I sat in my hospital bed staring at Howie as he nervously twirled a few strands of his hair in his fingers. I probably would have laughed if it weren't for the circumstances that had him there in the first place.
"So tell me, why I couldn't go to the courthouse again?" Howie stopped twirling and sat up in his chair.
"Because the doctor felt like you weren't ready to leave"
"But he had said I could be released today"
"Yeah, but not until later and besides, why would you want to go to the courthouse? You did your part"
That was a great question. I wasn't sure why I wanted to go. Encounter all the press and the families and Trish. It just seemed appropriate that I should get to go. Even if maybe I didn't want to.
"Can we at least watch it on TV?" I asked him.
"No, Nick. You need your rest, try to get some sleep"
"How come you didn't go?" I asked him. I could tell he was getting a little impatient with me. He gave me a half smile. The same kind of smile he often flashed me when I was a child. The kind that said, because I know what's best.
"Well, when can I get out of this place?" Not that I was eager to leave, because I knew Joe was out there somewhere. Or maybe Brian was right, maybe I had just imagined it. Either way, suddenly nowhere felt safe to me anymore.
"How about right now?" We both turned to face the door where the doctor was standing with paper in hand. He came over and checked my vital signs and liking what he saw, signed my release.
"Take it easy Nickolas, bed rest and try to stay calm" I nodded.
I immediately got out of bed and searched for my clothes. The ones I was wearing when I got there earlier. Howie seeing me search, smiled and handed my pants to me from where he was sitting.
"Thanks" I said. I got dressed and was ready to leave. There were few places on Earth that I hated more than the hospital.
"Let's get out of here D" I said moving over to the closet and taking out my jacket.
"Relax Nicky, maybe we should just wait until..."
"I'm going home Howie. Are you coming or not?"
"You are so stubborn!"
"I know" I said smiling.
I placed my hands in my jacket pockets to warm them. That's when I found the card. I took it out and it looked like a business card. Upon further investigation, I noticed that it belonged to Trish's attorney.
"Odd" I said aloud. Howie stopped putting his coat on to give me a look.
"What?"
"It's nothing" I held the card closer to my face and flipped it over. The print was so small that I could barely make out what It said. It was a note for me.
Nick,
Please come and see me. I have to make things right before it's too late. Don't wait to long or you and your friends may be sorry.
Mizpah,
Trish
I slowly sat back down on the bed. Howie seeing me wobble rushed to his feet to help, "You okay?" I nodded.
"What's wrong?" I wish I knew, why a card could make me so jittery was beyond me. I was through thinking about it. I was through thinking about her. I placed the card back in my pocket.
"Nothing, nothing at all. Are we ready to get the hell out of here?" I stood up and smiled. Howie gave me curious look.
"Are you sure you..."
"I'm fine. Let's go!"
*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~
From the minute her verdict was read, Trish knew that things would work out. They always did. Fate. It's all it was. She smiled as her attorney led her past the reporters and the camera flashes. Armed guards waiting to take her back to her cell. The cell she would spend the remainder of her life in. "Miss Topper make a statement!" They were yelling from all sides. She only walked with her head bowed down. She walked past the victims families, hearing them cry in disapproval. She felt bad for them but it was God's will. Not her own.
She was sad to see that Nick didn't even come back for the verdict. She thought he would've been there. Would have at least said goodbye. She laughed, as the guards now handcuffed her and shackled her legs.
Goodbye was a relative term, because she knew she would see him again soon enough. She found herself looking up then, searching for her brother. Knowing that he was somewhere in the vicinity, lurking in the shadows. Just out of the reach of everyone.
"You should have gotten death you rotten bitch!" She looked up to see the angry snarled face of Brian Littrell. Someone she used to love as a friend and a brother. He hated her now, from the look on his face, so did AJ.
"Easy Brian, it's over. Let them take her away"
"It's not over. It will never be over" He said. Not knowing how right he was about that one. The guard was still walking her along towards the van they had brought her in, this time it was AJ's words that rang through her ears, the last words she heard before leaving, "We know it was just a ploy. You didn't mean what you said up there. You're not fooling anybody"
She decided to answer him with a smile.
Brian and AJ stood dumbfounded as they watched Trish be moved back to the prison. Both of them just standing there helpless.
"It wasn't my fault. It's in God's hands" she whispered to herself before bowing her head in prayer.
~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~
I was surprised when I got to my house and saw not one single press person there. Surprised but not at all disappointed. They had probably assumed that I would be at the courthouse. We waved to the two policemen as we passed them and parked the van in my driveway. The security team who escorted Howie and I led us back into the oddly quiet house.
I couldn't remember the last time the house was this quiet. This unoccupied. It had a serene feel to it. I turned to Howie who was right on my heels, "I'm gonna go lay down for a little bit" He nodded.
Once I was in my room, I laid on the bed and flipped on the television right to CNN. Of course the ticker told me all I had to know...CONVICTED MURDERER PATRICIA TOPPER SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON.....That's all I needed to know. I didn't want the details, no gasping and groaning from the people watching. No analyst saying it was probably my fault, my testimony that saved her life. I was done with it all.
I think I was happy that she wasn't given a death sentence. I couldn't feel responsible for taking someone else's life. Not after all the death I felt I was suddenly forever linked to. I turned on my side and sighed. "Maybe I can get on with my life now" I placed my hand under my pillow to make myself more comfortable.
My eyes bulged when I felt it. Something left under my pillow. I immediately jumped off the bed and ran across the room. As if I had just felt a snake. I took a few deep breaths and walked back over to the bed and threw the pillow off of the bed. Seeing what I had felt.
A Bible. A small one, the kind you find in gift shops, maybe the size of a deck of cards, but a Bible nonetheless. I sat on my bed and opened up the page that had a feather sticking out of it as a bookmark.
I let my eyes scan the page, squinting because the print was so small. Joe, or whoever it was that left this here had highlighted certain sentences and parts. It was the Book of Luke and the chapter was The Cataclysm To Come. Just reading that made me wince. I scanned down to the first highlighted phrase, "I am he and the time is at hand" And then "You will be brought to give witness" Obviously talking about Trish's trial. What scared me to death was the last thing because it was not only highlighted but underlined three times. "You will be delivered up even by your brothers and some of you will even be put to death"
~~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*
Joe watched the screen with much amusement. "Looks like he found my little calling card" He said. Never taking his eyes off the screen. "You know, I had left that for him last night but he never got it, he was too busy cowering in the corner and peeing himself"
"You are a real sick son of a bitch you know that?" Joe turned to the voice. The familiar one that always stuck up for Nick. Always. He walked over to the man who was safely bound to the chair by the table. The same chair that the homeless man had sat in before his death.
"Aw Kevin, cheer up! Just think of it this way, you are doing God's work" He said kissing the top of Kevin's head before turning his attention back to the television.
"Soon my little lamb..soon"
