Chapter Eight

Stacey’s eyes fluttered open. At first her vision was blurred and she could only see colors and vague shapes. After a few moments and a few more determined blinks the colors turned into vivid shapes which turned into people.
“Welcome back, Ms. Montgomery. Thought we lost you there for a moment.” A sweet smiling nurse gently pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and behind her ear. I’ll send in your fiancé.” Before she could protest that she had no desire at all to see that slimy disgusting man, the nurse and the rest of the hospital staff vacated the room.
Stacey tried to sit herself up and got a little dizzy. She placed her hand on her head and closed her eyes. With her eyes closed she heard rushed footsteps that seemed to stop at the doorway to her room. “Stacey?” At the sound of his voice she opened her eyes and had tears forming already. She looked up to see none other than Ricky standing in her doorway.
He ran to her side and began to kiss her forehead and tears were flowing from his eyes. His face was wrought with worry and relief all in one. And what seemed to be the first time in years she could see the true and honest love he had for her in his eyes. He sat in the chair at her bedside and held her hand gingerly kissing it and placing it on his cheek.
It took Stacey a moment before she had the composure to speak. “Ricky,” she paused. “There’s something I need to tell you.” He looked into her eyes with sadness dwelling in them and said, “There’s something I need to tell you as well.”

* * * * * *

Marie didn’t know Chazz very well but she had never seen him angry before. And this wasn’t just anger, this was pure rage. He was breathing heavily and pacing back and forth in the hospital waiting room. Occasionally, he’d bring his fists up towards his shoulders as if trying to keep himself from swinging at the next passerby. She cleared her throat, “Um, Chazz?”
“What!?” He snapped at her. Realizing his tone and who he had directed it towards he calmed down a bit and asked again. “I’m sorry. What is it Marie?”
She stood up and walked up to him. “Look I know that Chad is the worst person in the world and all of us have some reason or another to want him dead, but we have to think about the two women that he ultimately put in the hospital.” She looked at all the friends that were taking up the entire waiting room and he followed suit.
“Baby,” Irene got up and followed Marie’s lead. “I know you’re super mad that Chad lied to you about Sam, but you can’t be wasting your energy on being mad when she’s in that hospital bed dying and your almost sister in law is in a coma. We have to stick together and stay here with them.”
Chazz was a bit confused, “I am here. I’ve been here for hours and I was the first one to get here when we got news that Samantha was still…” He choked back tears and you could tell from his jaw line that he was clenching his teeth. “That she was still alive but dying.”
“Nahh, nigga,” David piped in this time, “Your body is here but your mind is where ever Chad is and that mind of yours is beating him till he’s the one in the hospital.”
Chazz looked around at everyone agreeing with David’s remark. He let out a long breath and slowly sat in the chair that was closest to him. “You’re right. I might have been here since I got the call about her being shot, but I haven’t been focused on her at all. Or Stacey.”
For a few moments there was silence. But those moments were short lasted when they heard Ricky screaming for a nurse to come into room 326 and help Stacey. Marie was the first one up and running to the room. She saw the sheer panic on Ricky’s face. “What is it? What happened?” The monitors that Stacey was hooked up to were beeping and going crazy.
“I-I-I don’t know.” He stammered to get himself under control. “One minute she was steady and perfectly fine and the next minute she was crashing and started to do convulsions.” They all watched helplessly as the nurses and medics ran into the room and began to try and bring their beloved friend back to life. It must have been pretty bad because after a few moments one of the nurses closed the door and shut the blinds.
“She can’t die.” Ricky’s eyes were streaming tears. “How can God do this to me?” Now he was angry. “First my son is kidnapped and I find out that it was by the same damned man that the woman I’m in love with is marrying and now the woman that I should be marrying is in there fighting for her life! And where is that man that supposedly loves her, huh? Where!? I’ll tell you where, he’s hiding from the law because he stole the supposed ‘love of his life’s’ baby boy right from under her nose. I’m the one that’s been here for her, I’m the one that’s been by her side every second she’s been in the hospital. I’M THE ONE THAT LOVES HER!” He turned and kicked a gurney that had been out in the hallway and turned to rest his fists on the wall and hang his head between his shoulders.
“Bro, we’re all keeping hope-” Skeet was cut short.
“Hope?” Ricky lifted his head and looked at Skeet. “What’s hope? I lost that almost a year ago, when one stupid and ignorant mistake cost me the only woman I’ve ever cared about.” With that last statement he turned and stormed down the hospital corridor.
“Someone follow him and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.” Marie couldn’t believe that after everything that he’d been holding in, he picked now of all times to blow up and storm off. Stacey needed him here. She knew just how horrible he’d feel if she did die and he wasn’t by her side when it happened.
“I’m on it.” Chazz took off in a jog to catch up with Ricky.
“Ohh, I should probably follow them to make sure that neither of them plot Chad’s murder and carry it out within the hour.” Jose started to follow the two men but was cut short when the nurse opened the door and all the medical team dispursed.
The nurse looked around and asked, “Where’s her fiancé? I need to speak with him.”
Everyone made some noise resembling a scoff at the mention of Chad. “He’s not here, last I heard the police were after him.” Marie spoke to the nurse. “Is she alright? Can I see her?” before the nurse could answer Chazz and Ricky turned the corner of the hall where they had disappeared. The nurse made a bee line for Ricky, “Sir, your fiancé is stable and doing well. She’s awake and I’m sure she’d love to see you.”
“But I’m not-” he was about to correct her mistake on not being her fiancé when Brandi stepped in. “He’s not quite sure he’s emotionally ready for that yet. No worries,” she nudged him closer to the door. “We’ll make sure he gets over that quickly.” She almost threw him into the hospital room.

