⚠️ Warning: Chapter contains scenes depicting tradgedy, death, trauma and mentions of sedating and panic attacks/anxiety. If affected, please read with caution. ⚠️

~~~~~

*Chris*

I sat by Briar's side as she slept, tucking in the blanket around her before holding her hand.

God, its freezing in here....

Its already been a whole day and she's still unconscious.

I took a deep breath and looked at the door again.

I can't find it in myself to leave her, and I am scared that any second that bastard will barge in and take her from me...

Now I know how she was feeling after I learned the truth about her.... How afraid she was that someone would come and hurt us...

Its probably what she felt every single day ever since she fled.

I took a deep breath before looking over at her, holding her hand.

"We're trying to figure things out..... I still stand by what I said, though, I am not going to let anyone take you away from me, for this family....." I promised. "I will keep you safe, no matter what, I swear...."

Just then the door opened and I quickly held my arm protectively over Briar and looked over at the door, only to see Ricky, Jaime and Talitha walk in.

"Sorry... Its just us," Jaime mumbled quietly.

I took a deep breath and nodded. "Its fine.... You guys managed to get settled at the hotel?" I asked.

"Yeah..." Ricky said. "Baby Morrow's fine, just moving around in there.... Vinny was already freaking out over everything so when he saw the baby nudge a bit, he shrieked, it made Shae laugh, and she peed herself a bit, so she slapped him, then she just cried, but that was the hormones.... It was a mess....."

"They're all parking the car now," Jaime assured.

I scoffed a bit with a laugh, imagining the scenario in my head, then sighed.

"What about Bluebell?" I asked.

Ricky frowned softly. "She's been down.... She misses her owner...."

"I'm gonna try and ask the nurses if they can allow her in here, but there's a policy I think...." Shae said. "Luckily Bluebell's a service animal so it could help..."

I gulped quietly, looking back at Briar Rose.

"Anything yet?" Shane asked.

"Her breathing is better, and they stopped her transfusions," I said. "Still nothing yet, though..."

"At least she's doing better," Jaime smiled, sitting at her other side.

"I had to release a statement accoridng to management, but I didn't say anything regarding Briar and what happened," Ricky added. "I had to lie and say that we're all fine and we're heading home once we have an available flight. Though friends have been calling and well...."

The door then opened again and I nearly jumped out of my skin when the other walked in, followed by Kylie, Shelby, and....

"Gaia?" I asked, surprised.

(Picture: GaiaPatra)

She smiled. "Hey Chris... Sorry for the sudden visit...."

"We were both in town to collab for a photoshoot with her for Jeremy when we heard what happened, and I had called Ricky..... We just wanted to make sure you were all okay," Kylie said.

I smiled and nodded. "Thanks..."

"God, this is not how I wanted to meet her...." Gaia said sadly as she looked at Briar. "The girls have told me so much about her, and I've seen the videos of her performing...."

I smiled softly as I looked at Briar.

"I'm really happy for you both... And she seems like an amazing, strong person...." she said as then everyone else quietly walked in.

I smiled softly, but then frowned. "So then you know...."

She nodded. "Kylie told me..... I won't tell a single soul, I promise...." she said, hand over her chest.

I smiled and nodded. "Thank you... And thank you for coming."

She smiled softly and nodded.

I then heard a soft groan and look to see Briar shift softly.

I gasped and leaned over as she shifted and then....

"Ba..... Mmm.... M-Ma... B-Baba...." she mumbled incoherently.

"She's waking up," Shae gasped as everyoke surrounded her bed.

"Shhhh, Bri...." I murmured.

"Mm.... M-Mama...... Ah.... Ajutaţi-Mă...." She mumbled in a slight whimper. (Help me....)

"Wait, what?" I mumbled softly.

She continued to shift and mumble.

"What is she saying?" Ricky asked.

"She... She's speaking another language..." Talitha mumbled.

"Ajutaţi-Mă.... B-Baba.... " she mumbled. "D-Doare... Vă rog...." (Help me... I-It hurts.... Please....)

"Fuck me, I don't know Spanish," Vinny grumbled in frusteration.

We all gave him a look.

"Vinny, in what world is that even Spanish?!?" Ricky snapped at him.

"Its Romanian, guys," Gaia said with a scoldw, sitting at Briar's other side..

"Wait, you speak Romanian?" Ryan asked.

"Not really, but, my college roommate grew up there, she taught me a few words in Romani," she said.

"Oh, uhh... B-Briar's circus mom, she... she was a Romanian fortune teller...." I said, remembering as I then looked back at Briar as she shifted.

"Then what is she saying?" Kylie asked Gaia.

"She... She's calling for her parents...." Gaia said. "And, I-I think she's saying help....?"

Our eyes widen as we looked at each other and then back at Briar.

*Briar*

[•flashback dream•]

"Baba, look!" the young six year old acrobat shouted as she stood on her hands on the balancing beam, holdinf the ball on her small feet.

