Chapter 8 #2
There was something about the body, and I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off of it. Which was weird, because I saw dead people all the time at work. Bodies never bothered me.
“Hellbound?” Toby’s voice asked.
“Very gray. Smells like drugs. Might have been on the way, but wasn’t there yet,” Dexter answered.
“He must’ve been fighting with the other guy. But how the hell did Sebbie get here?” Toby asked.
“Dunno,” Dexter answered.
“Well, we gotta call 911. We need an ambulance for the injured guy,” Toby said.
The man would live. I wasn’t sure how I knew that, but I did.
“Fucking hate involving the police,” Dexter muttered.
“Yeah, but Sebbie didn’t kill anyone. We weren’t involved. He just… ended up here. Or something. Isn’t that right, Sebbie?” Toby asked, kneeling in front of me again.
I blinked my eyes, trying to focus on him. I felt… funny. A little disconnected, a little out of myself.
“I think I have low blood sugar,” I said. “Or maybe I’m going into shock. I don’t feel right.”
“Shit,” Dexter said, and then he was on the phone, stepping out the front door of the house.
“Seb, what happened?” Toby asked again.
I blinked a few more times. Looking at Toby helped. He was my friend. We’d known each other for ages. This would all probably end up in a book, although Toby would surely put some weird supernatural twist on it all. But it was just bad luck, really. That had to be it.
I took a deep breath, trying to gather my thoughts. “I heard a noise. It sounded like someone was in pain. I followed the noise and ended up here.”
“Okay. So you were walking by and you heard a noise and came to investigate. The older man looks like you checked him out or cared for him or whatever. That makes sense. That’s fine,” Toby said, still staring into my eyes. “But Seb, how did you get here to the house?”
“I walked,” I answered. “I heard a noise.”
Dexter walked back in, and he knelt down in front of me, too. “Listen, Sebbie. You were out taking a walk and getting some fresh air, and then when you were in front of the house you heard the noise, okay?”
“But I heard it from the shop. That’s why I left,” I answered.
Toby’s eyebrows went up, and he opened his mouth, but no words came out.
“Okay, but when they ask you, you just say you heard it from the sidewalk, alright?” Dexter asked.
The crow cawed again from outside, and I turned my attention to the window. She was sitting on a branch, staring in, and she fluffed her feathers at me. I swear she even bobbed her head up and down. I don’t know when I decided the crow was a she, but it just felt right to think of her as female.
I looked back at Dexter. “Okay,” I said.
He seemed to visibly relax, and then I could hear sirens outside.
“Showtime,” Dexter said, which seemed a weird thing to say.
I didn’t have time to ask, because Dexter got up to go out and meet the police officers and EMTs, and everything was a little chaotic after that.
They came in and took the injured guy off on one stretcher, and they moved Toby and I out of the house pretty quickly.
I was checked out by the EMTs, but I let them know I was a nurse and was just feeling a little shaken up.
They put me on some oxygen and wanted to start an IV for fluids, but I insisted I would be okay.
It was just adrenaline and low blood sugar, and I would eat right after this and rest. I got to have some oral glucose, which was so sweet it made my teeth hurt, but I was starting to feel more like myself.
The cops came over next, and I told them exactly what Dexter had said to tell them. It wasn’t that far off from the truth. When they asked whether I walked in while the “altercation” was still in progress, I could only say I wasn’t sure.
“It’s all kind of a blur,” I told the officer.
“Which is super weird, because I’m used to dealing with crisis situations.
I’m a nurse. I know sometimes people don’t remember things after traumatic events, but I’ve dealt with far worse medical emergencies.
I didn’t feel so great when I was walking, though, so maybe I was already suffering from low blood sugar.
Everything was sort of muffled and hazy. ”
The police officer was writing stuff down, and he asked me where I worked, where I lived, and a few more questions, but I really couldn’t tell him much.
“Well, you did a good deed today, son,” he said, closing his notepad.
“Who knows what would have happened if someone hadn’t heard a noise and checked on things.
Nothing could be done for the son, although I’m sure you tried, but with the father unconscious, I’m not sure if help would have gotten to him or not. ”
“Thanks, officer.” I knew I should have tried to say more or asked questions, but I was just too tired.
“We’ll be in touch if we have any other questions,” he said, then he walked off, leaving me to the ministrations of the EMTs.
Toby and Dexter came over after that, and there was a mini argument over whether I needed the hospital or not.
I firmly insisted I did not, and eventually the EMT let us leave.
It wasn’t long before Toby and Dexter were ushering me into a car.
The crow cawed from a nearby tree, and I smiled up at her, glad she was still with me.
Maybe that’s why it took me a good minute to realize that it wasn’t the car we had come in, and that it was Corbin who was driving.
Well, there went trying to appear normal for the cute guy. I climbed into the backseat and leaned my head back, closing my eyes. Toby slid in next to me, and he gently patted my hand, but I didn’t even open my eyes.
I loved my life, I really did, but sometimes I had the worst luck.