Chapter 3: Hit Me
I could her yelling and things breaking around me. Yet I could not do anything but lay there for a moment. My world was broken, and the sound of everything made me want to hide my mind into the farthest shadows, and retreat from the chaos.
Then I heard my wife scream.
I couldn't move at first, the minute I tried to lift my head I felt the world spin, and my stomach tried to show the world what I had eaten that morning. I felt pain, such hurtful vibrations of pain, moving over me like waves on the sand before a storm. I felt flooded, and hurt, but she yelled again. I lifted my head.
The man had her by the arm, but she was pushing him away, screaming to stop. The man was screaming at her, and trying to still get to me, but my little, amazing and beautiful wife would not allow it. As big as I was, as tough as I had become, there she was, protecting me.
I screamed,
"Get away from my wife!" at the man trying to lift my head.
The world kept spinning around me. There was glass up and down my arms, I was wet from something, and I could see blood. Nothing felt right, but I was desperate to defend the love of my life. I dragged myself across the floor, slowly at first, then trying to grab the shelf in front of me to support me getting up.
That's when I heard another bottle shatter. This man, after all that, was still not done with me.
"Let him out!" my wife screamed at the store attendants.
It was then that I realized they had locked this man in with me.
"Let me out!" the man screamed at them, and when he was clearly ignored, he threw another bottle at my head and began to try to attack again. At this point I was still attempting to make it back to my feet, but I kept slipping on glass and falling back to the floor.
I could still hear the yelling around me, but the world just muted itself to the sounds of the man in the store with me, and the glass continuing to shatter around me when he could not leave the store. I caught a glimpse of a few of the people around me. They were all standing to the side with their cell phones out. Not a single person there moved to stop this man from finishing what he started, except for my heroic queen.
The fear inside me wasn't for me at all, it wasn't even a thought. I kept thinking of the man hurting my wife, the thought making me ready to take another nine bottles to the head if it would stop him.
"Get away from my wife!" I screamed again, and was rewarded with another bottle smashing behind me.
I had the feeling that my time was over. A true feeling, not the feeling of just fear, but a feeling that came with an acceptance to what I thought was my end.
Then the bottles stopped.
Someone had unlocked the door, after five full minutes of being attacked, assaulted, having my wife violated, it was finally over.
I looked around the room. Aside from the man now being gone, the room full of people was just standing there, still watching me, recording me with the lens that is sure to make everything seem unreal. I was mad. I was in pain. They just stood there while this man tried to end my life.
Somehow, I had a wave of anger and adrenaline take over me. I had made it to my feet and turned towards the people with the cameras.
"Forget this city!" I screamed at them "Is this fun to you? Have I proven that you can't beat me? Nine bottles couldn't stop me!" I screamed at them, and collapsed back down to the floor, writhing there nauseous. The world spun again, but there she was. My wife, her tender hands cupping my head in her lap.
The lights were too bright, everything was too loud. I saw officers walking in and out and asking question. The world was a blur, yet somehow, I managed to laugh at the officers that I wasn't pressing charges. I had no faith in them. Where were they during the attack? Where was anyone? Only my wife, my rock, my world.
She was still holding me.
"They sent an ambulance to the assailant sir," an officer said walking in front of me. I could only see the bottom of his uniform and his feet. I closed my eyes. "They got the address mixed up and are sending an ambulance now." He finished
"Are you kidding me?" the other officer asked, "he's been laying here for almost twenty minutes!" I heard him say.
To me it just didn't matter, my world had been broken, but my heart was untouched. My wife had stood by me, when nobody else did. When all the other people around me had looked at is as entertainment, pulling out their phones to show off what they witnessed later, my wife had tried to fight back. She was the only hero that night.
The ambulance man finally showed himself, accompanied by his co workers and a stretcher. They loaded me onto it, which sent sparks across my world like the forth of July. The pain was unbearable, and I needed to puke.
After loading me into the ambulance, they took me to the nearest hospital where I was admitted. Luckily, my injuries were serious enough to make it quick. After running a few tests, my wife and I sat quietly in the room with the lights off. It was too much for me.
"Thank you so much Simone." I said, tears swelling in my eyes. She deserved the world and I couldn't even hold my head up. "I love you so much baby, but what you did what stupid."
She just held me tight to her chest. I could feel the warmth of skin through her shirt, and her heart beating quickly in her chest. She was still scared.
"Babe, you know I think they would have come back sooner if it was serious enough. Waiting this long has got to be a sign that its not life threatening." I said, thinking to calm her.
"I'm so mad that they locked him in." she said, which took me by surprise. "The clerk told me its policy to lock the doors as soon as any of the store items are broken. That just makes me so upset! Since when is the value of a wine bottle more important than the lives of the people in the store!" she finished heatedly.
I couldn't agree more, but as I went to respond there was a knock.
"Hello? Everything ok?" a mans voice said from the other side of the door.
"Yes" I said quietly, assuming it was the doc, which it was.
"Am I dying?" I asked jokingly, which he didn't think was a funny as I did. Judging by the look of daggers she shot me I knew that Simone didn't find it very funny either.
"No, I don't think your dying Conner, but its certainly a serious injury." He said walking up to his computer and having a seat in his short little stool. "There is a break above the left ear, and your hand is broken. The impact from the bottle the man threw at you has shifted your brain some, and it caused some internal bleeding." He finished, looking at me for a reaction.
I just stared at my wife, she knew what he was talking about, but I knew her. Her look was one of hope, yet still worried.
"How bad is the bleeding?" she asked him.
I guess they forgot I was in the room.
"We think the blood in his brain is coming from the break in the skull itself, and not from the damage of the brain hemorrhage." He replied calmly, which she nodded to, and looked at me with concern.
"We will need to keep Conner here for a few days to make sure the blood doesn't get any worse, and ensure his condition will allow him to go home without our assistance."
"My wife is a nurse." was about all I could get out. I was still in shock that my head had broken open.
"Then you're in good hands," the doctor replied with a laugh and a look at my wife.
I assumed it was to check her confidence level. She, like she always did, rose to the occasion. With a look between the two of them and a nod, the doctor wished me the best and retreated from the room.
Before I could ask my wife how she felt, there was immediately another knock, this one a bit louder. I looked at my wife curiously, and she walked to the door and opened it slowly. It was the sheriff that had been first on scene back at the store. His face looked grim.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone