My Sunshine (31 page)

John
sat next to Chloe on the bed and held her close. “It’s going to be okay, honey,” he said soothingly. He watched

Scott
with one eye while untying the ropes keeping Chloe bound to the bed.

“What are we going to do?”
Chloe whispered.

“I don’t know.”

“I’m scared, John.”

“What are you doing?”
Scott screamed. He pressed the gun to John’s forehead. “Who said you could untie her?”

“What difference does it make?”
John said. “You have us trapped in the room. We can’t go anywhere.”

“Because I want her tied up when I’m screwing her brains
out.” He motioned with his hand to an armchair in the corner of the room. “Go sit over there. You can watch.”

John
gave Chloe one final squeeze before following the orders. Scott retied Chloe to the bed. “Now, I’m finally going to do what I came here to do.”

John
waited until Scott was looking down before lunging at him. Scott looked up and fired the gun. John fell backwards.

Chloe
heard him moan and hit the floor. “John!” She screamed and kicked her legs, trying to kick him in the face.

“You shot him!”

“And I’ll shoot you, too, you bitch. Shut up and stay still.”

He grabbed her ankle and twisted her leg until she thought it
would break.

Chloe
stilled. Scott moved closer to her and pressed the gun to the side of her head. “Don’t fight me or this will be ugly.”

Scott
glanced back at John to make sure he was still incapacitated. He approached Chloe. “Now, let me finish what I came here to do,” he snarled at her. He leaned so close to her she could smell his nasty breath.

“This is not what you came here for,”
Chloe snapped.

“You could have done this way before
John got home. You were waiting for him.”

“Yeah, because I wanted him to see this.”

“He can’t see it.”

Scott
laughed and again looked at John. “Yeah, I think I took care of him.” He laid the gun just above Chloe’s head and started to undressed himself. He looked down as he undid his pants. When he looked back up, Chloe saw first the flash of terror in his eyes, and then she heard the blast. As if in slow motion, the hole formed in Scott’s forehead and he fell backwards.

John
untied her bonds before collapsing on the bed beside her. She leaned over him and kissed each of his cheeks. “It’s going to be okay, John. Just hang on. Stay with me.”

She quickly got herself dressed as best she could in the rags
that used to be her clothes, and ran to the door. She knew the police were inside the house and she didn’t want to take the chance that they would shoot her as soon as she opened the door.

Chloe
slowly eased the door open a couple of inches. “It’s Chloe,” she called out. “He’s dead. We need an ambulance.

John
has been shot. I’m coming out.”

She opened the door. Several officers were pointing their
guns at her, ready to fire. She held up her hands. “He’s dead.

John
needs help!”

Two of the cops rushed into the bedroom, guns still drawn.

She heard the cackle of radios as the officers communicated with each other. Paramedics were already on the scene, and

John
was loaded into an ambulance within minutes. As Chloe climbed in the back with him, she saw more paramedics loading Scott Gerber’s sheet covered body into a van.

“It’s not bad,”
John said as they rode to the hospital.

Chloe
clutched his hand. “You’re going to be okay,

baby.” She glanced at the paramedic who was cleaning the
wound. She didn’t know much about gunshot wounds or medicine or even basic first aid, but she figured a bullet in the stomach had to be bad.

“Is he dead?”
John asked.

Chloe
nodded. “Yes, John. He’s dead.”

He turned away from her and faced the wall.
Chloe continued holding his hand until they reached the hospital.

Once there,
John was rushed away to a trauma room, leaving her standing alone in the waiting room. Not knowing what else to do, she sat in a chair in the corner and waited.

Chloe
-banana, Chloe-banana, Chloe-banana.

“Go away,”
Chloe hissed.

I can’t,
Chloe. You keep bringing me back. It’s your fault I’m here.

She began to sob. She felt a hand on her back and she
looked up. It was Kelsey, her nurse from the psych ward.

“
Chloe, do you need to see a doctor?” Kelsey asked.

“Were you hurt?”

Chloe shook her head. “No. John was shot.” She cried harder.

Kelsey wrapped her arms around her. “I know, honey.

Listen, you need to come upstairs with me, okay.”

She nodded. “Okay.” She didn’t argue or ask why; she
knew why. She followed Kelsey upstairs. Kelsey showed her to a room and waited outside the door while she took a shower.

She then helped her into a gown and settled her into the bed.

“I’m going to bring you some medication,” Kelsey said.

“Dr.
Stan will come in in a couple of minutes. Please stay in bed and don’t make me use restraints.”

Chloe
nodded. “What about John? Will I get to see

him?”

Kelsey nodded. “Yeah. I’ll keep you updated.” She left the room and returned in seconds with Chloe’s meds and a paper cup of water.

“Are you hungry?” Kelsey asked after
Chloe had taken the medication.

Chloe
nodded. “Yeah, a little.”

