Where the Sky Meets the Sea
10: Ship-Wrecked Hearts
When I woke up the sun had not quite risen, instead it seemed to have stalled out about halfway in the sky, washing everything in a barely there yellow glow. I yawned and stretched, then merely lay there and watched Ashley, her body softly rising and falling with each breath, the covers having inched down her back to crinkle up just under her shoulder blades. I reached out before I could help myself, thinking to move them back up when my skin brushed across hers and my heart leapt into my throat. She was burning up! Instantly I sat up, running my fingers quickly through my hair as my mind raced. Her medication! I'd forgotten to give it to her last night! My face immediately turned red in a blast of short-term memories and long-term guilt. I jumped out of bed a second later, yanking on my shirt and shorts, then bending to pick up Ashley's bag and grab the right bottles out of it. Panicked, I double, triple, quadruple checked the dosage and instructions, then snatched a bottle of water off the dresser and knelt by Ashley's side.
"Ash, Ash wake up. Please." I pleaded, shaking her as gently as I could. Her eyes opened a minute or two later and I breathed for what felt like the first time in forever as she merely gave me a look, then sat up.
"Spencer…it's six o'clock in the morning." She croaked and I nodded, ashen faced.
"You didn't take these last night." I announced tightly, holding out the pills and she merely rolled her eyes, flopping back over.
"I'll be fine, now hurry up and c-c-come back to b-bed." She said through a yawn.
"You have a fever!" I blurted and she shrugged.
"I always do." I shook her again and she took one look at my face, then grabbed the pilled and downed them while I looked on. "Happy now?" I stayed where I was at the side of the bed, worrying my bottom lip to shreds as she reached for me.
"Spencer, come on, don't worry about it." She begged, moving to pull me up to the bed. My eyes roved over her worriedly, noticing the new multitude of little bruises that hadn't been there last night, and flushing fiercely. I took her into my arms, trying to think of anything but having to go back to the hospital, to leave her there and jet off to work, an hour late and a lifetime sorry. She shook a little in my embrace and I only tightened my hold, realization sinking in. Ashley was sick, and she wasn't getting better.
I tried not to cry, if only for her sake, even though my heart was being cut to ribbons on the sharp shoals of reality. I never wanted to sleep more than at that moment, to drift away from it all with her and live in a dream world where we could be happy forever.
"I'll be fine." She said gently as we were packing up the car forty minutes and a good shower later. I dropped the camera I was holding, not breathing for a second until I realized that it was just my crappy decade old one. I stared at the shimmering pieces of the frame, the tiny fragments set ablaze by the morning sun and burning into the asphalt, before I turned around.
"…I hope so…" I whispered in reply.
"Ready to ride? Geez you look beat Spence." Sean announced as soon as I climbed into the van, my uniform buttoned incorrectly and my shoes untied.
"What's the assignment?" I croaked, downing my cup of coffee and attempting to look alive.
"Domestic dispute, west side of town, possible broken bones. Suspect apprehended already." Kasey rattled off monotonously as he flipped the sirens on and peeled out of the parking lot. "Set up the splints and the ice packs." He added in an equally bored tone. I just sat back on the hard side bench and waited as we dashed through town. It was only once I'd stepped out of the van again did I realize that we were parked in front of Glen's house, and that my brother was sitting on the curb, handcuffed and crying silently. My heart stopped for a full minute as I took in the scene, then I heard my nephew bawling from somewhere inside and I ran past everyone, sprinting into the house and sinking to my knees in relief a moment later. Kenzie sat on the couch, as battered as I had ever seen her, and rocking Blake, who was sporting a thin cut on his cheek and sobbing loudly. Forcing myself up from the floor as the others came in I took my nephew and let them coax Kenzie onto a stretcher, holding him so tightly that Sean tapped me on the shoulder and told me to relax before I started inflicting damage. Blake wasn't having it though and clung to me as I tightly as I to him, burying his face in my neck and crying inconsolably.
"You know these people?" Kasey asked gently as we wheeled Kenzie out to the van. I didn't answer 'cause I knew he'd send me home if I did. I just kept my hold on Blake and climbed in with the rest of the team, watching as they set to work cleaning and wrapping Kenzie's wounds, then getting to work on setting her ribs. Three of them were broken. Me and Glen's gazes caught for just one second as we prepared to race off for the hospital and I realized with a breath snatching jolt that if I could've killed him, I would.
A little while after we reached the hospital Blake was picked up by my parents, who could only shake their heads in disbelief and wonder where it all went wrong. Kenzie decided it would be better not to tell Laura, who was a prosecuting attorney.
"What'd you do this time?" I asked once everyone was gone, Kasey having let me clock out early and change back into plainclothes. By now Kenzie had had her x-rays and everything, filled out all the necessary reports, the only thing she had left to do was meet with the hospital appointed social worker in an hour or two and she was finally on enough temporary painkillers to merit conversation.
"…I don't wanna fight with you Spencer." She replied in a barely audible voice.
"Is this enough?" I asked intensely, pressing on despite her announcement.
"Just leave me alone…please…" She whispered, starting to cry even as she looked away from me.
"Fine." I replied, turning on my heel and leaving. I didn't understand how this couldn't be the final straw, how this couldn't possibly be enough to convince her that staying with him was just a death wish. And he'd hurt Blake this time, he'd punched his two year old son in the face and just walked away, and she still thought they could work things out?! My fists balled up at my sides and I whirled, punching a random wall in some even more random hall before sliding down it and to the floor, the tears coming hot and fast whether I wanted them to or not. I don't know how long I stayed there but I know that by the time a nurse asked me if I was okay the sun was hanging low in the sky and the hall lights had been turned on to 100.
"I'm f-fine." I stammered, stumbling to a standing position before shuffling out of the hospital, and, like my parents, wondering where it all went wrong…
tbc
r&r