Shallow Cuts, Deep Wounds

The stars are beautiful tonight, swirling in their millennia-old patterns. Orion, Cassiopeia, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor. There are hundreds more, but those are the only ones Jake knows the name of and how to find them. Laying down on the ground, he can see the whole night sky. Outside of the city where the lights don’t wash out the brilliance of the stars. He can smell the grass nearby, freshly coated with dew, but he doesn’t feel it. No, he is laying on hard ground. Cement, with what seems like little rocks digging into his back. 

But what is he doing here? Jake doesn’t remember leaving his house for a midnight stroll to star gaze. The last thing he can recall is his sister Rebecca coming over around 7:00 for a drink to celebrate her new job. Their mom died when they were young, and since their dad got sick a few months ago, they have been spending a lot of time together. It makes him sad to think of his sister leaving, especially when their dad isn’t gone yet, but she assured him that she will only be a short drive away.  

“It’s an opportunity I can’t pass up, Jakey,” she had told him hours ago.  

“I know, and I’m happy for you. Truly, I am. I just wish it wasn’t so soon.” Jake took a swig of his drink, avoiding her eyes. He hadn't wanted her to see how badly it really hurt him to see her go.  

Rebecca had then taken his hand. “Don’t worry, I think after tonight you won’t even think twice about it.” 

But how could she think that? Even lying on the cold ground not knowing how he ended up there he is imagining life without her so close.  

Jake tries to sit up, but he cries out in agony. He can’t move his legs or right arm, and his left is bent at an awkward angle. The only thing he can do without sending fire through his body is move his head from side to side. He takes in all the surroundings he can through his limited range of motion. Trees, grass, broken pavement from a small pothole, but nothing to explain what happened to him. Finally, after a moment of near panic about how he is going to get out of this, he spots his phone. It’s lying just under a foot from his left knee. His arm is bent away from it, but it’s the only appendage he can even feel right now, so he makes a move for the device.  

Pain. Excruciating pain, but he gets his arm positioned at least closer to it. Jake looks at the phone, mere inches from his hand, and swears to himself. So close, yet still so far. Sweat begins to drip from his forehead. He isn’t sure if it’s from the pain or fear of the fact that he is on a road and could very well be run over if he remains there.  

“Come on...” he mumbles, fingers stretching as far as they can towards his one hope of getting help. But eventually his arm slumps to the ground, tired from the effort. Jake turns his eyes back to the sky and wanders through the constellations. I guess this is where I die, he thinks to himself. 

He isn’t sure how long he lays there, but a sudden anger arises from him. Rebecca has lost their mother already, and soon their father will be gone. He cannot leave her, too. Pretty soon, they are only going to have each other.  

He stares at his phone, and with a burst of energy, thrusts his torso towards it. His fingertips touch it, and he slides it to himself so he can fully grasp it. Jake now has to move his arm again to dial 911, but with the adrenaline pumping, he doesn’t feel the pain as much as the first time.  

“911, what’s your emergency?” the dispatcher answers, slightly monotone.  

“I, uh, something happened to me,” replies Jake. 

“Can you explain more, please?” 

“I don’t know. I just woke up on a street out of town. I can hardly feel the rest of my body.” 

“Do you know where you are?” 

Frustrated, he snaps back, “No! I just told you I don’t know what happened. All I know is that I can’t move, and I’m on a road. I’m scared someone is going to run me over!” 

“Ok, sir, please calm down. I have an ambulance heading to your location now.” When the dispatcher hangs up, Jake sighs with relief, and falls unconscious... 

Bleach. That’s the first thing Jake smells when he wakes up. Wherever he is, it was recently cleaned. After looking around the room, he discovers he is in a hospital trauma room. He doesn’t know how long he was out, but it was long enough for the ambulance to find him, get him to the emergency room, and get x-rays done. He knows that because his scans are hanging on the lighted square on the wall with two doctors pointing and mumbling at them. No one is bustling around him, so he must be stable for now.  

Jake feels something touch his left arm, and he prepares himself for the pain, but it doesn’t come. In fact, he doesn’t really feel anything anymore, which is a nice change. Slowly, he looks at the source of the contact, expecting to see a nurse checking something, but it’s his sister. At first glance, he thinks he sees a look of surprise, but then it is gone, transformed into worry. 

“Rebecca...” he mumbles with exhaustion. “How...you know?” 

