Page 72 of Safe
I froze in panic as I tried to stretch my neck out enough to see who had shot. Finally, I was able to see Cody standing over Landon with Alex’s gun in his hand. The relief that took over was indescribable.
Cody was alive, but was Alex okay? I couldn’t see him, and I couldn’t hear him either. I tried my best to look around the chair, hoping to see what he was talking about.
Every shred of decency in me begged for Landon to be dead. Still, part of me couldn’t help but feel upset. The rational side of me knew that Landon was always a bad person, just really good at hiding it. But even after everything, there was a part of me that mourned the loss of that part of my life.
Regardless of every horrid thing he ever did to me, he was the first person I ever loved, or at least thought I loved. But he was also the first person to ever hit me, the first person to ever lie to me, and the first person to show me how I didn’t deserve to be treated. If it wasn’t for him, I might not have been capable of appreciating Cody as much as I do, but maybe I would have been capable of loving Cody better.
I was losing too much blood.
Everything around me was getting blurry and dark.
Trying to hold on as long as I could, all I wanted to do was tell Cody I was sorry. EMTs rushed over to me and untied my arms and legs and caught me before I fell the rest of the way to the ground. I was safe, and that was all I needed to know.
-
A bright light interrupted my sleep as I began to regain consciousness. Before I could even open my eyes, I knew I was in the hospital; stiff sheets, beeping sounds, and I could feel an IV in my arm. It was all too familiar, as if I had just been here days prior. I was sore all over, and I could feel where my nose had broken. Part of me just wasn’t ready to open my eyes and face the reality of what kind of shape I was in for the second time.
Resigning myself to put it off a little longer, a relaxed, deep sleep had almost taken over when I remembered Alex. The last thing I remembered was him hitting the ground, and I had no idea if he was dead or alive. I jumped up in my bed butregretted it as soon as the sharp pains in my side and arm halted my progress.
“Alex!” I shouted as my chest heaved in panic and relief.
A hand reached out to my arm to calm me down.
“Whoa, slow down there.” Cody’s recognizable, comforting voice brought me back down to Earth.
He looked at me like he hadn’t seen me in a week, or like he was relieved that I was awake, or like maybe he thought I might not wake up again.
I took a deep breath to relax, “Where’s Alex?”
I scanned the room, but he was nowhere to be found. There’s no way he would have left me alone, would he?
“Don’t think you can get rid of me that easily.”
A familiar, welcome voice came from behind the curtain separating my bed from the bed closest to the door. The feeling of relief as Alex slung the curtain back just enough to get through suddenly made everything better. He was holding a coffee in the hand that was sticking out of a sling as he smiled at me, and, in an instant, I felt whole again.
“What happened to you? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
Alex chuckled. I guess it was a little amusing that, given my condition, I was concerned about his arm being in a sling.
“I’m fine. Landon has a shit shot. Got me in the shoulder. A few weeks and I’ll be back to good. You, on the other hand…” He motioned to me with his head, and I looked down at myself. This was the last time I would ever have to face this reality of what was done to me, and I had to face it. There was gauze on my arm covering what looked like more stitches than I cared to count, and tons of bruising.
“The doctor said your stitches can come out in another week,” Cody explained with care, aware of how little time had passed since I had been in a hospital, “but your ribs will takea few more weeks to heal, and you have a concussion. Oh, and, obviously, the nose.”
Well, that explained why my side hurt so badly.
“How long has it been?”
“Two days,” Cody answered. “You lost a lot of blood.”
While he was talking, I looked down at his arm and noticed the cotton ball and medical tape.
“Cody, did you—”
“I was a match, and you needed it faster than they could get it.”
I felt grateful and ashamed. After I yelled at him, left him stranded, ran off, and nearly got us all killed, he still did everything he could to save me.
“Cody, I am so,sosorry.”
