A Loaded Gun

Chapter 32

Brooke POV

I groaned, my head pounding from the cacophony of sounds around me.

There seemed to be a yelling match somewhere in the distance, a repetitive beep next to my head, and a really annoying high pitched squeaky noise, almost like a grocery cart wheel that was out of whack.

"...stop...the...squeak," a voice I hardly recognized as my own croaked out.

Immediately the whine was cut short and the yelling stopped, instead turning into what sounded like an elephant stampede coming towards me. Sadly, the beeping continued.

My eyesight turned from pure black to narrow slits of light, blocked by three hovering faces.

I sighed before opening my eyes fully, bracing for the overload of worry and comforting phrases. Sadly, I was not disappointed.

"Brooke? Oh, thank God you're finally awake. Honey, can you hear me?" I couldn't tell who said it over the general clamoring, but I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes at the concerned tone.

"I'm fine. Everything's fine. Just, no squeaking."

Daniel's blurry face frowned. "But...you said you wanted them!"

"What?" I was completely confused and a bit annoyed. "What the hell are you talking about? What's 'them'?"

Michael held up his hands, both of which were clutching 2...fidget spinners?

"When the hell did I ever say I wanted fidget spinners? I don't think I've ever mentioned fidget spinners. Like ever."

"Yes you did," countered Daniel. "You specifically yelled for fidget spinners, I heard you."

I fought the urge to facepalm, knowing with the breathing tube taped beneath my nose and the IV tube attached to my arm it would be difficult.

"I don't have any memory of that, and I certainly do not want fidget spinners."

I felt bad after both Daniel and Michael slumped, disappointed, but was amused by Marcus's twitching lips.

"I told you it was just drugged up mumbling," he said dryly.

I frowned at his words. "Drugged up? Wait, why am I in the hospital? What happened?"

Daniel frowned as well. "You don't remember? You...were kidnapped. Aaand then in a car crash."

I rewound to my most recent memory and then let out a surprised laugh. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah, my bad. Not the kidnapping, the car crash."

"WHAT?" they all yelled in unison, staring at me in angry bewilderment.

"Yeah...I annoyed him to the point where he became so distracted that he crashed the car. It wasn't necessarily my plan, but it worked I guess," I shrugged casually.

"Let me get this straight. You knew you were getting kidnapped, you were in a car with a strange guy with a gun, and your solution was to annoy him into letting you go?"

Daniel seemed to be the only one capable of speech, with Daniel and Michael's jaws just dropped.

I thought about it for a minute, and nodded. "Yup, that sounds about right."

"ARE YOU INSANE?" screamed an unlikely source in Michael. "Were you TRYING to get killed??"

"Well obviously I wasn't thinking straight, it was like 12 effing AM and I had just had the bombshell of a lifetime dropped on me. And what exactly were YOU all thinking?" I looked around accusingly.

"How is your security so bad that an amateur kidnapper made it through your defenses, took me from my fricking bedroom, and pushed me into a backfiring van without a single alarm or motion sensor going off?"

They at least had the sense to look ashamed, though Marcus's face was more pensive than guilty.

"I've been having some people checking on that, but it looks like the security guards on duty were either drunk or drugged. They have since been...handled."

I cringed, knowing being "handled" had something to do with torture.

Seeing this, Daniel clapped his hands briskly. "So, let's get back on track. When you woke up before, you yelled something about fidget spinners. Can you...explain that?"

I frowned, racking my brain for the spotty details of the car ride.

"Oh yeah, that was one of the last things I talked about before we crashed. I was complaining about the lack of entertainment in his van and gave fidget spinners as an example. That's when he snapped.

"Are we done here?" I shifted restlessly. "I just wanna get back to the house, I wanna be on my cloud."

Marcus sighed and pressed the call button for Dr. Effam. "Only when the doctor clears you. You're not leaving until he gives the ok."

Thankfully, Dr. Effam was on my side and told Marcus I could go home, provided I "took it easy."

A nurse came in and unhooked my IV and pulled out the breathing tube, which proved to be incredibly uncomfortable but relieving.

I was pushed out of the hospital in a wheelchair, against all protest, Daniel insisting that being in a wheelchair was part of "taking it easy."

I was gently ushered into a black SUV, Michael carefully pulling the seatbelt across my chest, even though I was perfectly capable of doing it myself.

I had to cut them some slack, I guess. They did just go through a traumatizing experience in losing my company for what, 3 hours?

I didn't even get the privilege of walking into the house, instead scooped in Marcus's arms and transported to my cloud.

I glanced at the rug, where I had drawn KDNPED into the grain, and grinned.

"So without that, would you have thought that I ran away again?"

"It was on our minds," Marcus admitted sheepishly.

I shrugged. "Somehow the thought didn't occur to me. But, no more secrets. If there's anything else you're hiding, I wanna know."

I held up a hand to silence his protests. "AFTER I take a nap. I want to know everything after I'm done reuniting with my cloud."

He nodded reluctantly before giving me a gentle kiss on my forehead and leaving me to snuggle with my bunny.

As I drifted off to sleep, I couldn't help but think I had forgotten an important detail about the kidnapping. Something he had said...