An Incest Birthday Ch. 25

"Do the Wilson's know?" Aunt Lisa asked.

"Not yet, I had to tell you guys first. I'll call them now," I responded.

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket, wiped off the smeared blood stains and called Stephanie. With it being well after midnight I thought I'd be waking her up, but she practically answered on the first ring.

"Good timing! I was just getting ready to call you," Stephanie said not sounding sleepy at all.

"Hey, can you guys come up to Mercy General right now?"

Her enthusiasm calmed down a little. "Why, what happened?"

"Randy got shot," I said fighting to hold back tears.

"Oh my god! I'll get everyone, we're gonna come up there now! Is he ok?"

"We don't know, he's still in surgery. They've been in there for a while now."

"We're on our way. We'll be there in like fifteen minutes."

"Ok, thanks Steph," I said as we both hung up. "They're coming," I told everyone.

Aunt Lisa held my shoulders and walked me over to one of the chairs by the room Randy was in, it was the first time since we got to the hospital I moved from in front of the door. We all just sat there, in quiet, a different scenario probably running through everyone's head but it all leading back to the same place, the well being of Randy.

"I know you don't want to Rita, but can you tell us exactly what happened?" dad asked.

I didn't want to. I really didn't want to. I know he could see the look on my face saying just that, but I didn't think it was fair, they all deserved to know, I just hated I had to tell them.

I sighed, the sooner I started telling the story the sooner I could get it over with. "Ok. Randy called me from the ice cream shop and said he wanted to talk, I didn't want to at first but I finally said ok. I guess Ashley found out somehow because when I got there she was already arguing with Randy. I jumped in telling her to leave that she caused enough damage, but she wouldn't, so we were about to leave, then that guy showed up out of nowhere. At first he was just talking trash but then Ashley started belittling him in front of us and he was getting pissed. It escalated and he grabbed her and she slapped him hard on the face and told him to quit touching her. He warned her but she didn't listen and tried to hit him again, but he stopped it and pulled out a knife. He held on to her and Randy tried to get him to put down the knife but he wouldn't listen, then Ashley broke away from him and when he chased after her Randy tackled him into a table. Randy yelled for help and the guy went after him with the knife. They beat each other up pretty bad but Randy eventually got the knife from him. We thought everything was ok at that point, then he taunted Randy and pulled out a gun, and Randy pushed us outta the way and ran towards him and...and he shot him, and he hit his head on the ground," I said, the last part being especially hard to get out.

It was quiet again as everyone took in everything I just said. Dad had his hands together with his elbows resting on his knees looking down, mom was clutching her purse and twiddling her fingers at the same time, Aunt Lisa couldn't stop her feet from twitching, and I just sat there, perfectly still, willing myself not to cry. I had cried so much that night it's a wonder I still had anything left. But my body never ceased to amaze me what it could endure.

"They sure are taking a long time in there," mom said breaking the silence.

"That's a good thing Anna, it means he's still alive," dad followed.

I looked up and saw the Wilsons coming down the hall checking all the room numbers, looking for which one Randy was in, so I stood up and flagged them down. "We're down here!"

Stephanie was the first to get to us followed by Chris, then Jim and Marie went to mom, dad, and Aunt Lisa. I was glad they came, glad someone else cared about Randy besides us.

"How's he doing? Did you hear anything?" Marie asked.

"No not yet, he's still in surgery," mom replied.

"I'm so sorry, we came as soon as we heard. We hope he's ok."

"Do you have any idea who did this?" Jim asked.

"It was the guy we've been telling you about, the one from the pizza shop and the one who tried to cause a scene, he just showed up out of nowhere," I said.

"What exactly happened?"

I sighed, I knew it was coming, but I wasn't gonna go through it again, I couldn't. "Could one of you guys tell them, I don't wanna talk about it anymore."

I went to the window and looked out. I was drowning myself in self-pity and guilt, if I hadn't done this, or if I'd done that, then this wouldn't have happened, or we would've been there and that would've happened, but it always came back to me, even though I didn't act alone in all this. There was nothing I could do now, just wait for the doctors to come out and give us some good news or bad news, I could only hope for the former. I felt someone tap my shoulder and looked around and saw Stephanie standing there.

