AJ arrived at the hospital and ran to the emergency room. He went to the desk and asked if they had any news on Cassidy.
“When was she brought in, Sir?”
“Not too long ago,” he waited while she looked on the computer. He looked around the waiting room looking for any sign of Marcus. “Damn, where is he?” He whispered to himself then turned his attention back to the nurse.
“Come on, you have to know what’s going on.”
“I’m sorry, Sir, no news yet. I see that she was brought just a little bit ago and rushed into the emergency room”.
“That’s all you know??”
“I’m sorry, Sir, that’s all I know”.
“Son of a BITCH,” he yelled as he turned and ran his hands over his face.
He walked over to the emergency room door and looked through the small window on the door. He was looking for any sign of Cassidy. All he saw were people rushing around, but no sign of her. He sighed and turned around. Out of nowhere, Marcus appeared in front of him. He noticed the bleak expression on Marcus’s face and knew that this was worse than he could ever have imagined.
“What happened?? Who did this? Who found her??” AJ questioned, without so much as taking a breath to let Marcus answer.
“I don’t really know what happened. All I know is that I was looking all over for you, Jim told me what hotel he had taken Cassidy to since she couldn’t get a flight out until tomorrow morning. I thought maybe I’d find you there”.
“No, I didn’t know where she was, I went out to take my mind off things for awhile. Did you talk to her?” AJ asked, his eyes wide.
“When I got there, I went to the front desk and asked if they could dial Cassidy’s room,” Marcus continued. “They tried and it was busy, so I decided to wait and try again in a few minutes. I figured she was just talking to her sister or something. As I was standing there, watching everything going on around me, like I always do, I noticed the desk clerk take a call, apparently from one of the guests. She had a very worried expression on her face when she hung up the phone, then she made a call, looking almost panicked. I went back over to the desk to see if they would try Cassidy’s room again and the desk clerk looked at me strangely, but didn’t answer. I asked her again, thinking she was just distracted from whomever she had just spoken to. Then she told me, “I’m sorry, I’ll be with you in one moment”. She went into a back room and I remained at the desk, she had her eye on me the whole time, like I had done something wrong. By this time, I was getting pissed. I didn’t know what was going on, and I didn’t like the looks she was giving me”.
“So, what was the phone call about? Was it Cassidy??” AJ asked, a lump starting to settle in his throat.
“It must have been another guest in a room near Cassidy’s. At the time I didn’t know, but that was the only way they could have known that something was going on in Cassidy’s room. Another desk clerk frantically walked past and I asked if HE would call Cassidy’s room. He also looked at me strangely and told me that he’d be right with me. I began to lose my patience, and walked away and sat in a nearby chair. Next thing I know, ambulances pull up and a couple of paramedics come running through the door, pulling a stretcher. I started to get really worried, having a bad feeling that something had happened to Cassidy since nobody would call her room, so I got up and went over to the front desk yet again and asked what was going on. The desk clerk, the first one that I had talked to, was very short with me, and she wouldn’t tell me anything. I kept asking her if she would dial Cassidy’s room again. Then she gave me the third degree, asking who I was and why I just couldn’t wait a little while”.
“So, they wouldn’t tell you anything??” AJ practically jumped down his throat.
“No, nothing. I had finally had enough and I walked over to the elevators, trying to see if maybe I could see something happening on any of the floors, but the hotel security stopped me and told me I had to wait in the lobby. I was floored, and highly pissed because, by this time, I KNEW that whatever was going on had something to do with Cassidy. I tried everything I could think of to get them to let me on the elevator, but nothing worked. I turned to look to see if there was stairs anywhere I could sneak to, and about six police officers walked in. Two of them went to the front desk, the other four headed straight for the elevator”.
“Did you talk to any of them? What did they say??” AJ questioned impatiently.
“Yeah, I went up to them as they started to walk away from the desk and asked them what was going on. All they told me was that there was an emergency with one of the guests, and asked me to remain in the lobby”.
“So, what did you do??”
