He flipped through the pages and read. Knife pierced lower back but nothing was hit. Rylie smiled his glowing smile. "Thank goodness!" He cried aloud. He had the clipboard against his heart, which was beating ninety miles a minute. He went on to read the medications she had been on for the pain, the way she had to have stitches to close up her wound, anesthetic needed to clean it, and other farther ongoing procedures that would need to be done in the days ahead. He saw notes on the clipboard about how concerns for pain with walking would be a valid point, to stock up on medication and light footwork. When Rylie saw nothing else he thought was important on the clipboard, he placed it back into the binder and went into Delia's room. He walked over to her to see her. She was beautiful, except for the leftover look of the trouble she had endured. Her face looked slightly subdued, child-like even, borderline weak.
Rylie didn't want to touch her too much for fear he would wake her from the heavy rest he knew she needed. He kissed her on the forehead instead and sat down beside her in the chair by her bedside. He would not be leaving. He stroked her hand with his thumb. His cell phone vibrated.
Was that his parents? Had they heard about the café commotion?
Rylie rolled his eyes and pulled out his cell phone. The caller ID said "Franny".
Anger permeated the outside skin of Rylie's heart. Where does she find the audacity? Rylie thought as he answered the phone.
"What?" He spat into the end receiver.
On the other end Rylie could hear heavy sobbing. Franscetta was popular for her theatrics. And that's just what Rylie called them now, theatrics.
"Y'know Franscetta, I knew you were capable of a lot of things, but I never thought I would find you capable of murder ...... I am so sick of you I can't even stomach a thought of you without dry heaving. I want you out of my life for good. All those times you'd hit me for no reason, all because girls came around me even though I never invited them to. All those times you called me names and mistreated me simply because you have bipolar and are too spoiled for your own good. I'm done. Done and over it."
Suddenly you could hear her scream on the other end.
"Riley, don't leave me please! I didn't mean to. I promise. I swear. Please. I love you baby. I love you!"
Rylie cut her off.
"Franscetta, the police are looking for you. I suggest you not call me again, especially when I report this call and have them trace your whereabouts. When you are caught and behind bars, only then will I be satisfied. Good bye." Rylie hung up the phone.
He made no real attempt to contact the police. He knew he should, but right now he was spent. All he wanted to do was sleep. He leaned his head on Delia's hospital bed and held her hand. He fell out and went right to sleep, his last thought of Delia and how much he loved her, and hoped she would say yes to the new question he would ask her at the right time he could afford to ask it.
The hospital was so quiet in the morning, Rylie noticed. He only awoke because one of Delia's nurses came in to check her IV and to check her vitals. Delia herself was still sound asleep.
Rylie went into her bathroom and washed up, mainly running water over his eyes and face, to wake up. He walked back into the room and grabbed Delia's remote control. He turned the tv on and began to click through the channels, not interested in any one thing. He settled on a chipmunks cartoon he watched when he was little. It seemed to bring peace to his otherwise anxious interior.
He looked outside Delia's window temporarily to make sure nobody was looking up at him. His Dad had told him to do that periodically and to phone the police should he have even an ounce of suspicion. That was his life now.
Rylie checked his cell phone, but found nothing new. He texted his parents to let them know he was fine, and at the hospital visiting with a friend. He had not told them about Delia yet, and he knew they would be floored, may even go into hysterics about how "you're not supposed to be letting people from the past know you're still alive."
They had to leave his grandmother out of the loop and everything. All family. It was a hard first couple of years.
Rylie certainly had been through a lot. He just hoped the worst was over.
