After kissing her longer than necessary for a goodbye, I leave her and head home. I’m exhausted. The events of last night and today have caught up with me. Hopefully, it's all smooth sailing from here.
37
Avery
Opening my eyes this morning is much easier than when I tried to do it yesterday. Considering all that transpired, I slept quite well, even with the interruption of the nurses checking on me every few hours. My body still aches but it's a different ache than yesterday, it’s a healing ache, if that makes sense. Sitting up, I flex and roll my shoulders to stretch. My abdomen throbs from the movement. I lift my shirt and see the prong marks from the Taser. Running my hand over them, I sigh and think how much worse it could have been had Bay not arrived. A noise from over near the window startles me and when I look over, I smile. Curled up in a ball on the chair is Baylor. “Bay,” I whisper-shout. She stirs but doesn’t wake up. “Baylor,” I yell a little louder. This time her eyes open and when she sees me awake she sits up.
“You okay? Do you need anything? Do you want me to call Flynn? What can I do?” She says all of this in one breath.
Shaking my head side to side. “No, I’m all good. What are you doing here?”
“I didn’t want you to be alone so I came back. You looked so peaceful when I got here, I was going to climb in with you like we did in the past, but I wasn’t sure if I’d be welcome.” A tear breaks free. “Avie, I cannot express how sorry I am for what I’ve done recently.”
Reaching out my hand, I flick my fingers at her. She jumps up and takes my hand in hers and sits next to me. “BayBay, you are my sister and I will always be here for you…even when you do stupid shit.”
“You are the best sister ever.”
“I know. Now you know what will make you the best sister?”
“What?” She wipes her nose on her shoulder sleeve and I shudder.
“That’s gross, Bay.”
“Whatevs. Now, what will get me into the best sister book?”
“Coffee.”
“Huh?”
“Let’s go to the cafeteria and get coffee.”
“I’d like that.”
Bay helps me slip my robe on—thank you Cress for bringing me a bag—and then she bends down to assist with my Birkenstocks. Once I’m dressed, as such, we link arms and head down to the cafeteria.
Since it’s early, and we are the only ones here, we get our coffees quickly and take a seat. We each take a sip and spit it back into the cup. “Oh My God, that tastes—”
“Like shit…actually, it’s worse than shit.” We both laugh. “Ave, there’s a Starbucks across the road, feel like a walk?”
Looking down at what I’m wearing, I hesitate but I really need coffee. “Fuck it. Sure, let's go.”
Linking arms again, we head across the road and fifteen minutes later we each have a grande coffee in hand and contented looks on our faces. “Much better.”
“Much.”
We decide to head back to the hospital grounds, since I’m not really dressed for public viewing. I wave at Clay as we cross the road, he does a double take when he sees us. “Damn, I must be tired, I’m seeing two.”
“Clay, this is my twin, Bay. Bay, this is Clay.”
“We met,” he growls.
“Nice to officially meet you,” Bay offers. “I’m sorry about yesterday.”
Before this awkward encounter can get any more awkward, Clay’s pager goes off and he leaves us to race back to the hospital. I can feel Bay pulling away and retreating into herself. “Stop it, Bay.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
“Do I look dumb?” She goes to say something snarky and I bump her shoulder. “Don’t let others’ opinions or feelings affect you. Yes, you made mistakes but those who matter, as in me, are the only people’s opinions you need to worry about. Now, get me back to my bed, I need to rest. This was a huge outing.”
Bay nods and we continue our walk back to the hospital. A van comes screeching into the driveway. Just before we reach the doors, a man jumps out, shoves me to the ground, grabs Bay, and drags her into the vehicle, her kicking and screaming. She’s fighting her assailant, but he’s bigger and stronger. He throws her into the car, slams the door shut, climbs back in, and they drive off.
It all happens so quickly, I don’t have a chance to call for help or do anything.
“Baylor!” I scream at the retreating van. Tears begin to well in my eyes. “Baylor!” I shout again but it’s no use, the van is gone. Security rushes over to me and I look up at them. “My sister, they took my sister.”
38
Flynn
I’m stepping out of the shower when my phone rings. Picking it up, a joyous feeling washes over me when I see it’s Avery calling. “Good morning, beautiful.”
“Flynn,” she blubbers
“Ave lass, what’s wrong?”
“They…they took Bay,” she cries, and the heartache in her voice crushes me.
“Who took Bay?”
“The guys. They finally got her. Flynn, they…they took her.” She sniffs, “Flynn, I need you.”
“I’m on my way.”
“Thank you. Please hurry.”
“I love you, Avery. And I’m sure Bay will be fine, if she’s anything like you, which I suspect she might be, she’ll be okay.”
“I hope you’re right, Flynn.”
Me too. “I’ll be there soon.”
Hanging up, I quickly change and race to the hospital. When I arrive at Western General, the place is swarming with police. An officer is looking over my credentials when I hear my name being yelled. Looking up I see a dishelved Avery running toward me. “Flynn,” she wails as she throws herself at me. My arms wrap around her and she breaks down and cries into my neck.
“Shhhh,” I whisper, “I’m here now.”
She loosens her grip on me. “Flynn, they still haven’t found her. They took BayBay.”
“Lass, give them time. It’s only been an hour.”
“But—” Pressing my finger to her lips I shush her. “No buts, give them time. Now, let's get you back to your room. This won’t be good for your recovery; you are still fragile yourself. You need to get strong so you’re better when she gets back.”
“But Bay needs me to be out looking for her.”
“Ave lass, no. You can’t go looking for her. Those guys have already attacked you once, I won’t let them attack you again. Bay would want you to be safe.”
“But I need to find her, Flynn. I need my twinsie back.”
“She will be back before you know it. Now, back to bed. Let's go.”
We walk inside and are immediately met with Marvin. “No need to call the popo, I was just in the nursery.”
“If I thought that would work, I would call them but I’m pretty sure you’d evade them too,” Helen says. “Can’t wait until you are back at the home.”