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Chapter 25

Chapter 25

 

            AJ screeched to a stop under the overhang of The Four Seasons.  “Help Caryss get out of car and meet me up in her suite,” he yelled to Liz and Stacie as he was running into the hotel.  Caryss looked out the car window and saw an ambulance and four police cars with their lights flashing and guests that had meandered out of the hotel to stand outside and watch the excitement. 

 

            Liz, Stacie and Caryss exited the car as fast as they could and made their way up to the 15th floor to Caryss’s suite.  As they came off the elevator they heard commotion and when they walked into the hallway they saw police officers, people with FBI coats on and two men in suites walking in and out of the suite.  As they approached her suite, some uniformed man stopped the ladies.

 

            “You can’t come in here, it’s a crime scene,” one of the officer’s said matter-of-factly as he held his arms out to the side as a means to block the ladies from entering. 

 

            “This is my suite!” Caryss yelled in the officer’s face.  “I know that there has been a shooting, and my boyfriend is in there!”  One of the FBI agents turned around at the words being shouted and when he saw who they were coming from, he placed his hand on the officer’s shoulder and shook his head. 

 

            “She has clearance,” Rick said as he motioned for Caryss to enter the room.  “You two need to stay in the hall though,” he gently told Liz and Stacie.  They nodded their heads in acceptance and watched Caryss hesitantly enter the room, the crutches slowing her down even more.  Rick walked in behind her, ready to explain things to her and help her if she needed. 

 

            What in the hell happened?  This has to be a dream, she said to herself as she entered her suite.  She saw the broken lamp lying on the floor, the over turned chairs and table, and she saw a person in a black coat with “Medical Examiner” and another person in a black coat with “Coroner” written on the back talking to one another.  She stopped for a moment, her good leg feeling weak and her body becoming panic stricken. 

 

            “This way Caryss,” coaxed Rick as he placed his hand on the small of her back and she hobbled forward into the bedroom.  She walked through the doorway and in front of her on the floor was a body covered up with a sheet.  She stumbled forward and her stomach turned, vomit rising up in her throat.  The carpet was blood-soaked and the wall next to the bed was splattered with the red liquid as well. 

 

            “Oh my God, Nick,” she whispered as she stared at the motionless body on the floor. 

 

            “Caryss, that’s not Nick,” said Rick gently as he held onto her tightly so she wouldn’t fall over.  She looked back at him, her face pale and confusion mixed with sorrow filling her eyes.  “It’s Trevor,” he explained.  “He was hiding in the closet waiting for you to get back.  We don’t know he was intending to do, but he had a gun with him.  He came out of the closet and tried to shoot Nick.  They wrestled and the gun went off.”  Caryss inhaled sharply and Rick placed his hand on hers softly.  “He can’t hurt you anymore now,” he whispered to her as tears welled in her eyes. 

 

            “Caryss?” a voice said quietly from behind her.  She hopped around on her crutches and came face to face with the man who broke her heart. 

 

            “Nick, oh my God, are you okay?” she cried, wanting so badly to be wrapped in his arms.  He gingerly walked up to her, unsure of whether or not to embrace her.  He wanted to, so much, but figured she didn’t want him to touch her. 

 

            “I’m okay,” he said softly, looking down at his feet.  I’m so sorry Caryss; I never meant to hurt you.  Please just let me hold you and you can hold me and we’ll get through this together.  He wanted to shout that to her, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. 

 

            “Good,” she said quietly.  I don’t know what Trevor would have done to me if you hadn’t stopped him first.  I love you so much and I should be in your arms right now, we should be comforting each other but instead you hurt me and now we are apart!  She wanted to scream her thoughts at him, but instead she said, “Thank you Nick,” and hopped as fast as she could away from him. 

 

            “Caryss wait!” he yelled after her.  She didn’t stop until she was in the hallway.  Liz and Stacie ran up to her and she fell forward into Stacie’s arms and cried hysterically. 

 

            “Honey, what happened?” asked Stacie softly as Liz looked on with worried eyes. 

 

            “I love him so much and he saved my life and I can’t even be with him because my heart hurts too much,” she stammered in between sobs.  “Why did he do it?  Why would he hurt me like that?”  She sobbed harder, unable to control her breathing or her emotions.  Stacie and Liz looked at each other, still unaware of what went down in the suite with Nick or with Trevor. 

 

            “Stacie, take my car and take Caryss to my place,” said AJ, walking up behind them after hearing their short conversation.  “She doesn’t need anymore of this right now.”  He handed his keys to Stacie and started to walk into the suite, but Liz stopped him. 

 

            “What is going on?  No one has told us anything and Caryss isn’t making any sense.”

 

            “Trevor is dead.  He was hiding in the suite waiting for Caryss and when Nick walked in instead of her, they fought and the gun went off.  Nick tried to help him but it was too late.” 

 

            “Did he come here to shoot Caryss?” Liz asked, horrified by what she had just been told. 

 

            “We don’t know what he was planning to do,” sighed AJ, and then he turned and walked away. 

 

            “I’m coming with you two,” called Liz down the hall towards Stacie and Caryss.  The three ladies exited the hotel and drove to AJ’s house.  Caryss flopped down on the couch once they were inside.  Wanting to forget about everything that happened today, she poured two pain pills out of the bottle and swallowed them without water.  She closed ear eyes and went to sleep, no dreams coming over her and no nightmares disturbing her. 