“I stood there, and a second later, the elevator doors opened and the paramedics came barreling through the lobby wheeling someone on a stretcher. I ran over to them to see if it was Cassidy, but they kept pushing me away, then the officers ran over and tried to get me out of the way.”
“Did you see her??” AJ’s body started to tremble.
“Yeah, I did..” Marcus’s voice trailed off.
“AND?” AJ practically yelled. “How did she look? Did she see you? Was she okay??”
“No, she didn’t see me,” Marcus answered softly, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking away from AJ.
“Marcus!!” AJ yelled, this time showing no restraint. “Was she okay??!”
Marcus lifted his head, his eyes meeting AJ’s. He had never been in this type of situation before where he had to tell one of his best friends such horrible news. He didn’t know how to tell him or what exactly he should tell him. The truth was, he didn’t know how Cassidy was. All he knew was how she looked, and it’s not something he wanted to relive. It was especially not something that he wanted AJ to have to hear. He knew that he had no other choice.
“I don’t know, man,” he said softly, seeing the worry lines in his friend’s forehead and the tears of panic and fear starting to well up in his eyes.
“I ran after the paramedics, I think one of the officers was trying to stop me, but I didn’t listen, I just jumped in my car and followed the ambulance to the hospital. I barely got to see her.”
“But when you DID see her..”
Marcus paused and took a deep breath. “She didn’t look good”.
“What does that mean??” AJ asked confused, trying to piece everything together in his mind. “She didn’t see you? Did she say anything??” He choked out, his voice quivering.
“No, she didn’t see me, AJ,” Marcus began, his own body starting to tremble. “There was so much commotion. I kept calling her name, everyone kept pushing me away and telling me to give them room….but, from what I could see..” he stopped as he looked over at the desperate look on AJ’s face. “She was unconscious”.
“Oh God,” AJ gasped, a teardrop slowly sliding down his cheek. His mind was racing, his head was throbbing, he couldn’t even feel his legs. He couldn’t make sense of anything right now.
He turned, shoving his hands in his pockets, his limp body falling into the nearest chair. He slouched over in exhaustion, burying his face in his hands. He angrily wiped away his tears that he couldn’t stop from falling earlier. He couldn’t believe this was happening. Worse yet, that he was to blame for it. He had never felt so many emotions screaming through his body all at the same time. Anger, guilt, fear, and despair, all blending together, threatening to take over his body and make him explode. His face was still buried in his hands when he suddenly felt a hand gently squeeze his shoulder.
“She’ll be okay,” Marcus said, trying to sound convincing.
He silently thanked God that AJ hadn’t been at the hotel to see Cassidy. Her face was so badly bruised that he barely recognized her. AJ would have been absolutely traumatized by the site of the woman he loved.
“This is all my fault,” AJ said softly.
“It is not, don’t talk like that”.
“No, it is my fault. She should have already been home. This would have never happened if I wasn’t such a fucking asshole.”
“Listen to me,” Marcus began, “I don’t know what happened between you and Cassidy, but you are NOT to blame, do you hear me? This is NOT your fault”.
“What happens if she dies?” AJ choked out, staring blankly ahead, ignoring Marcus’s words.
“Don’t think that way. She WILL pull through this”.
“Did they catch the bastard that did this to her?” AJ asked coldly, his body tense with anger.
“I don’t know, but I hope so”.
“Yeah, for his sake, I hope so, too,” AJ replied through clenched teeth.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, then AJ jumped up, unable to take the waiting any longer. He needed to do something, go somewhere.
“I’m going out for a smoke..or two,” he stated.
“Okay, I’ll stay here, just in case someone comes out with an update,” Marcus offered.
“Yeah, please. Come and get me if you hear anything. And I mean ANYTHING.” He walked outside and opened up his pack of cigarettes that he had found in his car earlier. He saw the money that Cassidy had placed in there still sitting there behind the silver foil. It had been there the whole night. He couln't bring himself to take it out. It was the only material object that he had from her. He couldn’t hold it in any longer. He began to sob uncontrollably.
