[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

"How did you get Julian mad at you in one day? Good God, Patrick, are you trying to make him
hate you?"
"Of course not!"
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"Then why do you need to apologize?"
"Because I snapped at him when he tried to give me painkillers."
"Well, he should have been expecting that. I mean, you've barely taken an Advil since the last time
that you were shot."
"Well, he kind of doesn't know about that, Patrick admitted.
"What? Justine's voice was a rather loud shriek.  Patrick, the pregnant woman named her son
after you. He just turned three! How could you not tell him?"
"I didn't want him to worry."
"You need to tell him. You can't apologize until you tell him."
"What if he gets mad at me?"
"I'm sure he's going to. Justine sighed.  Look, you need to tell him, or you aren't going to get any
type of rest while you're gone. You need the rest, Patrick. You're starting to burn out, and I don't
want that to happen to you."
"You really think that I should tell him?"
"Yes. Youneed to tell him. I'll call later to see how you're doing."
"Bye, Sparky."
"Get some rest, Justine replied. Before he could argue with her, she hung up the phone. Patrick
sighed and flipped his phone closed, tossing it on the bed. Justine's advice was to tell Julian. How
the hell was he supposed to do that?
Patrick sat up with a sigh and a wince. He knew that Justine was right, but how? He couldn't just
come out and tell Julian. That would most likely lead to Julian trying to harm him, and with his arm
in a sling, that just wouldn't be fair. As he glanced around the room, his eyes fell on a pad of paper
and a pen sitting on the dresser. A grin crossed his face. He could do a letter. A letter meant that he
wouldn't have to be there when Julian read it. He could be safely hiding. Patrick snatched the pad
of paper off the dresser and began to write, carefully ignoring the complaints from his injured arm.
* * * *
Julian,
Yes, I realize that I am being a rather large coward by doing this, but I couldn't tell you to your
face. I just didn't want to see the disappointment in your eyes. I need to explain to you why I
didn't take the painkillers or any of the other pills that the doctor gave me.
Three years ago, Justine and I (She's my partner. I can't remember if I told you that. I must have)
were in a convenience store when some punk burst in to rob it. I know what you're thinking. Only
me, right?
Anyway, this guy must have been on drugs or something,  cause he just started screaming and
waving his gun around. I guess things were going too slowly for him,  cause the next thing he did
was point his gun at a pregnant girl and pull the trigger. I did the only thing I could think to do.
I jumped in front of her and pushed her out of the way.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
I got shot in the spine. When I woke up in the hospital after surgery, they told me that they got
the bullet out, but that I would never walk again. I know that I should have called you, but you
had your own problems and I didn't want to burden you with an ex who couldn't walk. Hell,
Julian, we used to go dancing all of the time. If I'm honest, I didn't want you to see me like that.
The doctors never believed me when I told them that I could feel pain in my legs. They said I was
either imagining it or I was just transferring pain from somewhere else so I thought it was my
legs. All they did was continue to pump me full of drugs. Every time that I mentioned my legs,
they upped my painkillers.
You know, my mother came to see me when I was in the hospital. She said that the bullet should
have killed me. She told me that losing use of my legs was punishment for my deviant ways. She
never came again after that. The last time I saw her, she spat on me in the grocery store. Guess
she didn't like that I was walking again.
One of the nurses, Keith, he believed me when no one else did. He started to cut back on the
pain meds. The more he cut back, the more I could feel my legs. When he saw me wiggle my toes
for the first time, he stopped giving me the pain meds all together. Well, at least the strong ones. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]