If You Knew What I Knew:
Chapter 22

Brian

     “Step on it, Kevin.” I called.  I was seated in the very back of the Explorer.  I had Nick next to me.  I was supporting him.  AJ and Polly Anna sat in the middle and Howie sat next to Kevin who was in the driver’s seat.
     The wheels gave a screech as Kevin sped out of the driveway and onto the street.  Polly Anna turned around in her seat.  She looked straight at Nick and started talking.
    “So, how do you like being pumped full of that stuff?  I think you look pretty cool.” She reached out to touch his face and I slapped her hand away.  She kept her eyes on Nick and acted as if that had never happened.  “It’s a wonder you didn’t die.  I had fun playing with your life, though.  You know, I could have killed you, but I loved watching you suffer.  Especially when your skin started to turn purple and your whole body swelled like a balloon.” She went over the story as if it were a fond memory and smiled.  “That was so fun, wasn’t it?”
    I had had enough.  “Shut up, turn around and don’t open that mouth of yours again unless you want me to smack it.” She glared at me, but did as I said.
    The ride seemed long, but it was only about a seven minute drive.  When we got there, we all rushed to get in order and we made it into the hospital in no time.  AJ still had Polly Anna’s wrist in a death grip and Howie and Kevin carried Nick carefully.  I grabbed Polly Anna’s other wrist.  I squeezed the heck out of it.  I just couldn’t believe that this girl was Sweet D’s sister.

  *      *        *        *        *        *

     The news from the doctor came after about two hours of waiting.  To say the least, we were gonna miss our Houston concert.
    “Well, boys,” the doctor said, then added, “and girl,” after glancing at Polly Anna, who still looked as if she were dead and who’s wrist I still gripped.  “I think that Mr. Carter is going to be alright.”
    We all let out the breath that we were holding and hugged each other in relief.
    “It’s a good thing that you brought him in when you did.” We all quieted down and listened to what the doctor was saying.  “If you had brought him here ten minutes later, he would have died from all the poison that he had in his system.”
    We all looked at each other, all of us with tears in our eyes.  All of us but Polly Anna.
    “I’ll leave you alone now, but I’ll call you when you can each visit.” The doctor left then.
    We sat back down and I still didn’t release Polly Anna.  We were all lost in our thoughts.  I looked over at Polly Anna who was then starting to make little giggling noises.
    “If you had brought him in ten minutes later he would have died,” she said quietly, her voice elated.  We all stared at her.
    “If you had brought him in ten minutes later he would have died!” She said again, this time louder.  Much louder.  “He would have died!  I would have succeeded!  He would have died!” She tried to wrench her wrist free from my grip, but I just held on tighter.
    “Let’s dispose of this beast.” Howie got up from the sofa that he was sitting on.  “Anyone disagree?” Nobody said anything.
    He grabbed Polly Anna roughly and went to the front desk and said something to the lady and the desk.  She then took hold of Polly Anna and led her out of the room.
    Howie sat back down.  We all waited silently for him to tell us what had happened.  “I told the woman she was psycho.” We laughed with relief and waited for the doctor to tell us when we could visit Nick.
    I was so tired that I didn’t even hear Kevin’s cell phone ring.
    “Hello?” he answered.  I looked over at him.  His face was worried at first, then it brightened.  “That’s good, because it was a false alarm.  We have him now.  Thanks for calling!” He hung up and looked at us.
    “Who was it?” AJ asked.
    “The city morgue.  They’ve been trying to reach us and this is the first time I’ve answered.  Remember how each of our cell phones rang within seconds of each other when we were waiting for Howie this morning?” We nodded.  “That was them.  They were calling to tell us that when they did the autopsy, then realized that it matched up perfectly with the results of a person whose body had been stolen from the morgue a few days ago.  They knew it wasn’t Nick.” We all laughed at that.
    “But who would steal a body from the morgue?” AJ asked.
    “Someone who’s sick minded and is going out with my sister.” Howie replied.
    We settled down again and we waited for the doctor to call us in to visit with Nick.

Chapter 23
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