"She sustained some minor abrasions that caused infection to set in around her wrists and ankles, but our main concern is her malnourishment and pneumonia. Looks like they literally starved her for almost five days, and they certainly didn't give her enough water to keep her from getting dehydrated. She probably started developing a fever by the end of day two and without treatment, it caused her to develop pneumonia and pleurisy, a condition that causes a lot of pain around the lungs and rib cage when she breathes. I also noted that she has a slight cracked rib, which I am guessing was caused from when the trunk was kicked around the room. I suggest, also, that if we can get her over this pneumonia that she be kept out of small dark spaces for a while. Some victims of crimes like this tend to develop a phobia." I heard someone say from some distance away as I looked steadfastly at the back of my eyelids. It was like I was in some kind of foggy dream where voices sound much bigger than they really are and everything echoes. There was a shifting in the room as I felt a blanket being drawn more closely around my body.
"How long before we know if the treatment is working?" Victoria asked solemnly. The doctor seemed to hesitate as he fiddled with something he held in his hands.
"The only way to tell for sure is if the fever breaks within the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours." The doctor remarked stoically, and I could just imagine the stricken looks on the occupants of the surrounding room as they wondered what it meant if the fever didn't break. I wanted to reassure them, to grip their hands, or to just say something, but I could barely move. Most of all, I wanted to know if Tommy was alright. I tried very hard to lift my eyelids but it was like moving a freight train. Finally I just let my body relax into the softness behind me and quit fighting. I think I fell asleep after that although I can't be sure because the next thing I knew I felt a warm sensation as someone's hand covered my own while their other hand settled gently against my forehead. I could feel moisture there as if my body were trying desperately to burn off the dreaded fever. And I relaxed into the cool feel of the hand against my skin. I wanted to open my eyes and see who it was, but I was having a difficult enough time not falling back asleep again. A head settled next to mine, and I felt breath ease over the lobes of my ears as someone whispered.
"Hang in there, Jude. I'm okay. The bullet just grazed my arm." My body tensed gloriously as I recognized Tommy's voice, and I fought with myself to keep my body from sending itself back into shut down mode. I wanted to be awake. Concentrating all my efforts into moving the hand he held, I managed somehow to lift one of my fingers, and I felt him tense beside me.
"Jude?" He asked hopefully, and I struggled with myself, running through the fog that had become my mind until I thought I saw a break in the denseness. The next thing I knew, I heard myself rasp,
"Water?" I croaked as movement alerted me to the fact that Tom was getting what I needed. I felt my body lift as he supported my back against the palm of his hand before placing the cup against my lips.
"Drink slowly." He warned as, at first, I tried gulping the water to discover it only choked me. Trying a second time, I sipped at the drops of condensation delicately until I felt as if my body couldn't take any more. And finally for the first time, I was able to open my eyes a little, but everything still looked cloudy and illuminated. Closing them again, I sighed at the pain in my chest and I moved my head slowly to the side.
"Hurt." I stated as best I could as I really felt the pain of the burn around my ribs for the first time. Tom stood up quickly.
"I'll find someone to give you something for the pain, Jude." I heard him say as the shuffling of his feet and the opening and closing of a door signaled his departure and return a minute later. A nurse walked up to me and whispered encouragingly as she lifted my arm and inserted something into my I.V. It wasn't long before I had blissful relief, and I wandered once again into blackness.
The next time I woke up, it felt easier to move around and my body finally seemed to be listening more to my brain signals. Voices in the room alerted me to the fact that Portia, Darius, Tommy, Sadie, and Victoria were all present at the moment.
"What did you find out from the police?" Tommy asked insistently as the room grew quiet. I could actually hear Darius shift nervously before coughing to cover up the awkwardness.
"They've gotten a confession out of both girls. Carrie's motive was just fan psychosis. Felicia, on the other hand, claimed that you killed her baby Tommy." Darius remarked as Victoria and Sadie gasped while Tommy probably just looked shocked as they all processed the information.
"What!" He asked disbelievingly as Darius shifted again. I was tired of just hearing people shift around so I cracked a lid open carefully and saw, to my surprise, all five of the people gathered at the end of my bed. Darius shook his head and shrugged.
"They dug up some information on her and found out that after you and her were together, she discovered that she was pregnant." Darius said slowly, letting the information absorb into everyone's psyche as Tommy's face fell in shocked horror.
"She must have kept the pregnancy a secret from all of us because nine months later, there is a hospital record of her having a still birth. There must have been some kind of complications because the baby died in the womb. Somehow, Felicia's way of dealing with it was convincing herself that you had killed the baby until eventually her mind made up a scenario where that was the case. I'm sorry, Tommy." Darius remarked quietly as I watched Tommy's face take it all in—the grief of losing a child he never even knew he had created, the blame he felt for ever having been with Felicia, and the guilt he felt for knowing that he was the cause of Felicia's insanity and that he had put me in harm's way because of it. I wanted to lean over and rub my fingers across his brow, tell him it wasn't his fault that there were hundreds of women out there that lost babies every year who didn't go the route Felicia did. "Please don't shut yourself down." I thought to myself as I watched Tommy's head fall into the palm of his hands.
"We don't blame you, Tommy. It was the past." Darius said as he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. Portia kept staring at the ground, never looking anywhere but at the floor as Victoria stepped up next to Tommy authoritatively.
"You saved my daughter's life, Tom Quincy, by risking your own in the process. At this point, I could care less if you had impregnated the entire town of Toronto." Victoria said soundly as I blinked to try and keep awake. "You go mom!" I screamed through my head as I once again nodded off to sleep.
