Joe began to cry, a hard sobbing the kind he hadn't done since he was a child.. His chest heaved up and down with his sobs of grief, and after a few minutes it began to hurt. He was glad for the pain, he welcomed it but he knew he had things to take care of now and that he would have to calm down. After a few minutes he dried his eyes and looked around and saw to his horror that the phone was on the end table right beside him.
"Oh dear God" he whispered quietly. He reached for it, hands shaking covered in her blood and decided there was only one person he could call at a moment like this. He dialed the number and after about 3 rings there was a click on the other end.
"Hello, Steven Tyler at your service" Steven said
"Steven you have to come over here right now." He said quietly.
"Who is this?" he asked
"Joe" he whispered
"Joe man you sound like you've been crying, did you and Melody get into a fight?" Steven asked. Joe looked down at Melody and shed another tear.
"No, I just need you to come over here right now something terrible has happened." Joe said.
"Ok Joe I'm on my way." Steven said and hung up the phone.
Joe heard the click and turned off his own phone. He sighed and looked down at Melody and then looked back at the phone. He became angry, and threw the phone across the room. He pulled her close to him and started to cry into her shoulder. He began stroking her hair softly. In minutes he had cried himself to sleep or into shock, at that point he didn't care he just wanted Melody back, anyway he could find her even if it was just in a dream.
Steven entered the house in a hurry. Joe had said something terrible had happen and he was willing and able to help his friend. He saw that the living room light was on so he hurried there. Before he reached the door he smelled the sweet stench of blood. He became frightened. One of them was hurt …bad he thought. He walked through the entryway very carefully not knowing what he'd see. When he rounded the corner he let a huge gasp. He saw Joe sitting still on the couch with Melody and blood on both of them. He rushed over to Joe side and looked frantically at them. He thought he saw Joe breathing, but he figured it was just painfully wishful thinking. He bent down beside them and started to cry for them both.
"Joe, how could this have happened to you and her?" He said placing his hand on Joe's shoulder and to his surprise Joe's eyes popped open and he spoke.
"Steven you came" he said quietly. He laid Melody gently down across his lap again. Steven then only saw the blood on Joe.
"JOE! Oh my God you're hurt pretty badly" Steven yelled. He then looked down at Melody and he jumped back with fright. "JESUS! LOOK AT MELODY!" Steven was screaming at Joe who just sat there while tears rolled down face.
"I'm fine, but Melody is already…dead," Joe said quietly. The word hung in the air between them it felt heavy. A tense moment, Joe looked at Steven then back down at Melody.
"What? Dead? Are you sure?" Steven asked timidly. Joe snapped his head up and glared at Steven.
"SHE DIED IN MY ARMS" Joe yelled holding her close to his chest again. He looked down at her and began stroking her hair. He then looked back up at Steven trying to hold back the tears.
"The look in her eyes Steven, the fear, the pain. I've never seen eyes with such beauty tell such a sad story." Joe said. He looked down at her and noticed with silent horror that her eyes were still open. Why hadn't he seen that before? He laid his hand over them and closed them. He then laid the same hand over his own eyes to cover the tears from Steven.
"Joe there is no shame in crying" Steven said quietly, placed his hand on Joe's shoulder in support. Joe removed his hand from his eyes and looked at Steven.
"Steven, why would someone want to take my Melody away from me?" Joe asked softly. Steven sighed in grief.
"I don't know I really don't" he said.
"Steven I love her" Joe said sadly. Steven decided that he needed to call the police and for that he needed to ask what happened. He didn't know what to expect. He didn't know if the worst Joe would do was yell at him or if he would collapse from the mental pain. He decided he had to risk it.
"Joe I need to know what you know happened" Steven said softly. Joe looked up at him and a flood of tears came to his eyes as he looked down at her.
"I can't, I just can't believe she is gone." Joe said. Steven looked at his friend with sadness.
"Joe I need to know so I can call the police for you." He said. Joe sighed a mournful sigh.
"I was upstairs in bed, you know how I get when I go to sleep I'm dead to the world." He paused for a moment, wrong choice of words.
"A gunshot woke me, I only heard one. I rushed down here and she was barely alive when I got downstairs there was no time to call the police. And now she's gone." Joe said trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to overwhelm him. Steven carefully kneeled down beside Joe and put his arm around him. His head fell onto Steven's shoulder and he started to cry. Joe looked at Melody and started to stroke her blood soaked hair, as if she were alive. Steven watched this act and took pity on Joe.
"Oh Joe" Steven said trying to comfort his heartbroken friend. Steven pulled out his cell phone and called the police.
"Hello what is your emergency?" the dispatcher asked in an airy well rehearsed way.
