Insieme Sempre (Together Always)

                 

Insieme Sempre
Together Always

         The glass shattered across the hard, wood floor and the dark, pungent liquid spilled down the legs of the old, beaten table. A small whimper came from a corner of the room, where a fourteen-year-old girl made an attempt at getting as far away as possible  from the drunken old man in the chair. He clumsily stood up and stumbled toward the girl picking her up by her midnight black hair, violently pulling her to her feet, he harshly grabbed her wrist, twisting it in the process.
         
“What the hell did you do, you little b****?” He screamed loudly. The pale girl shook her head vigoursly.
         
“C-chuck please! Stop! You’re drunk!” Akita cried out pitifully between her stifled sobs. He hoisted her into the air only to toss her aside as though she was a piece of garbage. Akita screamed out in agony as she landed on the shards of amber glass. Footsteps sounded down the stairs as Akita thrashed around in the glass. A tall, middle age women, bounded down the stairs, her eyes landed on the drunken, muscular, bearded, gruff, mountain man standing with a slump, staring at the girl on the glass. He wore a smug look on his face, as though to imply that he was proud of something that he had done. A look of shock made its way across the dark haired, woman’s face and she ran to the aide of the girl.

“Akita, baby!” She gently lifted Akita onto the couch and began to remove the pieces of glass, she quickly turned her attention to Chuck. “You monster! What did you do to my baby? You... You... Why are you here?” She pulled the last shard of glass out of Akita’s back. A horrible thought came across Chuck’s mind. It was the girl, the girl. She was turning Jamie against him. He grabbed Jamie by the waist, throwing her over his shoulder. He stormed upstairs and literally threw her into the bedroom.
         
“You stay here. I’ll deal with you later.” He told her gruffly. Jamie fought against Chuck’s grasp but made no difference.
         
“No! You leave Akita alone don’t touch...” Jamie’s sentence was cut off as the large hand made its way across her face. Tears hit Jamie’s eyes and she fell back, not able to say anything more. Chuck slammed the door behind him, pushing the small key into the brass knob.
         
While downstairs alone, Akita made a run for it. The locks on the front door were dead-bolted and a key was needed to get out, so she ran to the ‘safety’ of the basement. Chuck slowly made his way downstairs. The girl must go. Its time. Time to get ride of her for good. Time for the plan to be put into action. He slowly peered into the basement, where the young girl had gone and hidden in, he quietly locked the door to the basement, causing Akita to be imprisoned inside. He unlocked the door locks, and started his rusted out pick-up. He attached a hose to the exhaust pipe and inserted it into to small hole of the basement window, as he took off his red, paid jacket, using it to block off the rest of the window. Akita stared at the fumes that had started to invade the room, she turned her to the side and held back her tears. She pulled out a small photograph, worn from old age, it had to be at least eleven years old now.  She heard her mothers whimpers upstairs, he was an evil little...          
                                               * * *

“Akita! Akita!” The little girl ran around the grounds smiling, “Akita!” The young girl dancing in a circle turned around, her floral dress swarming around her as she fell on the grass.
         
“Daddy!” She stood up quickly and ran into the tall man’s arms. He picked her up and swung her around in the air. “Daddy, play in the sand box with me, please.”  The man set her on the ground and she grabbed his hand leading him to the small sand pit. “You can be the king and I will be the princess.” Akita looked around, her big blue-grey curious, saucer wide eyes dancing as she spotted her mother leaning against the with pole of the deck. “Mommy! Come here, you have to be here too, every king needs a queen!” Jamie laughed, smiling she walked over to the sand pit. Akita ran towards her hands out, she grabbed her mothers hand and put it into her fathers. “There, the happy royalty family. Oh! Wait we need crowns!” The small girl left her family and ran inside, to her ‘Treasure box’, she lifted three crowns form in the box, two larger ones and a smaller one. She closed the top of the box and ran back outside. She handed the crowns to her mother and father who had sat down in the sand box. “Now, we need a castle, mommy, you’re in charge of getting water for that thing around it and daddy you have to fend off the evil dragons and lizards.” The little girl commanded, starting to push the sand into a pail, Jamie walked to the little well that sat in the middle of their large yard, trees lined the grounds and the grass fell in between her toes. Akita’s father ran forward with a plastic shovel yelling random, ‘Hyahs!’ and ‘omphs’. Akita giggled as her mother returned with the water. Akita place all the water in the moat and her uncle lifted her into the air.
           
