The Challenge (17 page)

I don't really know what happened next. All I knew is that I sat dazed outside the room until the officers pulled her out, unconscious, her clothes ripped, her head bleeding and a bruise already forming on one cheek. Thankfully, I saw her chest rising and falling, but not the way it should.

The next thing I knew, paramedics were on scene, putting her on a stretcher. I know I said something, but I'm not sure what. I was able to ride in the ambulance with her and I held her hand, gently whispering words of encouragement in her ear. Before we even got to the hospital they had her hooked up to a litany of machines.

I wasn't allowed to stay with her once we got to the hospital. I blamed myself and why shouldn't I have? If I had gotten there earlier, this wouldn't have happened.

"Excuse me," A nurse said, approaching me.

"Is she okay?" I asked.

"We're not sure yet," the nurse said. "Is there someone you can call? Her parents maybe?"

"She only has her sister and uncle."

"Could you call them?" the nurse asked. I nodded then she walked away. I went outside and, for the first time since I started seeing Kris, I took out the pack of smokes in my coat pocket and lit one. It made me calm down enough to make the call to her house.

Just my luck-no one was home. I left a message telling them the general idea: I went looking for Kris, found her beaten by David, and now I was at the hospital waiting for news. I didn't want to go into detail, so I told them to call me when they got the message and hopefully I'd be able to tell them more by then.

I finished one cigarette, started another, then looked at the pack before dropping it into the garbage. It would be too much trouble if Kris woke up and I had to explain why I smelled like smoke-I already had too much to answer for.

I decided to call Lena.

"Hello?" she answered, sounding tired. It was then I realized it had become very late. That was probably why Ethan or Megan didn't answer.

"Hey, Lena, it's Henry," I said.

"Oh, my God, are you okay? You sound bad," Lena said, suddenly sounding alert.

"Yeah...no," I said. "I found Kris. David was there too." I told her what had happened. Or what I knew, at least.

Lena said, "I don't want to wake Lukas or my parents. I'll leave a note for them then I'll give Megan and Ethan a call to wake them up. I'll tell them to check the message you left them, then I'll head to their place. We'll probably be there in a few hours," Lena said.

"Okay, Lena," I said. "I'm going to go inside now, it's bloody frigid out here."

"Alright, I'll see you in a while, then," Lena said. I hung up and threw away the remainder of the cigarette, before I headed inside.

I think I must have fallen asleep, because when I woke up, I was lying on a sofa. Lena, along with Megan and Ethan, were sitting near me. Megan looked like she was falling asleep, Ethan was pacing the floor and Lena was reading a magazine, her hands shaking. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"Hey!" Lena said, noticing me. "Look who finally woke up."

"I suppose there's no point in asking you how Kris is," Ethan said. I shook my head and sat up, realizing for the first time that there was a blanket on me.

"What do you guys know?" I asked.

"A doctor told us that if you hadn't gotten there when you did, they weren't sure she'd be alive," Megan said, crying.

"She hasn't woken up yet," Ethan said.

"Apparently she hit her head hard," Lena reported. I sighed and dragged my hand through my hair.

"Girls, would you leave Henry and me alone for a moment?" Ethan asked.

"Sure," Lena said. She helped Megan up and they slowly walked away.

Ethan sat next to me and I looked at him. I waited, but he was silent for a while.

"I'm so glad you got there on time, Henry," Ethan said, finally.

"That was on time?" I asked.

"Yes. He could have killed her!" he yelled. My eyes widened. "As soon as we got here, the police pulled Lena aside and she told them all of what David had done to her. Then she told us."

"No wonder Megan looks so upset," I reasoned.

"Now, I'm not exactly sure what made her run away to begin with," Ethan said. "But I figure it had something to do with you."

"Yes," I admitted. Then, I told him what had happened.

"Well, that was a stupid move!" Ethan said. "What did she mean by 'you got what you wanted'?"

"Well, you see," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "Kris and I had worked out a deal."

"What kind of deal?" Ethan asked.

