Chapter Ten
Belle
T here was something warm in my hand. Something that made me feel safe, but I didn’t want to leave the darkness, where I always felt the safest. I felt a slight squeeze to my hand and tried to open my eyes, but the light was too much. My head hurt, so much worse than it ever hurt before.
“Miss Ashford, my name is Mike Axton and your brother, Koty, sent me to help you.” I heard a deep but warm toned voice, and I tried again to open my eyes. Something was hurting my throat, and my head was pounding.
“Take your time waking up. I’m not going anywhere and you’re safe.” The voice said. A voice that was of a stranger, but felt right, like somehow I knew that voice. His presence had a safe and warm feeling to it. I squeezed what was in my hand and it squeezed back. It was reassuring and didn’t scare me. “It’s okay to go back to sleep.” The voice said, and soon everything was peacefully dark again.
There was a noise, maybe running water. My eyes fluttered open but everything was fuzzy, and my hand was empty. I tried to open my eyes again and there was a dim light, maybe a light from another room. My eyelids were too heavy, my head was pounding, and my throat still hurt. When the door opened the light just about blinded me, but I saw the shape of a man. My eyes focused in on him and I could see clearer, but I couldn’t fight the weight of my eyelids, and they shut, but I tried harder, and they finally opened. A man was undressed. Why was a man undressed? My heart began racing, which made my head hurt worse and I couldn’t move. The man turned and walked back toward the room and that’s when I saw it, under his arm. It was just as prevalent as mine. The hand of God.
“What the hell are you doing, Axton?” I heard the groggy voice of a woman.
“Sorry, I couldn’t sleep and took a shower. I thought you were sleeping.” He answered.
“Why are you walking around her room in a towel? It’s disgusting.” She asked.
He chuckled. “Come on, you know you love it.”
“You’re an idiot, it’s the middle of the night.”
“I forgot my briefs in my bag. Calm down, I know I’m sexy as hell, but control yourself, Bolton.” He chuckled as he disappeared into the room again, and the room went dark when he shut the door. I couldn’t fight the sleep that was overpowering me. The pain was so much that I didn’t want to fight the sleep.
Once again the light was too much. Something in my hand was warm and comforting again.
“I think she’s waking up again.” The man said. “Miss Ashford, I’m Mike Axton and your brother, Koty, sent me to keep you safe.” His hand felt good, and his voice didn’t scare me. It was the man with the hand of God mark on his arm.
“Her eyes are fluttering open.” The woman said. “Wow, she’s beautiful.”
The light was too much, and I wasn’t able to open them. I wanted to reach for my head, but I couldn’t move my arm. There was a stinging sensation all down my right side.
“I’ll get the lights, they’re probably too bright.” The woman said.
The room went a little darker and I felt her presence at my side again. “Miss Ashford, my name is Valarie Bolton, and you’ve been injured. You’re safe at a hospital and your brother is safe as well.”
My heart started to race. We were running from Jeremy and Koty was taking me to a life of sin. I could hear beeping and a bit of panic from the man. “You’re safe, your father is still alive, and Jeremiah cannot get to you. Koty is also safe, you made it, you’ve escaped everything. You’re in good hands, I promise.”
My eyes opened and I saw a ceiling and there were fast beeping noises around me, then I heard his voice again. “Heavenly Father, our ever-present help in trouble, our fortress and our God: calm the anxious fears of all who turn to you; give strength and healing to those who are sick, and courage and skill to those who care for them; grant wisdom and clarity to those in authority; and humble us all to call upon you that we may be saved not only in this life, but also for that which is to come, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”
His prayer calmed me.
“When did you learn a prayer?” The woman whispered.
“My grandparents are catholic, and they made me learn how to pray. Come on, don’t tell me you didn’t say a few prayers while in battle.” He said.
While in battle?
“You are an angel sent from God to do great things with a man that deserves you. He is a soldier of God and will bear your mark. You will not marry until he comes for you.”
“Why me, papa?”
“Because we were both his chosen, that’s why he made you with such great beauty.”
The mark, I saw the mark.
“It worked, she’s calming down.” The woman said. “I’ll go let the nurses know. Her eyes are still fluttering, so she is waking up.”
