Asher groans, a cracked and horribly beautiful sound. “It’s okay. You’re okay. Just hang on. We’re going to get you help.” His eyes crack open, revealing the tiniest slivers of hazel surrounded by blood red. “That’s good. Keep your eyes open for me.” He is showing no signs of life other than his eyes being open, and his shallow breathing. I’m fucking terrified.
“Help is coming, okay? You just need to hang on for me. You can do it. We’re going to make sure you’re okay. Just please hang on. I’ve got you, Asher. Okay? I’m not leaving you.”
He makes another wounded noise which has got to be a good sign. I smooth his tangled hair away from his face, mindful to not disturb any of the wounds on his head. My hands shake, but it doesn’t stop me from trying to show him some kindness in his worst moments. He clearly hasn’t had nearly enough of that in the last few years.
I turn, looking for anyone. Chase is nearest. “You guys called an ambulance, right?” It’s only when my voice breaks that I notice the tears streaming freely down my face.
“Yeah. Brady is on with them now. Just try and keep him awake and still until they get here.” His ashen complexion aside, he’s doing a decent job pretending this isn’t the most disturbing thing he’s ever witnessed.
With my full attention back on the boy who had been chained to a bed for who knows how long, I keep my ears peeled for the sound of approaching sirens. I find his lips moving with no sound coming out. “It’s okay, don’t try to talk. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. Your grandma is going to be so happy to see you again, Ash. I bet someone is gonna call her any minute. You just have to hang on. Stay awake. You can do it.”
I’ll say anything to keep him here, barely conscious and breathing instead of allowing him to fall back into the darkness. By my thigh, his fingers twitch. I have no idea what he wants or needs right now, but I lace our fingers together and give them a gentle squeeze. “I’m right here, Ash. No one is going to hurt you again. You’re safe. He’s gone, sweet boy, and he’s never going to touch you again. You’re safe. Just hang on. Please.”
A lifetime and an eternity passes in those minutes. Hot, wet tears leak from my eyes and land on his skeletal body as I plead and plead for him to stay with me. No one comes in between us, and honestly, I wouldn’t let them. I’m not leaving him for anything. Not until I know he’s going to be okay and maybe not even then. “You hear that?” I say around a sob. “They’re coming, and they’re going to take you far, far away from here. Somewhere safe and warm where nothing bad can happen. It’s not going to hurt anymore. I promise.”
The sirens get louder and louder until they’re right outside, all the while I promise Asher that he’s going to live. I have no right to make promises like that to anyone, but I refuse to believe anything else. Before I know it, people are rushing into the room and I’m getting pushed to the side. “Please don’t hurt him,” I beg. “He’s had too much pain already. He can’t take anymore.”
An EMT with warm eyes offers me a reassuring smile. “We’ll be very careful. You did the right thing, kid.”
I did the right thing. I must repeat it to myself a hundred times. “He doesn’t have anyone else. Can I go with him?”
She nods. “Better make it fast. We’re loading him up.”
They lift him, carefully as promised, to transfer him to the stretcher. It looks too big for this tiny room. My hand flies to cover my mouth when I see the raw wounds over his back. The suffering he’s been enduring…
They really do make an effort to make this as painless as possible for him, which I greatly appreciate. They talk to him in low, soothing tones. I just hope he’s not scared. When they roll him out, I follow hot on their heels. In the living room, I find Chase, Blake, and Brady talking to a couple of police officers. “I’m going with Asher.”
Everyone turns their heads to look at me. It’s not like I was asking for permission, but when Chase nods in understanding, a weight lifts off my chest. “We’ll go to the hospital as soon as we can, sweetheart. Just keep your phone on you.”
I love you, I mouth silently.
He says it back just in time for me to rush after the paramedics. The lady that agreed to let me come helps me climb in the back. She bangs on the wall after closing the doors behind her. “Let’s go.”
About fucking time. On our way to the hospital, I get asked about a dozen questions about Asher, and I only know some of the answers. Because it seems important. “He’s a missing person. Someone needs to call his family and tell them he’s alive. They don’t know.”
There’s an oxygen mask over his face, and the steady beeping from the heart rate monitor is too slow, but he’s not flatlining. They shine lights in his eyes, ask him to squeeze their hands, and when it’s clear that his responses are going to remain minimalor nonexistent, settle on continuing to encourage him. “You can hold his hand if you’d like,” the lady, Lisa, according to her nametag, tells me.
I do, and he’s so very cold. There’s a bone-deep ache in my soul and a pounding in my head being aggravated by the fluorescent lights in this damn ambulance, but misery has never felt so much like relief. “I told you you’d be okay. You’re going to get all the help you need and get better. It’s all okay now, Ash.”
“What he said,” the other paramedic echos. “Hang in there, kid. We’re going to take good care of you.”
When we pull up to the emergency room entrance, the ambulance is barely in park before the door opens and the chaos begins all over again. More questions, more loud voices, more demands being asked of Asher’s frail body. I try like hell to stay out of the way while somehow keeping an eye on him.
“Hey, I know you,” someone says from across the room. A woman that I don’t recognize, but somewhere around my age. She’s got a kind smile, though, and that undoes one of the endless knots tied up in my insides. “You were one of my patients a few months ago.” She grabs a blanket from a nearby cart and wraps it around my shoulders.
I didn’t even know I was shivering until they slow to a stop. “I’m sorry,” I mutter. “I don’t really remember much from when I was in the hospital.” Well, except the pure terror and unending pain. That is burned into my brain even to this day.
She fuses over Asher for a minute, checking his vitals and clicking something on the monitor. “It’s okay. I’m Sammi. I was your night nurse for your entire stay. I’m not gonna lie, it’s nice to see you up and around, but I’m not going to say I’m glad to see you again under these circumstances.”
Vaguely, a couple of puzzle pieces fall into place. Thin shreds of memories. “I promise the feeling is mutual.”
Sammi laughs lightly. “We need to get some scans done on your friend, but you can wait here for him if you’d like.”
Anxiety flares its head. “Will you bring him back?”
She doesn’t look at me like a moron which is what I deserve. “Yeah. Right back here, and I’ll give you any updates I can while he’s gone. That work?”
Like I have any choice in the matter. “Thanks. I appreciate it. Hey, do you know if someone has called his grandmother?”
