An Incest Birthday

I watched as two bullets hit him in the chest and he fell to the ground, smashing his head against the concrete as he went down.

"Raaaaaaandyyyyyy!" I screamed as I ran to him, oblivious to the guy still holding the gun.

I kneeled over him watching the blood slowly seep out of the wounds on his chest as he struggled to breathe. "Oh my god oh my god oh my god! SOMEBODY HELP ME! SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME! The ambulance is already coming Randy please stay awake!"

I looked at his as he struggled to breathe. He looked like he was fading away with each passing second, I was scared to death I might lose him right there.

"No! don't you do this to me Randy! LOOK AT ME! YOU FUCKING LOOK AT ME!" I screamed as I grabbed both sides of his head and made him look at me.

I looked around at the crowd of people that formed around us for something, anything that would help me get out of this nightmare. I could feel blood on his head from where it hit the ground and knew he busted his head open. Ashley was still frozen in place standing in that same spot shaking, just as scared as I was.

"GIVE ME SOMETHING TO PUT UNDER HIS HEAD! You aren't going anywhere you hear me! You're not gonna leave me by myself, I need you!"

I glanced back at Ashley who was still standing there with that stupid look on her face.

"ASHLEY! GIVE ME SOMETHING FOR HIS HEAD!"

I snapped her from whatever she was in and she took off her hoody and gave it to me. I wrapped it up like a pillow and put it under his head, making sure to keep his head inverted.

"Rita... Rita I'm... I'm so sorry. I never..."

"Save it Ashley, I really could care less right now!"

I didn't even think about what I said, I just said it. I didn't care if it hurt her feelings or not, I was only concerned with one thing right now, keeping Randy alive.

"You have to put pressure on his wounds to stop the bleeding, I saw it on TV," Ashley said.

I looked at her, and she looked like she was trying to help, so I tried it, anything to help keep him alive. I put both of my hands directly over the wounds and pushed down hard, it did stop the bleeding a little, but it also put him in a lot more pain.

"It's supposed to hurt, but it'll stop him from bleeding out," she said as I glared at her.

I held my hands in place and looked at him while trying not to cry. He looked like he was in so much pain I could bear to see him like that, but I wasn't gonna leave, not even for a second.

"WHERE IS THE FUCKING AMBULANCE!" I screamed at noone in particular.

"The dispatcher said they should be here any second," someone responded.

Some guys in all the confusion had managed to get the gun from the guy and had him pinned to the ground, I wanted so badly to go over there and kick him in the face, but I needed to stay here and keep Randy alive until help got here. It felt like forever, and they hadn't shown up yet, I was beginning to get even more worried than I already was. He drew my gaze back to him when I felt him struggling underneath me, still not saying a word. He was starting to lose energy, I could see him start to fade in and out, and I went into full on panic mode.

"No no Randy look at me, stay with me! Don't you give up on me Randy!"

He tried to talk but nothing came out, but with his silence came the sound I was desperately listening for, the ambulance. They were close, it sounded like they were a couple streets over.

"The ambulance is almost here Randy, just hold on a little longer, just a little bit longer!"

He makes eye contact with me for a second, and he gets quiet, really quiet. He stops making the breathing noise and he quits moving around. His eyes are fighting with him to stay open, and all I can see is his chest barely inhaling and exhaling, he was slipping away, literally as the ambulance pulled up to the parking lot.

"They're here Randy, keep your eyes open! Keep looking at me! You can't leave me yet, we still have a lot of places to go, a lot of famous people to meet, all the things we wanted to do... come on stay awake, stay with me!"

Not long after I'd finished talking the most horrifying thing in my life happened. He made an attempt to breathe again and again, and then he looked at me, and just stopped moving completely. His eyes fell closed, and he just lay there, not a sound, no movement, nothing.

"Oh my god."

I looked around, at the crowd, at Ashley, not wanting to believe this was happening, but it was, Randy, my Randy, was... I didn't wanna say it, I didn't want it to be true, I wanted to believe he just passed out, but I knew better, I know how these things tend to play out.

My heart sank. I felt like my whole world ended, my life was over. I looked at his still face, and burst into tears. I tried my best to will him awake, he was still bleeding, but slowly, so I tried to convince myself that it was only happening because he was still alive.