I couldn’t do it. The exhaustion and pain was too much. My eyes only grew heavier and heavier. Something was wrong with me, because the darkness came again.
Axton
She was having a very hard time waking up, and Ford was right when he said it would be a slow process. She tried to wake up before we got ready to get some sleep ourselves late last night, which was why I couldn’t sleep. I was afraid she would wake up and feel scared if she saw a strange man sleeping in a chair next to her and a woman on a cot. She tried to wake up again before breakfast but fell back asleep. I knew she was scared by the way the heart monitor picked up, but I said a prayer I could somehow remember. That kind of bothered me because I didn’t think I knew any prayers. My grandparents used to pick us up on Sunday mornings to go to CCD classes before mass started, but that ended by the time my mom alienated her parents. They lived in Charleston and would make the trip into the mountains every Sunday morning and take us back to Charleston. We would stay until the evening, and we didn’t get to stay the night because we had school the next day. They must have driven all night to be able to do that for us. It was a short escape from hell once a week, and they fed us a few well rounded meals.
I held her hand in hopes of giving her some comfort. My phone rang and I didn’t want it to startle her, so I quickly answered it.
“Kayla?” I answered as I let Bolton know I was taking the call outside the room.
“Mike, are you somewhere we can talk?”
“Yeah, what’s up?” I grew concerned.
“I got a call from Waverly Phillips, she’s the clerk of courts back in West Virginia now. She said they’ve opened a death investigation for Natalie, and she wanted to give me a heads up.”
My body went cold, and I was speechless.
“Linda Sue and Elroy are now saying it was negligence on your part, and they are attempting to file a wrongful death lawsuit against you.” She added.
I still couldn’t speak. There wasn’t a way to explain what I was feeling at that moment, but I was frozen.
“It won’t go anywhere. Not only is it beyond the statute of limitations, but you were a minor. She asked me if it was true that you grew up to be successful and wealthy. It seems the illiterates learned you have money, and they want some of it.”
My entire body just about gave out and hit the floor.
“Mike, say something. I only called to prepare you. I’m sure there will be a summons, and it’ll end up at Creed’s Lake. I’m just giving you a heads up.” She said.
“I…” I couldn’t do it, I had no words.
“Listen, Mike. We both know you are not responsible for what happened. You lost as much as they did, maybe even more. This won’t go anywhere, and I’ll be happy to help you file a counter suit against them if they go through with this, they caused your trauma, not the other way around.”
If only she knew how much guilt and blame I dealt with over all those years.
“Why are they doing this?” I couldn’t form a straight thought.
“I just told you, Mike. They are taking advantage of the investigation because they found out you have money. They’re just entitled assholes with drug problems, just like everyone else on that mountain. The only thing that’s going to happen with this is your loss of privacy. You’re going to have to talk to the Originals about it. Preferably before you receive the summons. They don’t even have an attorney. I’m guessing good old Earl or Cy learned how to use the internet, and they’re trying to pull it off themselves. God knows how, I didn’t even know they could read.”
I fell back against the wall and laid my head back before shutting my eyes. “I would have saved her if I could.” My voice was broken. “Why a new investigation?”
“Her mom never accepted your story, even though the autopsy certainly backed up what you found that day. She has been on the sheriff and the prosecutor for years. She can’t accept that it was her own fault. She wants it to be murder and can’t accept that it wasn’t, and at the very least they think you were with her when it happened, and you didn’t run for help.”
“She was already gone when I found her, she had been gone for hours.” My mind was racing.
“We both know this, Mike. It’s going to be fine, and I’ll handle everything. I just thought you should at least mention it to Creed. I’m sure you’ve told him about her, haven’t you?”
I swallowed hard. “I haven’t spoken her name in fourteen years.” My body slid down the wall just outside Belle’s room and I pulled my knees up. It was either that or let my legs give out on me.
“I’m sorry, Mike. I hate that they’re bringing all this back up on you. You know Sheriff Broughton is only doing what he has to do to shut her up.”
“Does mom know?” I asked.
“No, I called you right away and I’m in my office. I promise this lawsuit won’t go anywhere and law enforcement knows better.”
“Please don’t tell her, she will just make everything worse. Why would they reopen her case? Kayla, I did neglect her and if I would have done something she might still be alive.” I tried my hardest to gain some sort of understanding.
