Part Two
Seven minutes later Justin heard the ambulance coming down the road. “Hang on baby. I’m gonna get you help,” he said and then stood up and ran out of his place. He burst through the door and ran out into the yard and waved his hands in the air. It is strange how a feat of fear could somehow sober you up. He was still under the influence, but at least he could walk.
Justin couldn’t believe what was happening to him. He didn’t want to believe it for that matter. “She’s in here,” he yelled as the paramedics rushed out of the vehicle and grabbed their stuff, to include a backboard.
“What happened?” the man asked as they ran into the house towards the room in the back.
“I... I,” Justin started.
“What’s her name?” the other man asked as they knelt down next to the battered woman.
“Annie. Her name is Annie.”
“Annie, can you hear me?” the man asked as he leaned in close to her. A small moan escaped from her mouth and the man said, “don’t talk. You’re going to be alright. Answer me with your eyes mam. Blink twice for yes, and once for no. Okay?” She blinked twice.
The man gently pushed on the side of her body and asked, “does this hurt?”
Annie let out a loud moan and blinked twice.
The man signaled for his partner to bring Justin out into the other room. He did so and started to ask Justin questions. The man with Annie got closer to her and said, “he’s not here now. Can you tell me if your boyfriend did this to you?”
She blinked twice.
“Do you want to press charges miss?”
She blinked once.
“Mam this is very serious. Are you sure you don’t want to press charges?”
She blinked twice.
“Okay, let’s get you to the hospital. GREG!” he yelled.
Greg walked in and whispered, “did he do it?”
“Yes but she doesn’t wish to press charges. Let’s get her to the hospital. I think she has a broken ribcage.”
The two men picked up the backboard that they had just placed Annie on and carefully carried her out of the house. “Would you like to come with us?” Greg asked.
“Please,” Justin murmured and jumped into the back of the ambulance. He grabbed a hold of Annie’s free hand and began to cry. He looked at her beaten face and couldn’t stand to know that he did that to her. “Baby I am so sorry,” he cried to her. He looked at he IV in her other arm and had to quickly turn his head from her.
When they reached the hospital Justin followed them through the emergency room and down the emergency hallway, but when they reached the end the nurse said, “sir you are going to have to wait in the other room. Someone will be with you momentarily.
Justin wanted to scream because he didn’t want to leave Annie’s side, but he knew that he had to. He stopped dead in his tracks and took out his cell phone. When a man answered he said, “C, it’s me. Meet me at Hitler Hospital. It’s Annie.”
“I’ll be right there,” JC said and then hung up his phone, grabbed his keys and headed for the door.
Justin slid down the wall in the hallway and buried his head within his hands and cried, “what have I done?”
About twenty minutes later, Justin still sitting on the floor in the main hallway, JC walks thru the sliding doors. He sees Justin on the floor and runs up to him. “Justin, oh my God what happened?”
Justin slowly lifted his head. He looked like hell. His eyes were bloodshot and swollen and his face was extremely blotchy. “She’s hurt really bad C,” he managed to say.
“What happened Justin?” JC asked again.
“We were arguing and,” he stopped.
“You didn’t do anything to her did you?” JC asked. Justin held his head down in shame. “Justin?”
“I don’t know what came over me JC. I don’t even remember what happened. I had had a few drinks, and she started all this bullshit about leaving me and it just happened.”
“You hit her?”
“Yes,” she said with shame filling his heart and voice. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Bro, this is bad.”
“She told them that she didn’t want to press charges though.”
“Thank God!” JC yelled. “Justin this is gonna be all over the media.”
“No it isn’t!” Justin screamed.
JC looked around and then said, “dude calm down. Do you want the whole hospital to know you are here? And why?”
“JC this can’t get out.”
“Look, maybe you will get lucky and it won’t,” he said with a lot of hope. He could only imagine what it would do to them if word got out that Justin put his girlfriend in the hospital.