* * * * * *

His heart was racing as he pulled into a gas station about 100 miles outside of Phoenix. Chad knew that the cops were after him, and by now that low life grease monkey gang had already put out an amber alert for Michael and put him at the top of the most wanted list. He turned and saw that the almost 6 month old was fast asleep in his car seat and for the first time in the entire kidnapping he felt a pang of guilt rush right to his gut and immediately felt nauseous.
Quickly and quietly he got out of his car and rested his hands on the door frame to get a grip on his emotions. He’d come this far, there was no way he was going to back out now when he was so close to getting this kid out of his life for ever.
‘But you won’t have Stacey.’ His thoughts were ringing loud in his ears as though someone were actually standing behind him whispering in his ear. He whirled around so fast expecting to see that smart ass little spic standing behind him with a smug look on his face. But no one was there. ‘She’ll never want you after she finds out about what you did.’ That voice was taunting him.
“Get a hold of yourself Chad.” He tapped his cheeks and rubbed his face to try and get a hold of himself. “You’re starting to go out of your mind, just get the gas and get going.” With that he turned to the gas pump with his credit card, only to find that this little Podunk gas station didn’t have gas pumps with credit card slots. “Juuust great.” He turned to the car and debated about going inside or trying to troupe it out to the next major station. There was no way he was going to get the baby out of the car and risk being recognized.
‘Don’t tell me you’re just going to leave him in the car alone?’ This time it was Stacey’s voice he heard in his mind. And this time he actually threw up at the wave of guilt and shame that washed over him. ‘What if he was kidnapped? FOR REAL this time.’ He felt hot tears form in the corners of his eyes as he imagined some sick minded psychopath stealing that baby and killing him or torturing him. He felt another wave of guilt and shame and once again he threw up. ‘How could you do this to me Chad? I thought you loved me, but you never did… Did you?’ With that last thought in his mind he completely broke down and wiped his mouth and got into the drivers seat of his car.
He didn’t know how long he was there. Half an hour? Two hours? At one point Michael woke up and Chad, for the first time in little Michael’s life, fed him a bottle and held him in a warm loving embrace. And for the first time in Chad’s life, he prayed. Along with praying, he cried for the first time in almost 6 months.

* * * * * *

“God, I know it’s been a while, and I know I should have called you sooner, but I really need Your help with this one.” He prayed with his hands clenched tightly together and elbows resting on his desk in his office. “There’s one twisted mind out there with an innocent baby boy and only You know what his intentions are. I’ve caught a lot of sick minded people out there and put them behind bars, Lord, but this one is a different breed. Had his future wife’s son kidnapped by his own sister and blackmailed her to keep quiet about it when everyone thought his sister was already dead. Then when she wants to fess up shoots her in cold blood. What’s really messed up, Father, is that this woman who’s engaged to this wicked man, has a loving kind hearted man that loves her but just can’t see it. Lord, please,” The sheriff got out of his chair and onto his knees and lifted his hands into the air. “Please, help me.”