"Come on Randy, the paramedics are here, get up!" I cried pushing in on his chest. "Randy they're here get up! GET UP! Please Randy get up!"

The paramedics came into view, one went straight to Randy and the other kneeled right in front of me, taking my hands of Randy and sliding me back until he made me look directly at him.

"Miss, were gonna need you to step back so we can...MISS! MISS!" he said as I tried to get back around to Randy. "Miss, we're gonna do everything we can for him, I promise, but I'm gonna need you to give us some room so we can do our job."

I gave in and moved back out of their way so they could work on Randy. I stood there and watched as they pulled out all kinds of tools and needles and whatnot and used them all back to back on him. This couldn't be real, it couldn't be. I had to be having one of the worst nightmares I've ever had, there's no way this could be real, it's not possible. That had to be the only reasonable explanation, it was the only one I would tell myself. I would not allow myself to believe the love of my life just died in my arms, I wouldn't believe it. I looked down at my hands, covered in so much of Randy's blood, then looked around the crowd of people, and in the process saw the police handcuff the guy who shot Randy and start walking him to the squad car. I lost it. I took off after him and hit him with everything I had, trying my best to hurt him while staining his clothes with Randy's blood.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" I screamed, continuously hitting him as the police tried to move him.

"SOMEBODY GET THIS BITCH OFF ME! SHE'S MESSING UP MY CLOTHES!"

"Hey shut your mouth buddy," the cop holding him by the handcuffs said.

The other cop came around and grabbed me around the waist and sort of lifted me away from him, but it didn't stop me from trying to kick him in the face.

"IF HE DIES I SWEAR TO GOD! I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL..."

"You'll what bitch? You'll die with him? Fucking skank," he laughed.

"HEY! I said SHUT UP! Jenkins get her out of here before she does something stupid!"

He put me down, even though I was still flailing about, and held my shoulders in place so I had to look at him. "Hey, I know you're mad, I don't blame you, but don't give that asshole anything to help his case. We don't want him trying to throw an abuse charge at you, just calm down, and check on your friend, we'll deal with this guy."

Friend. He just doesn't know. He was so much more than that. He let my shoulders go and I walked back over to where they were working on Randy. They had a lot of kits and boxes open and splayed on the ground and were using just as many needles on him as they hovered over him. I watched, not knowing what I was looking at, but I watch to watch, I had to see it, I had to know if tonight would be the last time I see him alive, and it hurt just thinking about it.

"I HAVE A FAINT PULSE! OK LETS GET HIM IN THE TRUCK!" one of the paramedics said.

I perked up immediately. I was elated. I know they still had a long way to go but to hear that made me so happy my heart almost leapt out of my chest. They grabbed the gurney and gathered up all their stuff as they loaded it and Randy onto the truck. I turned away from the truck for a second to collect my feelings and saw the police putting the guy in the back seat of the car. Somehow he found me and just stared at me, and I just stared right back. I wanted to hurt him so bad, I wanted to take a metal baseball bat with razor wire wrapped around it and bash his head in, but that would make me no better than him. I watched the car drive off and clenched my fist looking at it until it turned out of sight.

"Rita! The ambulance is about to leave!" I heard Ashley's voice shout from behind me.

I turned around just as they put Randy and everything else in the truck and were about to head off. I looked at Ashley but didn't say anything, and she went to say something to me but I cut her off by running to the ambulance and hopping in before they closed the doors.

"I'm coming with you," I said as I hopped in the back of the truck before they could object.

"Sit in the back and make sure not to get in the way or touch anything," one of the guys said.

"What hospital are we going to?"

"Mercy General."

"Why! We're closer to Lincoln, what if something happens on the way there!"

"Mercy General has a better facility, they just upgraded the whole emergency wing, Lincoln won't have everything we need on hand immediately, Mercy General is the best shot for him."