There was a knock on the door and Dr.
Stan stuck his head in. “Feel like some company, Chloe?”

She nodded. “Yeah, come on in.”

Kelsey patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll be back in a few minutes with something to eat.”

She left and Dr.
Stan took the chair next to Chloe’s bed.

“You’ve had quite an afternoon, haven’t you, honey,” he said.

Chloe nodded. “It hasn’t been good.”

“Is there anything you want to tell me about? Did he hurt
you?”

Chloe
shook her head. “No.” She sat in silence for a few moments. “I thought he was going to rape me.”

“Tell me about it.”

She took a deep breath before she began. Talking to Dr. Stan was easy, and she liked their chats. It was the only part of her appointments that she didn’t detest. She told him as many of the details as she could remember, including the return of the voice.

“I guess I’ve really screwed this up,” she said.

“Why do you say that?”

“What did my blood tests say?”

“That you haven’t been taking your medicine,” he answered. “Why, Chloe? Was it the voice?”

She shook her head. “No. That wasn’t back until today.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know why. I just get so tired of it all, you know.”

He nodded. “Yes, I know, but you’ve got to take your

meds. I’m sorry, sugar, but that’s the way it has to be.”

Chloe
couldn’t help but smile. She liked it when he called her sugar. His side of the conversation was always coated with ‘sugar’s and ‘honey’s and ‘sweetie’s and ‘darling’s. It wasn’t inappropriate or sexual; it was just the friendly way he talked.

She nodded. “I know it does, but it’s just so hard. It’s so
hard to be different.”

He frowned. “That’s a bad excuse. We’re all different.

Didn’t you tell me once that one of your friends was a diabetic?”

She nodded. “Yeah,
Tyler.”

“Doesn’t he have to take medicine everyday?”

“Yeah.”

Dr.
Stan shrugged. “How is it different?”

“It’s not, I guess.”

He leaned forward and put his hand on her arm. “We’re going to get through this, I promise.”

“Do you know anything about
John?”

He shook his head. “I’ll go find out for you, okay?”

“Okay.” Dr. Stan headed for the door. “Do you think he’ll be okay?” she called out to him.

He turned around to face her. “I don’t know, sweetie. I
don’t know how badly he was hurt.”

She shook her head. “I don’t mean that. I mean because he
killed that man. Is he going to be okay?”

Dr.
Stan let go of the doorknob and turned all the way around. “Oh, sweetie, I don’t know. There’s no way to tell how he’s going to handle it. John is a man of principle and doing what’s right. It’s going to be hard for him, I’m sure.”

John opened his eyes. He moaned in pain. He couldn’t believe that he had actually been shot
.
Well, at least I’m alive.

Better than the other guy, I suppose.

“Hey, John,” a familiar voice said.

He turned his head slightly and squinted. His eyesight was
usually pretty good, and he assumed it was the medication blurring his vision. “Jane.”

She stood over his bed and brushed his hair off his forehead.

“Hey, how are you feeling?”

“I feel pain.”

She nodded. “I expect so. They’ll be in to give you more pain medication in a minute.”

“Where’s
Chloe? Is she okay?”

Jane
shook her head. “She’s not hurt.”

“But?”

“She’s upstairs with Dr. Stan. They admitted her.”

John
tried to swallow, but his throat was dry. “Can I have a drink?”

“Yeah, I’ll go get it. Be right back.” She left the room. As
she left a nurse came in and pushed a syringe of Demerol into his IV. Jane came back with a cup of ice water.

“She was hearing the voice,”
John said, after wetting his throat.

“
John, she hadn’t been taking her medicine. She missed two days.”

John
shook his head. “No, you’re wrong.”

“I wish I were, honey. But Dr.
Stan’s going to bring her down to see you later.”

“I want to see her now.”

Jane shook her head. “Not now. Your Mom and Dad and Catherine and Garby are in the waiting room. Do you want me to let them in?”

John
sighed. “Do they know about Chloe?”

Jane
nodded. “They know that she was admitted to the psych ward.”

“Crap,” he muttered. “I guess you have to let them in.” His
voice was getting light and Jane could tell that the medicine was kicking in.

“
John?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t you want to know about yourself?”

“What’s there to know? I was shot and I’m alive.”

“The bullet went in and out and passed through your large intestines and barely missed your right kidney. They repaired the damage in surgery and you should be out of here in less than a week.”

“What about the tour?”

Jane shrugged. “I don’t know.” She stepped away from the bed. “I’ll go get your family.”

“Great.”

John rolled his eyes toward the door and watched his family file in. John’s sisters came to the bed, but his parents kept their distance.

“How are you,
John?” Garby asked. She kissed him lightly on the cheek.

“Oh, I’m going to be okay.”

“That’s what the doctor said,” Catherine said. “You should be out of here in a few days.”