“Grrrr, the tickle monster has you now!” He yelled as she shrieked and giggled. She was set down and she ran to the other side her uncle close behind.
         
“Daddy! Save me!” She shrieked as she fell on the grass. He stood up and ran towards her Uncle with his plastic shovel.
         
“Be warned, you tried to attack my baby, you shall pay.” He poked him in the stomach with mock seriousness. Uncle Jerry picked up another shovel and fought back.
         
“No, I think you should pay!” He stabbed Robert in the heart and he stumbled around, He fell to the ground and let out one last omph. Akita ran up to him and listened to his heart.
         
“Daddy? Mommy daddy died! What do we do?” She asked on the verge of tears. Robert sat up and picked the girl up in his arms.
         
“No! You can’t get rid of me that easily.” She laughed and hugged him tightly. Jamie walked over and kissed Robert. Akita looked up and made a face.
         
“Ewwww!” Her parents laughed and Akita joined in. Jamie sat next to Robert who held Akita in his lap, and Jerry took the picture. All was good.

         
Chuck pulled out his cell phone and called his buddy, Ted, and Ted came and picked Chuck up. They went out to celebrate Chucks ‘promotion’. But really, he was secretly celebrating the soon to be death of his step-daughter.
         
Akita slowly began to develop a massive headache, along with cases of dizziness every now and then. She began to cough, loudly, the pain shot through her throat and head. She fell over from another case of dizziness. She landed on the floor causing a loud noise to ripple through the house.
         
Jamie heard her daughter’s coughs and she winced. She had to get out of the bedroom, and fast. She stood up and rammed her shoulder into the door. She repeated this step about five times before the door fell to the ground. Jamie bolted down the stair and to the basement door. The door had been locked many times and she had no key. She pounded at the door, tears came to her eyes when she realized she couldn’t get in. She began to smell the fumes that had crept under the door,
         
“Akita! Honey! Are you okay?”  She yelled.
         
Akita looked up at the sound of her mothers voice. Her breath began to shorten, rapid short breaths were all that she could do.  Suddenly Akita couldn’t remember anything. Where was she? Who was pounding on the door? Why were they pounding on the door?
         
Jamie broke down the door and shot down the stairs. Her daughter laid on the ground, unresponsive to what she was saying. Jamie picked her up and held a cloth to her and Akita’s noses. She carried the girl upstairs with great difficulty, almost dropping her cloth. Jamie carried Akita up the steep stairs and to the door. Akita was set softly onto the floor and Jamie rammed into the front door. The exhaust fumes had made their way upstairs and Jamie didn’t know what to do. There was no way she could break down this door, it was too heavy and she was feeling weaker by the second. She looked around for a phone, the only one in the house was encased in plexiglass. She reached for the fire poker and stabbed through the glass,  grabbing the phone that was in side, she dialed, 911. She listened to the phone ring, once, twice...
         
“Hello, what’s your emergency?” The operator had answered and she nearly lost everything.
         
“My daughter has passed out and I can’t get out of the house. Please someone help.” Jamie finished off giving the address and she held Akita in her arms as she awaited help.  Jamie got up and thought for a moment. Oblivious to what she should be doing, like, shutting the basement door, opening a window and getting the girl to fresh air. Jamie and Akita had been locked off of anything that could have possibly helped them in this situation, no T.V., no people around that they knew, no school. Nothing, no friends, they’re locked up in the house, twenty-four/seven. 
         
