Future Days

The Day I Tried To Live

"How is she?" Jeff spoke as if his voice alone could break her more as she laid unconscious in her hospital bed, shackled down with numerous tubes and wires like some lab rat.

"The doctor said she's going to be fine. Some broken ribs, a pretty gnarly concussion, and her feet were basically filled with glass, but they say they got it all out. Jesus, man, what the hell was he going to do to her?" I ran my hands down my exhausted features.

Jeff put a firm hand on my shoulder. "It doesn't matter. What matters is, that little bad ass laying there fought harder than anyone I've ever met to get away from that sick fuck. She's got the spark Andy always had, that "over my dead body" kind of mentality. I've never been the religious type or really believe any of that mumbo jumbo, but maybe Andy is out there somehow guiding her and protecting her...It's nice to think so, anyway." A Solemn expression rested on his face.

"Thanks, man. Why don't you and the guys go get some rest? I'll call you when she wakes up, yeah?"

"Actually I was coming to let you know Syd has a visitor out here, but I wanted to make sure it was cool before I sent her in?"

"It's probably just Mrs. J, send her in..and thank you, Jeff. I'll never be able to thank you and Stone enough for finding her today. I don't know what I would've done if-"

"Don't mention it, bud. She's part of this family now. We look out for each other. That being said, Stone and I are gonna go get Rooster and figure out how to smuggle him in here for Syd." He threw his hand up in a wave and made his way out the heavy metal door.

I was sitting in an old raggedy powder blue chair I had pulled up to Sydney's bed side. I looked at her as she seemed so at peace, and so blissfully unaware. Her ashy blonde hair clung and matted to her face, the dried blood twisting her effortlessly wavy hair into an unrecognizable mess. I took the hair tie out of my own hair, letting it fall around my shoulders, and as gently as I could I pulled her hair up into a unintentional messy bun, pulling it from her beautiful face.

Her eye was swollen like a second set of lips, she had a butterfly stitch carefully placed on her left cheek bone where a gash had made its unwelcome home. Her neck a symphony of blue and purple fingerprints, a reminder of the hands that once took their place. I tried my best to wipe away the remaining dried and coagulated blood that lingered under her busted lip before placing a soft kiss to her forehead.

A throat being cleared catches my attention and I notice Mrs. Jacobson standing at the door with flowers and a basket of cookies that smelled as if God himself shit them out in the most delicious way. I stood and hugged the older woman. She looked tired and worried, probably mirroring my own features.

"You must be Christopher. I'm sorry we're meeting under these circumstances but I'm glad to finally meet you, Chris. Sydney speaks very highly of you. She's quite smitten I think." Her sweet chuckle filled the dull room with warmth and love.

"Oh dear, sweet girl, what has he done to you this time?" Her face fell as she made her way to Sydney's side, taking her hand in her own and delicately running her thumb over Syds scabbed and bruised knuckles. "Even like this she's still a little beauty queen, isn't she?" Another warm laugh masked the pain in her voice.

"Yeah, she is. She steals the light in every room the second she enters it." My soft chuckle matches hers. The first time I've smiled since I left her apartment this morning.

"I've seen her like this before. Much worse than this, if you can believe that."

"The day you met her, right?" I inquired genuinely curious of her portrayal of that day.

She let out a heavy sigh as if she were traveling back in time. "Yes, it was the day she limped into my life and made it whole." She looked down at the unconscious girl lovingly. "I was having a day and I felt like everything that could go wrong that day did. I was struggling to open the heavy doors at the library while juggling a box full of book donations when the bottom fell out and the books fell about as quickly as my sanity did at that very moment. As I was picking them up these little hands reached down and collected them all for me before I could finish. I was met with that vibrantly kind smile, and two green eyes that told a story of a thousand broken hearts. She was so soft spoken it was hard for these old ears to hear a word she said. I was taken aback by her appearance. She'd clearly been to hell and back a hundred times over and something in me just couldn't let her just walk out. I needed to know she would be okay. That she isn't alone, in whatever it was she was going through. We had coffee and cookies, and I got to hear that melodic giggle for the first time. We talked about everything from my grandbabies, to Jane Austen and I watched a light in her eyes slowly start to ignite. We talked until the sun was down, but I made her promise to come back the next day, with promises of cake and baby pictures." She looked so fondly at Sydney I could physically feel my heart swell.