“Shh, Jakey, I’m here. The doctors said you have hundreds of tiny cuts, massive fractures and some internal bleeding. Luckily no obvious head wounds.” She stops herself for a second, composing herself. “The surgeons are going to take you straight to the OR and do what they can. It’s going to be a multi-step process because there is so much to fix.” 

“What...happened?” he asks breathlessly.  

His sister pushes some sweat soaked hair from his forehead. “They think you were hit by a car. I’ve told you that you shouldn’t go running at night out of town. No one can see you!” 

“I went running?” 

“Don’t you remember?” Rebecca knits her brows together. “I’m going to ask about getting your head checked out after all.”  

Jake doesn’t want her to leave his side, but she is already gone. Rebecca doesn’t go to the doctors looking over his scans, but out of the room. Asking a nurse, he guesses. A few minutes later, those same doctors approach him and explain what they’ve found, although nothing means anything to him. He gives his consent to do the surgeries and anything else they need to. He needs to survive this for Rebecca.  

As Jake is wheeled out of the trauma room, he spots his sister down the hall, her back turned towards him. He is about to call out to her, so she knows he is going, but he catches a tiny bit of the intense conversation she is having on her phone.  

“It was supposed to work,” she says angrily. Rebecca opens her mouth to continue but notices her brother, and her face returns to one of immense worry. Once they are paused at the double doors that she can’t cross through, she tells him. “Come out of this alive, you understand me?” 

All he can do is nod, confusion making him unable to speak. Why is she acting so strange? Maybe he really does have a head injury that will be checked out during surgery as well. When they arrive at the operating room, he looks at all the instruments. Saws, drills, plates, screws, and it just goes on. He probably will be more metal than person after all this is done. 

“Ok, we are going to put you under now,” a nurse tells him kindly, as if she hadn’t been called into surgery in the middle of the night. “I do have to say, though, I recognize your last name. I believe your father has been here for a few weeks, right?” 

“Yeah, he’s sick. Advanced lung cancer.” 

“At least he’s in a better place now.” 

Jake doesn’t understand right away. He just lays there, ready for the mask to cover his mouth and nose, knocking him out. When the words she said finally settle in though, he looks at her with wide eyes. “What is that supposed to mean?” 

“Oh, it’s just...” her face goes slack with surprise. Like Jake is supposed to already know what she is going to say next. “Well, he died earlier this evening, approximately 6:15. I’m sorry, I thought you’d know. Your sister was there when it happened. We offered to call you, but she was adamant that she should be the one to break the news and left.” 

So Rebecca knew their dad had died before she came over? She didn’t say anything at all! She didn’t even look like someone who had lost their father. Pieces start coming together all at once. Losing their father, her coming over, getting nearly killed with no memory of it, the angry phone call... 

But he doesn’t want to believe it. Any of it at all. There is no way that Rebecca, his sister, his only family left, could have done this to him, right? Before he can think about it too much, though, the nurse places the anesthesia mask over his face. 

When Jake opens his eyes this time, he doesn’t see stars. It’s blurry at first, but eventually he recognizes the white walls of a hospital room. A steady beeping comes from his right, and when he slowly turns his head, he finds the heart monitor as the source. Everything looks so familiar. From the monitors to the walls to the furniture, he’s seen it all before. Oh yeah, he visits his dad in this hospital. 

His dad... 

Jake’s eyes go wide, and he can hear his heartbeat getting faster on the machine. His dad is dead, and his sister tried to kill him, her own brother. And for what? Does she not love him? What could possibly motivate her to do this to him? As if sensing he was awake, or maybe she was watching from afar, Rebecca runs into the room.  

“Hey, Jakey. How are you feeling?” When he doesn’t answer, she takes note of the heart monitor as well and the way he can’t stop looking at her with a look of shock. “What’s wrong? Do you want me to get the nurse?” 

“Why didn’t you tell me dad was dead?” he asks. 

The color drains from Rebecca’s face. “What do you mean?” 

“You know what I mean! Dad died before you came over to my place, and you had me drinking and celebrating your job. Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“I just didn’t want to ruin the night. I know you were sad about me leaving, and I didn’t want to make it sadder. I was going to tell you tomorrow, I promise.” 

“I don’t believe you,” Jake spits at his sister. “Who were you talking to when I was getting taken to surgery? I heard you say something. ‘It was supposed to work.’ What did that mean?” 

“Jake, you had just been in a huge accident. I think you were seeing and hearing things. Please, go to sleep. We can talk again after you’ve rested.” 