 

            “What do we do now?” asked Stacie as Liz covered Caryss up with a blanket and plopped down in the chair next to the couch. 

 

            “I guess we wait,” answered Liz with a sigh.  Stacie sat down in the chair on the other side of the couch and grabbed the remote for the television off the table.  “How did all this happen?” Liz asked before Stacie could turn the TV on.  Stacie sighed, set the remote back on the table and turned her body so she was facing Liz. 

 

            “I don’t know Lizzie.  None of us ever expected this to happen and I don’t know what it’s going to do to us now that it has.”

 

            “I don’t know either,” mumbled Liz as she rested her head against the back of the chair and curled her legs up close against her body.  Within minutes she was asleep, physically exhausted and emotionally drained from the day’s events.  Stacie turned on the television and a few minutes later she too had fallen asleep.  She was awoken an hour later when her cell phone rang. 

 

            “Stacie, its Laurie, where are you?”

 

            “We are at AJ’s house,” she said groggily, wiping the sleep from her eyes. 

 

            “How is Caryss?  AJ called me and told me everything that happened after I left the library.”  Stacie and Laurie talked for twenty minutes, rehashing all the sordid details. 

 

            “I have to go, I need to go to the police station and give a statement.  They are still trying to catch the guy that was chasing you for the envelope,” said Laurie with a sigh.  “I’m glad that Trevor can’t hurt anyone anymore.”

 

            “Me too,” admitted Stacie.  They said their goodbyes and Stacie tucked her phone back in her purse just as AJ walked through the door.  Liz woke up at the sound of the door being closed but Caryss did not stir.  It was eight o’clock at night and Liz and Stacie’s stomachs were growling. 

 

            “You read my mind,” exclaimed Liz as she stood up and stretched.  AJ walked into the living room with several McDonald’s bags in hand. 

           

            “I figured you ladies would be hungry and I know I’m starving.  I didn’t know what you liked so I got a variety,” he said with a smile as he sent the bags down on the coffee table.  He looked at the couch and saw Caryss lying there, apparently still asleep. 

 

            “Don’t wake her,” said Liz as she anticipated AJ’s next move.  “She took some pain pills and I think it would just be better for her to rest.”  AJ nodded his head in agreement and the three of them sat down and ate. 

 

            “Where’s Nick?” asked Stacie as she took a bite of her French fry. 

 

            “He said he was going back to his house.  I asked him to come over, but he said something about wanting to be alone and think,” answered AJ with a mouth full of food.  Liz giggled a little, wanting so badly to just have fun and joke around, but with everything that happened today, she didn’t think it would appropriate. 

 

            “How long will it take for everything to feel normal again?” she asked meekly, her vulnerability showing through. 

 

            “I don’t know,” said AJ as he wiped his hands on his pants and scooted closer to Liz.  She leaned into him, and he wrapped his arms around her.  Stacie scooted closer on the other side of Liz and wrapped her arms around her too.  They all knew it would take a while for things to feel okay again.  They were still in shock over what had happened and weren’t anywhere near being over it. 

 

            Caryss watched them through slotted eyes, trying her hardest to keep up the act that she was asleep.  She had brought all the problems to them, unintentionally of course, but it was still because of her that all this started in the first place.  She knew the only way for things to start getting better for herself and for them was to go back to Chicago.  She needed to get away from the pain, from the sadness, from everything that brought her emotion here. 

 

            Tonight, she said to herself.  I am leaving tonight.  She laid there; creating her plan of escape, making sure every detail had been covered so she would not be stopped.  She didn’t know the layout of AJ’s house, so finding a way to sneak out was the only thing posing a problem for her.  She decided the best thing to do was go the bathroom and scout out her options. 

 

            She slowly opened her eyes and sat up on the couch, which caused everyone to look at her. 

 

            “Hey, you’re awake,” said AJ with a smile.  “Are you hungry?”

 

            “Not really, but I do need to use the restroom.” 

 

            “Past the kitchen on the left side,” he told her, something in his gut not feeling right.  She nodded and used her crutches to help her up from the couch as she flipped her purse over her shoulder, a motion that no one besides AJ noticed.  She hobbled into the kitchen and was very pleased when saw her passage out of the house.  There was door just past the kitchen that was completely out of sight from the living room. 

 

            Feeling like it was now or never, she silently unlocked the door and slipped out of it as discreet as she could be using crutches.  She had seen a bus stop a few blocks down when they were driving here, and she knew if she could make it that far, she would be okay. 

 

            “She’s been in there for almost five minutes, maybe I should go check on her,” said Stacie as she looked at her watch.  All three exchanged anxious glances and quickly stood up from the floor. 

 

            “I knew it!” yelled AJ as they walked into the kitchen and saw the partially open door.  “I had a feeling she was going to do something stupid and I was fucking right!”  He fished his car keys out of his pocket and ran out the door to his car. 

 

            He drove down the street, his eyes glued to the sidewalks, looking for any sign of her.  He rolled to a stop at the stop light just before the bus stop and almost pulled out into the intersection when he saw Caryss getting onto the bus.  He jumped out of his car and called out to her.  She stopped and looked out the front window of the bus at him.  She raised her hand slightly as if doing a partial wave good bye, then the bus pulled away and she was gone from his life as quickly as she had come into it.