In the Stillness(45)

“No kidding, ugh, let’s get inside and buy enough greens to cleanse our auras along with our bodies.”

Once inside, Tosha tells me she has to place an order at the bakery. As she weaves through the crowded market, I head to the aisles and peacefully wander, placing items at random in my basket. I reach the frozen foods section and catch a glimpse of my reflection in the glass door. I look tired; the kind of tired that comes from deep inside. The kind of tired I’ve only felt once before.

*

I felt the splitting headache a few seconds before I peeled my eyes open.

“Hey,” Tosha whispered as she put her hand over mine.

“What the hell?” I turned to face her, squinting to try to keep my eyes in my head.

She kept her voice library-quiet. “You’re okay. You’re at the hospital.”

“What happened?” I asked, squeezing my eyes shut a few times, trying to pull a memory into focus.

“You don’t remember?” She handed me a cup of water and I lifted my head and sipped a bit from the straw while I tried to find my voice.

“I remember going downstairs with you, going back up to get my debit card . . .” I could hear the beeps measuring my pulse’s crescendo as a flood of images burst through the protective dam in my brain. “Oh . . . shit. Ryker . . .”

She nodded. “He pushed you, Nat. Down the stairs.”

I scrunched up my face at her. “No, he didn’t. I slipped—”

“Natalie, you don’t have to protect him anymore.”

“I’m not, Tosh. He told me he swallowed a bottle of Oxycontin, and then he started to get aggressive, but I ran. He grabbed me on the stairs and I pulled away too hard and fell backward . . . shit, has anyone called my parents?”

She looked like she sucked on a lemon. “Since it happened at school, they handled the phone call.”

“Great.” I let my head land back on the pillow. I knew they were going to be so pissed.

Before Tosha and I could sort out any more events, a nurse came in. After she took my vitals, she informed me that two police officers were waiting to talk to me about what happened. I asked Tosh to wait outside so I could speak to them alone.

A tall and lean Amherst police officer walked in. “Ms. Collins? I’m Officer Fox. My partner here is Officer Jackson.” He motioned to the slightly shorter woman to his side. “We’d like to ask you about what happened tonight.”

I nodded. “First, I’m really sorry about pulling that fire alarm. All the commotion it must have caused—”

“No,” Officer Jackson cut in with a smile, “that was an incredibly smart thing to do. You did the right thing.”

I spent the next several minutes piecing together what I could remember—which was most of it by the end of our discussion—and they took careful notes.

“So, you’re saying you “slipped” from Mr. Manning’s hold?” Officer Fox used air-quotes, and that annoyed me.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying, that’s what happened.” Officer Jackson’s eyes softened into something that looked like pity as I spoke.

Fox spoke up again. “Despite Mr. Manning’s violent history with you, you’re sure he didn’t push you?”

“First of all,” I sat up a little straighter, “I’m sure. Second of all, what violent history?”

Officer Jackson sat in the chair next to my bed. “Isn’t it true that Ryker pushed you outside of his house just a few days ago?”

I let out a frustrated sigh and told them the events behind that night.

“Thank you, Ms. Collins. You should get some rest. We’ll come see you tomorrow to talk to you about pressing charges.” Officer Jackson gave me a tight smile as she stood and headed to leave.

“Charges?” I asked, blinking the mess my life had suddenly become into focus.

Officer Fox looked me straight in the eye. “What happened tonight, Ms. Collins, could have been much worse. You’re a lucky young woman. Think about it.”

“Is Ryker okay?” I blurted out without thinking. The officers stared at me like I was on exhibit. “Whatever, look, is his dad here? Bill? If he is, can you send him in?”

Without another word they exited the curtained area, and Bill Manning suddenly appeared. Disheveled as he looked, he managed a smile and gave me a hug before taking the seat next to me.

“Bill, how’s Ryker? Is he okay?”

Tosha entered a second later and stood on the opposite side of my bed.

Bill squeezed my hand. “They had to pump his stomach. He’s sleeping now, and I suspect he’ll be hurting when he wakes up, but he’s going to live.”

Bill and Tosha took a few minutes to fill me in on the details of what happened after I fell. Apparently, as my fellow residents poured into the stairwell for the fire alarm, they found Ryker standing over my body screaming my name.

“When the girls came out and told me what was going on, I ran in after you,” Tosha continued. Her eyes filled with tears. “I met him in the entryway. He was carrying you like an infant. You looked dead, Natalie, and he was screaming for someone to help you.” Bill lowered his head as she spoke. “When the cops and the fire department came, Ryker was screaming orders at them and trying to get into the ambulance with you. They figured out pretty quickly he was messed up, so they called another ambulance and brought him here.”