Chapter 19
Riley POV
I stayed completely still where I was, laying on the ground. But I was still screaming from the pain. I didn't know whether Dylan or Riker were dead, and I really didn't want to look.
But all of a sudden, I felt arms around me. They felt so gentle, and I knew it must be Riker.
Riker POV
As soon as Dylan's body went limp, I knew he was dead, so I pushed him off of me, and ran over to Riley. She was on the ground, crying in a little ball.
"Riley, are you ok!?"
Riley turned to face me. I could tell she was trying to speak, but she was too upset, and I couldn't understand anything she was trying to say. But then I looked at her arm.
"Riley, oh my god! You're bleeding!"
That's what Dylan had done! He had stabbed her!
I turned around, and saw the police all crowded around Dylan's body. I turned back to Riley when she grabbed my hand really tight. I knew I had to do something about her arm. But luckily for me, the police were already aware that Dylan stabbed her. I talked to a police officer, and he told me to help Riley get to the parking lot because an ambulance would be arriving shortly.
"Come on, Riley. There's an ambulance coming to take you to the hospital."
I picked Riley up, but it was kind of hard because she wasn't even trying to hold on. She was in too much pain, and she was still crying. Her body was almost limp. But I didn't care. And after everything she's been through, I'd expect her to be acting like this. But right now I just needed to get her to the ambulance.
When I got out of the woods, the ambulance was already there, waiting for us. I put Riley down on the stretcher, and watched as they put her in the ambulance. I was about to go talk to some police officers when one of the emergency service people came over to me and told me I could come with them to the hospital if I wanted. Of course I said yes. It was kind of cool riding in an ambulance. Riley was still crying and couldn't really speak. But she held onto my hand really tight until we got to the hospital.
Later…
Riker POV
After waiting in the waiting room for what felt like forever, a nurse finally came out to talk to me about Riley. She had gotten stitches in her arm where Dylan stabbed her. And after everything that had just happened, Riley was so stressed and had been displaying major anxiety, so they gave her some medication through her IV to help her calm down and fall asleep. They wanted to keep her overnight just to make sure her arm was ok, and make sure she was still ok mentally. But I was allowed to see her. But before I went in, I called Riley's parents and told them what happened. Her father asked if I was going to stay with her overnight, and I said yes, so he decided that they weren't going to come see her if she was ok, and I was with her. They asked me to drive her back home the next day, and I said I totally would. I realized my car wasn't at the hospital. But I could just call one of my siblings or something.
I finally went in to see Riley. She was laying in bed, crying still. But her face lit up when she saw me come in which just completely melted my heart. I came over and sat down next to her in bed.
"Hey," I said, pulling the hair out of Riley's face.
Riley kept quietly crying.
"Riley, it's ok! It's over! Dylan is dead! He's gone! And you'll never ever see him again!"
I wiped the tears off Riley's face.
"Riley, it's ok, I promise. Please stop crying."
"They're keeping me overnight, Riker! They're keeping me overnight, and I'm going to be all alone! I just want to go home!"
"Shhh. Riley, you can't go home tonight. But I'm staying with you."
"You're going to stay we me all night?"
"Yeah. I wouldn't leave you here!"
"What about my parents? Do they know?"
"Yeah, I called them. Your dad said he was glad I was staying with you, and he's looking forward to seeing you tomorrow when I bring you back home. He figured it wouldn't make sense to come and see you because it's just your arm, and it's not too serious."
"No, I get it. It's late. I wouldn't want to make him drive all the way here and all the way back."
Riley was still crying, but she was a little bit calmer now. One of the nurses set up another bed for me so I could stay overnight. I got in my bed next to Riley. I felt bad that she was still crying, and I wanted to try to calm her down.
"Riley. Everything's ok. It's over."
Riley took my hand in hers, and looked at me.
"Is it really over?"
"Yeah. Dylan's dead."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"So then that means our lives can finally be normal again."
"Yup."
"Riker, I was so scared he was going to kill you. I wanted to help, but I was in so much pain and-"
"Riley, it's ok. I know you would've helped if you could've."
"What were you guys doing exactly?"
"Well… At first I didn't know he stabbed you. All I saw was you fall to the floor, and start screaming. And that was enough to make me tackle him. But he was stronger than me. I don't know how he was after falling off a cliff, and probably living in the woods for days, but he was. And within seconds, Dylan was on top of me. He was trying to kill me by stabbing me in the head, but I was holding his arms above me. All I remember is the knife getting closer and closer to me, and then the police shot him. And it was over."
"I just can't believe it's over."
"But we made it! We survived, and we won!"
"I'll make it to be 18."
I pulled out my phone. There were 3 minutes left until Riley turned 18. We waited, and finally, it was 11:38.
"You made it to 18!"
Riley smiled.
"Only because I had you."
I smiled and kissed Riley. Finally, my life was perfect. Actually… not quite…
The end.