Page 102 of A Little Bit Uncertain

“Theo, please! You loved me. We were going to get married,” I begged, still reeling from shock. I tried to escape, but he yanked my hair so hard my head snapped back and tears burned in my eyes. He raised the knife, this time above his head, to come down on me.

“Stop, Theo!” I shouted finally finding my voice, but closed my eyes to brace for it, accepting the fate because I couldn’t break from his grasp. The sound of stools falling and Donovan yelling opened my eyes. I watched him tackle Theo and let out a roar, but the knife that was going to kill me went in and out of Donovan’s chest instead, as they tumbled to the floor. Donovan ended up straddling Theo’s body and punched him with such force that he completely knocked him out. Blood from Theo’s nose spurt everywhere. Donovan tried to stand up with a heaving chest, but fell to his knees almost immediately, as his fingers touched his chest and he gasped for breath. Murphy went over to flip Theo on his stomach and put a knee in his back, while he shouted for people to call 9-1-1.

Dropping down, I looked Donovan in his eyes. He looked lost and stunned, like he couldn’t believe what had just happened. Pulling him all the way down, I lay him so he would be on his back with his head in my lap, but he was struggling to breathe. I looked at the blood coming from his chest. There wasn’t a lot, but I knew how bad it was. My adrenaline took over completely, and I no longer felt my pain. The location where he got stabbed could mean a multitude of different things, none of them good. I tried covering the wound with my hand, but when I saw bubbles at the stab site, I realized it was even worse than I thought. I’d only seen a sucking chest wound once, and that was when I was first starting out in the hospital.

“Help me!” I shouted into the bar as everyone stood, paralyzed. “Someone get towels! I need the first aid kit now!”

Juliette, who had been in the bathroom for less than three minutes, came out to the whole scene, and sprang right into action. The bartender met her, dumped the kit and a bunch of towels in her arms, and she ran back at breakneck speed.

“Put your hand over it. Stop the air,” I bumbled out as she knelt next to us. She put her hand over the top of the wound and tried to cover it. Although the blood wasn’t gushing, it was still seeping through her fingers.

Donovan's chest made a sickening hissing sound.

“It’s bubbling, Audra. What’s happening? What’s that sound?” Jules gasped with panic lacing her raising voice.

“Please, Jules. Just keep it there,” I begged as I dumped the contents of the kit on the floor and found what I was looking for—a chest seal. The twins had asked for advice a year ago about what to stock that was above and beyond a standard first-aid, and I suggested having a few of these chest seals, a tourniquet, combat gauze, and an airway kit. I remember telling them it’s worst-case scenario stuff, and they’d probably never have to use it, but that it was fine because these would never expire. Oh, the irony.

“I … I can’t do this,” she stuttered as the tears streamed down her face, and she pulled her hand up.

“Please help me, Juliette. Help Donovan,” my voice broke. “We need to save him,” I pleaded desperately as I worked to open the chest seal.

It was harder than it should have been because of all the blood on my hands. Her eyes met mine, and I saw the terror that had her frozen in fear. But Donovan’s shallow breaths pulled my attention away. This was too overwhelming. I couldn’t manage both of them.

“JuJu,” came another voice. It was Murphy who was still holding a mostly unconscious Theo down. “Juliette Juniper, look at me.”

She tore her gaze from me to look at him.

“You can. You can do this, love,” he spoke gently and nodded his head yes at her. “You can do anything. Just listen to what Audra says. Hold it like you hold your hand over my mouth when you want me to stop talking.”

Whatever that meant, it broke Juliette out of her trance, and she nodded her head yes, then she put her hand back over the wound.

“That’s it, Jules,” I encouraged her. “You’re doing great. I need to put this on him now. We’ll work together, okay?”

I wiped as much blood away as I could around where she was applying pressure. “Ok, lift up, Jules,” and she did. I gave the area a quick swipe with the towel, knowing it wasn’t going to do too much, but the priority was getting the seal on. I applied it, and I changed my focus to Donovan.

“Hang on, Van. Help is coming.” I held my side because a tinge of pain was surfacing.

“I’m okay, Chaos. Are you okay? He hurt you.” he said with jagged breath as his eyelids fluttered and his head lolled a little.

“I’m okay, baby, but you can’t close your eyes right now.”

He rotated his head a little so he could look right up at me, and his beautiful chocolate-brown eyes darted around my face but looked disoriented.

“Audra? You’re crying. No tears … I’m okay. God, you’re so … stunningly beautiful. My … Beautiful Chaos.” His words were choppy with gasps, and it was hard for him to speak.

A sob choked out of my mouth. He was slurring a bit too, like he was a little drunk. I knew it was most likely the beginning of him losing consciousness.

“Just relax, Donovan. Don’t talk anymore. You have to stay with me, though, Van. Just listen to my voice, okay? You have to hang on because you told me to lose my running shoes, remember? So I did. My shoes are gone. You can’t go now too. That wouldn’t be fair.” My words were desperate.

He smiled as his eyes closed and he whispered with broken breath, “Burn the fucking shoes, Audra.”

I was no longer in control of the volume of my voice because as he got quieter, mine got louder and more desperate.

“Donovan Wright, I bet you can’t keep your eyes open!” I tried challenging him. When that didn’t work, I turned back to begging. “Open your beautiful brown eyes, Van. I want to get lost in them right now. Where are your eyes?”

He lolled his head again like he was trying to, but they stayed closed as if he could no longer do it. Juliette let out another sob, and she tried to conceal it while next to me, as she covered her mouth with the bloody towel.

“Please stay with me, Donovan,” I pleaded to him, and anyone else in the universe listening. “You cannot leave me. You promised you wouldn’t hurt me. You promised,” my voice gave out as the tears fell freely from my face. I was smoothing his hair with my free hand and touching his cheek, a thought flew into my brain.