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The gun goes off again and I see them both staring at each other with wide eyes. Helen starts to slip down Jackson's body, and he grips her waist, following her to the ground. There’s so much blood covering both of them that it’s hard to tell who it’s coming from. Helen is staring at Jackson with a look of adoration on her face as she coughs, blood pouring out the side of her mouth. There is no struggle, just a look of serenity on her face as she takes her last breath in Jackson’s arms.
I grab the tool Donovan was using to pick the lock on my handcuffs and am able to get the other one off without too much trouble. Aiden rushes over to Lindsey, who is in a full-blown meltdown crying and shaking uncontrollably while she stares at the ground in front of her. He gets the handcuffs off her even easier than I did and wraps his arms around her to keep her from falling over, while also shielding her view of the grizzly scene in front of her. I don’t want her to look up and see all the blood. I don’t know that she could come back from that. I’m not sure how I will either.
I rush to Donovan, who is breathing, albeit shallowly, and put my hand over his chest to staunch the bleeding. There’s so much blood, though. This isn’t good. God, I hope they finally called the police. I’m crying as I see him blink his eyes open and look at me for the first time since he went unconscious. He gives me a small smile and tears pour down my face onto his.
“Kasey,” he whispers before passing out again.
“Donovan, open your eyes. No. Keep your eyes on me.” I’m begging him over and over again to come back, but he doesn’t.
I hear sirens in the background and soon cops are all over the place, coming down the stairs and through the back door.
“Please help him,” I scream hysterically. “He was shot. He needs an ambulance. Please!”
An officer rushes to my side to assess the situation, and another rushes to Jackson, who is standing over Helen’s dead body with a blank expression.
“I’m Jackson Hayes,” he tells the police. “She shot my brother.” He points at Helen’s body and looks at the police officer in front of him. “She’s dead,” he announces.
Jackson looks at his brother, anguish evident on his face. Paramedics rush in then, coming straight for Donovan. They instruct me to move so they can get to work, which I immediately do. I don’t want to be in their way while they work to save his life. Oh God, please save his life. I look at my sister, who is still wrapped in Aiden’s arms, as another paramedic checks her wrists. An officer approaches me, asking if I need medical attention. I shake my head.
“Please, just help him,” I say, looking at Donovan.
They have him loaded on a gurney now and they’re taking him out the back door of the basement to the waiting ambulance. The paramedic looking after my sister wants to take her to the hospital in an ambulance as well, but she’s trying to refuse. I kneel in front of her, taking her from Aiden and running my hand through her hair.
“Shhh.” I’m trying to calm her and stop her from shaking. “I’ll be with you the whole time, honey. You won’t be alone. No one is going to hurt you.” I can understand her fear and hesitance to go anywhere with a stranger right now, even if it is someone trying to help her. I continue to run my hand over her head, kneeling beside her. She finally looks at me.
“You’ll come with me to the hospital? In the ambulance?”
I look at the paramedic for confirmation that I’m allowed to do that, and he nods.
“Of course, honey. They wouldn’t be able to stop me.” I give her a weak smile as she stands on shaky legs. She’s like a newborn foal, barely able to stand on her own from being held captive for the last week. I doubt very much that Helen let her out of those handcuffs once.
We get into the waiting ambulance. The one carrying Donovan is already on its way to the hospital. I’m able to take a breath of relief. We made it out alive. Well, most of us. I didn’t see what happened to Helen’s body, and frankly, I don’t care. I know she was obviously unstable and needed help, but I can’t find it in me to feel bad for her outcome. Right now, I need to focus on my sister and pray that Donovan makes it through this. I don’t know if I’ll be able to forgive myself for not being there for Lindsey or if Donovan doesn’t pull through. I can’t think about that, though. Right now, I need to be the support Lindsey needs and let the doctors take care of Donovan. She only has me, and he has his brother. We have to take care of our own families right now.
#
Lindsey and I are in her hospital room with both of us on her bed. They’re treating her for dehydration and we have matching bandages on our wrists. It’s lucky her wounds didn’t become infected in that nasty basement. I haven’t left her side once. She’s barely eaten and drank just as little for the week Helen had her. I’ve tried to get her to put something in her stomach, but she’s still such a mess. I finally gave up and now I’m holding her while she sobs.
“I’m so sorry, Kasey. It’s my fault you were in there. I should have been more aware of who was around when I was waiting for that damn Uber.”
I can’t seem to comfort her. No matter how many times I try to tell her it wasn’t her fault a crazy person took her, she still blames herself.
“Lindsey, we’re okay. We made it out. She’s gone. None of this is your fault,” I tell her for the hundredth time. I can understand her guilt, though. I have the same guilt. We didn’t even know she was missing because I chalked up her not contacting me to her usual behavior of isolating. I was taken because I didn’t listen to Donovan or Aiden about it being safer at his apartment. Now Donovan is in surgery for a gunshot wound he got while trying to save me. Yeah, there’s plenty of guilt to go around.
There’s a knock on the door and Jackson peeks his head in. I see Aiden standing on the other side as well. He hasn’t come in to offer comfort or updates, just standing sentry outside to keep any prying eyes out. I’m thankful for that, at least.
“I just wanted to check on you two. How are you holding up?” He’s looking at my sister in her disheveled state. Does he need glasses or something? Stupid question.
“We’re fine. How’s Donovan? Were you able to get ahold of your parents?” I ask him.
“He’s just out of surgery. The bullet was a through and through. He’ll make a full recovery, but it’ll take time. My parents just went to get coffee, so I came in here to see how you guys were. They ran into your mom outside too.”
I called my mom as soon as we got to the hospital. She was completely freaked out, understandably, neither of us having known that Lindsey was taken. I finally got her to grab some food for herself and to give us a moment of peace. That peace was short-lived with Jackson’s appearance.
