The Best Of Me

Chapter 19

Brantley

     I paced back and forth in the hospital room. Because we weren't married or related no one would tell me anything. I was lucky they were even letting me in the room. Melody would be here soon and then she could find out what was going on. Why wasn't Harmony waking up? I was so worried about her. Every second she went without waking up I felt myself sinking farther and farther in despair. I couldn't imagine life without her. Please Harmony wake up. I don't want to keep going without you.

             "So you mean to tell me you don't know why my sister isn't waking up?" "There's no head trauma. At first we thought there might be since her face is pretty bruised up and she does have a slight concussion but nothing that should cause her to not wake up. She's been through a lot this is probably just her body's way of making sure she gets enough rest for a full recovery." "So what exactly happened to my sister?" The doctor looked over at me. "Maybe we could talk privately" "It's okay. Brantley is Harmony's boyfriend. Whatever you say to me you can say to him." "Okay well Harmony was beat pretty severely as you can tell. The back of her head was likely slammed into the wall or her headboard. I know it looks really bad but it's mostly cosmetic and she will heal with minimal to no scarring. However there was extreme trauma caused by the rape." "My sister was raped?" "More than once. By only one person. He left DNA behind so hopefully the police will catch him. We don't know at what point your sister passed out but hopefully for her sake it was early on because like I said the trauma is severe." "Thank you" It took everything I had to not storm out of the room but without knowing who did this or where he was there wasn't much I could do.

        I looked up from where I'd been sitting holding Harmony's hand when I heard the door open. The detectives walked in and looked at me. "Are you Brantley?" "Yes sir." "You're the one who found her?" "Yes." "Can we talk to you in the hallway?" "Yeah as long as it's fast. I want to be here when she wakes up." "We understand. We'll make it quick we just have a few questions." I followed them into the hallway. "You're the one that found miss Sanders in her apartment?" "Yes, I found Harmony." "And you're the one that broke her door down?" "Yes" "Why?" "Because she wasn't answering and the neighbors said they heard her arguing with a man last the night before." "Was she alone when you found her?" "Yes. I saw that she was obviously hurt so I picked her up and brought her to the hospital." "There was no one in her apartment?" "Not that I saw." "But the door was locked from the inside and you had to break it down?" "Yeah, Wait. How is that even possible?" "That's what we're trying to understand." "Do you know who did this?" "Not yet. DNA will take a few days to come back and who knows if it'll even get a match. When Miss Sanders wakes up we will ask her if she knows the person who did this." "Do you have any more questions? I'd really like to get back." "That's all for now."

"What, what happened?" I looked up and saw Harmony struggling to sit up. "Babe just lay down. Take it easy. You were attacked. Do you remember any of it?" "No. Everything hurts." "Just relax. I'll get a nurse. Melody is getting coffee she'll be back in a minute." That's when I noticed the look on Harmony's face. It was pure terror. "I don't know how he got out or how he found me." I comforted Harmony and told her she was safe now. Then I told her that I'd be back in a few hours and I she said she'd be okay so I left. In the hallway I ran into Melody and told her that Harmony was awake and I had a few things to take care of that I'd be back later. Then I took off. I ignored every speed limit sign on my way back to the apartments. I banged on the neighbors door until she answered. "Did you see the guy that Harmony was fighting with?" "No I just heard it." "Did you ever hear her call him by name?" "I don't know." "Please think. It's important." "I know she said his name I just can't remember it." "Please try." "It was Justin." "Are you sure?" "a hundred percent sure." "Thank you I have to go. Call the police they'll want to know you remembered his name."

I was out of moves. I had nowhere to look for him. I'd have to trust the police. I drove back to the hospital where Harmony was sitting up talking and Melody gave me a questioning look. I mouthed the word "Justin" to her and she excused herself to go make a phone call. I sat with Harmony and held her hand while she talked about nothing. I didn't mind listening to her I was just glad she was well enough to talk. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders walked in the room and I excused myself so they could have some time with their daughter. Anthony was out in the hallway talking to Melody. In his arms was the sleeping toddler I'd heard so much about yet never met. Little Anthony Jr. The sight of him calmed me down. "Are you going to take him in to see Harmony?" "I don't know. Is she really bad?" "She's better now. Seeing her nephew might help her." "Alright." Anthony carried A.J. into the room leaving me and Melody out in the hallway. Without saying a word Melody handed me a piece of paper. It had a hotel name and room number on it. I didn't question her I just took off. I pulled up just as they were shoving Justin in to the back of a police cruiser. In a way I was glad they'd found him so fast but I was really hoping to get my hands on him first. I sat across the street in my truck and watched until they drove away.

"Brantley, Come on we only have a couple weeks until the tour starts. We need to focus." "Sorry" It had been a week since Harmony had been attacked. She no longer felt safe in her apartment so I'd moved her in with me. It was a huge step but we were both ready to take it. Harmony slept in the spare room for now though. I was giving her the space she needed and I would continue to give her space as long as she needed it. Justin was in jail and he wasn't getting out this time. "Hey I know we are short on time but I think I need a week off. I need to go home for awhile." "Seriously?" "Yeah man. You know I wouldn't do this if it wasn't important. We have 5 weeks left. I swear I'll throw myself until rehearsals the last 4 weeks if I can just take this week off." "Alright, go ahead." "Thanks. See you next week." I ran out of there. I just wanted to be with Harmony.

"Hey babe. I was thinking we could go visit my mom. You still haven't met her yet. While we're there we can visit your parents and on the way back we can stop and see Melody and Anthony. How does that sound to you?" "Sounds great. I'm still on personal leave at work and I'm going crazy sitting around this apartment all day." "Great pack a bag and we'll head out." "Now?" "Yeah is that okay?" "Yeah. Let's go." It only took Harmony about 20 minutes to grab her things and we were on our way. I really think this is what we both needed. We passed the Welcome To Georgia sign and Harmony smiled for the first time in awhile. She reached over and put her hand on me. That's when I knew that everything was going to be okay. It wasn't going to be easy but nothing ever was.

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