The ringmaster laughed with pride as he watched his young daughter before coming over and applauding his young daughter.

"Mimi, come eat your lunch, we'll be arriving soon," the Romanian mother chimed as she placed plates of food on the table for them.

Mayalina carefully kicked the ball into the air for her father to catch before she flipped onto her feet to the ground and scurried over to her mother, who helped her sit up to eat her lunch.

"Viviana, our shooting star is brilliant as always!" Nikolas said proudly, ruffling the young girl's dark brown hair as he sat down to eat with his family.

"I told you, my love, she's brilliant," Viviana smiled, kissing her daughter's cheek before sharing a kiss with her husband.

"I'm thinking, how about this next show I have her as the lead flyer and dancer," he said. "The big finale!!"

Mayalina's eyes lit up with surprise, her hand holding her little heart locket.

"Would you love that, my little star?" he smiled.

"Yes, Baba!!" the little acrobat smiled happily as her father chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

All of a sudden, the train's ear-splitting whistle sounded, followed by the brakes suddenly causing the whole train to jolt.

"What was that?" Viviana asked worriedly as Nikolas held his wife and daughter close.

"Mama...?" Mayalina mumbled softly, unsure of what was happening.

All of a sudden, the train breaks engaged and sent the small circus family flying forward.

In an instant, the entire train car derailed and everything was sent down the hill into the ditch below, train cars splitting apart and exploding.

Mayalina woke up and only felt pain, her body unable to move at all as she laid in the ground, feeling heat from the nearby fires.

She whimpered as she smelled smoke.

"Baba....." she murmured in pain. "M-ama....! A-Aah!!"

She turned her head slowly, despite the pain, and sure enough, both her parents laid a few feet away from each other, mangled and lifeless, in pools of their own blood.

"Vă rog.... Ajutaţi-Mă!!" she sobbed in agony, feeling her body getting weaker. "Ajutaţi-Mă!!"

It felt like years before the young injured girl suddenly hearing voices.

"This is so bad...."

"Hello!!? Can anyone hear us!?!"

"Even the animals are dead...."

"I don't think anyone could have survived this...."

"Oh no...."

"Wait, wait! She's still alive!! Oh my god!!"

"Somebody get a backboard!!"

Then everything went silent as another voice suddenly spoke.

"Briar.... Brair, open you eyes.... Wake up...."

[•end of flashback dream•]

"Wake up..... Briar... Briar, wake up.... Wake up...." the voice continued.

My body felt sore and stiff, as kept hearing that voice.

I groaned as my eyes slowly opened, seeing as I met with Chris's golden brown eyes lookign down at me.

"C-Chris?" I murmured softly.

"Yeah... Yeah, its me...." he said, moving closer with a relieved smile. "Thank god you're awake...."

I looked over and saw everyone else was also there, looking worried or relieved.

I groaned as I moved some more, but felt pain and gasped as I froze.

"T-Try not to move too much, Bri...." Jaime said

"W-Where am I?" I asked, looking around.

"The hospital... Y-You lost a lot of blood, and..... Well...." Ricky mumbled.

I looked at him in confusion. "Wha....?"

Chris looked at me nervously, holding my hand.

"It was him.... H-He found us, and....He shot you...." he admitted. "Briar, I'm so sorry...."

My eyes widen, as then it all came back to me.

The airport.... He was there.... He tried to take me away....

"N-No...." I said, shaking my head as I felt tears pool in my eyes, and something enarby started to beep rapidly.

"Bri.... Bri, calm down, j-just relax," Talitha tried, rushing to my side. "He's still in police custody, he can't hurt you, okay?"

I sobbed and shook my head as the beeping got faster. "No, no, he..... H-He's not gonna stop!!" I cried. "He knows, he-he's going to come back!! Oh god, no no no no, this is so bad!!!"

Just then some nurses rushed in.

"I need the room cleared," she ordered.

"Wait, no, stop, she's just scared," Chris said as he was then pulled away from me. "No, stop it!! STOP!!"

"CHRIS!!!" I cried out as I then felt myself being held down. "CHRIS, HELP ME, PLEASE, NOOOO!!!"

"Miss Topaz, I need you to try and take deep breaths, your heart rate is rising very fast," a nurse tried to calm me as I saw my friends pulled out of the room.

"Get her some diazepam," another said.

I then saw as a nurse injected somethi

I cried out as I felt the prick in ny arm and 2 nurses held me down.

"No, no no no please!! Please, nooooo!!" I sobbed.

"Its going to be okay, honey, you're safe," An older nurse tried to comfort me as everything then started to blur.

I let out a final cry as then it all went dark.

Help me.... Chris....

*Chris*

"Please, you don't have to sedate her," I begged the nurse as we were pulled into the hallway. "She's just freaked out! She got fucking shot, for fuck's sake!!!"

"Sir, please, I understand, but if we don't sedate her, her heart would have stressed into cardiac arrest, or even risk internal bleeding from her injuries being strained," the nurse explained.