I sighed and told him everything. A few times I think I saw Lena. It was as if she and Megan were staying just out of sight until it was a good time for them to come back.

"I could understand it if you really hated me right now," I confessed. "I ruddy hate myself for what happened."

"I don't hate you, Henry. And I can't see why you would," Ethan said. "You saved my niece and you came forward about everything. You're a good man, Henry. Kristina is lucky to have you."

"Thanks. Not sure if I actually deserve that."

Lena and Megan returned and we all just sat there, talking about random things to take our minds off the gray cloud of despair that hung low before us. After a while, Megan fell asleep leaning against Ethan.

Eventually, Ethan and I went outside. He called Lena's parents to tell them they should probably notify the school she would not be there for a while, since Lena swore she wasn't leaving.

I called my dad and told him the same thing. He and Ethan talked for a bit and eventually my dad agreed to let me out of school for the week. Thank God I'm doing well in school.

Every so often we'd get some news about Kris, but there wasn't much progress until nine at night on Saturday. A doctor came over to us and, by his expression, I could tell he was going to tell us something bad.

"What's wrong with my niece?" Ethan asked instantly.

The doctor reported that she was holding her own, although her head wound was still bleeding.

"What if her head won't stop bleeding?" Megan asked.

"We're taking steps to control that and we have her hooked to an IV.

"Has she woken up yet?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, no." the doctor said. "But we will let you know when she does and then you'll be able to see her."

I COULDN'T STAND all that waiting in the dreary hospital and decided to go back to the hotel to wait. We knew the hospital would inform us as soon as Kris was awake. Ethan let me drive his car back to the hotel, with Lena in the passenger seat, so that I could get my car. The two of us walked up to the hotel room Kris had been in. The door was still broken, but the staff were in the process of steam cleaning the carpet and replacing broken items.

"Oh, God," Lena said. "You didn't notice any of this earlier?"

"No, my attention was all on Kris."

"I think we should check to see if David is in jail," Lena said.

I just nodded. He had to be. We dropped Ethan's car back at the hospital then went on a hunt to the police department, which wasn't far from the hospital.

"May I help you?" the police woman at the front desk looked asked us.

"Is there a David Jones in custody?" Lena asked.

"Why do you need to know?" the police woman asked.

"Because he put my best friend in the hospital," Lena said.

The woman straightened and typed something. "Yeah, he's here," she said, after a while.

"
Now
I feel better." I said.

We found out much later that David's car had been searched and drugs as well as empty liquor bottles had been found. That, combined with his assault on Kris, would probably get him 10-15 years behind bars. Now Kris and all of our friends would not have to worry about David becoming violent anytime in the near future.

We walked back out to the parking lot. We were quiet in the car as we drove away. It was at a red light that Lena finally talked.

"You know when you and Kris first started," she said, "the only reason I kept it a secret was because she knew one of my secrets that could completely ruin my relationship with James."

"Really?" I asked. I couldn't picture Kris actually telling anyone one of Lena's secrets-she loved Lena.

"I'm just telling you now, James isn't big on the whole drug thing," Lena said. "He won't touch any of them and he dislikes people who do." Lena was staring at her looking at her hands. She had the same nervous habits as Kris. "Well, around the same time that Kris got pregnant, James and I were not getting along so I went to this party outside town."

"Did you fuck with some guy?" I asked. I didn't expect her to answer, or if she did, I thought she would yell at me.

"Yeah," Lena said, sighing, "But only after I did enough drugs to kill me." I instantly pulled over, put the car in park, and looked at her completely shocked.

"When I told you that Kris went away for a while, I went too because I wasn't feeling well either. It turns out I should have died after all those drugs I took."

"Bloody hell! Wait, so why would that have ruined everything with James?"

"He used to be a druggie," Lena said, looking at me. "He had a sister, a twin actually. They were really close and did a lot of things together. Doing drugs was one of them, but that was what killed her. I don't know all the details. All I know is that she overdosed or something and wound up in a coma for about a week before she died."

"I never would have guessed that," I said, sitting back in my seat. "James doesn't seem like the kind of guy..."

