Just The Boy Next Door

~29~

As Andy and I were scoping out a new online baby store, I heard a blood curdling scream from the front yard of the frat house. A scream that sounded like Naomi. Every emotion possible raced through my body as I dropped the pad of paper and pen I was holding, and I looked at Andy who, too, had the same expression on his face.

Getting up, he ran out of the computer room and down the stairs. Hearing the door swing open and him cry out to whoever was outside, I felt my eyes fill up with tears.
Inaudicble speech and exclamations were all I heard, until the heavy footsteps ascended the stairs again, Andy reappearing, tears in his eyes.

"Baby, I need to help Jake," he swallowed hard, his face flushed with anger, "Naomi was shot."
In an instant, the color drained from my face as I stood up and made my way to my fiance, grabbing for him as my vision blurred. Pulling me in close, I sobbed into his chest, not knowing what to do.
"And, babe," he turned my chin up to him, his eyes pained, "You might want to come with me, if you can. She has already lost a lot of blood, and Jake really needs us. So does your best friend."
Wiping my eyes, I nodded in agreement and slowly moved down the hall and down the stairs, hand in hand with Andy. As he opened the front door of our shared dwelling space, I peered out to spot my best friend of 17 years lying almost immobile in a puddle of her own blood, Jake holding onto to her as she spoke softly.
"Did anyone call 911?" I managed to choke, feeling as thought I was going to get sick.
"Yes, love, Jake did; as soon as he got back outside." He rubbed the back of my hand softly.

Walking slowly towards the girl who used to braid my hair in middle school and the woman who defended me against David when he and I had broken up, my stomach churned. Her blood caked the grass, running along the blades like a small dam had burst. The bullet looked as thought it had hit a major artery, causing the extreme amount of blood to exist. In a state of denial, I pushed the thought I had out of my mind.

She wasn't going to be alive much longer.

Kneeling down next to her, my sweat pants now soaking in my best friend's DNA, I grabbed her hand and held it tightly, managing a smile.
"Hey, Nay," I fought back the tears, "I'm here now."
"Ladybug," her voice was soft, "I was wondering when you were going to check on me. The ambulance is coming to get me fixed up."
Smiling, she tried to reassure me she was going to be alright.
"Yea," I nodded as I felt the tears flow more swiftly down my cheeks, "Yea, you're right."
Andy knelt beside me, misty eyed, and leaned his head on my shoulder while stabling himself, putting a hand on my thigh. Jinxx sat silently, eyes glassy and red, with his arm around Ashley, who was in hysterics. Selena and CC stood off the the side a ways, holding one another, Selena burying her head into the nape of his neck while CC's eyes shifted from person to person, glassy and damp.
"You know," the now pale dread-head jested, "You owe me a coffee when I get home."
"And it will be a venti, Mimi." I wiped away the tears from my face finally, "You in any pain?"
"My shoulder stings a little," she coughed mid giggled, "Not exactly paint ball."
I watched as Naomi turned towards Jake and reach a bloodied hand up and rubbed his cheek.
"You are too handsome to cry, my love," love shined brightly from her eyes, "Wipe your tears."
He held her hand and waited for the ambulance to arrive.

Jake had rode with her to the hospital while the rest of us waited for the police. Last he said was she was in critical condition but stable, which gave her a 50-50 chance at survival. He also said he would be home sooner than later, seeing as though it was after visiting hours. I told him that he needed anything to call me, and the reply was, "Thanks DJ. Coming home to change, and then going back up to MCV with Delvin a few hours later."

I sat on the couch in the frat house, hanging onto the the hair tie that had been in Naomi's hair earlier that day. My eyes were pleading for sleep but my heart denied it, aching for my best friend whose life was clearly hanging in the balance.
"Hey," a soft, low voice spoke down from in front of me.
Looking up, I stared up into the eyes of Jinxx.
"Hey, Jeremy," I said his real name for the first time, "I'm sorry; I'm not really here right now."
"I know," he took a seat next to me, "I am just here to give you a shoulder while Andy, Ashley, and CC wait for the police to arrive. Selena is at your place if you want to go back home."
His expression was calming but I could tell he was as torn up about this as the rest of us. He had gone through so much with Sammi this year; this couldn't have made his burden any better.
"No," I shook my head, thinking about Naomi's room, "Her stuff is over there and I... and I..."
I lost it; my eyes had been that taken over by tears since my bunny died when I was ten. My body convulsed as Jinxx rubbed my back, eventually pulling me in and forcing me to hold on to him.
"Oh, Jinxx," I cried, latching onto my friend, "What the fuck, man; why her? She doesn't deserve this shit!"
I was angry at who ever did this, but I was more afraid of losing the friend who I had had for so long.
"DJ, calm down," he rubbed my back and stroked a hand through my short hair as a parent would, "You need to calm down, babe; the baby... you need to think of yourself and the baby. Please."
I nodded and sniffled up the tears that were making their way out of my eyes. He was right; I had to think of my child. But how; my best friend was dying.
"I will try."


~Ashley~

The police finally showed up around two in the morning as Jake was dropped back off at the house. Tired and depressed, our brother managed to give all the information he knew of Naomi and any known enemies. I waited for my turn to speak with an officer near by, seated on the front steps. Andy was leaning against his and DJ's car, chain smoking to keep his mind off of the whole incident. CC just paced in front of me, mumbling something under his breath.
"Um, can we speak to an Ashley Purdy?"
A young officer spoke up, allowing Jake to go home. As I approached him, I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed tightly.
"I am so sorry, bro," I spoke softly, "Any thing you need, you let me know, okay?"
A tearful Jake nodded his head and instead of going into the frat house, he wandered into DJ's and closed the door.

"Yes, sir, I'm Ashley."
The officer looked up and took my name again, age, ran my I.D. Finally taking all my information, he asked me questions in regards to the incident that had happened. I spoke loud enough for CC and Andy to hear me:
"We had had a woman stalk both homes the past four months; Margaret James," I folded my arms in front of me, "She is the mother of Selena James and the aunt of Deanna Martenson."
"Okay," the officer wrote down the relations to the woman and looked up at me, "I thought you should know we have been looking for her already. Apparently, she has also been harrassing her ex husband, Thomas."
"Oh, okay." I nodded.
"We also found something on your mail box you should check out."
At this point Andy had snuffed his cigarette out and CC stopped pacing and looked over at the officer and myself.
"It's okay, you two," the officer waved them over, "I heard you both had run ins with this woman, as well?"
"Yes." my two friends spoke in unison.
"Then this might interest you."
Pulling a note out of a bag, the paper screamed the sentence "You should have stayed out of this, now you pay with your life" written in red marker.
"Now, we took writing samples to see if it matched those of Ms. James and..."

Before the officer could finish, Selena burst out of the house with her phone in hand.
"Officer," she was breathless, "I just got this from my mother."
The text she handed over to the officer spoke volumes about the shooting and screamed out that Maggie, indeed, was the suspect.
Mags: Selena, I had to make an example of your friend. If you tell anyone, your little boyfriend is next.
"Ma'am," the officer cleared his throat, "This helped more than you know. Thank you. And as for the rest of you, we an conclude the investigation and begin the man hunt. Thank you all for your time."
"I'm going to go drown in a bottle of whiskey," I mumbled, Andy following me inside to fetch DJ and take her home, "All this sadness is making me feel gross."
"Amen to that." Andy shook his head and rubbed his reddened eyes, "I'll see you tomorrow, dude."

Notes

Maggie indeed shot Naomi; the man hunt will soon be on... but will it be enough.