Love's Suicide(119)

I remember screaming when the intense pain hit me. That was when I realized that I wasn’t just tangled up against the ceiling of a rolled truck. The pain in my back was the worst that I could ever describe. “Help me! Please, someone,” I cried out.

“Bobby.” I reached for him and got no response. “Bobby, wake up.” I kept trying to reach him, to shake him awake. Blood ran down from his face where I’d hit him, but moving my arms was impossible.

He was dangling above me and I couldn’t do anything to help either of us. I didn’t know what to do, so I kept screaming his name. “Bobby, wake up. Please wake up. Just hold on. Help is coming.”

I wanted out of this situation. More than anything I wanted to see my baby. I needed to be home and safe in Brooks’ arm.

Bobby stirred, getting my attention. He grumbled something under his breath and passed out again. “No, no, no. Bobby wake up. Please, hang on. Help is coming.”

As much as I hated him, I felt horrible for making this happen to us. Sure, I wanted him to suffer, but not like this.

He wouldn’t wake up, and I could hear people outside of the vehicle telling us both to hold on. Sirens were in the distance, and I knew they were coming for us.

I closed my eyes and thought about my family; not just Brooks or B. I thought about all of them and the possibility of earlier being the last time I ever saw any of them.

I was immediately overwhelmed with emotions. I didn’t want to die. After so much pain and suffering, after feeling like I’d never be happy, I had a beautiful daughter and a chance to be with Brooks. Though poetic, I couldn’t die yet. I had to fight for myself and that future that I could almost taste.

While I waited for help to reach in and pull me out, my ears began to ring. Then I lost the feeling in the tips of my fingers, followed by my vision becoming blurred. I felt my hearing fading. Then everything turned to black.





Chapter 51



My eyes were heavy and I felt like I was ready to open them, though the voice talking had my attention.

“Katy, please wake up.” I heard sniffles and recognized the voice. “I feel like this is all my fault. If I’d just been honest with you, you wouldn’t be here like this.” More sniffles. “They need you. He needs you. I’ve never seen him like this. They had to sedate him, Katy. He’s losing it, blaming himself for not following you. It’s like he’s dying without you.” Then I heard sobs. I opened my eyes, but saw that Branch’s hands were covering his face. “Just come back to us. I get it now. I see what I was never able to let myself see before. You were never meant to be my wife, because you were supposed to be my sister. You’ve always been his, even when you weren’t together. I’ll take whatever I can get as long as you wake up and come back to us. Brooks needs you. We all do.”

I reached my hand over and touched his elbow. He looked over and seemed shocked to see me looking at him. “Still here.”

He stood up and ran out of the room without saying anything to me. I couldn’t move to see if anyone else was around, and it scared me.

At first, I had no idea how I’d gotten to the hospital. I remembered being in the pool with B and Brooks.

Then it hit me. The moments played out in my mind, all rushing back at the same time. Danica came in with B in her arms. Walt followed behind her. I could tell that she’d been crying. It was impossible to smile, or even say much, so I accepted her hand when she reached to touch mine. “You had us so worried.”

B was freaking out as she tried to get to me. “B.” My throat felt like I’d eaten sand. “Drink.”

Walt ran out the door and came back in a few seconds later with a nurse. She asked the family to stand back while she checked out my vitals. “I’ll have the doctor come in and examine her and then I’ll be able to get her something to drink. Hang tight, Mrs. Parsons. The doctor’s coming.”

My eyes must have popped out of the back of my head. She’d said my married name. Danica was still fighting with B to stay calm, while I tried to think of reason to explain why I’d lied to their faces.

I could feel tears falling down my face as I silently cried to myself, knowing that I’d let them down again.

The doctor came in, checking my sight, asking me questions, poking at my body, and finally ordering that the nurses get me more comfortable. I was relieved when he did the examination of my feet and I was able to feel both of them as well as my legs. The last thing I remembered was losing feeling in them.

What made me feel even better was when the nurse came in with a cup of ice water and stuck the straw in my mouth. Immediately the dry pain went away, and I opened my mouth and was able to speak. “Thank you.”