* * * Chapter 12 * * *
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Liz ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~
I smiled as we walked down the walkway through the park on the bright sunny day. The flowers were in bloom and the trees provided shade on the nice cobblestone path. Every once in a while someone would rollerblade or bike past us, but we weren’t bothered one bit. We were too far into our own little world to let anyone or anything pull us out of it. Birds were chirping happily in the leafy treetops and every so often one could hear the faint squeak of baby chicks from the nests of the proud parents. We stopped and watched a happy mother teaching her small toddler how to walk across the freshly cut green grass.
‘I’d like to have children some day...’ I trailed off as the toddler took a few steps towards her daddy kneeling a few feet away.
‘Yeah. Me too’ AJ added with a smile.
We continued walking towards the pond in the middle of the park that was occupied by ducks and even a few swans here and there. I snapped my gaze at the handsome man next to me when I heard screaming and a gunshot echoing in the stillness of the park. People started running towards us...running in the opposite direction of where the shot was coming from. Just when we were about to turn and run with them, a man wearing black yelled out to us, pointing a gun in our direction.
‘Don’t move or I’ll blow your brains out’ the man yelled at the two of us as he slowly walked towards us.
AJ tightened his grip on my hand as we stood there motionless. The man cocked the gun to let us know that he wasn’t kidding as he continued nearer.
‘I want you to run’ AJ whispered to me.
‘NO! I won’t go without you’ I answered in the same quiet voice.
‘NOW!’ he instructed as he gave my hand one last squeeze and then pushed me behind him so I could run.
I ran for a few seconds, but came to a halt when I heard a gunshot. It seemed like things were happening in slow motion as I turned my head back and saw AJ falling to the ground with blood covering his once white shirt.
‘NNNNNOOOOO!’ I screamed as I turned back around and ran towards where he was laying on the red stone path.
I knelt down beside him on the ground and cradled his head in my arms. He opened his eyes for a split second, but couldn’t say anything before his body went limp right there in my arms. The wound in his chest oozed blood all over my clothes as I pulled his body closer to mine.
‘No...no...’ I whined over and over again as I held him.
Rage built up inside me as I realized that he was gone...for good. I set his body down before I stood up with anger showing in my eyes. The anger took over my senses as I started running to where the man was standing and laughing evilly. When he saw me coming towards him, he raised the gun again. I didn’t care. I’d rather die than go on living without AJ by my side. The world around me began spinning as a bullet hit me in the leg...and then another in the shoulder. I fell to the ground in pain before the final bullet hit me.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ AJ ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~
My eyes bolted open when I heard Liz screaming as she covered her face with her hands. I didn’t have time to react before she climbed over me and stumbled out of the bunk. Her body shook with each sob that escaped her mouth as she looked around the bus with a panicked look in her eyes. At first it looked like she was heading for the bathroom, but then she turned around and ran to the front of the bus where Jeff was driving.
"Pull over for a minute please," she cried as tears fell down her face.
Jeff told the other busses to pull off on the shoulder over the radios that they used to keep in touch before he pulled off the side of the road with the other busses behind us. He opened the door and watched with a confused expression as Liz ran down the steps and started running up the side of the road.
"Where’d she go?" I asked as I ran up to Jeff after I slid my shoes back on.
He pointed to her retreating figure out the windshield so I ran down the stairs and followed her. She ran down the road with all her energy as if she was trying to escape something that was obviously bothering her. After following her for a few minutes, she stopped and collapsed to the ground as she let all of her emotions out. She was bawling when I finally ran up to her out of breath and crouched down next to her. When she didn’t look up to see that I was there, I reached out and pulled her shaking body into my arms. She buried her face into my chest and sobbed as I tried to comfort her.
"Ssshhhh," I told her until she finally calmed down. "It’s ok."
She pulled away a little and looked at me with teary eyes.
"No, it’s not ok," she said in a shaky voice as she let me go and stood up.
