Fearful Renegade

Seventeen

February 9th 2011

AJ turned his head as his eyes opened and he looked at the empty pillow beside him.  Slowly he sat up as the sheet fell down his bare chest and he rubbed his eyes waking up a little more.  He yawned and looked over at the alarm clock by Siannah’s nightstand.  It was one in the afternoon.  Pulling the blankets off he put on his boxers and his jeans and proceeded to leave the bedroom.  When he opened the door he was immediately hit with the strong aroma of bacon and eggs.

“Mmm” He sighed with a smile and then headed down the hall.  With a slight skip he walked down the stairs.  He hit the hallway and walked towards the kitchen.  When he reached the source of the aroma he smiled.  Siannah dressed for the day was putting bacon onto a pan as the toaster popped out some toast.

“Hungry?” He asked as he walked over to her.

“Yes and if I am lord knows you are” She replied with a sarcastic smile.

“Haha” AJ replied rolling his eyes as he walked to the fridge. “Have you checked on Dew at all?” He asked as he grabbed the orange juice from the shelf.

“Yes” She said as she sat down and put the plate of toast on the table.  “He’s doing well but he’s been whiny and not eating.”

“Really?” AJ replied as he sat down.  “Is it just cause he’s all groggy?”

“Could be but when we’re done we’ll head over there, maybe you can get him to eat.” She told him as she grabbed the ketchup.

“Ok” AJ replied with a nod and then looked at the food in front of him.  Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, strips and Canadian, home fries and Toast, she had everything laid out.  Not that he minded but it just seemed a little much for the two of them.

“So what are these pins doing for him?” AJ asked as they ate.

“The bone cracked almost right down the middle, so I needed to attach a plate to hold it together while the bone heals.” She told him as she reached for her glass.  “The screws hold the plate in place.”

“How did you put them in?” He asked as she took a sip from her glass.

“The same way they put them into people.” She replied.

“A drill?” He replied a little queasy.

“Normally humans would be put into a sling afterwards but we can’t do that with Dew, so we need to keep him sedated until he can stand on it for a few minutes every few hours and slowly work it back in.”  She said as reached for some toast.

“So why do we have worry about the pins breaking?” He asked.

“Well it’s not so much the pins breaking as the fresh holes for the pins, it will only take them a week or so to heal then the bone on the inside of his shoulder will be strong enough that the pins won’t create a fracture.”

“I get it now” He replied with a nod.  “Are they permanent?”

“Could be we’ll just have to see.” Siannah said with a slight frown.

When they finished they got into Siannah’s truck and headed to the clinic.  There were few people inside.  One lady with a cat, someone with a lab and another person with a small lap dog, and when the door chimed even the animals responded.

“Hi” Sasha said with a smile.

“Hi” Siannah said as she walked up to the desk.  “Can I get Dew’s charts?” She asked.

“Yep” The woman replied she walked over to a filing bin.  “He still hasn’t eaten anything, and Becca and I moved him to the Staff Room, there’s more room in there for him to lie down.”

“Okay” Siannah replied as she opened the folder.  She then turned to AJ.  “Let’s go” He followed her down the hall and walked in behind her into the Staff Room.  His eyes scanned the room and he saw Dew lying in the corner.  When his head didn’t move AJ wondered if he was sleeping.  He walked right over to him and knelt down beside him.  When he did the dog’s head slowly lifted up a little and he let out a sighing whine as he saw AJ.

“Hey buddy” AJ said with a smile as he rubbed behind the dogs ear.  The dog nudged his head around and he knew Dew was happy to see him.

“Here” Siannah said as she handed him a bowl.  AJ took it and looked inside at the dog food.  Reaching in he scooped some up with his pointer and middle finger.  “I have gloves.” Siannah said.  Dew began licking the food off of his fingers.

“I’m good” AJ replied with a light smile and she smiled back.

“His blood pressure looks good, heart rate looks good, his white blood cell count is a little high but that’s normal after surgery.” Siannah said as she sat down in a chair by them.  AJ sat there and made sure Dew at the whole bowl of food.

“Figured it was just him missing you” Siannah said as he walked over to the sink with the bowl.  “I’m going to go check on some of my patients while I’m here.”

“I’ll be here” AJ said as he dried his hands.  He walked back over to Dew as the door to the Staff Room closed behind Siannah.  Sitting down on the ground he crossed his legs and sat on the floor.  “Should have brought your Wubbie” AJ sighed and the dog whined a little as he nudged his head.  “Fine” He replied as he began to rub behind Dew’s ears again.  His eyes drifted over to Dew’s shoulder and he frowned at the gaze and bandages around his chest and shoulder.

