Caught In A Name

CHAPTER ONE

The shrill sound of the phone ringing on the bedside table instantly woke Nicomaine up. Her brain switched from sleep deprived to alert in a span of 2 seconds. Truthfully, she hasn't really slept in God knows how long. Oh wait, it's been 33 days to be exact! She reached for the phone as it continued to ring before the damn thing wakes up the other occupant in the room.

"Hello"

"Hi there. Is this Mrs. Faulkerson?"

"Uhhmm yes. Yes it is." May God forgive me for this lie.

"Hi. It's Mandy from the hospital. I know it's early but you specifically stated that you wanted to be called if your husband wakes up. Well, he is awake and wanting to sign himself out."

"What?!? Is he confused?" Please let him be confused.

"No. Far from it. He knows his name, where he is, and what year it is. But, he's just adamant that he needs to leave!"

"Did he say why?"

"He insists that he needs to find somebody. He won't tell us who. He only calmed down a bit when I told him that I was going to call you."

"Oh! Okay. Aahhhhh. Well, uuhhhmmm. Okay. I'll, no...we'll be there as soon as we can! And oh Mandy?"

"Yes?"

"You told him you're calling me how?"

"I told him I'm calling his wife. Is that not right?" Mandy replied with a hint of confusion.

"Oh no, no. That's right. I'm his wife. Yap his wife. And we have a baby." Hell will surely open up and swallow me whole for all this lies that I've said in the last three days.

"Mrs. Faulkerson? Are you okay?"

"Yes! Yes I am. I'm happy that my husband is awake. Yes I am." A little over the top lie!

"Okay. Uhhmm, Mrs. Faulkerson?"

"Yes?" Again, God please forgive me.

"Could you make it sooner rather than later. I don't think your husband is the patient type" Mandy whispered over the phone.

"Yes, of course. We'll be there soon" Maine responded and quickly hang up before the nurse could say anything else. She laid her head back down on the pillow and absentmindedly reached over to the other side of the bed just to make sure the little being was still there. Once she touched the tiny warm fingers, Nicomaine reflected back on the whirlwind events of the last three days.

When Richard Faulkerson Jr. helped her get on that speeding train, she thought for sure that she would have to fight him off. And she was ready too! But then, he dropped like a sack of potatoes on the cart floor and that's when she saw the bullet hole he sustained in helping her.

The idea of just leaving him bleed to death had crossed her mind numerous times as she frantically worked to put pressure on his wound with a crying baby in front of her and the train moving at full speed. But she just couldn't do it. It didn't help that her curiosity got the better of her when she saw his wallet fall off from his jacket pocket. She picked the damn thing up, opened it and look through his identifications. That's when she found out his name and statistics (like that's important). So instead of treating him as a virtual stranger, she got to refer to him by his name when she was trying to keep him awake. She must've used all of the clothes she had in her backpack to staunch the bleeding because she didn't have anything else in handy. She couldn't possibly ask the train operator to stop because first, they were on the very last cart of a train of 20 carts. And second, they were supposed to be stowaways. Hence, she ended up having to watch over Mr. Faulkerson as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

Nicomaine had to keep talking to the wounded man to keep him awake but he just mostly grunted like a Neanderthal. The only indication he was still alive was the occasional groan of pain coming from him whenever the train hits a patchy area on the railroad.

Nicomaine alternated from making sure Mr. Faulkerson stayed awake and keeping her baby quiet and content in the carrier strapped to her front.

It was another 2 hours before the train came to a stop. Again, she could've just jumped off and walked away then without a backward glance. But, she knew that if she did, her conscience would not let her sleep at night. And so she looked for a payphone (which is rare to find nowadays, but she found one) and called 911. Once more, it would've been an open opportunity for her to walk away then. But for some unknown reason, she couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself to leave him alone. She tried to turn her back but some unknown force was stopping her. So she stayed. She stayed with her baby, by his side, until the ambulance came, followed by the police.

It took 5 minutes before the ambulance and police came and in that short amount of time, Nicomaine had to come up with a plausible explanation as to why Mr. Faulkerson had a bullet wound. In the end she ended up concocting this elaborate story about them being a family on the witness protection program hence her lack of ID. She made sure she kept Mr. Faulkerson's wallet hidden within the baby carrier. The whole time that she was trying to explain the made up story to the police, Mr. Faulkerson remained quiet but his eyes never left hers. Any other questions asked by the police after that, she just answered "I don't know" playing the helpless, distraught, meek wife to the hilt. She even added tears and shakiness to the equation. And her baby seemed to know when to cry on cue.

As soon as they got to the nearest hospital, Mr. Faulkerson was wheeled away to the operating room. But before he was taken away, he grabbed Nicomaine's hand and clear as day spoke for the first time, for everyone to hear, in his deep baritone voice...

"Don't leave! Stay!"

And so Nicomaine Mendoza did. She stayed. Against her better judgement, she stayed.