Chapter 49: 2

We were led outside while Nathan was loaded on a stretcher and onto an ambulance when my parents finally pulled up, my father the first one out of their SUV.  There was a trail of steam coming out of his ears as one of the officers was questioning me. "Are you questioning this minor without a guardian present?" The officer stumbled over his next words and scratched his red beard to stall, but my father was having none of it. "Is my daughter being arrested?  If so, was she read her Maranda Rights?" I had not been read such rights, but I wasn't about to speak up unless the officer outright lied. "No sir, we were just asking her a few questions to try and understand what exactly happened here and why we have a boy with a bullet wound in his leg." At the officer's words, my mom and dad's heads whipped to my direction in surprise and astonishment, then their gazes shifted over to the cop car that Kieran was being detained at. "That was me, I shot him.  It was self defense.  He was trying to kill me, he threatened my entire family if I didn't come, we have proof." I almost allowed my rage to overtake me and continue to defend myself, but my father spoke instead, his haunted eyes attempting to hold their guarded look but I could tell that he was scared. "Caroline, not another word.  Officer, my daughter is clearly in a state of emotional distress and has clear injuries that need to be looked at in the hospital.  Is she being charged with a crime at this time?" The officer looked around and tried to get ahold of someone on his walkie talkie before sighing and rubbing his eyes with his forefinger and thumb. "No, not at this time.  You are free to go, just don't leave the county, we might need you for further questioning." The handcuffs didn't slip off as easily as they had gone on and caught on my wrist as the officer clamored his way through an apology to my father and then we marched over to where Kieran was being questioned and, since he was still seventeen, my dad performed the same act once more. The officers offered to take me to the hospital in the ambulance but I declined and slid into the black SUV with my parents and Kieran. The new car smell was a stark contrast to the rotten fishy scent that had been clogging up my nostrils for the past hour and a half, but the copper scent of blood never left me. I took a deep breath of the clean air. The first safe breath I'd taken in so long.  I didn't notice the wave of happy tears trailing down my face until the salt slid into my cracked lip and the sting reminded me that I was actually hurt. "Caroline Amber Rogers, you shot a man in the leg?!" My mother's eruption and shock on her face lightened up when she noticed my tears, but I smiled through them. I had so much to smile about.  I beat him, once and for all. A giggle erupted in my chest, something that seemed so out of place in the deathly quiet of the vehicle, and I felt as if I was going mad. I felt out of control, anxious, like the smallest thing could set me off at any moment. Everyone was in a quiet state of denial and shock on the short ride to the hospital and decided to ignore my insane outburst.  I noticed my mother's body tense as we passed the cancer treatment center, probably remembering her excruciating time there. The sterile scent of the ER hit me with a vengeance as the double doors slid open, my hand never leaving Kieran's as my parents walked in front of us to sign me in. "I can't believe it's really over." I walked into Kieran's tight embrace but flinched back a little as the pain swallowed me up for a moment, my ribs aching and pulsing in torture as I realized one of them must have been broken.  I wasn't a stranger to broken bones. "It's over.  You did it yourself, and although I am kind of pissed that you didn't include me, I'm just glad you're safe." "Me...me t-too..." I trailed off, a coldness presenting itself in my veins that hadn't been there before. The trembling in my hands turned into an all over tremor and before I knew it, I was convulsing on the dirty tile floor of the ER, counting every ugly design in my peripheral vision as the world went dark before me.