Hope Freaks Out

Part 10:

Hope could hear a voice but it seemed distant “Hope, are you okay, what happened?”

She couldn’t see but knew it was Hugo. She moaned, “Call George” as she made her way to the phone. Everything was blurry but she managed to call 911. 

“911, do you need police or emergency services?”

“Shit if I know, ouch my head hurts.” Hope said.

“Ma’am are you injured?”

“Pretty sure I was robbed, I think. I need to sit down. Why in the fuck did they hit me?”

“Ma’am are you injured? I have dispatched the police. They are on their way. Can you give me a description? Was there a weapon involved?”

Hope was confused so she just sat on the floor and Hugo handed her his cell phone and she heard a familiar voice. She was looking for her cell phone at the same time but everything was still a blur.”

“Hope, it’s Allen. Hugo doesn’t know what’s going on. What is going on?” she heard simultaneously with the sound of the dispatcher “Ma’am, stay with me on the phone.”

“I need to call George. Hugo do you see my phone? Allen I was robbed, I think.” And she handed Hugo his cell phone.

“Ma’am, what is your name?” The dispatcher said loudly.

“I don’t know. Hope I think. Why did they hit me? Fuck my arm hurts. I think I heard the sound of a loud diesel exhaust, it is pretty distinct and then he said “ don’t call the cops you stupid bitch.” She was fumbling with her cell phone looking for George’s number. She was shaking and beginning to cry. “God damned it, I need to call my boss and I can’t make this piece of shit arm work correctly.”

“Hope, stay on the phone with me until the police arrive. Are you injured? Was there a gun?” The dispatcher pleaded.

“I don’t know, I just don’t know.” She said in full blown tears now.

Finally she found George’s number and hit send. When he answered she blurted out “they robbed me George” and she heard the dispatchers’ voice again.

“Hope can you give a description of the suspects?”

“No, but his voice has a Latino accent. The other has black hair. They have hoodies on and the one who hit me has a mask. Why did they hit me? My head hurts and my arm won’t work. This is pissing me off.”

“Stay calm and stay on the phone with me. The police are at the door and you need to let them in.” 

Hope didn’t even look up. She heard their radios and Hugo opening the door. She was still sitting on the floor behind the bar with two phones. She was nauseous and felt like she was going to puke.

She knew the first cop on the scene and he said “oh shit, not you Hope. Are you okay?  As he hung up the phone for her and knelt down next to her. “Hope, I need you to tell me what they looked like.” 

He put his hand on her arm and she jumped. She repeated what she had just told the dispatcher. He tried to touch her arm and she cried out. He then told another officer she was injured. Hope told him to move but he didn’t get out of the way and she puked on his shoe.

Everything got blurred again and the next time she looked up there was four police men and then the door flew open and George came flying in with a .38 pistol in his hand. The cops yelled at him to put it away and then they recognized him. He was yelling, “I am going to kill the mother fuckers.”

Hope dry heaved some and George went to her and tried to touch her but she shuddered away from him or anyone touching her. She couldn’t figure out what hurt worse, her arm where she had been kicked or her shoulder or her head. It was like the pain was playing ping pong. “Hope do you need to go to the hospital?”

She shook her head “no” and heard Allen come in the door accompanied by another coworker, Tammy. Then she heard Matt’s voice and  began to cry. People were throwing questions at her like she was a fucking encyclopedia. “Did he have a gun? What did they look like? Are you hurt? What did they get? Are you okay? Do you want some water? ”

Hope put her hand up in the air and said “shut up, my head hurts and if any of you ask me if I’m okay again I am going to hurt you. It’s pretty obvious I am, shit.  There were two of them, one Hispanic and one black. I don’t know about a gun and I am not shot so I can’t even draw a conclusion, it was fast. They kicked me and hit me with something after throwing me against a pole. Go look at the video for fucks sake. I heard a diesel truck.  Tammy, call Linda and tell her what happened. Allen, go talk to Hugo in Spanish because he didn’t see them and I know no one has talked to him. He was closing the gate. George, they got all of today’s money, all of mine and whatever I swept off in the bag out of the safe. Someone give me a cigarette.”