* * * * * *

Her feet were swift and she ran effectively through the trees hardly making a sound. Finally she’d escaped and there was no way she would return to that good for nothing hell hole of a house. Barely sixteen and with nothing more than twenty bucks and the clothes on her back, Laihla, wasn’t going to go back to a home where her mom was a drunk and her dad was physically abusive.
Today was the day that she’d finally got away. Escaped from the little broken and run down trailer of a home that was barely big enough for two rooms. A room for her parents and a room for her and her step brothers and sisters. All together there were five kids. Laihla was the oldest and the only one who was ever physically hit. She knew why too, it was all because her step dad thought that she was tainted. Being half black that asshole thought that she was a good for nothing piece of crap and her so called mother never did a thing to stop it because she was always drinking her life away.
Her feet kept carrying her as she stole an occasional glance behind her. She was a good long distance from her house and knew that no one was following her. No one cared when she stormed out of the house screaming she was running away and never coming back. She slowed to a jog and stopped to catch her breath.
The only other thing she had with her aside from the twenty dollar bill in her jeans pocket and the sweater she was wearing, was the ring on a chain around her neck. It wasn’t worth anything, more of a trinket rather than an actual piece of jewelry, but it was the last thing she had of her real dad. It was the ring that he had given her mom when they were dating back in high school. Before he died, he gave it to her on the chain to remember him.
In the distance she could hear a car, which meant she was close to the highway. She followed where the sound came from and sure enough, she was right. Being sure to stay in the trees she looked down both ways of the road. To her left there was a small gas station. Hopefully she’d be able to get a bottle of water and something to eat for cheap and keep going until she hit the next town. She didn’t know what her plan was and didn’t want to think about where she was going to sleep or where she was going to end up, all she knew was that she needed to get away.
Being careful to wait until there were no cars on the high way she crossed the asphalt and casually walked up to the station. Billy’s Pit Stop was the name on the sign with a faded picture of a red racer and a gas pump by it. “Dammit.” She ran the words together and stopped walking to put her hands on her hips and think. “This is going to be juuust perfect.”
She hadn’t thought that she’d gone this far, but this was the gas station her dad’s brother worked at. He came into town and saw her from time to time, but always bragged that if ever she went on a road trip with her high school friends they needed to load up on snacks at his place because it was “The cheapest for miles around.”
“Well,” she mumbled. “Here goes nothin’.”

* * * * * *

Ricky stared at Stacey with disbelief. “Wait, you mean to tell me that while you were in a coma, you talked with God and he personally showed you Chazz and Chad’s conversation in the hospital room?”
“For the third time,” Stacey was starting to get agitated. “YES.” Why was this piece of information so hard to take in? It’s not like Stacey was a compulsive liar.
Ricky got up from his seat by her bedside and began to pace around. “I don’t believe it. You had to have just heard the conversation while you were unconscious and retained that information. There’s no way you saw God. It’s impossible.”
Exasperated she let out a grumble. “You’re being so incredibly difficult right now.”
“Me?! How am I being difficult? I told you virtually the same thing you told me, but I heard it from the woman who actually did it. The one who physically took our son from his bed and kidnapped him. You’re expecting me to believe some fairy tale fantasy about how God came to you in a dream while you were knocked out. I can’t do that.” Towards the end of his rant he began to mock her words. And that hurt her.
She looked away from him and started to get a lump in her throat as if she was going to cry. When she went to open her mouth to speak, no words came out, so she closed her mouth and laid back down in her bed.
It wasn’t until a few tears were hitting her hands that she realized she was crying. “There’s never been anything that you’ve never trusted me about before.” That’s all she could muster up to say.
Ricky looked down at his feet and had a look of regret for what he had said written all over his face. How could he have been so insensitive? Stacey had been through enough as it was and then to add him fighting with her about how real her coma talk with God had been was just a bit unnecessary. Fiddling his fingers together he walked to the other side of the bed and knelt to look Stacey in the eye.
“Regardless of if I believe if you’ve actually spoken with God or not, I still believe the truth in what you said happened between Chad and Chazz in here a few days ago.” He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. Wiping away her tears he added, “You’ve always been more spiritual than I have, so the thought of you talking with God kinda freaks me out a little.” He smiled. Boy, she sure loved that gorgeous smile.
She smiled back and him and leaned up a bit to grab his hand and lace her fingers through his. “Regardless of how less spiritual you’ve been than me, I still believe that you don’t entirely think that I’m making this up. You know I’ve never lied to you.”
“True.” With a smirk he gave her a kiss. A on the mouth no doubt about it kiss. It wasn’t a long one, or an incredibly passionate one. Just a kiss on the lips, but still, when his lips separated from hers and he backed away from her face to get a good look at her, it was like the very breath she had just been breathing was being taken away with him. “Breathtaking.” Was all he said.
“You have no idea.”

