JACK AND ROSE: PRESENT TIME
Chapter
Thirty-Seven
Rose woke up with
the sound of people talking quitely. She got up enough strength to open her
eyes. She saw a docter and two nurses.
"Oh, she's
waking up," one of them commented.
"Hello
Rose," the docter said. "How are you feeling?"
Rose rubbed her
head. "Bad...what happened?"
"Well, looks
like you and your friend were attacked and..."
"Tommy! Is he,
is he okay?" Rose pleeded.
"Don't worry
about your friend. You have to worry about yourself. You got a pretty big bump
there," he said, looking at Rose's head.
"Look, I'm
fine," Rose said sitting up. "Where is Tommy?"
"Your family
wants to see you," he said, cutting in. "Would you like me to get
them?"
"Uh, yes.
Please."
A couple seconds
later, she saw the only person in the world who shared the same soul as her.
"Oh, Rosey.
How are you feeling?" Jack said, rushing to her side and kissing her
forehead gently.
"Okay, I
guess."
"Oh,
Rose," Ruth said, coming into the room with John by her side. "How
are you doing sweetheart?"
"I'm fine.
Just, what happened to Tommy? And, how did I get here?" Rose asked.
"Well,"
Jack said, holding Rose's hand tightly. "When Alexia and I were looking
for you guys, we went down an ally and found Tommy laying on the ground. We
didn't know what was going on, until we saw a man running our way. After we saw
the blood on his shirt, we started figuring it all out."
Rose listened
carefully as Jack finished the story.
"We ran out of
the car and I went straight to you. I saw that he had hit you bad in the head.
Alexia immediantly called 911 on her cell phone. We went over to Tommy and saw
it. He had been stabbed."
"Jack..."
Rose said quietly. "How's Tommy?"
"He's in
surgery right now."
"I
mean.." Rose said frustrated. "Is he gonna live?"
Jack kissed Rose's
hand. "There's about a 50% chance."
Rose gasped at this
horrible news. Why were all her friends dying? Why was all this happening? Why
was she stuck in this soap opera life that would never end?
"Did they
catch who did this?" Rose asked.
"No,"
Jack said quietly. "But, they're working on it. Rose, don't worry."
Rose just sat
silently a moment, letting the whole ordeal sink in. How could all of this be
happening?
"Rose,"
Ruth said. "You're lucky you only got hit on the head. He was going to do
worse."
"What do you
mean?" Rose asked.
"Well, half of
your blouse was ripped open and your skirt was also ripped. Who know's what he
could have done."
Ruth shot a glaring
stare at Jack. A stare that said 'Don't tell her'. Ruth knew they couldn't tell
Rose, not yet. They couldn't tell her about the note that was left. The note
that said:
I'll be back to
finish what I started.