ran towards her. "Gabi!"

I put Johann down a short distance away from the bushes so he could stay away from the danger. "Stay here, okay baby?" I whispered, giving him a kiss on the head. Fortunately, he just sat there obediently, fiddling around with his new shoes.

"Dada," I heard Mia mumble, her voice muffled by Gabi's shirt, as she peeked out at me.

"Shhh," I put my finger on my lips. Cautiously, I stepped around the bushes and saw a half-masked man standing there with a bat poised to hit Gabi if she got up. He startled when he saw me, his eyes full of fear, as if he'd never meant to hit Gabi and that he didn't know what to do now that she was knocked out.

I fished out my phone from my pocket and held it out at him. "I'll call the police if you don't leave right now."

He stood frozen to the spot, but he dropped the bat and held his arms in the air. "I...I'm –"

I unlocked my phone and dialled the police. Before I pressed 'call,' I showed the screen to him. "Do you want to leave, or not?"

"Okay, okay," he said, his voice muffled by the black cloth. He took out Gabi's phone and some money and flung them at me. "Sorry. Bye."

I fell to my knees next to Gabi as he made his escape. She had a death grip on Mia, so I pried her out of Gabi's arms. "Are you okay, baby? Are you hurt?"

"Dada," she said, her voice trembling, before she suddenly burst into tears. "Dada," she sobbed.

"Shhh, baby," I held her close to my chest. Mia rarely cried even as a baby, but on that day she was so frightened she was in tears. "It's okay. Everything's fine."

After checking and seeing that she wasn't hurt, I put her down on the ground and went to check on Gabi. Fortunately, she was still breathing, but her body was cold, and she was bleeding from the back of her neck. There was also blood on her forehead from when she fell and hit her head. "Gabi," I called, trying to keep myself from crying. "Gabi, please stay strong. Please don't do this to me."

I dialled for an ambulance as Mia crawled back to us, tears still streaming down her face. She crawled up on Gabi and stroked her face. "Mama," she sobbed. "Mia...Mia love mama."

"Shhh," I grabbed her and cradled her in my arms as I hung up after informing the paramedics of our location. "Mama will be just fine. She'll be just fine."

I went and retrieved Johann, and the three of us sat beside Gabi to wait for the ambulance. Obviously, Johann didn't understand what was going on, and he was immediately convinced when I told him that Gabi was just sleeping and she would wake up soon. Mia, though, was still stroking Gabi's face lovingly, her body shaking with sobs.

Johann crawled over to Mia and turned her to face him. "Sleep," he told her. "Mama sleep."

"Mama," she wept as Johann touched her cheeks, wiping away her tears. "Mama...mama love Johann...mama love dada. Mama tell Mia. Mia tell Johann."

"Oh, Gabi," I whispered. I reached over and planted my lips on her head. "I love you so much. Please be strong, baby. I love you."

I used my shirt to clean Mia's face. "Don't cry, okay baby? Dada loves you. You're a strong girl, right? Don't cry. Dada is really proud of you."

We sat there, silently except for Mia's soft sobbing, until the ambulance arrived five minutes later. We followed it in a taxi and waited impatiently outside the emergency room as the doctors handled Gabi. Mia couldn't stop crying even after I changed her soiled diaper with one the hospital provided, and she only calmed down when I repeatedly stroked her back and sung her a lullaby until she fell asleep in my arms.