* * * * * *

Knowing that Stacey was awake and waiting until her lover boy came out of the room so they could actually go talk to her was a slow and painful wait for each and every one of the friends that were waiting down the hall from room 326.
“Gawwwwd!” Meg rolled her head back onto her shoulders. “Does anyone else know the precise number of little popcorn bumps on the ceiling? ‘Cause if we have to wait here any longer I’m going to start counting out loud.”
There was a chuckle here and there amongst her friends. “I hear ya,” Ernie was rubbing his temples. “I love Stace and all, but being here all the time is killin me.”
“Ya, why are we always here?” Skeet asked. “I mean I can understand Chazz, Marie and Ricky being here 24/7 but the rest of us have work and stuff.”
“I hear that.” Rudy was a little on the quiet side. “My boss didn’t want me to take today off. I’ve been avoiding his calls all morning.”
As the guys went back and forth about how they didn’t need to be there and how Marie, Chazz and Ricky should hold it all together Marie couldn’t take it anymore. She stood up and almost shouted at them, “You know what? If that’s how you feel. Fine. Get the hell out and we’ll text you with details on how my best friend is doing.” She put a special emphasis on ‘my best friend’ to get the point across that they weren’t exactly being true friends to Stacey. “You can sit there and bitch and moan all you want about how me, Chazz and your brother and friend can hold it all together when Stacey’s concerned, but what about us, huh?” She looked each and every one of them in the eye. “If you guys can’t stand to sit around to see if your friend is going to live or die or if you can’t wait another minute to get the hell out of this place because you have somewhere better to be when our friend’s life is completely falling apart then by all means, spare me the dramatics and just get up and LEAVE.” With that she turned around walked back to her chair and sat down staring at them until they said something.
All the girls were finding places to look that weren’t in anyone else’s eye path. Most of the guys just kept their mouths shut and looked at the floor. Amidst the silence someone’s phone started jingling a default ringer as Rudy pulled out a cell phone and looked at the caller ID. “It’s my boss…” He was barely audible until he answered it. “Hello?” His boss started speaking on the other side. “Um, no I’m not going to be able to come in today either.” Silence. “Because it’s my brother and his woman. They’re family and I can’t just abandon them.” He paused as he listened to his boss more likely than not rant and rave about how it doesn’t matter and how he should be at work. “Look, if you’re giving me an ultimatum between my family and my job, you should already know the answer.” Instead of waiting for a reply from his boss he hung up his phone and shoved it angrily in his pocket.
When he looked up and met Marie’s eyes, she looked surprised and almost impressed. He sighed. “You were right. He’s family and so is she. Without loved ones in our lives, life doesn’t really hold that much meaning. Plus, we have to remember what’s important in life. People or money? When we choose our careers over family, ultimately we’re choosing money.” He looked at her kind of sheepishly before looking back down at his hands in his lap.
“Thanks.” Marie smiled at him and he glanced at her and gave a half smile back. “I’m sorry I blew up on you guys. I’m just really worried about everything that’s been going on.”
“We all are.” Brandi stated simply.