Chuck’s heart froze as he heard the distant wailing sirens. The bar was only a block or so from his house and he realized, that his place was where they were headed. He sped out of the bar and down the block. He arrived at the house and he put a phony, distraught look on his face. He saw Akita being loaded onto a stretcher and Jamie being tested for something. He ran over to Jamie and shook his head.
         
“Jamie! What happened? Why are the firemen here?” Chuck asked, acting quite oblivious. Jamie glanced slightly towards him but quickly diverted her attention. A tall, tanned, muscular, dark haired, brown eyed firemen walked to Jamie and extended a hand.
         
“Hi, I’m Grant, your daughter is a very beautiful girl. What is her name?” Jamie shook Grant’s hand and smiled.
         
“Her name is Akita.” Grant smiled and nodded.
         
“ Well, she definitely takes after her mother, you both have unbelievable beauty .” Jamie blushed and looked away, slightly embarrassed. Chuck looked at Grant and forced a grin.
         
“That’s what I say every morning when I see her shining face.” Jamie’s face fell as she came back into reality. Grant looked over the two of them and smirked.
         
“Well, you are a very lucky man. Don’t take this lovely lady for granted now.” He smiled and walked away. Chuck looked around and realized that they were left alone.
         
“Jamie? What happened? I left for a few hours and then I come back and everything is so... Chaotic.” He whispered loudly. Jamie shook her head and winced, she had fallen for his act.
         
“I don’t know, but I’m telling you right now, if you don’t leave me and Akita alone, meaning, if you continue to beat us I’m leaving. I mean it.”
         
“No! I promise I’ll change, just don’t leave me. Please.” Chuck whined.  Jamie frowned and agreed.
         
“Fine, but you know what I said. Now I’m going with Akita.” Jamie left Chuck where he was and climbed into the back of the ambulance, with Grant, who was holding Akita’s hand while the paramedic’s ran tests on her. She was rushed to the hospital, still not responding to anyone. Grant held one hand and Jamie held the other one. Chuck was left at the house, to find his own way to the hospital.
         
         
The doctor walked into the waiting room where she found Chuck and Jamie sitting along side, each other. Jamie wore a disturbed look on her face, where as, Chuck wore a bored look. As though he would rather be somewhere else. Dr. Getson smiled softly, as through she was trying to reassure Jamie.
         
“If you don’t mind, I’d like you to come with me to one of our conference rooms. It would be more peaceful and easier to explain your daughter’s situation.”  She told them gently. Jamie nodded unable to bring words to her mouth. Dr. Getson lead them to a room near by and gestured for them to have a seat in front of the desk.  “Now, as you know, your daughter has been declared to be in a coma. She currently, not stabilized, until we have her alleviated, you can visit her. It should just be a few more hours. I know you have been waiting a long time to visit her and when she gets out of ICU, we’ll let you know. From ICU they will move her down to a floor that is specially made for comatose patients.” Jamie nodded in agreement but Chuck seemed to be attempting to do some math.
         
“How much is this going to cost us?” Chuck asked gruffly. Jamie turned her head, appalled by what she had just heard. Dr. Getson was taken back for a few moments, before she answered calmly.
         
“We don’t know for sure, because we don’t know how long Akita will be in the hospital for.” Chuck shook his head, not satisfied with the answer. Dr. Getson lead them back to the waiting room, where she tried to comfort Jamie, who had tears flowing down her cheeks. The door sounded with a familiar ringing as it opened. Grant walked inside with a large bouquet of flowers in his hand. He spotted Jamie sobbing uncontrollably and he rushed to her side. He began to comfort her and Dr. Getson managed to escape from the group as a fifteen year old boy walked into the hospital, frowning. Dr. Getson walked over to him and smiled.
         