“Don’t gaslight me! I know what I saw!” he shouts, causing a nurse to come in and ask if there are any problems. Rebecca shoos her away before Jake can ask her to stay. “I know you tried to kill me tonight, what I need to know now is why?” 

For a second, he doesn’t think she is going to answer. All she does is slowly walk along the side of his bed, eventually stopping to block his view of the window and door to the hallway. Rebecca reaches into her purse and pulls out a needle and syringe. “Why couldn’t you have just died the first time?” 

Jake looks at the syringe in her hand. “What is that? What are you going to do?” 

“I didn’t tell you about dad because you didn’t need to know.” Rebecca’s face goes slack, like she’s bored that she has to explain herself. Her eyes, devoid of any emotion. She’s finally let go of the worried-sister facade. “You were going to be dead the same night anyways.” 

Tears burn the back of Jake’s eyes, but he will not let them fall. She will not get the satisfaction. “I’m your brother, I love you. We are the only ones left. How could you betray me like this?” 

“Why do you think?” 

“I have no idea! We aren’t rich--” 

“That you know of.” Rebecca smirks, dragging the needle along Jake’s cheek tauntingly. “We have so much more money than you could imagine. Mom and Dad had invested in some random stocks decades ago. I don’t even know which ones, but they are worth so much today. Dad told me when he was gone, they would get split between the two of us. He had already changed the will. So, my only choice was to get rid of you.” 

Jake is going to be sick. What has he done to deserve this? They have been close their entire lives. He thought about when their mom died. How they were both crushed but were there for each other. For their dad. Growing up, all they did was protect each other, laugh with each other, cry with each other. When did she become so greedy? 

“So, you drugged me so I wouldn’t wake up as you moved me into your car, took me out of the city, and ran me over yourself?” 

“Well, I had a little help,” she admits, looking out the window to make sure no one is watching as she inserts the needle into his IV. 

“The phone call...” Jake remembers. “Who was it? Who could have possibly helped you murder your brother?” 

“My boyfriend. We’ve been together about six months now. It didn’t take much to recruit him.” 

“You’re not going to get away with this, Rebecca.” 

“Do you know what’s in this syringe?” she asks, pointing to it. “This is a lethal dose of abrin. It’s a drug that is virtually untraceable, and hard to obtain. My boyfriend is very resourceful, though. Even if they do figure it out, I will be long gone. Truth is, it shouldn’t have gotten to this. I don’t know how you survived, but I certainly didn’t expect the plan to backfire like this.” 

Her phone suddenly rings, cutting through the otherwise quiet room. She takes the call but doesn’t leave the room. She just talks low enough so he can’t hear her. Jake tries to think of a way out of this. The needle is already inserted in the IV and he is practically immobile. He’s been pressing the call button for the nurse, but no one has come. He wonders if she did something to disconnect it. 

Like a light bulb, an idea flares into his head. He cranes his head back to the left when Rebecca isn’t looking and finds exactly what he is searching for. There on the wall is the code blue button. If that’s pressed, there is no avoiding the rush of nurses coming to his side. His left arm has a cast on it, but his shoulder is the one spot he can move a little. He’s got one shot to take his sister by surprise and get this right. 

Rebecca starts gesturing wildly, as if she is explaining something with frustration to the other person. Slowly, he scoots himself backwards as far as he can, which is difficult due to his leg injuries. When he is back, and the split-second Rebecca turns her head away from him, he throws his elbow back, praying he hits his target.  

“Code blue. Code blue, room 303,” the intercom announces. Rebecca doesn’t realize right away that it's his room, and that they will be swarmed with people in seconds. But when she does, she jumps for the abrin syringe in his IV.  

“Not so fast,” Jake grunts, swinging for the drug himself. It’s his proof.  

“You’re going to regret this,” she snarls, but she doesn’t fight him for it. Instead, she runs out of the room and is gone.  

Jake sighs with relief as soon as she is gone. “Not as much as you are,” he whispers even though she isn’t there to hear it. 

Just as he thought, it doesn’t take long at all for help to come. When the nurses arrive, confused to see him awake, he tries to explain what happened to him. Even though he just lived through it, it sounds foreign to his ears. His sister, his own blood, tried to murder him for something as stupid as money. He wanted her to tell him she was being forced by this boyfriend of hers. That he had something against her, and she had no choice. Then at least they could try and figure it out together.  

But just like he told the police when they arrived, everything she admitted to seemed to be of her own volition. And now he is truly alone in the world.