"My friend and I just found his wife in his house and she needs help immediately...she is not breathing and has been shot twice in the stomach." Steven said almost panicking, hardly believing he was having this conversation.
"Sir, I'm going to need your location and I will send an ambulance out to you" The dispatcher said and she got the address and all the information from Steven. When Steven hung up, Joe was beginning to feel very guilty. He kept telling Steven that if only he had not gone to bed, if only he would have come downstairs. Steven gently told him that if he had, he would have been killed too and that made Joe even sadder. He told Steven that he was better dead then trying to live through the pain. Steven told him that he did not mean that and Joe didn't speak the rest of the time. By the time the police and ambulance arrived at his house he was in a desperate state.
The paramedics did all that they could, they laid her on the floor and tried to resituate her and even got out the AED but nothing happened. Joe watched them work on his wife with a small hope that she might come back but that hope was gone when one of them asked for the time. She was pronounced dead right there on their living room floor. Hearing the words from the paramedic's mouth put him in a deeper state of shock; it just made it official she was gone forever. Everything seemed to go in slow motion; he got off the couch and knelt beside his wife. Before he knew it his living room was filled with police taking pictures and his beautiful wife was covered with a white sheet. A tap came on his shoulder; he looked up to find the lead investigator staring at him.
"Sir? I need to know all that you know that happened" he asked looking at Joe.
Joe was too heartbroken to answer and turned back to look at Melody. He just stared at the spot were his wife was murdered, muttering to himself. Steven felt so sorry for Joe. So he answered for Joe but in a smart-ass way. He always did things his way.
"She was murdered officer" Steven replied coolly
"I know that but how" the officer said annoyed
"Well you see-" Steven began but Joe cut him short.
"It's ok Steven I can answer" Joe said wiping his face. It was really red. Joe told the officer the same thing he had told Steven. "And that's what happened" Joe said as he started to cry again.
"How did you get blood on your shirt?" the officer asked Joe suspiciously. His fire was back for a moment.
"Well lets look around huh? THERE IS BLOOD EVERYWHERE! She had blood all over her. Is it any wonder?" Joe yelled at him. Joe then tried to get up off of the floor again.
"Joe" Steven said suddenly "I would take a look at your legs if I were you"
Joe hadn't noticed that he had been kneeling in the glass when he was beside, Melody when he first found her. He stared in disbelief as his legs started to bleed.
"I'll get the paramedic in here" The officer said and ran out.
"Oh lord look at my legs Steven. I didn't know I was kneeling in the glass. All I cared about was Melody" He finished quietly. He tried to stand but he when he did he collapsed in pain. So Steven and the investigator helped him to the couch. Little shards of glass where poking out of his skin, he went to pull them out but was stopped by an unfamiliar voice.
"I wouldn't do that is I was you" A young man with blue gloves on his hands and a grim look on his face.
"Why the hell not?" Joe asked incredulously. The young man stooped in front of Joe.
"If any of those shards have nicked an artery and you pull it out unknowingly, you could bleed to death in minutes." The young man said.
"You would too, you know pull a shard out unknowingly" Joe said. He knew it was a weak come back but it was all he could manage.
"Sir I am trained on how to react in that situation now just relax and talk to your little buddy while I work." The man said rather rudely. Joe let it go; he wasn't in the mood to argue. Steven gave a little reassuring squeeze to his shoulder. After 10 minutes the man looked up and gave Joe his diagnosis.
"Well you've got some deep cuts and not a lot of blood loss. It's nothing to cry about." He said seeing Joe's face streaming in tears. This made Steven very angry; this man was on his last nerves.
"His wife was just murdered, you jackass!" Steven yelled angrily spraying spit everywhere.
"I am aware of that, why do you think I am here" the paramedic said.
"Alright that's it, good thing there's an ambulance here your gonna need it" Steven said advancing on the man, Joe raised his hand to stop him. Steven sighed and backed up. The paramedic just smiled and walked off.
"I am so going to call his supervisor" Steven said
"It's ok Steven, just let it go there are worse things" Joe said getting up off the couch.
"Joe you should just sit for a while and rest don't go anywhere" Steven said calmly stepping in front of Joe.
"Steven I need to get out of here, out of this room, out of this house just please take me somewhere, I don't care." Steven looked down at his bloody shorts and shirt.
"Wherever you want to go." Steven said
"To the Lake, that was her favorite spot to sit and relax" Joe said walking toward the door. Grabbing his coat he looked back at Steven who hadn't moved. He nodded and looked back at the police they nodded. Just as Joe turned back towards the door Steven saw out of the corner of his eye corners put Melody in the black body bag.