“Please God, let her pull through this. It’s all my fault, I should have never made her miss her flight. Please, don’t take her away from me, I just found her.”
He buried his face in his hands, trying everything he could to stop thinking about losing her. He thought back to the moment he first laid eyes on her in the restaurant. She was so beautiful. Her green eyes drew him in the second they connected with his.
“She conned me that day,” he chuckled.
He thought back to their first kiss, the first time he told her he loved her, the first time they made love. Even though it had all happened in a short timeframe, he felt like so much time had passed since they met. Nothing that he tried to think about seem to help, it only made him cry harder.
“Cassidy, I’m so sorry. Please, don’t leave me,” he sobbed.
He wiped his face and tried to calm down as he lit a cigarette and took a long drag. His mind wandered back to what had happened in the pool.
“What the hell came over me? What made me hurt her like that?”
He thought about the arguments they had gotten into.
“I’m such a dick, I don’t deserve her. I don’t know what she sees in me anyway.”
He looked down at his watch.
“4:24. I wonder how long this is gonna take.”
He finished his cigarette and wandered back into the hospital. He saw Marcus still sitting in the same position he was in when he left.
“Nothing?” He asked, hopeful. Marcus just shook his head, ‘no’.
AJ sat down next to him, resting his elbows on his knees, his hands clenched tightly together.
“What does it mean that it’s taking this long? Is it a good sign that we haven’t heard anything yet?” He asked, worried.
“I don’t know man, I don’t know,” was all Marcus could say.
Suddenly, two police officers walked through the door and headed in their direction.
“Mr. Johnson?” One said to Marcus as they stopped in front of him.
“Yeah?” Marcus looked up at them.
“I’m Officer Lewis and this is Officer Petruci, we would like to ask you a few questions about what happened tonight”.
“Me?” Marcus asked puzzled. “Why? I don’t know what happened. I got there right before the ambulances did”.
AJ looked at the officers trying to figure out what was going on. What did they want with Marcus? All he wanted was to know what was going on with Cassidy when he was at the hotel. He didn’t blame Marcus one bit for getting upset that no one would tell him anything. He could only imagine how he, himself, would have reacted.
“We need to ask you a few questions,” they repeated. “Would you mind coming with us to the station?”
“Are you serious, man?” Marcus exclaimed in shock. He couldn’t believe they were bothering him at a time like this. Especially when he wasn’t even there when the attack happened. He never saw anything but the lobby the whole time he was there.
“Yes Sir, we are very serious,” they answered.
“But I don’t KNOW anything!” Marcus stood up and the officers took a step back.
“Please Sir, don’t say anything more until we reach the station. If you would like your attorney present during questioning, you can call him at the station”.
“My attorney??!” Marcus’s deep voice boomed in disbelief. “This is ridiculous! Am I under arrest?”
“Why would you be under arrest?” they asked as they looked at him, awaiting his next words. Marcus just looked at them in shock, unable to say anything. “We just want to ask you a few questions. Now please, follow us”.
“Can’t this wait?” AJ jumped out of his seat. “Don’t you understand what’s going on here??”
“Yes, we understand what’s going on here, Sir, that’s why it is imperative that we bring Mr. Johnson in for questioning.
“You’re fucking crazy, do you know that?” AJ exclaimed as he stepped closer to one of the officers. “Why are you here harassing Marcus when you SHOULD be out trying to find the person who did this to Cassidy??”
“That’s what we’re trying to do,” Officer Lewis replied then turned to Marcus and nodded, motioning for him to follow them.
AJ’s gaze never broke from the officers’ as Marcus turned to AJ and placed both hands on his shoulders.
“Don’t worry, everything’s going to be fine. I’m gonna go to the station, answer a couple of questions, then I’ll be back. In the meantime, don’t worry about me, just concentrate on Cassidy.
AJ continued to glare at the officers then nodded. He watched as Marcus followed the officers out the door, then, he slumped back down in the chair to wait for a word from the doctor.



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