The phone rang. Art grabbed it and answered it drowsily. "Hello?"
"Crown! Get in uniform, there's an emergency." The phone yelled.
"But I have leave,"
"I don't care, just get here now! I texted you the address," The phone called ended.
"Fine." He grabbed his uniform and he put it on fastly. He got in his car, and he drove off. Why didn't they tell him to go to the station? He thought. The moment he got to the scene. He saw Jim's truck. "That's Luna's boss's truck, what did that guy get himself into?" He asked himself. He got closer and he saw Jim, on the asphalt, with Luna's head on his lap. She's lying down. There were three corpses around them.
"WHERE'S THE FUCKING AMBULANCES?!" The sheriff yelled. Art's face turned white, he ran over to Luna. The other deputies tried to stop him at first, but when they saw him kneeling beside her, they stopped.
"LUNA! WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!" Art asked as he grabbed her hand. She didn't respond. He laid his head on her chest, and he heard a faint heartbeat. "HELP ME GET HER TO THE CAR!" Art yelled at Jim. Jim nodded. The sheriff told them to stop, but they didn't care. Art loaded her in the backseat of his car, and he stepped on the gas pedal. A cop car followed suit and overtook them, but the speed is fast.
Art's walkie buzzed. "Just follow behind me," Other John said.
"Thank you," Art replied into the talkie. The police siren in front blared loudly as the red and blue light shined through the night. They moved fast. Suddenly the car in front stopped.
Art punched the brakes and he yelled into the talkie. "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?! JOHN WHY DID YOU STOP?!"
"It's her sister."
Art looked out the side window and he saw Lily slowly walking to the car. "LILY GET THE FUCK INSIDE!" Art yelled. Lily got in, still shocked from the crash. Lily looked at the backseat and she cried. She held Luna's hand tight. She didn't want to move. They continued driving, Art wanted to go faster if he could. He saw the car wreckage on the side of the road but he didn't care for that right now. Other John reported it in through the radio but the two car didn't stop. They continued.
The big red cross on top of the hospital glowed. Art carried Luna in his arms, and ran into emergency. She coughed blood at him. His eyes red. The paramedics saw the uniform and the blood on him. The EMTs dropped her on the stretcher and they pushed her off inside. Art stood there, with her blood on his shirt. He shouldn't be sad, they weren't even a thing, they've only knowned each other for a week. Only a week. Yet why is he crying there?
"Lincoln, what the fuck?!" Lori slapped Lincoln. She had called home. She told them what happened, she told them what Lincoln did. Luan is on her way there by plane with mom. She sat on the car hood and Lincoln sat on the ground.
"I'm sorry... I took my frustrations out on her,"
"Why the hell are you apologizing to me?" Lori asked. "We were supposed to bring them back home, not terrorize her! Yes we did pulled money to punch her and all that, but not like that! If you did the way we used to back then Lily wouldn't be that fucking scared!" Lori yelled. "Oh God!" She punched the car hood. Just as she punched it. A police car stopped beside their wreck. A cop came out.
"You folks alright here?" The cop got out.
"Thankfully, no injuries," Lori said. "I need to go back to town, I need to get to my sister's house,"
"Your sister?" The cop raised an eyebrow. "What's her name?"
"Luna Loud, our other sister might've ran to her place-"
"Ma'am, stop right there. Ms Luna Loud is on her way to the hospital right now," the cop said.
"What?! What happened?"
"She got assaulted right out of town, messed her up pretty badly. I'll take you two to the hospital, get in the car,"
"LINCOLN! WHAT THE FUCK!" Lori grabbed his collar.
"Ma'am please calm down," The cop came closer.
"THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" Lori shook Lincoln, but he didn't do anything. Only regret and guilt was on his face.
"Ma'am please stop that!" He broke the fight. "The perpetrators got what they deserved, please just get in the car."
"What?"
"It was a biker gang ma'am,"
"But-" She wanted to say it. But she couldn't do it. She couldn't ruin Lincoln's life like that. She'll testify only if Luna decided to press charges. She stayed quiet. She got in the police car and Lincoln followed suit.
Lily, Art and Jim sat outside of the operation room. Other John left. The hospital had to do an emergency surgery. They sat there. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Seconds felt like days, minutes felt like months. Lily cried. Jim prayed. Art bit his nails.
"Lincoln did this," Lily mumbled.
"Lincoln? Who's Lincoln?" Art asked. "We found her assaulted by bikers,"
"Our brother did that, the only thing those bikers did was scarring her face." Lily said. "He came to drag me home."
"He did that? To drag you home? What?"
"I ran away from home a few weeks ago, and I went to find Luna. Luna knew, but she couldn't contact them. So she took care of me. We were going to go back to Michigan this tomorrow. But they got here first, and Luna-" Lily stuttered. "And Luna got pummeled by Lincoln."
Seething with rage, Art stood up. He banged the walls with his fist.
"LILY!" Lori's voice echoed as she ran to the bench they were sitting on. Lily saw her, and saw Lincoln behind Lori. Her spine shuddered. She ran to Art, and she hid behind her.
"Behind her, that's Lincoln." Lily said. Art turned his face at the white haired man, and clenched his fists harder. He puts his hand on his gun. Lori stopped running. She saw the angry cop. The cop behind her saw this, he never saw Art this angry before, sensing something, he also puts his hand on his gun.
"Crown, what's the case with this one?" The cop asked.
"You're taking my side that easily Eric?"
"No offense Crown but you're a coward, but you're a good one, and you're not doing your cowardly shit right now, so that's either because you think these two did something wrong or you hate them," He replied, his other hand reached his talkie. "It's hard to get you to hate something,"
"Officers, I think there may have been some misunderstandings,"
"Ma'am, don't come any closer."
"Please sir, let me explain-"
"Lily explained everything, you both put your hands up."
"Lori didn't do anything Art, don't hurt her, she wasn't there when he beat her up."
"You don't know that, she might've planned this with him."
"Officer, I did this alone. Leave her out of this." Lincoln said. "I got angry and I let my frustrations out on her, cuff me. I didn't want to hurt her. I was just... I was just too stressed."
"I don't care why you did this. You did it to my friend... My girlfriend."
"She did find love after Sam left huh," Lincoln smiled, as the other cop cuffed his hands behind his back. "Tell Luna, I'm sorry," Lincoln told Lori. "Please, testify." He continued. "Tell Jordan, I'm sorry too. I messed up big time."
As the cop took Lincoln away, Lori sat there. She had her phone on her the entire time. Telling her family about what happened. Luan and Mom was at the airport. Their flight is in an hour. In 16 hours they'll arrive in Portland. Art sat there, he didn't say anything. He just sat there. Staring at the wall as if something was snuffed out in his mind. Lily stood in front of the door. Staring at the handle. Staring at what fate lied for Luna. She kept thinking, maybe her meeting Luna again was a mistake, "If I didn't find her, she wouldn't have become like this. She would've been alive and not edging towards death." That's what she thought to herself. That's what playing on repeat in her mind. On loop like a broken cassette. Stuck in a perpetual motion machine of torture. Is it going to end like this?
Is this how the story ends? With a bad ending and a damaged al coda. There is no harmony in this symphony. Is God a cruelite who exerts pain to make them know their place? Or are we just unlucky enough to be in his way? I looked at my hands. What have I done? Luna was a broken person, and the moment she found me she tried to glue herself back together. And she succeed. She managed to do that, and this is what happened to those that tried to change their fate?