Tomorrow may never come

Something New

I gave the sketches I made of the men who held me to the police.

I was made to remember all the details of what they did to me.

I even gave them the name of my sister as she was the last one to know where I'll be.

But my heart felt restless.  I wanted to do something more.  Something is compelling me not to sit still.  It kept on saying something in my head.

Danger.  You are in danger.

I was thankful when the nurse came in with my food.  I was able to stomach something but the feeling that something was going to happen increased tenfold.  Thinking I might be losing it, I hid the syringe of sedatives that the nurse placed near the bed.

Soon, the lights were dimmed.  It was time for the hospital to rest and wait for the next emergency to occur.  I tried to rest my eyes and sleep but the voice kept on bugging me.

Danger.  You are in danger.  Someone is coming.

When I heard something shuffle in the room, followed by an ominous flick of the lock, I knew the voice was really warning me of something.  I tried to recall who would even dare to attack me here at the hospital.  Then, I remembered one of the thugs saying before bashing my ribs with a baseball bat.

That should be the end of it.

My heart accelerated in fear and a new feeling came to me.

Courage

I remember a quote I learned before from a movie.  Courage is not the absence of fear but the knowledge that something is more important than fear.  Right now, I don't want to feel fear that a man might try to kill me tonight to shut me out.  I want to break out of the mold I placed myself in.  Fear can be crippling and I want to be done with it.  I acknowledge that I might not be strong enough to defeat him.  But at least I WANT to try.

I pressed the panic button near my bed to call the nurse in and then tightened my fist on the syringe.  I can feel the man was shuffling slowly towards me, something clicking ominously.  So he has a gun.  I should have felt fear but I was too busy with trying to anticipate the man's movement.  I prayed that it was only one man.  I have only one syringe and if ever there were two assailants, then I thank God for giving me a second life.

The man picked up a pillow beside me.  I tracked his movements with the reflection from the windows which were thankfully opened since I told the nurse that I liked the scenery outside.  When he was near enough, I sat up and immediately plunged the needle on his neck.  Startled, he fell backward, his gun, a silencer, went off on the ceiling breaking the light bulbs as his finger was stuck on the trigger.

I didn't wait for him to stand up.  I scrambled out of the bed and threw myself at the door.  Thankfully, the nurse was there with her spare keys and was wondering why the doors were locked. When she saw the assailant sprawled on the floor, she immediately pulled me out of the room and radioed in the orderlies to tie up the assailant.  She had to check me if I opened my stitches, which thankfully, didn't.  The doctor came soon after and with the efficiency of a police officer, he ordered the others to call the police and prepare a new room for me.

*****

"My goodness, thank God you were okay.  I thought the doctor was joking when he called that one of the suspects tried to kill you last night."  Kyle told me while wheeling me out at the hospital gardens.  I haven't heard anything from my parents or from my criminal sister but I knew that if this is what she intends to keep my mouth shut about what I know, then she had another thing coming.

"I'm sorry you had to take care of me."  I muttered as we stayed near the fountain and watched the people milling about.  He pulled out a chair and sat down next to me.

"Well you had no one else to care for you since we can't seem to find your parents.  Even your sister was not there at your home so I knew you had no one else to lean on."  He replied.

I mulled the situation quietly.  So my beloved sister had decided to turn tail and hide someplace else.  My parents may or may not have heard of what happened to me so they might have worked in some other part of the city.  Well that would be a problem.  I had to find my snake of a sister before she does something else to me or our parents.

Kyle offered a plate of apples.  I started to munch on it as I pondered what I should do next.  This morning, the police arrested the man who entered my room and found out that he was one of the henchmen for a certain loan shark that the police were trying to hunt down.  His fingertips were found on the baseball bat which sealed off what kind of charges I am going to file against him.  The police assumed that when he found out I was still alive, he came to finish me.  

How did they find out I survived though?

When I gave them my statements, the r**e kit and the sketch I did of their faces, they were confident that they will be able to hunt them down one by one.  As for my sister, I hope she hides in some hell hole before the police would find her.

"Do you have a home to go to?  Who will take care of you once you leave the hospital?"

Kyle's questions triggered the fear that I was holding at bay.  I don't want to think about an empty house.  I don't want to hear that my parents have other things to do.  I don't want to stay in some place where my sister used to live in.

But hey, reality check.  I do live in an empty house.  I don't have parents with me and my sister did live with me before all these things had happened.

Suck it up, girl.  It's not as if the house will eat you.

"Yes.  I have to go home and check everything to see if there are things that were moved without my notice.  I think I can take care of myself, thank you for your concern, Kyle."

"Uh okay."  Kyle scratched his neck and blushed.  "Well if it's alright with you, can I visit you at home?"

I looked at Kyle and gave a soft smile.

"I owe you my life so it would be an honor to see you."