EMIT (THE EMIT SAGA) (25 page)

A group of men
in suits appeared and ushered the crowd away from me. I’m not sure how much time passed, but I heard sirens blaring and hoped it was an ambulance for me.

I picked up my right arm and was surprised to see the
wristlet bag still on my wrist. It hadn’t fallen off.  I overheard someone say to call my mom. Pierce asked if I had my cell and I said it was in my wristlet. I heard him tell her that it was a hit-and-run. On top of everything else I’ve been dealing with, this had to happen. At least I was alive, I should be thankful for that.

I was taken to St. Luke’
s Hospital and Pierce was right there keeping an eye on me. With the pain that I felt, I knew my arm was broken. As I waited in the emergency room, I saw Mom rush in frantically. She looked so worried and seeing her so upset made me cry. I waved so that she could see I was alive.

“Paige, baby, I’m so sorry,” she said and wiped my tears with her hand. “What hurts?”

Through sobs, I answered, “My whole left side and my head. I think my arm is broken.” I felt everything swelling.

“You could’
ve been killed.” The doctor came in. X-rays and CT scans were ordered and I was wheeled to Radiology.

When I returned, Dad was waiting with Mom
. He rushed over. “How are you feeling?”

“Not so great.”

The doctor appeared and said I was very lucky that the car wasn’t going faster. “The radius bone in your lower arm is broken. What’s truly amazing is that your legs weren’t broken.” Then why did they feel like they were? I wondered. “We’ll put on a temporary plaster cast to immobilize the arm and wait for the swelling to subside before the permanent cast is put on.”

Mom asked, “What were the results of the scan? Is there a concussion?”

“No concussion just bruising from where the head hit,” the doctor said.

I
spotted Pierce standing near the door. I guess Daniel was done worrying about me.

Dad was asking a ton of questions, but I couldn’t concentrate because I was getting groggy from the painkillers. I did hear, “It takes about six
weeks for an arm break to heal.” There goes my London trip again. My parents would never let me go now and that meant I would be stuck in this nightmare.

“
Buttercup, the doctor said you could go home, but advises you stay overnight just in case.”

“No, please, I want to go home,” I pleaded, looking at Mom for help.
I wanted my own bed and house. Knowing that between the doormen, the EMIT agents in the building, and everyone listening to everything in my house, I’d be safe there.

Mom came
to my rescue. “Oliver, she’ll rest better at home. You know how hospitals are. She’ll never get any sleep. I’ll take care of her and if anything happens we’ll bring her right back.” Reluctantly, Dad agreed.

We took a taxi home and
everything hurt from the bouncing. Bursts of pain shot through my arm and I flinched. I clenched my teeth and suffered silently, fearing that if I complained, my parents would return me to the hospital. At least, it was my left arm; I was a righty anyway. The cab dropped us off at the building and I was so glad to be home. Dad had to go to a meeting and said he’d be home as soon as possible.

Mom made
me lie down on the couch in the living room, and said, “Stay here till I get back. I’m going to run down to the pharmacy and drop off these prescriptions. When I get back, I’ll help you upstairs to your bedroom.”

The phone rang as soon as I was alone
, but I knew I had to answer it. “Hello?”

“Girlie… the next time it’
ll be much worse. We want that envelope. We’ll call again to make arrangements.” His voice made my skin crawl.

What was
I doing? These people could’ve killed me.

My cell
rang and while answering it, I dropped it to the floor.

“Sorry, I dropped it,” I yelled. Every move hurt from the jostling
. “Hello.”

“Paige, it’
s Pierce.”

“Where’s Daniel?”
I had to know.

“He’s
out-of-town on assignment.”

Just great! O
n to his next case, leaving me to fend for myself, so much for the ‘I won’t let anything happen to you’ nonsense.

“
Next time they call, please follow their instructions and we’ll take it from there.”

“Fine, I will. Bye
.” I didn’t want to talk to any of them. I called Lily to tell her what happened, but it went to voice mail.

Mom helped me upstairs when she returned and
helped me change my clothes. Dad walked in and before he could say anything, my cell began ringing.

“Answer your call
, Buttercup, I want to talk to your mother.” He leaned over and kissed the top of my head.

As I answer
ed, I heard Lily say, “I just heard what happened. How are you?”

“To be honest, I feel like death on a cracker,” I joked, trying to make light of the situation.

“Be serious, please.”

“I want to go to sle
ep, wake up and find out it was just a bad dream,” I admitted.

“I’m so sorry. At least it wasn’t your leg,” Lily said trying to find something positive to say.

“Yeah, but I’m stuck here. My parents won’t let me go to London now. Aunt Lucy doesn’t need to deal with two patients.”

I was getting
sleepy, so I ended the call, but between the pain and the horrible nightmares, I hardly slept.




When I woke up
, I felt like I’d been hit by a train. Everything hurt. Glancing at my legs, I saw they were covered in huge black, blue and yellow bruises. I called for Mom and when she saw them she gasped.

She found the sweatpants I asked for and helped me put them on. I didn’t want to see my legs.
This was going to be horrible since I couldn’t dress myself. I guess it was better that I broke my arm in the summer. Trying to put on winter clothes as opposed to summer clothes would’ve been horrific.