Meg, Arti, and Tina were all running towards where we were and I watched with confusion as Liz walked away. I stood up and saw Meg wrap her arms around Liz as the three of them led her back to their bus. I watched with worried eyes as I walked back to where the busses were parked. Instead of going into our bus, I walked onto M. E.’s bus and ignored the protests of Jane, mom, Meg, and Arti as I walked past them to the bunk area. The door was shut but not locked so I opened it and walked in, noticing that it was empty. I shut it behind me and then continued walking towards the door leading to the back room. It was locked so I knocked on the door and waited for an answer.
"Yes...I need to talk to him anyway," I heard Liz’s voice through the door.
"Fine...but if you need anything, we’ll be up front," Tina replied as she unlocked the door handle.
She gave me an emotionless stare as she walked past me towards the front of the bus.
"Tell Harry that we can go now," I called out to her before she walked through the door to the kitchenette.
I turned my attention back to the door that was now open and saw Liz sitting on the couch with her knees pulled up to her chest and a blanket was wrapped around her shoulders. Her eyes were red and she looked sad as she set her chin down on her knees. After I shut the door behind me, I didn’t know what to say so I just walked over and sat down next to her. She was quiet for a few seconds before she turned her head a little and looked at me.
"I had another one...but this one was worse than the others..." she said softly as tears formed in the corners of her eyes. "I dreamt that we, you and I, were walking through a park on a beautiful day...and then...and then..."
She couldn’t finish her sentence so I wrapped my arms around her in a comforting hug. When she was ready, she continued.
"You...you got...you got shot...and then I got shot too..."
She lowered her head again and let the tears fall down her cheeks. I stroked her hair as she let all her frustrations fall along with her tears.
"The other ones...I never actually got hurt...but everyone else did...I had one that night in my apartment when you left that note by my computer..."
She looked up at me with her red eyes.
"We were in an alley and these men came out of nowhere and started shooting us...except they missed me so I ran into a building and ended up on the roof. I stepped onto the ledge and when I looked over, I could see everyone’s bodies...covered in blood," she said before she looked away. "Then I got shot and fell off the edge but I kept falling and falling until I woke up."
"I’m sorry...you shouldn’t be telling me this..." I said with sadness welling up in my heart.
"No. I needed to tell someone or else they’ll never go away," she whispered before she turned her face back to look at me. "I don’t think I can handle them anymore."
She leaned into me and put her head against my shoulder as we sat there in silence for a while.
"Liz?"
"Hmmm."
"I just want you to know how much I love you," I whispered to her. "We’ll get through this together."
"Thanks," she replied as she put her arms around me.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Nick ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~
My eyes wandered over the various pictures that I had put up in the top of bunk and every time I did, they’d stop on the picture of Liz and I. I guess it’s finally setting in that she’s happy with AJ, but at least I knew I was still her friend...and that’s all I can ask of her right now. I rolled over and closed my eyes, but the picture was burned into my memory so I kept seeing it in the back of my mind even after I’d stopped looking at it.
"Nick?" Bri called out.
"Yeah...I’m in here," I replied without moving.
"Come on bro," he said as he pulled back my curtain. "The game’s on."
I rolled out of my bunk and followed Bri to the back room where a basketball game was already underway on the TV. I sat down on the couch, but the game was the last thing that I had on my mind.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Liz ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~
"I’m ok now," I said after a little while of sitting in the ‘Bored’ room (that’s what the girl’s called the entertainment room) with AJ by my side.
"You sure?" he asked with concern written all over his face.
"Yeah," I replied as I rubbed his cheek with the palm of my hand. "Thanks for being here to talk."
"You’re welcome," he said with a smile. "Besides, you didn’t think I’d leave you alone to talk to those crazy loons out there did ya?"
I laughed at his lame attempt at a joke before I stood up and flipped the stereo on. Britney Spears was playing on the fuzzy radio station so I quickly changed it to the CD instead of the radio. I flipped the selection to disc number 4...Mandy Moore...and skipped through the shuffling tracks until it was on song number 8. When the music started playing, I opened the door and walked out to the bathroom. After I was done and I went back into the ‘Bored’ room, I laughed out loud when I saw Meg doing a little dance as she sang with the music. I decided to join her in all the fun. AJ just sat back and watched with a silly grin on his face.