"He'll be ok Rita, watch, you'll see."

"But what if he's not? What if something goes wrong in surgery?"

"Then he'll work his way out of it, he's not gonna leave you for a million years without a fight."

"I don't know what I'd do without him. How would I even go about living my life?"

"Let's hope you never have to find out. Come on, let's go sit back down."

We walked back over to where everyone else was sitting as mom was finishing up telling Marie and Jim what happened. Chris was sitting by himself so we went and sat next to him, with me in the middle so I could lean on either of them if I needed to. I tried to drown out them still talking about what happened and leaned on Chris' shoulder. He didn't fight me or say anything, and that's what I needed, just a small bit of comfort without any hassle to take my mind off the situation, if even for a little bit. I had actually started to feel a tiny bit better, stress wise, by just sitting there leaning on someone, but then it disappeared when Chris' body tensed up ten times over and wasn't as comfortable anymore, in fact, it started to hurt my neck.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!" Chris yelled.

I looked past him to see the reason for his sudden change and couldn't believe what I saw, Ashley walking towards us, carefully, but nonetheless walking towards us, the nerve. Earlier I said I didn't know what I'd do if I saw her, but now I did. I stood up angrily with clenched fists and walked towards her ready to knock her head off.

"Wait! Rita please wait!" Ashley said, a little fear noticeable in her voice.

"Lucky for you you won't have to go far after I smash your face on the ground!"

"Rita please, I didn't come here to start any trouble I swear!"

"What the fuck do you want?" I asked through gritted teeth.

It was more of a statement than a question, I could care less what she wanted, I just didn't want her to be here. I never cursed in front of my parents like that, but seeing Ashley set me off, anything rational went out the window the second she stepped into the hallway.

"What do you want!" I asked again, trying to control myself in front of mom and dad.

"Is he ok?"

"We don't know yet, why do you care?"

"Because he saved my life twice in one night."

"Yeah and look where it got him. If it was me I would've let him take you!"

"Rita!" mom said, shocked that I would ever say something like that.

"It's ok Mrs. Stevens, I deserved that. I probably deserve more than that since I'm the reason he's here in the first place."

Her talking to my mom using her name pissed me off, so much that I lost it again. I didn't care if she still had information that could bury us, she had no right to come in here and talk to us like we were close. "Don't talk to her like you know her, you don't know her! The whole time you've been around us you've been fake, putting on an act so you could act like a bitch and use us however you wanted, well that's done. We're not falling for any more of your bullshit Ashley, so you can save the fake sob story for someone else. You need to leave right now."

"Please let me stay, at least until you hear something. I know you all probably hate my guts right now and don't trust me at all, but I'm willing to stand here and be hated until I find out if Randy's ok. Please, I'll leave right after."

I studied her face for a long time, looking for a sign of anything to tell me she was lying, but I didn't see anything, instead I saw something else, something completely unexpected, sincerity. She was pleading with me with her eyes and had a look like she was about to cry, not to mention her hands were shaking as she clutched the hoodie she used to sit under Randy's head after he hit the ground, something I missed in my haste to do bodily harm to her. This was the first time I'd ever seen her any bit of sincere, but I'd bet any amount of money I'd be the last. Sincere or not, I still didn't wanna be around her, but she wasn't my main concern, Randy was. I unclenched my fists and took my seat back in between Stephanie and Chris.

"As soon as we hear something you GO! You hear me? You leave!" I said.

"Ok. Thank you."

She sat down on the only other bench in the hallway across from us and kept her head down to avoid any contact, smart move. She just kept staring at the bloody hoodie like it was a priceless artifact, like some sort of reminder of what the blood on the hoodie meant, I don't know, I was just looking for a reason to hate her even more or something.

I checked my phone to see what time it was, 2:27 am, he's officially been in the emergency room for two hours and we still don't know what's going on. The only thing that kept me thinking positive was when dad said them taking a long time was a good thing, which made sense, because they wouldn't spend so much time in there if he wasn't alive, still though, I couldn't help but wonder, no matter how hard I tried not to.