“I just,” he started to say, but was interrupted by the doctor who stopped in front of them.
“Are you here with Annie?” he asked.
“Yes sir I am,” Justin answered.
“Sir, she’s in a lot of pain right now. She’s is really banged up. She has two broken ribs and a lot of bruising. Her left cheekbone has a very small fracture in it so she isn’t going to be talking very much for a few days. It should heal relatively soon though. She was very lucky that it didn’t break and protrude from underneath and go into the eye. She does have excessive swelling on the whole left side of her face, but we’re hoping that most of it goes down later today, or tomorrow. we have her being fed with an NG tube for tonight and part of tomorrow most likely, depending on how she feels and if she can open her mouth enough for chewing. Her jaw didn’t break, but it was knocked out of place so we did have to fix that. You can go in and see her now, but she is sleeping. I recommend that you don’t wake her up. The pain killers work better when she is sleeping.”
Justin sat there in complete silence the whole time that the doctor was talking. He couldn’t believe that he had caused that much pain to her. It didn’t even seem like it was more than a simple hit to him. He remembered nothing of all the damage he actually caused.
JC was in awe at what the doctor said. He had known Justin for a very long time, and he never seemed like the type that would do that. He had just assumed that she had a few cuts and bruises to the face, but nothing to the extremity of what the doctor had just explained. JC looked over at Justin and wanted to take away some of the pain that he knew Justin had to have been feeling.
“She’s on floor three, room 241,” the doctor said and then turned and walked off.
“Do you want me to go with you?” JC asked.
“JC I swear. I didn’t know I did,” he tried to say.
“Right now you just need to get your act together and be there for Annie. Thank your lucky stars that she didn’t have your ass thrown in jail for what you did to her.”
“But I didn’t mean to,” he said.
“Either way, you need help man. I thought it was just a small hit or something, and she needed stitches. Shit man, you could have killed her,” he said. The thought of it made him sick to his stomach.
“Fuck JC. Do you think I don’t know that?” he yelled as he stood up and started down the hall.
JC hit himself in the forehead. “Stupid,” he said to himself. He knew that Justin wouldn’t do something like this intentionally. Yes, he screwed up really bad, but he needed a friend right then, and he just gave him the runaround. “Wait up, I’ll go with you.”
As much as Justin wanted to just tell JC to fuck off and go home, he knew that he needed someone to fall back on after he saw Annie. He stopped and waited for JC to catch up. JC looked at the fear in Justin’s eyes and pulled him in for a hug before they continued to the elevator to go to the third floor.
JC cringed as he and Justin walked thru the ward on the third floor. He hated being around sick people. This was mostly because he hated the fact that there was nothing that he could do for them, except to pray for them to get better. JC looked, glanced, into the rooms as they passed them. He got choked up when he saw a mother leaning over the bed holding onto her two year old child’s hand as he lay there helpless with tubes in his frail body.
Slowly JC and Justin walked down the long hallway until they approached room 241. Justin stopped just short of the door and took a deep breath. He was afraid to go inside and see the girl he loved in a state of pure pain. He didn’t want to face the result of something he caused.
“You alright?” JC asked. He placed his hand on the back of Justin’s shoulder and waited for him to respond.
“I’m afraid to see her JC,” he said in a faint voice, almost a whisper.
“You have to Justin. Be strong for her, for she needs all the strength she can get right now.”
“Thank you for coming with me JC.”
“This is what friends are really for. To be there for you when you can’t stand on your own, and when you need the heart of another to keep yours pumping. Go on Justin.”
“Can I have a minute alone with her?” Justin asked.
“Sure man. I’ll just be out here.”
“Thanks,” Justin said and then slowly pushed the door open.
The room was dark except for the small night light slightly adjacent to Annie’s head. Justin’s heart flipped in his stomach when he saw his girlfriend laying in the bed with IV’s in her arm and a tube down her nose. She looked even worse that the doctor had made it sound, and that was bad.
