“Wake up sleepy head, we’re back in town.”

Tyler jumped awake to catch a glimpse of morning sunrise peeping through the building of the Boston skyline. He rubbed his eyes with his forefingers leaning his head back against Brad’s shoulder. He knew he could’ve gotten all of maybe ten minutes of sleep on the bus ride home, but it was ten minutes longer than he thought he would’ve gotten. After the heartbreaking loss against a team he knew they could’ve beaten all he wanted to do was curl up in a bed with Riley beside him, her stroking his hair until he fell asleep in her arms. But, he was on a smelly bus with thirty other guys and the closest thing he had for comfort was Brad.

“How long was I out for?” Tyler yawned.

Brad laughed giving his shoulder a nudge to knock Tyler’s head off.

“About three and half hours.”

“Really? It felt all about ten minutes.”

Brad sighed, looking over to his teammate. Tyler’s eyes lined with dark circles and bags, showing that he hadn’t gotten a good night sleep. Who would’ve blamed him though? They were almost immediately shuffled off the ice and onto the bus after their game for their trek back to Boston, he knew that Tyler was taking the loss especially hard, he wasn’t playing as well as usual, and it was messing with his mind. But Brad knew that Riley would’ve been able to cheer him up, all he needed was to look at her once to have the kid smiling again, it was a nice change of pace for Tyler, to have someone care about him as much as he cared about them, he deserved it after all he’s been through.

The bus pulled into the terminal at the Garden, where all the boys filed off with aching bodies, and a heartbreaking loss on their shoulders. Tyler found his black bag imprinted with the number 19 in yellow stitching on the side, grabbing it quickly before anyone were to stop him to chat about the awful game that he played. He fished his keys out of his pocket, locating his car where he had left it two days prior.

As he drove, he contemplated stopping at the Dunkin Donuts just before Riley’s apartment, knowing that she would be more than angry at him for waking her up at this hour, and not bringing her a coffee, but he figured it’d be something for them to do when he got to her.

He pulled into her apartment complex, finding what grew to be his usual parking spot beside her car. He was more than ready to get his arms around her again, finding himself racing up the steps taking them two at a time. He had anticipated getting to her, it grew to be a long couple of days without seeing her eyes that lit up every time she flashed her smile that caused butterflies to erupt in his stomach.

With ease he opened her unlocked door, letting out a laugh as he snuck in to her quiet apartment. Marshall patted his heavy feet against her hardwood floor, his tail wagging rapidly as he ran over to greet Tyler. He assumed that the dog had been sleeping, as he let out a yawn, his head tilting backwards as Tyler patted in between his ears.

“Hey buddy,” Tyler cooed. “Where’s Riley? Let’s go find Riley.”

The chocolate lab led the way to where Tyler knew was Riley’s bedroom, the dog hopped on the perfectly untouched bed, showing that Riley hadn’t slept in it the night before.

“Ril?” Tyler called into the nearly empty apartment.

It was nearly six in the morning, and for her to be up this early in the morning and not home was rare. He searched through her apartment, growing worried by each passing moment that he didn’t know where she was.

“Babe?”

He pushed opened the bathroom door, to catch a glimpse of her body strewed across the tiled floor. The scene before him was more than heartbreaking her body just lay there, unconscious and beaten. Deep purple bruised lined from her swollen eyes, down to her rib cage, a deep stab wound sat bandaged the clothing she was wearing seeping with blood.

He opened his mouth to scream as he knelt beside her body, but no words seemed to come out. He was just frozen, holding her limp motionless body, just waiting for any sense of life that usually emitted from her.

He couldn’t remember calling 911 but he had, the little voice of the operator on the other side talking him through the current state of shock that he was in. Tears cascaded down his cheeks, as his eyes continued to scan her bruised and bloody body. He had taken in that she was wearing one of his dress shirts; the buttons loose enough so he was able to catch her exposed skin from beneath the thin fabric.

Her eyes opened slightly, her breathing labored and steady as he held her tight in his arms.

“Baby it’s okay. You’re going to be okay. The ambulance is coming you just need to hold on,” he begged, his voice desperate and weak. It felt like centuries waiting for the siren to ring in from the streets below.

“Riles, just hold on their coming, I can hear them Riles.”

He needed all the convincing in the world to prove to himself that she was going to be okay. Tears cascaded down his cheeks, his own breathing becoming labored as her own steadied into a rapid rhythm. He didn’t know how much longer he could hold it together; the tears falling down his cheeks were only the beginning to what he was holding inside. Slowly, he was coming undone at the seams.

It all seemed like a blur as the crowd of E.M.T broke into her apartment much like he had, sweeping her away from him to place her on the stretcher that sat waiting.

“Can I go with her?” He said, voice hoarse and barely above a whisper.

The doors stayed opened a moment longer giving him enough time to jump in the back seat of the truck.

Her eyes fluttered opened as much as they could, being as swollen as they were. Her weak hand reaching out to grab a hold of him.

“It’s going to be okay Riles, we’re almost there.”

He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, trying not to let the tears that lined his eyes, fall. The truck pulled into Boston Medical within minutes of leaving her apartment. She was immediately rushed from the back of the ambulance into the ER where multiple doctors and nurses were all awaiting.

Everything moved in slow motion, he couldn’t seem to get himself to move any faster to keep up with her. He knew that they wouldn’t let him go any further than the waiting room. Exhausted, he collapsed into the plastic chair that was calling his name. He pulled out his cell phone dialing a number he knew even in his sleep.

“Hey mom, I need you right now…”