Forgiven (31 page)

In that instant, I realized what Angie had been telling me all along.
Bad things happen to good people
. There was nothing I could’ve done to change the outcome of that night. Angie had tried to educate me about forgiveness and love, but all I did was continue to push her away. I loved her but here I was, possibly breathing my last breath, and I never told her. I couldn’t let him take that away from me.

I held up my hands in surrender. “Bryan, you don’t want to do this.”

“YOU KILLED MY SISTER!” he screamed.

I needed to calm him down. “Bryan, listen to me, it was an accident.”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP! I’ve heard all this shit before,” he yelled, as he pushed the knife farther into my neck. I felt the tip break the skin.

Bryan and I were the same size, if this came down to a fight, it was going to be close.

“If you hadn’t wanted to go to the bonfire, she would still be alive!” he spat.

“No one could have known what would happen.”

At that moment, my worst fears were realized. Angie walked through the front door, closing it quietly before she turned to look at the room. Her eyes widened in shock at the scene before her.

“Caleb, what…what’s going on?” her voice shook.

“Who the fuck is she?” Bryan yelled. “Is this whore the one you replaced my sister with?”

I knew his anger was escalating. While his focus was on Angie, I pulled out of his grip and threw a right hook into his jaw. His head snapped to the side, but he recovered quickly and turned his attention back to me.

“Oh my God!” Angie screamed as she reached for her phone.

Bryan began to circle, lunging at me with his knife. “I’m gonna kill you, you son of a bitch!”

When I saw an opening I threw another punch. I could hear Angie crying in the background, and all I could think about was that I had to keep her safe. Just then, Bryan lunged and we fell to the floor, with Bryan landing on top of me. I could feel blood running down my left arm, but the adrenaline deadened the pain. I tried to throw him off, but he managed to get the knife back to my throat.

Before I knew what was happening, Angie dived at Bryan, knocking him off of me. I scrambled to my feet as I watched Angie slump to the floor. Fear and rage pulsed through me. I had to get to her. I threw everything I had at Bryan, knocking him to the ground and holding down his arms with my knees. I punched him once…twice. I just kept punching him until someone pulled me off him. It was the cop we’d met with about Angie’s father. I pulled out of his grip and ran for her.

There was blood pooling from a wound in her abdomen. I had never been so afraid in my life. Dropping to the floor next to her, I pulled her into my arms. She opened her eyes and looked at me. “Caleb, I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

“No baby, no don’t be sorry. Just hold on, help will be here soon.” I could feel the tears running down my face as I experienced the worst case of déjà vu ever.

As I looked down into Angie’s eyes, I recognized the look she was giving me. It was the same look I had seen in Lily’s eyes as she slipped away from me that night. Angie’s eyes slowly closed.

“No Angie, stay with me. I have to tell you how much I love you,” I cried. “Please you can’t leave me. You are my world. You showed me that I could laugh and smile again. You taught me how to forgive. You taught me how to love. If you leave me now, I’ll forget completely. Please don’t leave me,” I pleaded.

The paramedics arrived and forced me to move away from her. She was loaded onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. I dropped to my knees in the middle of the apartment.
God, please don’t take her from me. Please no.

The cops helped me to my feet as they took Josh and Bryan out of the apartment on stretchers. The paramedics bandaged my arm, while the cops offered to take me to the hospital so that I could get stitched up. As I sat in the back of the car, I wondered if that would be the last time I ever saw Angie.

I sat in the waiting room, my cell phone in my hand. I knew I had to call them, but I wasn’t sure what to say. I’d already talked to Emily, and she’d arrived about 15 minutes after we did. She sat next to me sobbing, so I pulled her to my side, wiping the tears from my own face. The doctor had already stitched up my arm and brought me here to wait for news on Angie. We explained the situation with her father, but they maintained they could only talk to family about her condition.

I needed help. I picked up my phone and dialed. She answered on the first ring. “Caleb? How are you?”

“I need your help.”

“Honey, what’s wrong?” she asked, panic in her voice.

“Angie’s been stabbed,” I sobbed.

“We’re leaving right now. Where are you?” I could hear her rushing around collecting her stuff.

“Cayuga Medical Center.”

“We’ll be there soon, everything’s going to be okay.” She tried to soothe me.

I hung up and went back to watching the doors. I continued to let the tears run down my face. This was all my fault.

Less than two hours later, my parents walked through the waiting room doors. Mom took one look at my face and ran over to wrap me in her arms. I lost it. I hadn’t cried like that since I was little. I heard Dad say he was going to see if he could find out anything.

I continued to cry on my mothers’ shoulder but, after what felt like forever, I managed to calm down enough to talk to her.

She looked at me with tears in her eyes. “Caleb, what happened?”

“Josh and I got home from our workout and Bryan was there.” I started to explain.

“Bryan? As in Bryan
Reynolds
?” she asked astounded.

I nodded. “He’d knocked Josh out before I walked through the door…he held a knife to my throat…Angie showed up and ended up in the middle of our fight…Bryan stabbed her when she got in the way,” I told her, my explanation broken with sobs.