“Garet, are you ready for today?” She asked.  It was go to work with your mom day and he was coming to work  with her. He scoffed and said nothing. Instead, he glared at his mother, who just brushed it off as teenage behavior. “You’ll be running rounds for the comatose patients today. All you have to do is go in. See how they’re doing, if they wake, press the attendance button.” The boy shrugged and walked to the comatose area, he had wanted to go to work with his other mom. She was a pilot for hot air balloons and he would have gotten to help with that all day. Not this stupid job. He walked to the back room and washed his hands, he was tired of having to come here every year. He brushed a hand through his sandy blonde hair and looked at all the nurses. This was a girls job, not a guys job. He stood at about 5'5, not exactly superman tall, but not short either. He walked out into the hall where he saw a girl with the prettiest black hair ever, being taken into the comatose section. Garet followed the stretcher from afar and he walked inside the room after the nurses and doctors left. He smiled at the girl but quickly left the room when he heard footsteps out in the hall.
         
The life support machine whirled in action as it kept Akita alive. She was declared in a coma, unresponsive to the world around her. The room had pea-green walls that surrounded Akita, along with a cold tile floor. The curtain that hung near her bed was yellow with little flowers splashed along it. There was a constant beeping coming from the heart monitor that stood beside her bed. Her room was very depressing, because there was no flowers to decorate the hard, wooden, tables and dressers in the corners. It was all because nobody knew her. Nobody.
         
Grant and Jamie walked into the hospital room, Jamie rushed to hold her daughter’s hand and Grant set the bouquet in a vase on one of the tables. He looked at Jamie and smiled softly.
         
“Don’t worry, she’ll be okay. Really. She’s a strong kid from what I hear.” He sat beside Jamie holding her and Akita’s hands. Jamie nodded unable to talk because she was scared she would lose it.
         
Akita felt the warmth upon her hand and she smiled on the inside, her family was there for her. At least the important one. She wished so much that she could reach out to her mother and tell her that she would be okay, just to comfort her. Akita couldn’t respond to her mother verbally or physically but she could hear what was going on around her. Who was the guy she was with? Did she leave Chuck? No that couldn’t be it.
         
A nurse walked into the room and focused her attention on Grant and Jamie.
         
“I’m sorry to tell you this, but, visiting hours are up for the morning, but you can come back later on in the afternoon, after all the rounds have been done.” Jamie looked panicked, she didn’t want to leave.
         
“B-but.. She’s...” Grant wrapped his arm around her shoulders and lead her out of the room quietly.
         
“Its okay, we’ll come back later.” Grant brought her to the family and friends room so she could grab her coat. Chuck watched the two of them go out and he was furious with himself. The girl was bringing them closer together. What if Jamie left him for that, that, fireman? He swore aloud and shook his head. He had to do something.
         
         
Garet walked on his rounds, finally coming to the girls room. His files said her name was Akita. It was a pretty name, he smiled and took a seat next to her.
         
“Hi Akita, I’m Garet. Now I know I must sound pretty stupid talking to a girl that can’t respond to me but, why not. I don’t want to be here and there’s no one else to talk to. My mom’s even making me come for the duration of the week. It’s not fair. I love my mom and all but I would have rather gone to work with my other mom. She runs hot air balloons and that would have been so fun to do. But no, I’m stuck working here. I hate it.
         
“ But honestly, when I saw you, I thought you were so beautiful. So I guess coming here wasn’t a total loss. It feels good to talk to someone who won’t ridicule me for what I’m saying here. I mean you can’t ridicule me, and you won’t judge me on what I say, because you can’t respond.
         
“I do know you can here me though, my mom is the doctor so I tend to hear a lot about comas and so forth. And I didn’t mean to sound awful when I said that thing about you not being able to respond, sorry if that offended you.
         
“Besides its not like we’re going to see each other after all this, you’ll probably go back to your glamorous life and I’ll go back to being made fun of for having two moms and no dads. Why can people be so cruel? Its just not fair. Everyone used to hang out with me and love me before they found out. Why can’t it go back to that? You probably have a ton of friends, unlike me. If I could have my old friends back I would be the happiest person alive, right now, I talk to girls in comas and I have like two other friends. It’s kinda sad actually.” Garet had confided everything in the girl, know that she would awaken and remember everything that he had said. But it didn’t matter to him, he needed someone to talk to.
         