Finally, after a little more waiting, and hoping, and praying, at 2:49, the emergency light above the door went off, and one of the doctors came out. We all immediately popped out of our chair and met him basically just as he stepped through the door.

"Hello everyone, I'm Dr. Garrett I'm the one who has been looking after Randy."

"How is he? Is he alright? Please tell me he's alright! Did he make it? Does he have any permanent or long term damage?" I asked bombarding him with question after question.

"We've stopped the bleeding and took out the bullets, but there were some complications..."

My heart stopped. "Complications? What kind of complications?" mom asked.

"Well he was shot on the left side of his body twice, in the chest and in the shoulder, and when he fell he hit his head pretty hard, and on the way here he went into shock, then throw in everything we gave him to keep him alive on the way here and finally having to do emergency operation upon his arrival here, that's entirely too much stress on one person."

"So what exactly are you telling us doctor, are you saying my son is dead?" dad asked, his voice cracking a little.

We were all extremely quiet waiting for an answer, praying for a no, I was shaking all over as he shook his head no, but still had a troubling look on his face.

"No he's not dead, but he fell into a coma. His body couldn't handle the stress."

A small sigh of relief, but only a small one, going into a coma is the next worst thing, depending on how bad it was, but at least he was still alive, at least he still had a chance.

"Do you know how long he will be in a coma for?" Aunt Lisa asked.

"We don't know. It could be days, weeks, or even months, it's different with each patient. I'm not gonna lie to you or beat around the bush, his body really took a beating, there's a 50/50 chance he might not wake up, it depends entirely on him now."

Mom started to cry, but held it in. "Can we see him?"

"Yes, but the family only. He's stabilized so you can go right in."

Mom, dad, Aunt Lisa and I gathered ourselves and slowly walked into his room and turned the corner. There he was, sleep in the bed, just as peaceful as if he was taking a nap, if only it were that simple. Any composure mom had when she walked in here was now gone, she burst into tears as she ran to the side of his bed and held the side of his face to hers. Dad went to the other side and messed with his hair as Aunt Lisa and I stood there. When dad was finally able to pry mom off of him Aunt Lisa and I went over. Aunt Lisa kissed his forehead and whispered something in his ear, and then she rubbed my shoulder as she passed me and let me have my turn with him. I just looked at him. I didn't know what to say, and I couldn't show any real affection in front of dad, at least not deliberately. I rubbed his cheek and leaned in to kiss him, getting real close to his lips in the process.

"I'll be waiting right here when you wake up, I promise," I said as I kissed him again.

I sat there a little longer and just looked at him until the doctor came back in.

"Ok everyone, we have to move him to another room now," Dr. Garrett said.

We all got one last look at him sleeping in the bed then went back out to the waiting room, where everyone, including Ashley were waiting on us to tell them something.

"How does he look? It doesn't look bad does it?" Marie asked.

"It just looks like he's sleeping. He looks about as best as he can look given the situation. He's putting up a fight, so the only thing we can do is wait," mom replied.

"If it's alright with you all we're gonna head back home since visiting hours are over," Jim said.

"It's ok, we're gonna head home too, we'll come back tomorrow," dad replied.

I wasn't leaving. I couldn't go home and sleep in that bed knowing he was here fighting for his life, I wanted to be right here with him, and I was going to be. "I'm staying."

"You can't Rita, the doctors won't let you," Aunt Lisa said.

"They won't have a choice. I'm staying. They can't get rid of me."

I walked to the doctor and let him know my situation, he was skeptical, but he eventually agreed, as long as it was just me and I didn't cause any problems. I got the room information that Randy was being moved to and walked back over to everyone.

"He says its ok, as long as it's just me," I said.

Mom cupped my cheek and smiled, not surprised at all by my decision to stay. "How long are you gonna stay here for?"

"I'm staying until he wakes up, however long it takes."

"We'll come back tomorrow with some clothes and toothbrush and things."

"Thanks mom, and before I forget, our car is still parked at the ice cream shop."

I gave her the keys as everyone gave their hugs and said their goodbyes and were on their way, and up until that point I had forgotten Ashley was still there until I saw everyone walked past her and give her the cold shoulder, something I was about to do, but I knew she would try to stop.

