Kristen immediately recognized him as the guy she had seen around town a few times and who TJ believed was stalking her. She knew then that he was right. "What the hell Kristen! Get out!" Toni yelled at her shoving her away.
"No, I'm not leaving you like this." The guy came towards Kristen with the knife and swung it at her but she ducked and he missed.
"Damn it Kristen go!" Toni yelled at her. Kristen jumped to her feet but couldn't get out of the front door because he was blocking it. She ran down the hall way and ran into her room slamming the door shut.
"This is just a great time not to have a lock on my door," Kristen said sarcastically to herself. She went over to her messy dresser and began looking through everything trying to find her phone in the mess. "Damn it!" she yelled knocking over her jewelry box. The promise ring AJ had given her fell onto the floor and Kristen picked it up and read the inscription on the inside for the first time. 'If You Knew What I Knew--Love Always, AJ' she read when the door flew open. Kristen clutched the ring in her hand tightly. The guy went up to Kristen and threw her on the floor then sat down on her legs and pinned her arms to the floor. "Why are you doing this?" she asked with fear in her voice.
"I would have thought you would know the answer to that," he said. Kristen just looked at him confused and he continued. "You lied," he finished.
"About what?"
"You lied about being rapped."
"I didn't lie, it was the truth."
"No, it was a lie. And now my little brother is spending three years in prison for something he didn't do. Now you have to pay the price for it."
"That's bull shit!"
"I don't think so," he said as he moved up and sat on her stomach causing Kristen to scream from the pressure on her belly. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Am I hurting you?" he asked sarcastically. He moved down and sat on her legs again and lifted up her shirt revealing her round stomach. "Oh look what we have here. Looks like you're going to be a mommy. So...how far along are you?"
"You bastard, get the fuck off me!" Kristen yelled trying to fight against his grip.
"Too bad your kid won't live long enough for you to give birth to it," he said raising the knife and stabbing Kristen in the stomach as hard as he could. Kristen screamed as tears flooded her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. He continued to stab her six more times in her stomach as she dug her fingers into the carpet on the floor until she began to feel weak. He stopped when he heard police sirens outside and he got off of her and left the room. When Toni saw him run out of the apartment she dropped the phone since she was on the phone with 911 and holding her side she slowly walked down the hall into Kristen's room as she cringed against the pain.
"Oh my God!" Toni yelled as she ran to Kristen's side. She saw all the blood that Kristen was laying in and was all over her. She took both of her hands and tried to apply pressure to as many of the stab wounds as she could. She looked at Kristen's face and noticed she was slowly starting to loose consciousness and her breathing was starting to slow down. "Kristen please don't leave me!" Toni yelled as tears fell from her eyes. Toni started becoming hysterical and started shaking really bad as the paramedics came into the room with two stretchers. One of the paramedics went to pick Toni up and she fell straight to the floor and screamed and cried at Kristen to stay with her. The paramedic put a breathing mask on Toni and lifted her up onto the stretcher and strapped her on. Two people were tending to Kristen while the guy who was tending to Toni and another guy began pushing the stretcher out of the apartment. Nick pulled into the apartment complex parking lot to see ambulances and police cars all over the place. He saw one cop shoving a guy into the back of the a car.
"What happened here?" Nick asked one of the cops.
"Can't release any information," the cop said plainly.
"The hell you can't! My girlfriend lives in these apartments now what happened here?" Nick demanded.
"Fine, two young girls were attacked."
"What?" Nick asked shocked then turned around and saw someone being wheeled out of the building. He took notice of her long dark hair and then heard her screaming. When he made out the one word 'Kristen' he knew it was Toni and took off running towards her. One of the cops tried to grab him and stop him but Nick shoved him to the ground. Nick ran up to Toni and grabbed her hand as he walked with the paramedics. He saw the blood all over Toni and saw her tear streaked face and he didn't even try to hold back his own tears. Nick looked back and saw Kristen being wheeled out covered in blood and saw that she wasn't moving but was laying there as if she were dead. He took notice of her and he felt himself beginning to shake himself but knew he had to remain calm. He saw her being put into the ambulance and noticed something shiny fall out of her hand and land on the ground.
"Sir, you're going to have to follow behind the ambulance," the paramedic said when he was going to get in the ambulance with Toni.
"Alright. I'll see you in a few and I love you," Nick said as he kissed Toni on the forehead. He went running towards his car when he saw what Kristen dropped laying on the floor. He picked it up and saw it was a ring and then read the inscription on the inside. He put the ring in his pocket and got in his car to follow the ambulances. He grabbed his cell phone and dialed AJ's cell phone number. He let it ring forever before hanging up and dialing his home phone number with still no luck. AJ's house was on the way to the hospital so he made a detour knowing he had to get a hold of AJ. He got to AJ's house and saw on the lights were off in the house but was thankful to see that the front door was left unlock. He went inside and saw all of AJ's luggage every where so he went into his room and turned on the light and saw him sleeping in his bed. Nick went into the kitchen and filled up a glass with cold water and went back in AJ's room and threw it on him.
"What the hell!" AJ screamed jumping out of the bed. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked when he saw Nick.
"Don't you ever answer your damn phone!" Nick yelled throwing his pants and shirt at him.
"Not when I'm sleeping."
"Well damn it learn to!"
"Hold up a second. Have you been crying?" AJ asked with a laugh when he saw Nick's red face.
"Don't start with me AJ. You would have been balling like a baby if you had seen Kristen's practically lifeless body."