I grunted in frusteration as Ryan tried calming me down.

"They'll be done in a moment, and you can continue to stay with her," the head nurse said. "I promise, Mr. Cerulli, she is getting the best care possible, and she is in good hands."

I gulped and nodded. "Okay....."

She was then called by another nurse elsewhere as we all stood by the door.

"The longer we're here, the more time it gives this guy to get bailed out and hold this fucking place hostage for her or something!!" Vinny mumbled frantically.

"We gotta think of something," Ryan said, running his hand through his hair.

"Management is still trying to think of a plan," AJ said.

"Fuck!" I grunted under my breath, pacing the hallway.

"Hey, it looks like they're done," Talitha said.

We looked to see Briar was asleep, another older nurse checking her machines and tubes while other exited the room.

I rushed over and held her hand, moving her hair from her face.

"She'll wake up in a few hours once the sedative wears off.... She thankfully didnt strain anything, and her vitals are normal again," she said.

I gulped and nodded. "Thank you....I-I'm sorry for freaking out, but.... We should be home by now, and she.... She's been through a lot, and this happening doesn't help her."

"I understand. I can only imagine how stressful the ordeal was with that man trying to kidnap her and hurting you all...." she said. "I promise, we're going to do everything we can so that you can all go home and recover as soon as possible."

I took a deep breath. "Again, thank you...." I said.

She nodded with a small smile and exited the room as the other nurses and doctors cleaned up and left us again as we walked in and Shae shut the door.

"This can't go on forever," Talitha grumbled. "If its not that psycho, it could be the cops arresting her!"

"What!? Why would they arrest her?" Vinny asked. "She's the victim here! She just had a bullet with the diameter of a ping pong ball pulled out of her abdomen."

"Maybe, but remember, she still faked her own kidnapping and death, it was spread worldwide, she forged records.... Hell, the first guy she loved staged his death to save her, another guy even got blown up because he knew the whole damn truth....." she said.

"Add to that, she had authorities and search parties from all over the country wasting resources to find her nonexistent cadaver for years," Ricky added. "Cops and feds will only see it as someone wanting attention, hell they even know she tried killing herself before. They'll think she's just mentally ill or something and think its best to lock her up, whether in prison or looney bin. Cops may be overpaid as fuck, but that doesn't mean they like wasting money chasing ghosts."

"And then this guy will have even more power to control her," Shane said, shocked.

"Fuck!" AJ muttered under his breath.

"Wait, hold on, everyone, please.... Let's try and calm down, and not just jump to that conclusion yet," Gaia said, holding her hands up. "If I may, they already know that this bastard is a suspect in the the disappearance case. With this airport shooting show, it'll still be tough to get out of that kind of trouble, especially with Homeland Security involved.

"Gaia's right Even if the authorities find out the truth, they already have the bad guy and they will know that she was his victim and had no choice," Jaime added.

"Its true..." Justin said. "She was an orphaned girl escaping her abuser, and she wasn't even his first victim. Those situations, desperation is at an all time high. Try her in front of a judge and jury, and even they won't see her as the bad guy."

"Unless he buys the jury,"Ricky grumbled.

"He's right, we can't risk that. Briar knew it since the start," Shae said. "He has connections, she would have never stood a chance."

I gulped and looked back. "And even if they take her side..... What will happen to her?" I asked. "This guy won't stop until she's with him again..... He made that very clear when he pulled that trigger...."

Everyone looked at each other worriedly.

"We'll think if something, man...." Justin said. "I mean... We have to..

I too a deep breath as I held Briar's hand close to me, trying to remain calm.

I won't let anything happen to you, Briar.... I'll figure something out, we all will..... I promise...

~~~~~

What do you think will happen next?🤔🤔🤔

Also, this is my first update of the year 2023! 🎉🎉

Its later than I wanted, only because work has kept me busy, among other things..... Yeah, I also just procrastinate too much for my own good lmao 🙃🙃🙃

2022 was definitely a crazy and stressful year, especially for me, and I don't expect 2023 to be much different honestly.. I can only hope for the best.

I don't know what I have planned for this year regarding my writing. I honestly hope to be able to update my stories kore, especially those I haven't updated or rewritten in years. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes.. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Nonetheless, I still wish you all good luck for 2023 ✨🌻

🎹 Currently in Sapph's playlist:

Linkin Park "Lost in the Echo"

♡~ sapphire.