“Shannon, breathe,” Marie sobbed. “Breathe, Shannon. Breathe, baby. The ambulance is on the way.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Shh, I’ve got you.” Ignoring his mother, my boyfriend continued to whisper in his baby sister’s ear. “I love you. I love you, Shan. Just hold on for me, okay?”
“Shannon!”
“Jesus Christ, Shannon!”
“I’m here. I’m right here, Shan,” Joey continued to cry as he rocked her back and forth in his arms like a mother would a small child.
I couldn’t tell which one of them was bleeding more.
I suspected Joey.
But Shannon?
Shannon was just limp.
“Is she breathing?” I jumped into action and asked, setting Sean down, as I hurried over to them.
“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Joey choked out a cry, and it was the worst sound I had ever heard come from his mouth.
He sounded so young.
So frightened.
So utterly broken.
“Can you hear me?” he sobbed, holding her bloodied face between his hands. “I’m going to get you out of here, okay? Shannon, can you hear me? Shan? Come on, talk to me.”
“Get that away from her,” I warned Marie, roughly tossing the bag of peas away from her daughter’s small frame as I felt for a pulse. “You’ll send her body into shock!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” their mother cried. “I’m trying to help.”
“Okay.” I sagged in relief when I felt the faint thrum of her pulse against my fingertips. “She has a heartbeat, but it’s faint.”
“I don’t know where the ambulance is,” Marie cried, dropping her head in her hands. “It should be here by now.”
“Stop crying and do something useful,” I ordered, battling down a surge of fury directed entirely towards her. Because this woman. Yeah, I couldn’t even go there with this woman. I would snap. “Just get out of the way, Marie. Go and hold Sean or get a blanket or something.”
Waiting until she had moved aside, I shifted closer to my boyfriend, who was still cradling his sister’s limp body in his arms.
“I’m going to get you help, okay?” Joey was whispering in Shannon’s ear, as he pressed a kiss to her bloody forehead, smearing and mixing the blood on his face with hers. “Don’t leave me.”
She stared back at him with a blank, glazed over looked in her eyes, and the horrific gurgling noise that came from her throat, along with clumps of blood when she tried to answer him, was something that would haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life.
“Aoife.” Sniffling, he pressed his cheek to his sister’s face, and mumbled something incoherent to her, before exhaling a ragged breath and kissing her cheek. “Give me your keys.” Sucking in a labored breath, he grunted out a pained snarl before hissing, “Fuck waiting for the ambulance. I’ll take her myself.”
“Joey, don’t move her,” I tried to instruct, knowing that neither one of them was in any position to be moved right now. Shannon looked like she was dying, and Joey didn’t look like he was far behind her. “She could have internal—"
“Give me the fucking keys, baby,” he cut me off and roared, voice breaking, as he stumbled unsteadily to his feet with his sister in his arms. His face was beaten so badly he was barely recognizable in this moment. “Help me.”
He was moving for the front door before I had a chance to answer him.
Before I could beg him to sit down before he passed out.
Panic swirled inside of my stomach, spiraling my heart into a frenzied flush of fear and dread. As I hurried after him, I knew that it was a bad idea, but went with him anyway because he needed me.
Because for the first time in his life, he had asked for help.
Two words.
Help me.
I’d never heard them come from his mouth before and knew there was a chance I’d never hear them again, but I had to help him.
I couldn’t not.
Rushing around to the driver’s side door, I swung it open and pulled the seat forward for him to climb inside.
He didn’t.
“I’ll drive.”
“Joe, no.” I shook my head. “That’s not a good idea. I’ll—”
“I’ll drive,” he choked out. “I’m faster, and I can’t—” his voice broke, and he sucked in a quivering breath. “Please just hold her for me. I need to not, ah, I need to just…” Staggering, he leaned against the side of my car and clung to Shannon’s small body. “Molloy, I’m really scared.”
My heart cracked clean open in my chest.
“It’s okay, Joe, baby. You drive.” Scrambling into the back seat of my car, I held my hands out and gestured for him to pass her to me. “I’ve got Shan. I’ll keep her safe. I promise.”
PART SIX
BREATHE, BABY. JUST BREATHE
JOEY
“Joe?”
I could feel her hands on my face.
“Joey, baby?”
Her smell was all around me.
“Breathe, baby.”
Her hands were on my face.
“Just breathe.”
I couldn’t feel my body.
I couldn’t feel anything.
I knew I was trying to sit up. I could feel my legs kicking the blankets away from my waist, but my head wasn’t complying.
My brain wasn’t working.
Everything was fucking broken.
“Molloy.” My voice was slurred. My lips brushed her neck as I spoke. “Where is she?”
“She’s okay.” She pulled me in tighter, wrapping me up in a tight cocoon of heat and warmth. “Shannon’s okay, Joe. She’s out of surgery and everything went great. The boys are fine, too. It’s all good, baby.”
Slumping forward, I let myself lean against my girlfriend, knowing that I needed to not put my weight on her, but unable to stop myself.
“The baby…”
“The baby’s fine.” Her lips were on my forehead. “We’re both fine.”
She was the only thing that felt real in this moment.
She was here and she was real.
I could smell her, touch her, feel her.
Just her.
“What time is it?”
“It’s about half past six.”
“What day is it?”
“It’s Sunday morning, Joe.”
“My head,” I groaned, burying my face in her neck when pain spliced through me. “My eyes.”
“Shh, it’s okay. Don’t try to stand up.” I felt her lips on my temple and then her hand was on the back of my head, fingers gently stroking my scalp. “Just stay on the trolley. I’ve got you, Joe.”
The trolley?
I couldn’t remember getting onto a trolley to begin with.
“Where am I?”
“You’re in your own private cubicle in the A&E.” Another kiss found my temple. “You’ve been in and out for a while now.”
“I have?”
“Uh-huh. You’ve had a lot of tests done. A CT scan, some x-rays, and an MRI.” Her breath hitched and I could hear the cry she was trying to bury. “But you’re going to be fine, okay? I won’t let anything else happen to you.”