Her face was indeed swollen, but it was also all black and blue. The only area that showed fresh flesh was the bottom right side of her face. It must have been the only area that she managed to protect. While she was on the floor and Justin was kicking her, her head was banging into the floor and rubbing against the rug, so that was the only spot of her face that she could keep covered and safe.
She had a wrap over the middle section of her face to protect where her cheek bone had been fractured. It rested under her eyes, and ended just below her nose, but it had a small hole where her nostrils were and where the NG tube went in. Her once before beautiful eyes, were closed and her slim sexy lips were swollen.
Justin’s eyes filled with tears as he looked at her. Would she ever forgive him for what he did to her? He walked a little closer to her and place his hand on top of hers. He rubbed the pad of his thumb over her hand and continuously told her how much he loved her and how sorry he was.
“Baby, you mean so much to me. I don’t know what came over me, but it won’t happen again. I can stop it. I just let me temper get the best of me. The fans don’t hate you. They love you. I only said that because I was afraid. Because I knew that they loved you for the person that you are. I don’t know if that is why they love me. I know that you aren’t with me just because I am famous. You love me. Obviously you love me or my ass would be sitting in a jail cell right now for what I did to you. You have to know that I didn’t mean it.”
Justin stopped when he felt her fingers move. It was most likely an involuntary act, but he took it to heart and hoped that it was a sign of some sort of understanding and forgiveness.
“I love you Annie. I don’t know how often I tell you that. Know that I mean it though. Please know that you mean everything to me and I couldn’t take it right now if you don’t forgive me.” He paused again and glanced over her again. “Let me be your angel again baby please. I’m so sorry.”
Justin held his head down and shut his eyes. Flashing images of what happened swept through his mind and he tried to quickly shake them out. He could vividly see Annie lying on the floor crying. He could see himself falling to the floor to hold her once he realize what he had done. He once again tried to shake the though. That night wasn’t one that he wanted to remember. All he wanted was for things to go back to normal. When everything was perfect, or so it seemed.
About ten minutes later Justin finally had collected himself to get up and go back out to where JC was. He stopped promptly at the door when he saw JC sitting on a small rugged step just outside the door. He was talking to a little girl in a wheelchair, no older than six. She had long brown hair and dark brown eyes. Quite a cute little girl. He leaned against the door and watched as JC and the girl talked.
“I watch you on TV every time you are on,” the child said.
“I’m glad someone does,” he answered back with a smile.
The little girl laughed as she caught JC’s sarcastic remark. “Everyone does!” she exclaimed.
JC laughed at her cute little voice trying to convince JC that every fan watched them consistently. “So how old are you?”
“I am five, but I will be six in four days.”
“Wow, you’re getting up there darlin’,” he joked.
“Yup,” she said with a smile. She had a small IV pole attached to the back left side of her chair and it led to the small IV entrance in the middle of her left arm. “Mommy and Daddy are gonna bring me cake,” she squealed.
JC hated knowing that the little girl would be in the hospital on her birthday. “I bet you are happy about that,” he said with a smile.
“Very!” she replied. “And I am going to get NSYNC stuff too. My brother told me he saw some in her room,” she giggled.
JC laughed. He remember when he was little and he and his brother and sister used to hunt the house looking for Christmas and birthday gifts. “Well I hope you enjoy them all,” he said. “And I hope you have a very happy birthday angel.” JC reached in his pocket and took out a piece of paper he had stuffed in there earlier that day. “Here sweetie. I want you to keep this,” he said. “What’s your name?”
“Diane,” she said with delight.
JC wrote on the paper and gave it to her. "It says, 'Diane. Keep your head high. You are an angel from God himself. Love JC.'”
A tear filled her eyes as she thanked him. “I’ll always keep it,” she said and held it close to her. “Why are you here anyway? Are you sick?”
“No baby. I’m not sick.”
“He came with me, to visit a very special person,” Justin said in response to her question.