“Man Dew I’m so sorry” AJ sighed. 

He sat on the floor of the clinic Staff Room rubbing behind the dogs ears, to afraid to pet anywhere else, not wanting to hurt him.  When the door opened they both looked towards the door and saw Siannah walking in.

“How are things?” AJ asked.

“Good” She replied as she sat down beside him.  Dew shifted his body and nuzzled into Siannah.  “I got a call from Charlie, he wants us to go down to the station.”

“Now?” AJ asked and Siannah nodded.  He frowned at the thought of leaving Dew again.

“We can come back when we’re done.” She told him and he realized she must have read his face.

AJ and Siannah said goodbye to Dew and left the room.  The sound of Dew whining not wanting AJ to go broke his heart.  “He’ll be fine” Siannah said as she took his hand.

“I know” He replied with a light smile.

They went to the Parksville station and met with Charlie.  AJ noticed how small the station seemed.  It was definitely smaller than the one in California.  As he looked around the building he wondered where the cells were.  Only a couple of desk, a few office doors and that were the make-up of the building.

When AJ heard a door open he looked to his left and saw Charlie walk out and then to his surprise so did Detective Snyder.  His face fell in confusion but brushed it off as him needing to be out here to investigate.  The two men walked over to him and Siannah.

“Hello Alex” The Detective said.

“Hello” AJ replied.

“We can talk in this room” Charlie said as he pointed to the room the two had just walked out from.  AJ and Siannah followed the men into the room and sat down at a large plain table.

“We think we may have gotten a lead.” Snyder said as he looked over at AJ.

“Really?” AJ said a little hopeful.

“Do you recognize this?” Snyder asked as he handed him a bag with a gold bracelet.  AJ’s eyes frowned as he took the bag from the Detective.  It did look familiar too him but he’s soon so many pieces of jewelry it was hard to remember where.  “There’s an inscription on the back.”

AJ turned the bracelet in his fingers and looked at the writing on the back.  His heart stopped, his breathing stopped, everything stopped as he stared at the words.  “I-I- don’t understand.”

“Nothing was taken from your house that night Alex, she never reported that bracelet missing and now I can’t locate her.” The Detective told him as AJ sat completely still.

“We found it by the bushes against your house; looks like it got snagged and broke off.” Charlie said but AJ didn’t look at him he kept staring at the name.

“Did you give her that bracelet Alex?” He heard Snyder ask.  “Is that Emily’s bracelet?” 

He could hear Siannah’s head snap around to him.  It couldn’t be, why would it be here.  “Yeah…” AJ spoke quietly as his throat dried up and his stomach knotted.  “Yeah it’s hers.”

“Alright” Snyder said.  “I’m going to go see if the database has updated I will be right back.” Snyder told them.

Snyder stood up from the desk taking the bracelet from AJ and grabbing some folders.  He said goodbye to AJ and Siannah and then walked out of the room.  AJ sat there motionless.  Why didn’t she report it missing?   

“I’ll be right back” He heard Charlie say through the hundred of thoughts flying around in his head.  Then he heard a door close and then he felt something touch his arm.  He knew it was Siannah but he just couldn’t get his brain to function.

“I’m confused” Was all he could spit out.

“It doesn’t mean anything Alex, maybe the stalker took it and the way the two of you broke up she just didn’t want to bother.” Siannah told him.

“No” AJ said shaking his head.  “She loved that bracelet, sh-she…” He could speak as his throat went dry again. 

Just then the door opened and Charlie walked back in.  “Alright Alex I just need you to fill out this form stating that you identified that as Emily’s bracelet and that you were the one who bought it for her.”  Charlie told him as he handed him a piece of paper.

AJ stared at the paper not being able to get his hand to write anything, his whole body was in a state of shock.  “Why would the stalker take it?”

“Who knows, it could be because it was given to Emily from you as a sign of affection and to her if it’s in her possession then the affection transfers to her.” Charlie replied. “People like this make up all kinds of things to convince themselves they are doing the right thing, for love or whatever.”

“Then why can’t you get a hold of her?” AJ asked.

“I don’t know Alex, Snyder just said he couldn’t contact her with the info he had so he’s getting a check on her for any new information.” Charlie told him.  “We can’t jump to conclusions.” AJ looked down at the paper, he stared at it.  Was she okay? Did the stalker hurt her? Where was she? His eyes darted down when he felt something touch his leg.  He looked up at Siannah and she softly smiled at him.  Taking a deep breath he looked back down at the paper and wrote a letter confirming that was the bracelet he bought Emily, and then signed it.

“Please be okay Em” AJ thought as he sat back in the chair and sighed.