"He's good at hiding things." Lena was crying now. "And that's why I'm terrified that Kris is the way she is."

"Lena, love," I whispered as I reached over and gave her a hug. I think we were like that for about five minutes, her crying and me just hugging her.

We jumped when Lena's phone went off. She took it out of her pocket and looked at it.

"It's James. I didn't tell any of the guys what happened yet," Lena said. I nodded and pulled back onto the road as she talked to James.

I heard her tell him how much she loved him. And that had so much more meaning, now that I knew about his past. I listened as she took the whole ride to explain what had happened. Once we got to the hospital, I spoke to James and told him everything from my point of view.

I didn't even wonder when he asked me if I wanted anything from my place. All I told him was that maybe a few changes of clothes and my guitar would be good to have. I was tired and I didn't think that he had a plan.

He and Lena talked for another few minutes while I went inside and sat with Megan. Apparently, Ethan got to see Kris first, as he was her guardian. Megan handed me a drink and I accepted it instantly, only then realizing how thirsty and hungry I was.

"I didn't know what you wanted to eat," Megan said. "I can get you something, if you want."

"Anything edible you can find," I said, remembering how Kris stared at me when I ate those really spicy wings that burned her mouth on the first bite. I was not a picky eater and I was certainly hungry enough now for any type of food.

"I'll be back then," Megan said, standing up. I was going to give her money, but she waved me off and left. When Lena finally came in, I told her Megan was getting food and Ethan was with Kris.

"I wish I could see her," Lena said.

"You and me both," I added.

"You want to apologize, too?" Lena asked. I nodded. "If she's awake when we do that, she'll tell us not to."

"She'd probably say it was her own fault," I said.

"She'd probably...hit us if she could," Lena joked, smiling.

The next morning, I realized why James asked if I wanted stuff from my house. He showed up at the hospital with the whole group and a bag of stuff, along with my guitar.

"How early did you wake up?" Lena asked, hugging and kissing him after I got my stuff.

"Five," James replied.

"How is she?" Darla asked. I shrugged.

"Only Uncle Ethan has seen her," Megan said. "We haven't seen him since his visit to her."

"I'm placing bets that as soon as Kris wakes up she's gonna be hungry," Nick said.

"That's why I love ya, honey," Erin answered. "You're always the optimist."

"Someone has to be," Nick said, "especially in this group."

Everyone stayed for the next few hours, but then left to get home to rest up for school tomorrow.

Finally, I was allowed to see Kris. I didn't like what I saw, though. She looked really pale and had about three tubes in her body. The bruise on her cheek was quite large and there was a patch on her head that was stained with blood from the wound.

"I'm sure you'd like to be alone with her," the doctor said. I nodded, then he left, closing the door behind him. I walked over to the bed, took her hand and kissed it tenderly. There was no answer, no reaction.

"Come on, Kris. You've got to get better. We're all praying for your recovery." My hand rested on her cheek. "Baby, be strong. I do so love you!" I stood up and kissed her forehead. It was probably my imagination, but I think her fingers moved a bit against my hand.

"LENA!" UPON HEARING her name, Lena spun around and was instantly hugged. "What the...?" she muttered. The person hugging her stepped back. "Chelsea! What are you doing here?"

"The guys just got in contact with me," Chelsea said. "After you told them that Kris had stayed with me, they phoned me to see if I knew anything."

"What about the competition?" Lena asked.

"There's always the next one," Chelsea said. "Besides...after they called, I went out and was so unfocused I completely messed up. I came here as soon as possible." She opened her jacket to show Lena she was still wearing her dance outfit. "So, how is she?"

"She's had a rough start, but she's improving every day," Lena said. "It's been almost a week."

She rubbed her arms and looked at the little group of people. Her eyes were closed and she was nearly asleep, leaning against a wall. Megan
was
asleep, leaning against her. Ethan was sitting next to them, reading. Kris's Aunt Joan and cousin Stephanie were there, along with her grandmother.

"Who's he?" Chelsea asked, looking at me.