Page 9 of Shocking Sapphires
I hadn’t realized he was in the room, since he was out of my line of vision. It hurt too much to even think about moving my head around to look at him.
“Let’s give him a little while longer.” The woman’s tone was pleading.
The man reluctantly agreed with her, raising serious red flags in my mind.Why would she want to keep me from seeing my doctor? Were they deranged stalker fans, who thought they knew me and wanted me all to themselves? Why did they have my baby?
The concerned thoughts swirled around making my head throb even harder. My biggest worry was for Scout. It didn’t make sense for a random couple to have custody of him. He should have been placed with an agency, until I recover enough to get out of here and take care of him myself.
When Scout began to whimper, the woman started bouncing and swaying as she patted his back. Her soothing ministrations worked almost immediately.
Once my son quieted down, she turned her attention back to me. She seemed delighted to find that my eyes were still open. “Good morning, sunshine!”
I blinked in response, not wanting to risk escalating my pain level again by speaking unnecessarily.
Not seeming offended in the slightest by my silence, the woman went on. “I’m Molly Malone, and this is my brother Max. He is the firefighter that found Scout at the station, and we’ve been taking care of him ever since.”
Even though her words were obviously meant to be reassuring, it was a great deal of information for my sluggish brain to absorb.
“We already love him to pieces,” the woman revealed as she kissed the top of my baby’s head, reigniting my concerns about her mental state.
Leaning in, she added, “We know who you are and have even seen a couple of your movies.”
At this, her brother released a disbelieving ‘pfft’ sound from his lips before saying, “You know you’ve seen every single one of his movies multiple times, Molly. Don’t even try to deny it, or I’ll tell him about the giant shirtless poster of him you had hanging in your room during high school.”
“Max!” the woman half-shouted, obviously furious with her brother.
The loud yell had me squeezing my eyes tightly shut. I really just wanted this obnoxious woman and her sibling to deliver Scout to the proper authorities and go away, but since they had my son, they had all of the power.
Forcing my mind to focus on speaking, I whispered, “Once I’m better, I’ll take a photograph with you and autograph your poster to thank you for temporarily watching Scout.”
My hopes that this would appease them enough that I could suggest they take my son to a licensed foster care facility until I was able to take care of him were dashed when the woman tossed back her head and laughed before saying, “Oh, we want way more than that from you. Max is right… Iamone of your biggest fans.” She paused to toss a glare at her brother before continuing, “So, I am going to take care of you and Scout for as long as it takes.”
A chill raced down my spine as mental images of how the famous author inMisery was ‘taken care of’ by his biggest fan. Suddenly, I began to wonder if I was in a hospital at all. It seemed beyond strange that a legitimate medical facility would let fans hang out in my room and babysit my son.
The medical equipment, puce green walls, and antiseptic stench made it seem like a real hospital room, but had these two loons somehow managed to kidnap me and Scout?
Panic surged through my veins as I worried that we might have been stolen from our lives. Not caring how much it was going to hurt, I scrambled to sit up, so I could have a look out the window.
Molly’s eyes were filled with concern as she warned me, “Don’t try to move.”
The fear that I’d been experiencing was nothing compared to the sheer terror that overwhelmed me as the realization swept over me and I shouted, “I can’t move my legs!”
8
Grant
The doctors had tried to explain it to me, but the blood was rushing too fast in my brain to absorb it all. Frightening words like traumatic spinal cord injury and permanent paralysis were tossed around like they meant nothing––even though they actually meant the end of life as I knew it.
The good news was that I did appear to be in a legitimate medical facility. The bad news was that the chance of me ever walking again was pretty much nonexistent. The doctors refused to use absolute words like ‘never,’ but I could tell by their grim expressions and the sobering statistics they shared that they didn’t believe me regaining the use of my legs to be a true possibility.
I couldn’t comprehend that this was my new lot in life. It simply couldn’t be right. I stared at my limp, useless legs as the physicians droned on. This had to be a terrible mistake or frightening nightmare, but nothing the doctors said gave me any hope that I would wake up from this horror any time soon.
Molly, the crazed fan that was somehow left in charge of my baby, at least had the decency to leave my hospital room while the doctors shared the devastating prognosis with me.
Once the doctors finally left, I stared up at the ceiling. Before, when I’d wanted to stay awake and get answers to my questions, I couldn’t manage to keep my eyes open. Now, when I craved the blessed oblivion of sleeping and the potential relief of never waking up, I couldn’t doze off.
I silently cursed my up-until-now blessed life. Perhaps if I’d faced some serious trials and tribulations before, Imightbe more prepared to deal with this horrific new reality. But I’d been the golden boy since my acting debut as a teenager. I had starred in blockbuster hit after hit after hit. People couldn’t get enough of me, and I lapped up the attention like a starving man.
I was theitguy in Los Angeles and everyone knew it––especially me. In an instant, that had all been taken away, never to return.