* * * * * *

Laihla noticed the incredibly expensive Cadillac Escalade that was parked at a gas pump. ‘Wow.’ She thought, ‘who ever owns that thing must be hella rich.’ She walked passed the four gas pumps and up the creaky wooden little porch to the screen door that was unlocked and creaked loudly as she opened it.
Looking to the left there was no one behind the counter and as she scanned the small insides of the store she saw no sign of her uncle anywhere. She proceeded to walk back to the refrigerated section that held the beverages and found the cheapest big bottle of water they had and walked down an aisle or two grabbing a bag of beef jerky and a bag of Doritos.
Standing at the counter placing her items down and about to reach in her pocket she heard the creaky door open and looked to see a short racially mixed man and what must have been his son about 6 or 7 months old walk in. He gave a very lousy and obviously forced smile to her and walked to the back of the store. As she looked around to try and figure out where her uncle was she noticed there was a rifle and a hand gun behind the counter.
‘Maybe you should take the pistol to keep safe at night.’ She couldn’t help but think that it was a good idea. She looked to the back of the store and saw that the man with the baby was trying to figure out how to grab two bottles of water while holding a baby all at the same time without losing balance so she figured he was too preoccupied to notice what she was about to do. Right as she was about to reach over the counter a man’s booming voice came from outside the front door.
“Now that better not be my little niece trying to steal money from the cash register I see.” Laihla jumped and felt her heart pounding through her chest.
“Holy hell, Uncle Billy, way to give a teenage girl her first heart attack.” She rested her hand on her chest as she tried to catch her breath. Her uncle opened the screen door with another loud creak and waltzed right up to her and gave her a huge hug. “And by the way I wasn’t about to take money from the register.” She laughed uneasily. If only he knew what she was really trying to do.
“What brings you all the way up here, baby girl? That momma o’ yours still not doin’ too well ain’t she.” A sadness came over his face as he looked at the ring on a chain around her neck. “All of us miss yo’ daddy sumthin’ terrible, baby girl. You know you’s a spittin’ image of ‘im right?”
Her cheeks burned as she looked away from her uncle that looked incredibly too much like her dad as well. “Ya, I know.”
“So what was ya doin’ then?”
“Huh?” She gave him a befuddled look.
“When I caught ya reachin’ over the counter. What was ya reachin’ fo’?”
‘Your hand gun.’ Her thoughts rang. “Oh, I was looking to see if you still had that little dingy thing to get your attention if you weren’t up here. You know that bell like thing for customers to ring if you aren’t at the regisiter?”
“Oh I been got rid of that piece of junk for a while now. It’s ding wasn’t so dingy anymore if ya know what I mean.” Her uncle had to be the most innocent grown man that she’d ever known. She smiled at him and swiped her long brown hair behind her ear. Looking at her merchandise and adding in her head she said, “So I owe you around 5 or 6 bucks right Uncle Billy?” Looking up she was surprised to see an almost angry look on his face where just moments ago he was being his adorably happy self. “Uncle Billy? What’s the matter?” She swiped the hair on the other side of her face behind her other ear and noticed his eyes going back and forth between each side of her face.
“Oh, no…” she whispered as she realized why he was looking so angry. Quickly she pulled the hair out from behind her ears and covered the sides of her face, wincing at the pain that seared through her cheeks.
“That man o’ your momma’s been hittin’ you ag’in?” His face was very serious and his fists were clenched tight. At her silence and not looking him in the eye Billy asked his niece a second time, “I asked if yo’ momma’s man been hittin’ you ag’in baby girl, and please don’t lie to me.”
With a lump in her throat she was barely able to get the word out. “Yes.” She looked away out the door and felt tears start to form but blinked them away quickly. When she turned back to face her uncle she noticed from the corner of her eye that the man with the baby was patiently waiting to be rung out, though his fingers couldn’t quite hold all of what he was holding. “Oh, I’m sorry.” She grabbed his things from him and helped him place them on the counter forgetting that her stuff was there as well. “Here you go ahead and ring him out Uncle Billy ok? We’ll talk more later.”
Almost like a light switch her uncle went from angry to pleasant again. “Hello, sir. Did you find er’thing you was lookin’ fo’?”
Chad’s voice was a bit shakey, “Uhm, yea, I did. Can I also get 70 dollars on pump number 2?”
“Oh, that pump’s been broke for ‘bout 6 months now. Gotta wriggle the pump handle to get the gas to start.”
The look on Chad’s face must have been a sight to see because Billy let out a laugh and told him, “Don’t look too upset, sir. I’ll jus’ have to go out there and wriggle it fo’ ya. Don’t you worry ‘bout a thing.”
“Oh, well, thanks.” Chad felt a little relieved. “How much do I owe you?”
“Well, there’s 70 dollars of gas and ‘bout…” he mentally added all the items on the counter. “26 dollars of goodies ya got here. It’d be 96 even.”
“Hmm.” Chad was a bit surprised. “96 even huh? How often does that happen?” He smiled and handed Billy a hundred dollar bill.
“All the time.” Laihla answered for her uncle. “Uncle Billy doesn’t believe in change so everything in the store is evenly priced and already taxed so it’s always an even total.”
“No kiddin’.” Chad was handed back his 4 dollars change and shoved it in his pants pocket.
“Laihla, you mind baggin’ this up fo’ me and bringin’ it out to the car so I can show mister here how to get gas outta pump 2?” Uncle Billy was already walking out from behind the counter and around to the door.
“Sure, Uncle Billy, I’ll be right out.” She watched as he and the nameless man and his son walked out the door that was incredibly too loud and towards the shiny silver SUV. Walking around to the other side of the counter she found a paper bag and began to place everything into it absent mindedly. ‘Hmm,’ she wondered ‘I wonder if he could give me a ride somewhere.’ After placing all the items in the bag she looked down at the hand gun she’d tried to grab earlier and picked it up carefully. Putting the safety lock on she shoved it in her sweater pocket and grabbed the bag of goodies to take out to the man who would one way or another, take her where she wanted to go.