Chapter Ten: It's Worse
It was getting late, and, so Marissa, Sue and Lucy had to leave. Gary, of course, had no intention of going anywhere, especially with the idea of calling in Adele's uncle running around their heads. He still wouldn't allow it, knowing full well what could happen.
Once the hospital was quiet and he was almost sure no one would come poking into Lisa's room, Gary positioned himself beside her on the bed, holding her gently in his arms, stroking her hair.
"Lisa?" he called to her, softly. "Lisa, can you hear me?"
Still getting no response, he, once again, tried telepathy. Lisa, please answer me. Lisa?
Gary had hoped that she might've recovered enough to communicate in even the slightest way to him, but his hopes were smashed when he still received no reply. He cried himself to sleep that night.
He awoke the next morning to the usual "Meow!" of the cat. For a fleeting moment, Gary thought it had all been a dream and he was back home in his own bed, Lisa beside him, well and healthy. Then, he heard the beeping of the heart monitor and smelled the sterile conditions of the hospital, and he knew.
Groaning, he slowly opened his eyes to find the cat sitting on the paper at the foot of the bed. His attention was on Lisa, first, however.
"Good morning, Lisa," he said to her, kissing her gently on the lips. 'Morning, he said telepathically, as well. She didn't respond to either greeting. Sighing, he glared at the cat. "Forget it, Cat," he practically growled. "I'm not leaving her."
Although it was never obvious that the orange tabby could understand Gary when he spoke to it, according to Lisa, he did, for she never had to translate anything to the feline. Unfortunately, now without Lisa, Gary wouldn't be able to understand a thing the cat would say.
The cat sidled up between them, as if giving Lisa his own examination, and then looked at Gary, meowing, trotting over to lounge on top of the paper.
"I don't care," Gary said to it. "I'm not leaving her."
The cat growled and glared back, obviously wanting him to read the paper.
"No," he said. "No, I'm not leaving her."
The cat hissed, then left the bed, its back leg pushing the paper closer towards him. Gary shook his head and moved to lie back down, then his eyes caught the bold headline of the front page of the paper. It read, "FBI AGENTS SHOT OUTSIDE HOTEL".
Picking up the paper, he read the article.
FBI AGENTS SHOT OUTSIDE HOTEL
Visiting FBI agents, Sue Thomas and Lucy Dotson, were shot outside
their hotel yesterday afternoon at 1:30PM. Witnesses report that the
shooter was the same man who robbed McGinty's bar earlier this week.
He didn't read further. The paper shook in Gary's hands and he dropped it on the end table. "No," he said. "I'm not leaving her…Lisa, I'm not leaving you." He clung to her tightly. "I'm not…" Tears fell from his eyes. This was absolute torture. He wasn't sure how much longer he could handle this.
End chapter ten.