"I see the sadness in your eyes. Don’t you get lonely for me sometimes? Lonely for the love that we had. I’ll be waiting when that day comes...you need somebody won’t you let me be the one? Come to me...Put yourself in my hands..." we both sang happily.
I grabbed AJ’s hand and pulled him off the couch so that he had no choice but to join in on our little dancing session. I put my hand on his arm just below his shoulder and danced with him. Meg giggled as she grabbed Howie from where he was observing our silly behavior so he was dancing too. ‘He must’ve joined us when we pulled over before’ I thought to myself as I watched Meg and Curly over AJ’s shoulder.
"Let me be the one!" Meg and I happily sang the last line before we both broke down into a fit of laughter.
AJ and Curly gave each other silly looks that just made us laugh even more. When ‘Walk Me Home’ started playing, AJ grabbed my hand and pulled me into his arms. I put my hands around his neck as we started to slowly sway to the music. When AJ’s back was to them, I looked over his shoulder and saw Meg and Curly totally making out.
"Eeeeewwww! Get a room!" I called out before I leaned my head on AJ’s shoulder.
"Déjà vu..." Meg called out with a little laugh. "Remind you of anytime?"
I laughed as I remembered the last time I’d told both of them that. "Yeah..."
AJ gave me a confused look with a small smile.
"Trust me...you don’t wanna know," I whispered to him as we danced.
He nodded as he slipped his arms around my back and pulled me closer. I softly sang the words as he rubbed his hands up and down my back a little.
"I hold your picture next to my heart all the time. You’re my dream come true, so glad you’re mine. And I wondered how it would be if I was your lady and you were my friend. I would put my heart in your hands, and it would never end. Baby would you walk me home? I don’t wanna go all the way alone. Baby would you take my hand? Come with me now to a special land. Baby would you walk with me home?"
We didn’t even notice that Curly and Meg had left and shut the door behind them until after the song ended and we stopped dancing, but stayed in each other’s arms. He leaned his head forward and gave me a little kiss on the lips before he pulled back and looked at me. I gave him smile and then pulled away before I dragged him to the door. We walked into the kitchenette where everyone else was hanging out (minus Tina and Jane ~ they were in their bunks) and playing games. The air smelled yummy and I leaned over to check the display on the bread-maker machine that Meg and I had bought to bring along. I had started making a loaf of bread before I ‘hopped’ busses and it smelled good since I was a little hungry.
"No fair! You ladies get fresh baked bread whenever you want it?" AJ asked in a whiny voice.
"Yeah," Meg and I said as we shrugged our shoulder like it was no big deal.
"You gonna make a loaf for us?" Curly asked with a cheesy smile that made both Meg and I laugh.
"Only if we feel like it...and maybe flowers and cute little poems and stuff like that will help propel us in the right direction...maybe," Meg teased with a wink.
"Uh huh...sure..." AJ said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. "Mommy’ll make me some."
I watched him sit down on the small couch next to Denise.
"Will not," Denise replied with a look that said ‘Did I just hear my son say that I’ll do something for him when he’s fully capable to do it himself?’.
"Fine...then my girlfriend will," he said with extra emphasis on the ‘girlfriend’ part.
I laughed at how silly he was being. He grabbed my hand, pulled me over to where he was sitting, and then pulled me onto his lap with a smile.
"Won’tcha?" he asked me with one of his cute ‘puppy dog’ faces.
"Psh! That face isn’t going to work this time!" I replied with a smile.
"Ok..." he trailed off before he gave me a little kiss on the lips right in front of everyone. "How ‘bout now?"
"Nice try," I told him with a sly smile. "But NO."
Meg laughed along with Denise.
"Guess we’ll just have to convince them the old fashioned way Bone," Curly said with a shrug.
"You do that!" I told them with an insidious face.