When I complained that I didn’t want to be stuck in my bedroom all da
y, Mom agreed and thought it was best that I stayed in the living room, so I didn’t go up and down the stairs all day. She set up the couch with pillows, blankets and put my laptop on the coffee table. I lay there and tried to ignore the pain coursing through my body. Amber kept me company and stared at me like she knew something was terribly wrong.

W
henever the painkillers kicked in, I was able to fall asleep.

Mom finally left me alone to
run an errand and the phone rang. It was Nana joking that I broke my arm because I was jealous of her broken leg.

That evening, Martin, Marina and Anna came over. Mom ordered Chinese food and they left
after Anna fell asleep in her stroller.

Afterwards,
my parents asked if I could handle the drive to Long Island for the weekend. I quickly said yes. I’d rather sit in a chaise and look at the water, than sit on a couch and stare at the walls. Painkillers and rest was all that I needed for now. Cutchogue wasn’t London, but it would do. The envelope would wait because I needed to get out of here.




I
found and Dad in the kitchen drinking coffee.

“Morning, Sweetie. How are you feeling?”

“The same,” I said shrugging. What else could I say?

“
I’m sorry. It’s going to take time to heal.”

“I know. I can’t wait to go see Grammy.”

“Oh, Aunt Cecile, Uncle Ian and Lily wanted to come in today and see you, but when I told them we were heading out to Grammy’s, they’re going to meet us out there” Mom said.

“That’s great!” I was
excited to see Lily.

“You
’ll be able to rest out there and recover from this accident,” said Dad.

If Dad knew that it wasn’t an accident, but was intentional, he’d be furious.
When those goons had called, Daniel told me to go and see what they wanted, but I said no and refused. As a result, I had a broken arm and Daniel was gone anyway.

When we arrived
in Cutchogue, Grammy ran out of the house. “I’ve been so worried about you,” she said, as she hugged me gingerly.

Grammy wouldn’t stop hovering and Mom seeing that I wanted to rest, dragged her away to do some gardening.
I sat on a chaise by the pool thinking about Daniel. I hoped that wherever he was, he was happy. He really was a great guy and his girlfriend was lucky while I, unfortunately, would remain jealous forever. Enough! I had to stop thinking about him.

Lily arrived about an hour later.

“I can’t believe this happened to you,” Lily said.

“Me either.”

I read and hung out with Lily all day. It was so relaxing.

“Mom, can I stay with Grammy till we have to leave for London?”

“I’ll check with Grammy, but I’m sure she’d love it. You need to see the orthopedist next week, so I’ll bring you back after you see him.”

As long as I knew I could
come back here, I could wait.

I
knew I was being watched because I spotted a boat anchored close to Fleets Neck Beach. At least, it wasn’t anchored smack in front of the house. There also was a car parked by the entrance to Grammy’s road. Our road was a dead end so if you parked at the entrance you’d see anyone entering or leaving. Weren’t the neighbors wondering about the parked car?

Since reading was about the extent of what I could do, I continued with my poetry.
I grabbed the Elizabeth Barrett Browning book. In no mood to read her biography, I looked for a required poem on the list.

THE SOUL’S EXPRESSION

With stammering lips and insufficient sound
I strive and struggle to deliver right
That music of my nature, day and night
With dream and thought and feeling interwound
And only answering all the senses round
With octaves of a mystic depth and height
Which step out grandly to the infinite
From the dark edges of the sensual ground.
This song of soul I struggle to outbear
Through portals of the sense, sublime and whole,
And utter all myself into the air:
But if I did it,--as the thunder-roll
Breaks its own cloud, my flesh would perish there,
Before that dread apocalypse of soul.

The poem explained the struggle between expressing one’s feelings and the fear of doing just that. Tired of trying to analyze the poem, I put the book back in my bag. The medicine knocked me out and I slept a lot all weekend.

We left Sunday nigh
t. I really didn’t want to go, but I had no choice. I had to see the doctor and had to get rid of the envelope.

Back home, Mom helped me into my sleep shirt and went to walk Amber with Dad.

I sat at my computer and planned to thank everybody for the get-well wishes and cards, which were so sweet, but I found an email from Daniel. I didn’t want to open it, but I couldn’t resist.

Paige,

I heard from Pierce about your arm.

I’m so sorry.

That wasn’t supposed to happen.

I wish I had been there for you, but I was away at the time.

If you’d like to talk, you have my number.

Daniel

More nonsense! Supposed to happen?
Just leave me alone.
I deleted his email.

I emailed Emma and told her that I wasn’t coming. This was so crazy, twice I was going and twice it got canceled. Our regular August trip bet
ter happen, or I’ll just scream.

I got my journal out of the closet and filled in the latest news. I put in my last song about long distance relationships. There was no point in putting the journal back in the closet until after I got rid of t
he envelope and could finally close the chapter on Daniel.




In the morning,
Mom said she was staying home to be with me and would work from home.

She had to leave,
so those goons would call. “You don’t have to. I’ll be fine.”

“You might need help.”

“I was perfectly fine at Grammy’s.”

“W
e were all there to help you.”

I tried my hardest to get her out of the apartment. When I as
ked for croissants, she had the store deliver them. When I asked for a book, she called the bookstore and it was brought over. Normally, I liked these conveniences, but today, I was going insane.

Mom was on the phone with Grammy
. I heard the tail end of the conversation as she walked through the living room. “That’s exciting though! I wonder who it is!”