I opened one of my eyes, not wanting to see the outcome of the fight between Matthew and Caleb.
My hands were finally untied so I pulled my feet apart and staggered towards their limp bodies, feeling the searing pain in my body every time my other leg thrust forward.
I screamed in pain as I fell beside them, pushing my father away from Caleb and examining him.
He had blood splashed on his chest but there was no gunshot. I didn't even look up at his face until both his hands held my cheeks, bringing warmth to my body again.
We both stared over to see my fathers body, lifeless and gone with a gunshot straight through his heart.
I leaned into Caleb as he held me in his arms. Tears were streaming down my face, and not because of my fathers death but because I was safe and he wasn't here anymore.
"Your leg!" he exclaimed as he lifted both of us off the ground. "I don't care," I muttered as I pulled his face towards mine and passionately placed my lips onto his.
I wrapped my arms round his shoulders and held him in my embrace. "I love you." I finally spoke, staring up at his face. "I love you too." he replied before kissing me again.
• • •
"You're ok but you'll need stitches, so we'll take you down after the cops have questioned you," the paramedic told me, placing a small amount of pressure on my leg, putting it into complete agony once again.
"Thank you," I replied, wrapping the blanket tightly around my body.
I looked over to see Caleb speaking to the cops, holding his head with a white piece of material to stop any bleeding.
It looked like they had finished as he walked back up to me and wrapped his arm around me, putting another bigger blanket over us. "You ok?" He asked, but I nodded against his body. I was too cold to speak yet I had to tell the cops what had happened.
Suddenly, a large body bag was rolled out of the building. I buried my face in Caleb's side as he wrapped another arm around me, making it impossible for me to see, even if I had my eyes open.
"Miss Gabriella Hart?" the officer asked as she walked over to me. "You look cold enough already so we'll just speak here, " I nodded and sat up a little, still in the embrace of Caleb.
"How did you come to be here Gabriella?" She asked, smiling lightly at me to make the situation seem better than it actually was.
"I was walking home from school and—" I swallowed hard as I thought about it again, "he grabbed me and brought me here," I replied, squeezing onto Caleb's hand which I didn't actually realise I was holding onto.
I smiled up at him then back to the officer. "And what happened whilst you were in there?" She tried to smile but I could tell what I was going to say obviously wasn't going to make her smile.
"He was asking me questions and then he stabbed me in the leg," I was immediately reminded of the pain that was currently swimming through my upper leg. "And then Caleb came and he shot my father—I mean Matthew, out of self defence." I told her, holding tightly into Caleb's hand.
"Thank you, I'm glad you're both ok, we have called your parents and they will meet you at the hospital, so you'd better get going," the officer gave me saddened eyes.
"Oh, and Gabriella, I'm sorry for your loss," she finished, smiling lightly yet awkwardly at me. As she said loss, the word stuck in my mind until I realised that him dying wasn't a loss to me.
I was glad he was gone, he made my mom's life torture and I'm glad that he's now out of our lives. I know it's incredibly horrible and selfish but I think anyone would feel the same.
We climbed inside the ambulance and sat on two of the seats as we were driven to the hospital.
"You okay?" Caleb asked as he held me tightly against him, which was the only way I now felt safe and protected. In his arms.
"Yeah, I'm fine, it just hurts," I told him, signalling to my wrapped up leg that still needed stitches. "I'm so sorry for everything—" he tried to finish but I interrupted before he could.
"Thank you for everything," I said to him, smiling up at his features. He smiled back as I leaned my head onto his shoulder and he held my hand.
We arrived at the hospital and to my surprise, both our families were there already, including Jake.
Here's me thinking that he was responsible for hurting Caleb when in reality, it was my father. "Mom, Kylie?" I shouted as I stumbled in with some crutches I was given.
"Honey!" My mom was in tears as she and Kylie hugged me, being carful of my leg. "We heard what happened, are you ok sweetie?" Mom said, holding my cheeks and checking my face for bruises.
"He's gone now." I replied as they hugged me again timidly. Mom was breathing heavier, mainly due to her tears, but I knew she wasn't upset, she wanted him gone as much as I did.
I was led over to a room to be stitched up by a doctor. The pain that was going to come out of it, leveled with the relief that I felt now my father was gone.
Each time the needle went through part of my skin, I was one puncture nearer to being done with the pain. The physical pain anyway.
"Ok, that's you done, we're just going to bandage it up, but you will need crutches for a while." He told me as he pinned together my ripped, bloody jeans.
I hobbled out to see Caleb sitting on the hospital seats alone. "Hey," he said, smiling as I sat down next to him. "Our families are down in the cafeteria," he told me as he spontaneously held onto my hand. I nodded as he drew circles on the back of my hand, sending shivers through my body.
"This probably isn't the best time to ask you this because it's a bit insensitive," he said to me as I turned and smiled at him. "Gabby, will you be my girlfriend?" I had been waiting for those words for a long time and finally, they escaped his mouth.
Instead of saying yes, I sealed our relationship with a kiss that I placed slowly onto his lips. I nodded against his lips just in case he didn't get the memo.
"I love you," he whispered, staring straight into my eyes.
"I love you too."