“I doubt law enforcement is trying to find a different cause of death, and I don’t care what you say, it wasn’t your fault. Linda Sue has been harassing them for years, but she hasn’t stopped to think the negligence could be on her, and maybe that’s what they’re trying to decide just to put the entire thing to rest. I promise not to tell mom, but God knows word will get around and someone will call her.” Kayla said.
I saw Dr. Ford walking toward me and a few nurses walked into Belle’s room. “I have to go, but I’ll deal with it later. How much time do I have?”
“However long it takes the mail to deliver it. I’m sure someone will have to sign for it, and it’ll come from the courthouse certified. I promise nothing will come of it. If they had money for an attorney, nobody would ever touch this case. They must think since they figured out how to read they can be internet lawyers now.” She snorted like it was funny. “I didn’t think meth heads got smarter, only dumber. I can picture the two of them sitting at a library computer trying to figure it out. Anyway, are you going to be alright?”
“Yeah.” I lied.
“Okay, just call Creed. He’s your best friend and maybe it would do you some good to talk to him about it.”
“I have to go.” I ended the call and didn’t think I could stand just yet.
Bolton appeared. “She’s awa…Hey is everything okay?”
I looked up at her. “She’s awake? Are they taking out her tubes yet?”
She walked closer and sat on the floor with me. “Yeah, they’re doing it now. She seems confused and we should get back in there, but what’s going on? You look like you just saw a ghost.”
My head was still resting on the wall, but I turned it to look at her. “Just bad news from West Virginia. Nothing I can’t handle. Would you mind helping her and just give me a few minutes?”
“Are you sure you’re okay? Whatever it is, you’re having a physical response. You’re as white as a ghost. You know, I’m an expert listener.” She nudged me with her elbow.
“I just need a few minutes.”
“Okay, I’ll leave you to your thoughts, but I’m here for you, Axton.” She used my knee to push up and went back into the room. I felt like I could have gotten sick and needed to gain my composure. I never really put her in my past, but something about hearing her name again, and the loss of my privacy took every bit of strength I had left inside me. I learned to live with never knowing what really happened that day, and I thought everyone else moved on. I knew I was ultimately responsible, that was already proven. I’ve been through war, held my brothers at arms as they drew their last breaths, almost died myself a few times, and survived hundreds of missions and a childhood with abusive addict parents, but nothing traumatized me more than that girl. Bolton was right, I was having a physical response to a memory of something that happened and brought me more misery than anything the old man or any enemy ever did to me.
I escaped that place, unlike most people I grew up knowing. Kayla and I beat the odds, I made sure of it. The town I grew up in was nothing but a poverty stricken place where people turned to drugs and alcohol to numb their pain. I stole my first bike, not because I was an entitled little brat, but because I needed it. It was my only mode of transportation away from the backside of those hills to town. The only way I had to earn money to get us out of there. I had very good grades and could have went to about any college because I worked my ass off, but I chose the Army to give my sister a better future. The first time I could have left the Army and used the GI Bill, Kayla announced she wanted to go to law school, so I put her first. I paid for all of her living expenses and everything the grants and financial aid couldn’t give her for her undergraduate then financed every penny of law school. Then Creed started Creed’s Lake, and my college education was forgotten. For the first time in my life, I took a gamble and put faith into Creed, and he delivered on all his promises. Something good finally happened for me, and now I have to face that past all over again. Fuck, my best friend was the son of a billionaire and only knew luxury before the Army, but he cared about us. We became family and he gave me an opportunity I never imagined. What would they think if they ever learned about her and how she left me? I might have been known as the asshole of Creed’s Lake, but they didn’t understand how much the place meant to me. How important it was to focus on those foreign contracts to keep us afloat, if not it would finally catch up to us. Everyone started to get married and settle down and it seemed like they lost their passion for what we built. They were focusing on charity and not what we had to do to keep everyone fed. That’s all I had ever done in my life. Fight and work to keep everyone fed. There was one time I wanted something for myself and didn’t, then I lost her forever. It was all my fault because I didn’t take care of her. I was too busy trying to work and get Kayla out of those mountains to help the one person that needed me most.