Mom’s eyes were wide, and her hand came up to cover her mouth. “Oh my God.”

“This is all my fault, I never should have gotten close to her. If I’d stayed away from her she never would have been there tonight.”

Mom pulled me back into her arms, “This is not your fault, and neither is what happened that night. Bryan never got the help he needed after his sister died.”

“I don’t know what I’ll do if something happens to her. I don’t think I can go through that again.” I cried into her shoulder.

She pulled away slightly to look me in the eyes, I could see the tears glistening in hers. “You can’t think that way. You have to have hope that everything will be fine. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you with a smile on your face. Angie brought that back to you.”

I bent my head. “I broke up with her two days ago.”

“You did
what
?” she yelled.

“Bryan called on Sunday after we left you. I was afraid she would run if she found out what happened, so I broke up with her. I promised I wouldn’t make her deal with her father alone, but I left her all alone after everything that happened,” my voice broke.

“What’s wrong with her father?” She looked confused.

I sighed. “That’s why I didn’t go on the trip with Josh. Angie’s dad has been verbally abusing her since she was little. When Angie went home the day before we were supposed to leave, he took it a step further and beat her up, spraining her wrist.” I could hear the anger leaking into my tone. “I stayed behind to take care of her. She opened herself up to me, but I left her in the dark…and it almost got her killed.”

“Caleb, look at me.” I did as she said. “When are you going to realize that you deserve to be happy.” She took my hand in hers. “You love her, don’t deny it. You stayed with her when she was hurt and I watched the two of you together last weekend.”

I started to shake my head, but Mom stopped me, “Oh honey, open up your heart and let yourself love her. I’d be willing to bet everything that she loves you.”

“I know she does,” I said sadly. “She told me on Sunday after we stopped at the park on the way home.”

“Then when she wakes up, tell her what happened and have faith that she will understand and see the truth.”

Dad came back with one of the doctors. Mom and I gave him our undivided attention. “Jack, this is my son, Caleb and my wife, Claire. This is Jack Peterson, we went to med school together.”

He reached out to shake our hands. “Claire, Caleb. I understand you’re here for Angelina Powers.”

“Yeah.” I pointed to Emily. “This is Angie’s best friend, Emily.”

He nodded at Emily. “Can either of you tell me how to get in touch with Angelina’s family?”

Emily huffed. “We explained this to the nurses earlier. We don’t know where her mom is, and her dad is not allowed within one hundred yards of her. He attacked her a few weeks ago.”

Dr. Peterson though about that for a minute, “Because of privacy laws I can’t discuss any details with you until she gives me her permission.” He gave my dad a pointed look. “If you need anything else Eric, please let me know.”

Dad shook his hand. “Thank you for your help Jack.” Then he turned back to us. “Caleb, can I talk to you for a minute?”

I nodded and followed as my dad led me to an empty part of the waiting room. I was still frustrated that they wouldn’t give us any information on Angie, and it annoyed me that my dad felt the need for a heart to heart right now. I didn’t need to hear how I should have told her how much I care about her. I
needed
to know how she was doing.

We sat down next to each other and he turned to me. “Caleb, I know you’re upset and I want to do everything I can to help you.” He reached over to squeeze my hand. “I realize how much you must care for Angie so I’m going to tell you what I found out from Eric.” My eyes snapped to his. “Just remember, I could lose my license for this, but you’re more important.

I reached over and pulled my dad into a hug. “Thank you, Dad.” I choked. I couldn’t thank him enough. He patted me on the back. “Anything for you, son.” Slowly he pulled away and told me what he knew. “Angie came in with a partially ruptured spleen from the knife, she lost a lot of blood, but they were able to repair it.” My heart dropped at the thought of Angie suffering so much pain because of me. “Right now she is in recovery and they will be wheeling her up to her room shortly. Once she is settled, they will bring us up to see her.”

My eyes glassed over. “Thanks, Dad.”

He put his hand on my shoulder. “Everything is going to be fine.”

A little while later, the nurse came in and told us that Angie had been moved. The nurse showed us to her room, but I stopped dead in my tracks when I walked through the door. I could hear Emily weeping behind me, but it seemed as if everything was frozen in time. Angie was lying there, hooked up to all kinds of tubes and monitors. She looked so peaceful, yet so pale at the same time.

My father put his hand on my shoulder. “Her body’s been through a lot today, plus they’ve given her meds for the pain. She’ll sleep for a while.”

I nodded and tried to move my feet, but they felt like they were rooted to the floor.
Move Caleb…MOVE
. Slowly I walked up to her bedside, taking hold of her hand and dropping to my knees.

“Baby, I’m so sorry, please forgive me,” I wept.

Emily came up and kneeled down next to me and did something I never expected from her. She wrapped her arms around me and lay her head on my shoulder. “She’ll forgive you. She’s in love with you,” she said, her voice thick with unshed tears.

It seemed like we sat there forever, me holding onto Angie, and Emily holding onto me. Finally, we stood up and pulled chairs over to her bedside to wait.