"Rita, I just wanna..."

"I don't wanna hear it Ashley, you know his condition, now just get out of here."

"I'm so sorry, all I want is a chance to make it right."

She was trying to draw me in with sympathy, and it kinda worked. "You wanna make it right? Go in there and switch places with him, that's how you can make it right."

"I would if I could, it should be me in that bed anyway. I'll make sure he's fully taken care of while he's here, the best medicine, treatment, everything, I'll pay for all of it."

"We don't want your money Ashley, we can pay for his treatment ourselves."

"I already gave my consent, when you were in there looking at him I was talking to the doctor, anything Randy needs will be paid for no question."

"Even now you're still trying to control the situation! Its ok though, I'll just undo it."

"Rita please let me help, I owe him that much."

That comment set me off. "You owe him more than that!"

"I know, and I'm gonna make good on it, I promise, and if you know one thing about me that wasn't an act, it's that I keep my promises."

I just stared at her for a minute, trapped between wanting to clock her in the face, and cut her a little slack, even though she didn't deserve it. "It took him risking his life for you, getting shot twice, and falling into a coma for you to have a change of heart."

I said it as a statement rather than a question. I wanted her to feel shitty, as low as she could possibly feel about herself knowing her selfishness almost got someone killed. She put her head down and looked at her phone, ashamed, then forced herself to make eye contact with me.

"I did set Randy up at the party. Everything he told you was the truth. I put Stephanie in the same clothes I had a copy of and tricked you into getting him drunk, then had Chris put him in my room. I dressed up like Stephanie, blonde wig and everything and seduced him, and waited for someone to catch us. I hated that you and Stephanie preferred him over me. My whole plan was to break them up and make you hate him. I'd been planning it since my father told me I'd be hanging out with you. Even after the party I was still making plans to fuck his life up. Tonight, when I showed up, I was gonna make Randy come with me and I was gonna record him giving me head and send it to you, then when you showed up I changed it to making you two have sex in front of me, but I was still gonna record it. I was gonna use that to bribe you into having sex with each other in public, and make either of you do stuff to me whenever I wanted you to, and I was gonna drag it out for a long time. I would've never told anyone, that would've ruined the fun for me, unless you refused to do what I said anymore, then I was gonna send it through the internet, to the newspaper, through the community, everywhere, because I had to have my way. Randy knew all that, and he still jumped in front of a knife and a bullet for me. After everything I did to make his life hell, he still risked it for mine, without a second thought. He could die in there and it'll be all my fault. I'm such a SELFISH BITCH!"

She threw her phone into the wall so hard it shattered into a million pieces. She sat down on the bench, still clutching the bloody sweater, covered her face with her hands and started to cry. A couple nurses came around the corner to see what the noise was but I waved them off, trying not to attract any attention. On one hand, I was glad she felt like this, I wanted to see her suffer for all the shit she put us through, but on the other hand, I actually felt a little bad for her. Her phone was her life, and she slung it against the wall like it was nothing. She actually, sincerely, finally came to realize what kind of person she was, it was a shame Randy had to get shot for her to realize it. she went to pick up the pieces of her phone off the ground while still crying, and I went to help her, I don't know why, I just did. She sifted through all the pieces and pulled out the SD card and gave it to me, then threw the rest of the phone in the trash.

"I'll delete everything tonight. I'll make good, I promise."

I watched her walk out the door and then sat down. That was completely unexpected, but not completely unwelcomed. I wondered for a second if she was pulling another act, if maybe she broke a dummy phone and turned on some fake tears, but I checked the phone, it was hers, and she gave me the SD card from it, not to mention she's supposedly paying for all of Randy's treatment. This time, I do believe she actually changed, permanently, and for the better, but I'm still not ready to trust her, she has a long way to go before I ever trust her again.

I shook Ashley from my mind for the moment and walked to the room they moved Randy to. When I got there I went to the sink and washed the blood off my hands that had been there the entire night, then walked over to his bed and sat down next to him, taking his hand in mine and just looked at him, hoping his eyes would open up and he'd look back at me.