Call Me Yours

There With You

I finally woke up, to find myself being held carefully by Alex, the back of his hand resting against my forehead. He helped me take a drink of water before carefully lifting me up and onto a chair that was pushed over by one of the officers "You think you can tell us what happened?"
-
-
-
"Did you call Chris?" I leaned back in the chair, my hands trembling in my lap as I nervously glanced around the empty bar. Alex had closed the place to give us all some privacy, and I was emotionally exhausted after having to recount the details of the attack to the officers. I'd also refused to let them call an ambulance...

"I left a message..." Alex's voice was apologetic, his shoulders shrugging in defeat as my eyes filled with tears "I can call Scarlet?"

"I don't want to bother her... can we uh... can you drop me off at the hospital... I think something is... seriously wrong." I coughed, and the iron taste of blood filled my mouth "Should have let them call that ambulance huh?" I blinked a few times, a futile attempt to clear the white spots that were beginning to cloud my vision. Alex was dialing a number on his phone, a terrified look on his face as I again lost consciousness, my body sliding off the chair and roughly landing on the floor...
-
-
-

"I just want to go home..." Alex had called 911 after he'd been unable to wake me, and I could only remember flashes of being brought here, of a male paramedic wrapping an oxygen mask around my ears after strapping my neck into a stabilizer.

They wanted to keep me for observation... I had some pretty severe internal bruising, along with three cracked ribs... "I want Chris Scarlet... I mean I know he's busy, or he hasn't answered because he doesn't recognize your phone numbers but..." I fidgeted with the monitor attached to my finger, flinching when my mind flashed back to the precise moment my attacker had hit me for the first time. How had I let this happen? Why had I taken that path...

"I'll be right back..." Scarlet grabbed my shattered phone off the table, and left the room before I could say anything to stop her. I closed my eyes, attempting to get some rest before a doctor or nurse came to check on me again...

But every single time I closed my eyes, I saw him, the man that had tried to... who knows what he would've done if I hadn't managed to scream...

I must've zoned out, because when she walked back through the doorway and I glanced up at the clock it had been over two hours. Scarlet roughly sat a small black bag on the edge of the bed, motioning for me to look inside "New phone. Same number... and the guy that helped me was able to transfer everything over but it took some figuring out or I would've been back sooner. Call him, Nat. I'll give ya some privacy."

My hands trembled as I held the phone in my hands, my finger barely managing to press the power button, and when the screen came to life, the picture Chris had taken of the two of us flashed across, my heart jumping up into my throat as I pressed on his name in the contact list, and it only rang twice before he picked up...

"Hey doll... I'm sorry I didn't call earlier it's just been a really rough last few days and I think someone gave out my phone number because I've been getting non stop calls from these unknown numbers and..."

"Chris I'm in the hospital." I'd cut him off, I hadn't meant to, but the hours and hours of holding everything in had finally gotten to me "I was... some guy..." I took in as deep a breath as I could manage, the pain meds they had given me when I first got here were beginning to wear off, and I blinked furiously as a few tears rolled from my eyes "I just thought you should know."

"What do you mean you're in the hospital?!" I flinched at his raised voice, closing my eyes and rubbing my temple with my free hand "Please... answer me... are you alright?" I could hear him rustling around in something, and then the loud slamming of a door.

"I... cracked a couple of my ribs... and to answer your question, I'm... I'm not alright Chris... I am so scared... I know you can't be here that you're busy but I just... I need you Chris. I love you. And I need you."

"Shit... Sebastian is on his way back right now for a few days. I can't be there until at least tomorrow but I'll tell him what's happened... damnit Natalie... how did this happen?" I shifted in the bed, the numerous wires and monitors attached to me beeping loudly in response.

"I don't know..." I finally managed to stutter out, tears streaming down my face and I shook my head at the nurse that poked her head through the doorway "Chris I... I took a shortcut and... It's my fault."
-
-
-

"You need anything else?" Sebastian stepped back from my bed, running his hands through his hair as he glanced over me. I shook my head at him, biting the inside of my lip as he moved to lean against the doorway of my room. We'd been back in my apartment for barely an hour "I'll just leave ya alone... Chris should... should be here by tomorrow morning."