Hope put her head down on the table and listened to all of them go do their things. The initial cop started to talk to Hope and she said “No, I might puke again. I think I might have a head issue.”

“You probably need to go to the hospital to get checked out but robbery division is on their way.”

“Shush, go look at the damned video.” And she put her head back down on the table.

Tammy came over to her and told her Linda was there. She looked up and started to cry again. “What in the fuck?” Hope cried out to both of them.

Tammy put her hand gently on Hope’s shoulder and said “When they called me and said we had gotten robbed I said, please no, not Hope.”

Hope was in a full blown sob now and Linda and Tammy hugged her simultaneously. They knew the hell Hope had endured in life. Tammy was especially worried about the impact this was going to have on Hope’s well-being and all of her progress.  The two had bonded over the summer despite the 15 year age difference and opposite personalities.

All of the sudden a new cop was on the scene and ordered everyone who didn’t work there or involved to get out. No one moved including Linda. She wasn’t going to leave Hope right now. Another jackass cop said “you all heard him, this is a crime scene.”

Matt said “we all work here” and George said “I own the mother fucker.”

They made Linda go sit out in the car and everyone else except Hugo and Hope sit on the other side of the bar.  Her body was trembling and Allen and Matt were getting pissed. There was no reason she should have to sit there all alone when they were not even talking to her. Allen had enough and walked over to her and said “come on, I am taking you to the hospital.” The cop said “no, she needs to wait for robbery division.” Hope stood up with the aid of Allen and said “shoot me then Barney, you are the one with the bullet” and walked out with Allen to the hospital.

As soon as she was about to be seen the Constable called and asked her to come back because the detective was there. The doctor hesitantly said it was okay and to come back as quickly as she could. When she arrived back to the scene the detective from the robbery division said "what are you doing here? I would have come to you." Hope explained how they called her at the ER and told her to return. A look of anger came over her face as she looked towards the officers and said “what the fuck is wrong with y’all? You don’t hold a victim at the scene with injuries and you sure in the hell don’t ask her to come away from the hospital. Jesus Christ.”

Hope was tired and in tremendous pain. She insisted on giving her statement because she was already there. Then she promptly returned to the emergency room. They ran a series of tests including an MRI because the left side of her face was beginning to swell quite noticeably.  Linda relieved Allen after a few hours and finally got to take Hope home.She stayed on the love seat next to the couch where Hope slept. She knew Hope wouldn’t ask her to but she knew she needed it. Hell, she was exhausted too.  

The next morning they went back to the bar, talked with some more detectives and watched the video. Hope puked again. This was the most she had ever thrown up in her life. There was indeed a gun and it was pointed at her head almost the entire time. She couldn’t even make out how heavy the robber was. He had on huge clothes, a hoodie and a mask. It was frightening to think about much less go through. It was awful. She told Linda she would follow her home since her car was still there from the night before. She wanted out of there and fast.

Hope went back to work the next day with the mindset she was not going to be a victim. She threw the arm sling away after 12 hours. It was confining and she didn’t believe anything which wasn’t broken should not be restricted. Those thugs were not going to win. Linda had stayed with her in the living room for two nights but she needed to go spend the night with Thor at some point. Donna stayed the third night and someone followed her home every night after work for about a week. 

George went through insanely wonderful measures, such as an alarm system complete with panic buttons and her own remote. They had security 7 days a week instead of three. Seven more cameras were installed and Hope was doing fine or so she thought. She had one of the worst black eyes anyone had ever seen but she didn’t care, she could see so and that’s what mattered. The MRI had only showed a slight concussion which she did not understand in the first place. She told George, “If I am not brain damaged then why does it matter?” He laughed and said “I knew you were a bad ass.” Hope despised those disgusting words.

 About two weeks later she elbowed a guy in the nose causing gushing blood and kicked him in the nuts almost simultaneously because he simply reached for her from behind. George laughed at the guy and told Hope, “see you are a bad ass.” Hope didn’t think that was bad ass in the least. It was disturbing. She was not a violent person and this was not anger, it was pure terror.  Nothing in Hope ever wanted to see anyone bleed, not on television and damned sure not as a result of her hands.  Hope needed help but she didn’t trust anyone.

To be continued...