"Say what?" AJ asked as a serious look formed on his face and he held up his pants.
"Put your damn clothes on! I'll explain on the way to the hospital." AJ practically fell over trying to get his pants on as fast as he could. He flew out the front door with Nick still getting dressed and hopped in Nick's car as he sped down the driveway towards the hospital.
"What the hell is going on Nick?" AJ asked after a couple of seconds of silence.
"I don't know. I get to their apartment building and I see police cars and ambulances all over the place. I ask the cop what happened and he said two girls were attacked by some asshole."
"Who would want to attack them?"
"Would you shut up and let me finish! Anyways, I didn't think it would be Toni and Kristen until I see Toni being wheeled out on a stretcher and she's screaming for Kristen and she's all shaking and has blood on her. Then Kristen is wheeled out and I looked at her and about lost it AJ. She was covered in blood and she wasn't moving," Nick said then looked over at AJ and could tell he was fighting back tears. "They went to put Kristen in the ambulance and she dropped this out of her hand," Nick said reaching in his pocket and pulling out the ring giving it to AJ. AJ stared at it as tears fell down his cheeks and then he put it on his little finger.
"What about the baby?" he asked quietly.
"Fuck AJ, I don't know," Nick said honestly as he floored the gas the rest of the way to the hospital. AJ grabbed the cell phone and called up the other guys and Angela and told them to meet them at the hospital. When they reached the hospital the nurses told them that both girls were in surgery and they had no word on their conditions yet and advised them to wait in the waiting room. About ten minutes later Brian, Angela, Howie, and Kevin all flew into the waiting room to see Nick and AJ whose faces both looked really pale which made Angela start crying because she knew it was bad. Brian put his arms around her and tried to comfort her.
"What happened?" Kevin asked. They all sat down as Nick told them what he had told AJ. Angela was crying even more and the other's eyes started to water. Almost two hours later the doctor came into the waiting room and everyone flew on their feet to find out what was going on.
"How's Toni?" Nick asked really fast.
"Well, Miss Ortiz is out of surgery. She went into shock on the way to the hospital but is okay with that now. We got the stab wound stitched up pretty good and she's been put into a room on the third floor," the doctor said.
"Can I go see her?" Nick asked.
"I'm afraid not tonight. In the morning you can ask one of the nurses what room she is in and you'll be able to see her."
"What about Kristen?" AJ asked and received a blank look from the doctor. "You better fucking tell me that she is okay!" AJ yelled at him.
"Honestly I wish I could but she's not doing that great. She was stabbed seven times in the stomach. She was pregnant and lost the baby. There was no way the baby could have been saved," the doctor said. AJ just stared at him as his eyes started to water.
"What about Kristen?" AJ asked slowly.
"She was stabbed many times and lost an awful lot of blood and..."
"So give her some fucking blood transfusions or some shit like that!" AJ yelled interrupting him.
"Listen, we're doing our best. She's still in surgery but with all of the blood that she lost I don't think she's going to make it."
"What the fuck are you doing out here then! You get your white skanky ass in there and save my girlfriend! I lost my baby and I'll be damned if I lose her too!" AJ yelled shoving the doctor down the hall. Kevin ran up to AJ and grabbed him from behind and pulled him away from the doctor. AJ shoved Kevin off of him as he started crying harder than he ever cried in his life before he completely lost it. He began throwing stuff around that was in the waiting room screaming that he wasn't going to lose Kristen. The way AJ was reacting made every start crying because they felt so bad for him and they didn't want to lose Kristen either. AJ picked up a chair and went to throw it against a wall when Kevin grabbed the chair out of his hands and set it down on the floor.
"AJ you need to calm down," he said. "You're going to get kicked out of here."
"Like hell will I calm down!" AJ yelled through tears. "My entire life is back there dying and these fucking doctors don't think they can do jack shit to save her!"
"I understand," Kevin said trying to give AJ some comfort.
"No Kevin you don't! The past three months I haven't even spoken with her let alone see her and when I get home I find out she's leaving me for good and there's nothing I can do about it!" AJ yelled. His face was now all red and wet from crying and he was beginning to shake. "You don't understand, none of you do! That girl changed me from a bad ass guy into someone I really want to be! Ever since she moved here she has lived through so much shit and I helped her through most of it and now there is nothing either one of us can do for her! Don't fucking tell me you understand!" he yelled then leaned up against the wall and slid down it to the floor where he cried. Brian gave a crying Angela to Howie and he got up and walked over and kneeled down next to AJ.
"AJ what doctors say about someone and whether or not they are going to live or die means doesn't mean anything. I'm living proof of that," he said.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"When I was little doctors gave me a zero percent chance of living and I'm still here. That doctor said he didn't think Kristen was going to make it. He didn't say he knew for a fact and if he did that still wouldn't mean anything. I doubt Kristen is going to give up without a fight." AJ looked at Brian with a tear streaked face for a second and then grabbed him and hugged him.
"Come on AJ, let's get out of here," Nick said going up to him. AJ looked at him then got to his feet to follow him. "We'll be back later. My cell phone is on if something happens," he said as they left.
"How can they just leave?" Angela asked.
"If AJ sticks around here much longer without any word about Kristen he'll lose his mind and Nick knows that," Howie said. "He's probably just taking him somewhere so they can both figure things out about Kristen and Toni," he finished saying as everyone else remained silent. The rest of the night everyone stayed in the waiting room, no one getting any sleep, to find out how Kristen was doing the next morning or rather to find out if she was still alive.