“Wow, you too?” she said with glee.
Justin let out a small laugh. “Yes, me too.”
“Justin this is Diane. Her birthday is in four days. She's gonna be the big six!”
“Oh, time to celebrate,” he said.
“Yup!”
“Well would you mind if I wrote on the paper that JC did? I’d like you to keep part of me for your birthday too.”
“You would?” she asked as she handed him the paper.
“You bet,” he said and put the pen to the paper. “Diane,” he said as he wrote the small message. “May God bless you always. Be strong! Love Justin.”
“This is the best day of my life,” she said.
The little girls happiness brought an ounce of joy to Justin’s torn heart. JC’s heart filled with joy by just knowing that he had made a difference in some child’s day. JC smiled and leaned in to give Diane a hug before he and Justin left. Justin did the same.
“Maybe I will see you again angel,” JC said.
“Maybe,” she smiled. “Thanks for the note. I’ll keep it close. Have to have proof that I didn’t dream it up,” she giggled. Justin and JC laughed too.
The two guys smiled at her and JC put his hand on Justin’s back as they walked off. “Was it bad?” he asked.
“Worse than you could imagine,” he said as they trailed off down the hallway. “Worse than that even,” he said and held his head down.
Justin shuffled his feet and ran his hand down the rail of the hallway. “JC what am I supposed to say to her when I see her tomorrow?”
JC looked over at his best friend and wished that he could take away some of the pain. “I don’t know Justin. It’ll come to you I am sure.”
“But what if I say something wrong? Jace, what if she tells me she doesn’t ever want to see me again?”
“That is something that you are going to have to prepare for. She may very well say that same thing. I know that she loves you, but this has to be just as hard on her as it is on you, probably harder. She’s going to have to make a choice on whether to forgive you and hope that it never happens again, or,” he was cut short by Justin breaking in.
“It won’t happen again. I told you, I just lost it.”
“I know J, but she might not see it that way.”
It was pitch black out as Justin opened the door out of the hospital. The only noise was that of the chirping crickets. “I still don’t know what came over me,” he said as JC walked past him.
JC turned to him and stopped in front of his path. “Tell me what happened,” JC said. “I wanna know.”
“No you don’t,” Justin said and tried to walk around JC.
JC moved over so that Justin couldn’t pass him. “Yes I do.”
“I don’t know exactly. We were at my place, just talking and she mentioned something about all the reporters that had been following us around lately.”
“Uh huh,” JC nodded.
“Well somehow it got into a heated argument and I was saying that it was all about the fame and that people didn’t respect me for me, but instead because I am famous.”
“Justin you know that isn’t totally true,” JC tried to say.
“I know, but you wonder sometimes ya know?”
“Unfortunately, yeah I know.”
“Well, I ended up saying harsh thing to her about what the fans say about her.”
“Justin the fans love her,” he broke in.
“I know that. I just wanted to upset her because she upset me.”
“Two wrongs,” he started.
“Don’t make a right,” Justin finished. “I know that. I just wasn’t thinking. Well, she threatened to leave me, and I lost it. I can’t imagine life without her. She keeps me sane when things are crazy with work and stuff. I couldn’t stand hearing her say it, so I stopped her.”
“By hitting her,” JC said.
Justin gulped and nodded. “JC I swear I didn’t mean it. I just have issues about being left alone when I need someone.”
“We’re always gonna be here for you Justin,” JC said friendly.
“I know C, but this is different somehow. Anyway, that’s what happened. Then I called 911 and got to the hospital and called you.”
“I’m glad you called me J. You didn’t need to do this on your own.”
“I couldn’t have done it on my own,” Justin said with his head held in shame.
“Lift your head. Come on. I’ll take you home. You should get some rest and try to get up here early before she wakes up.”
“Yeah. Thanks C,” he said and then pulled JC in for a brotherly hug.
“Anytime Justin. Anytime.”