Akita heard the voice in her room and she felt slightly happy. It was another person to talk to, another person to listen to. Wow, one guy sure can talk a lot, two moms? No dads... Hmm, honestly though, he sounds kind of spoiled. At least he has friends, and me, glamorous! HA! Unless you call having your step dad attempt to kill you glamorous..  I want to just laugh in his face. But he does seem like a nice enough guy. Just slightly whinny.  Akita thought to herself. People can be cruel yes, but not everyone is. She heard the boy leave and she was left alone again.

         
Jamie and Chuck were soon informed that the thing keeping their daughter alive was the life support, they had to be very careful about what they did around it because if it was unplugged the girl would probably die. Jamie agreed along with Grant, but Chuck didn’t say anything, he had too many ideas running through his mind. Not one of them was a good one either.
         
Garet had become accustomed to making Akita’s room the last stop on his list. That way he could stop and talk to her for a while, it made him feel better and though he didn’t know it. It made Akita feel better as well. She felt she always had a friend around, an actual friend.
         
After the visiting hours were up one day, Chuck made his way into Akita’s room, he was quiet but not too quiet. He walked around the bed, not sure exactly what he was doing.
         
“How do you unplug this thing? The girl has to die. She’s no good she has to go.” Chuck thought aloud to himself not realizing that Akita could hear him, it was him all along, why didn’t she think of it sooner, he had used the fumes to intoxicate her. How could she be so blind. He continued to walk around the room and Akita wished she could scream out. Please, someone! Help! Help me! Chuck had blocked out everything around him, because, yes of course, he was dunk again. Akita heard the footsteps sounding along the hallway and she realized that someone was coming. They could help her. Chuck stood up and grabbed a pair of scissors, and he walked over to the wire on the life support ready to cut it. As though Garet had read Akita’s mind, he walked into the room at that very second.
         
“What are you doing? Put that down!” He ran to Chuck and wrestled the scissors out of his hands. He hit the attendance button in the process calling for help. Chuck threw the boy across the room and ran towards him for the scissors. The door swung open and Dr. Getson, Jamie and Grant all stood in the doorway, watching Chuck try and wrestle the boy for the scissors.
         
“Chuck! What are you doing?” Jamie yelled loudly. She didn’t know what had happened. Her baby girl was in danger.
         
“That boy there, was trying to cut the wire I had to take the scissors from him.” Chuck told her bluntly. Garet shook his head and attempted to protest.
         
“No... I-I...” Jamie looked at the boy and shook her head.
         
“How could you?” Dr. Getson looked appalled at his action. She pulled him out of the room and sent him to the waiting room.
         
“I’m sorry, he’s normally not bad but I..” Dr. Getson was cut off as Jamie gasped loudly. Akita’s eyes fluttered open, and she attempted to speak out.
         
“It wasn’t Garet, it was Chuck, he was going to kill me. He hates me. He always has. But I couldn’t see it.” Jamie looked at Chuck and shook her head.
         
“How could you? We are over, I never want to see you again in my life. Good riddance.” Jamie stormed out of the room holding Grant’s hand and Akita smiled.
         
“By the way I think you were over for a while.” Chuck stormed out of the room and Garet returned. “Hi, you must be Garet. I’m Akita.” He smiled and sat next to her. They talked for hours and eventually, Akita confided in him, her entire life story.

         
A few months later Grant had proposed to Jamie, and she had accepted. They married the following year and Akita was a bridesmaid and Garet was one of the ushers. Chuck was sentenced to life in prison for attempted murder on the same person twice. Akita and Garet stayed friends for a long time and they soon became close as peanut butter and jelly. Akita adopted Grant as her father and finally came to realize what family was supposed to mean, and what it now meant to her.



          

The End