I sat down and stopped asking questions so they could work on him. They were blocking most of his body so I didn't get to see much of what they were doing. I was sitting there wondering what to do next when an obvious thought entered my mind, I still had to tell mom and dad what happened. I had been so focused on Randy that they completely slipped from my mind. I didn't know how to tell them, nor did I wanna be the one to tell them, but I didn't have a choice, so I was just gonna be straight and quick, and try to avoid crying. I pulled out my phone and dialed moms contact, noticing I had a missed call from her and dad, with everything that happened I didn't realize how late it was. Even though the blood on my hands had dried by now, it still left a smudge wherever I touched the phone. It didn't take mom long to pick up.

"Where are you, it's almost midnight! Your father and I both called you...ooooh, you two made up didn't you? You probably just finished having make up sex didn't you?" mom laughed.

Her happy attitude only served to make what I had to tell her that much worse. I gathered myself, took a deep breath and got straight to the point. "Mom I have to tell you something."

Her voice pattern changed when she heard my voice. "What is it honey? Oh no you and Randy got caught didn't you? I told you two to be careful..."

"No mom we didn't get caught," I cut her off. Knowing what I was about to tell her broke me down, and I couldn't hold the tears back.

"Why are you crying honey? Where's Randy?"

"He got shot!" I said as clear as I could while still crying my eyes out.

She laughed like it was part of a joke. "Haha very funny Rita, put him on the phone."

"He really got shot mom!"

She was quiet for a second. "Rita if this is your idea of a joke it's not funny!"

"I'M NOT JOKING MOM!" I screamed as I wiped my face with my sleeve. "We were at the ice cream shop arguing with Ashley then that guy I told you about showed up and Ashley started belittling him then she slapped him and he pulled out a knife, he was gonna stab her but Randy wrestled the knife away from him and they fought then he pulled out a gun and shot him!"

I could hear her start to panic. "Oh my god! Oh my god! MIKE! LISA! Not my baby! Not my Randy! Are you ok? Did you get hurt?"

"I'm ok, he shielded both me and Ashley from getting hit."

"I wanna know EXACTLY what happened! what hospital are you in?"

"We're still in the ambulance, we're going to Mercy General."

"Lincoln is closer to us! Why are you going all the way... you know what never mind, we're coming up there right now, MIKE! LISA! Don't you let him out of your sight you hear me Rita! Oh my god I can't believe my baby got shot!"

"I won't, please hurry mom," I said as I hung up.

I sat there still trying to get a look at what they were doing to him but they still had him blocked off. The loud ringing of the siren drowned out any sound the paramedics made that weren't screams, so that made it hard to hear what was going on, which was killing me.

I looked at Randy's blood on my hands again, and couldn't help but notice the irony. While Ashley was the one who escalated everything, it was my fault he was there in the first place. If we had talked everything out, we would've been at home cuddled up in our bed, but I was stubborn, and didn't wanna talk. I'd give anything to be cuddled up with him now, for him to wrap his arms around me and tell me he loved me, I'd give anything, I just wanted him back.

"HIS EYES ARE OPEN! LET'S GET HIS PULSE GOING!" one of the paramedics said.

I snapped from my guilt trip and stood up as much as I could in the truck and came around the side of one of the paramedics. Randy's eyes were open, but he looked dazed, like he had spun around in a chair a million times and tried to look at something like nothing happened. He turned in my direction and looked at me. For the next two minutes he didn't take his eyes off me, and I didn't look away from him either. He squinted in pain with everything they did to him, but he never stopped looking at me. I'd never fully stopped crying since the phone call with mom, but looking at him seemed to start me up again.

"I love you," I mouthed to him, holding my hands to my chest as I said it.

He tried to acknowledge he heard me, but any movement he tried to make was stopped by the paramedics, who were still working frantically to save him.

"Give me the... no the other one, yeah that one, two doses."

I tried to see what it was they were giving him but the writing was too small, all I noticed was it had a red end with stripes. I made a mental note to check it later and find out what it was. Whatever it was didn't look like it did much, nothing really happened and he still looked woozy, but as long as his eyes were open I was happy. They pulled out another one of those needles, this time with a yellow end and were prepping it for him when out of nowhere he started to shake, slow at first but it intensified with each passing second, faster and more violent looking.

"He's going into shock! Hold him down, keep him from moving around!"

I panicked, not knowing what I was seeing but I knew it wasn't good. "DO SOMETHING!"

"He's fading! Dammit I'm not about to lose this kid now! Get me the capsule from the second shelf with the green tag!"

I got as close as I could without interfering. I couldn't see what they were doing with the capsule thing, but I could still see his face, and he was still shaking violently. I was still panicked because I didn't know what was going on other than he went into shock, and that they popped some kind of capsule but I didn't know what was in it, or if it helped, then slowly his shaking started to slow down, little by little, until he came to a complete stop. His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing, which I was at least still happy for the way this night was going. All of a sudden I could feel the ambulance start to slow down, and then we came to a complete stop. The back doors opened all the way and two more paramedics were standing there.

"Ma'am, we're gonna need you to step aside so we can get to our patient please," one said.

I didn't argue, I just climbed down out of the truck and stepped aside so they could bring Randy out. They wheeled him out of the truck and rolled him through the hospital, two keeping a close eye on him and the other two directing them through the hospital. I followed right along with them, making sure not to let him out of my sight. After making a few turns we hit the emergency wing of the hospital and turned to a room where there were a team of doctors waiting for him to be rolled in. I knew they weren't gonna let me in, but it didn't stop me from trying, so I wasn't surprised when one of the doctors stopped me at the door.

"You're gonna have to wait out here Miss," the female doctor said.

I saw them do the thing where they transferred him between beds and then the double doors in front of me closed and the emergency light came on. I stood there, covered in blood, a million things running through my head, but none of them could do anything to help Randy right now. It was out of my hands. All I could do now is wait, wait for the doors to open and the doctors to come out, wait for some good news or some bad news. I felt so helpless.

I didn't move from that spot, I just stood there, looking at the door, waiting for it to open, but at the same time not wanting it to. The doctor could come through the door and say he's gonna be fine, but there was a chance I may never see him again. Just thinking about never seeing him again hurt so much, I don't think I would ever be able to deal with it. Ashley. Words could not express how badly I wanted to bash her face in. The only reason I didn't do it before was because I was too concerned about Randy, if she popped up now who knows how I'd react. Forget about her, I'd had enough negative thinking, I needed to be thinking about Randy, and how we were gonna get out of this. I was still standing at the door when I heard a bunch of erratic footsteps heading towards me, and I turned around to see mom, dad, and Aunt Lisa all in around the house clothes, on the brink of crying as they approached me. Mom held out her arms, and I walked right into them as we both cried, holding on to each other for support.

"Did you hear anything?" mom asked.

"No, they wouldn't let me in, they're operating on him," I responded.

She pulled back from me and wiped her face as she looked directly at me. "Tell me the truth, how bad is it? Do they think he'll make it?"

Everyone's eyes were glued to me waiting for me to answer, which was harder than I thought. "He got shot twice, in the chest and the shoulder from what I saw. He kept blacking out and waking up between the ice cream shop and getting here, then right before we pulled into the hospital, he went into shock...and...I don't know, they wouldn't let me see him after that."

Mom immediately started crying again. "My baby, not my baby..."

Dad walked over and hugged her, and she squeezed him back as she cried into his shoulder. "Don't worry honey, he's tough, he'll pull through this in no time."

Aunt Lisa walked over to me and hugged me and I hugged her back, finding comfort in being around family. "He'll be ok Rita, like your father said, he's tough, two little bullets aren't gonna keep him from us...from you."

"I'm just so scared Aunt Lisa, he was so miserable and he lost a lot of blood, what if they..."

"Hey, don't think like that, he'll be ok. We're waiting to see how long before he gets to go home, nothing else. We need to stay positive in situations like this."

"Where's the fucking prick who did this? Did he get away?" dad asked, right on cue.

"No dad, the police got him, these guys held him down until police came and got him."

"They better give him the death penalty or I'm gonna do it myself."

"Mike!" mom said snapping her head up from his shoulder.

"Sorry honey, I'm just pissed off. It's always the good kids that pay the price. Randy didn't do anything to anybody, and for someone to just walk up and shoot him, I just don't get it."

It was silent for a minute. He didn't know the whole story, and I didn't wanna tell it, but I knew they were gonna ask. I was just hoping this was a really bad nightmare, and I was gonna wake up any second from it, and everything would be normal and Randy would be fine and we would go back to the way we were before everything went downhill, before all this.