The Hospital Diaries

Six Weeks Earlier...

Fugitive/Suspect Eden Montgomery

Eden hated her probation officer. She simply never liked the guy. He was too assertive, without any looseness to his personality whatsoever. There were no smiles, no kindness, not even the hint of a joke. It was all seriousness and business with the guy. Actually, it was a little more than that. It felt smothering and obsessive, as far as Eden was concerned. It was like the guy was always there—not only coming to the house a little too often for her so-called crime, but it seemed like wherever she went, she just happened to run into him. She sensed the guy enjoyed rubbing his presence in her face. This only made her want to rebel even more, even going so far as to file a rejected complaint to be transferred to a different PO. She should have figured that law enforcement would side with law enforcement, even if they were different branches of the same shit. At first, it seemed like Sam was going to do her the favor of backing off a bit on his own, but then the visits returned to being rather obsessive, something her husband loved to remind her that he had told her would happen. That was another thing she was getting sick of—her husband. He wasn't a control freak by any means, but she felt like she couldn't do much without being criticized, and oh, how it drove her crazy when he sided with others. Weren't you supposed to support and side with the one you loved, even if you didn't fully believe in them? Instead, all she got was how she shouldn't have done this and how she could have done that differently, and people wouldn't treat her the way she was treated if she had only done things differently. When they had a huge argument over money that afternoon, she realized that, yes, a change was necessary, and that was as good a time as any to take back her life and do things differently. She would get rid of the berating husband and the hovering PO all in one shot. So she called Cherise and begged her to take her where her family lived, since she said it was a nice area that was full of opportunities, and she was thinking of moving back there anyway. Once again, though, Eden would find that life simply wasn't what you planned it to be shortly after following her friend into the bank. One minute, they were waiting in line, and the next, people were screaming and scurrying about. She spun around to see three masked gunmen. "You've got to be fucking kidding me," she muttered. It seemed surreal, like it wasn't happening. The ringleader of the robbers demanded that everyone drop to the floor and not move or mutter a word, or else they would be shot. Throughout the screams and whimpers, Eden and her friend hit the floor. Two of the gunmen kept their eyes on those on the ground while the other demanded that the teller fill up the large canvas bag they had brought with them. Eden was wedged in the back of a row of people. With the robbers' attention suddenly on a couple of guys who attempted to charge them—and to the sound of loud gunfire—she slipped back and into a hallway. She ran frantically down the hall but couldn't find a way out. She did spot a phone sitting on top of a desk in an office whose door was open. That was when she dashed inside and called the one person she definitely didn't want to call, since she knew she couldn't get through to Jerrod. She called Sam Cubito. The person who answered the phone in the office patched her through to him, and she relayed the situation as quickly and as untruthfully as she possibly could. She admitted she and her husband had gotten into it that morning, but left out the part about going on the run. Instead, she claimed she was just going on a day trip with her friend to consider possible areas to move to when her probation ended in a few months, if she couldn't patch things up with her husband. "I don't know exactly where I am. My friend knows the area, and I've just been sitting in the passenger seat, not paying much attention other than crying on her shoulder about the fight I got into with my husband." Then she told him what little she did know, or at least what she was willing to admit. "Please, I know you don't like me," Eden began. "Never said I didn't like you," her PO said in a less-than-sympathetic tone. "Then please find me. Please don't give up on me." "Not gonna give up on you," her PO said in an almost annoyed tone that made Eden wonder if he cared more about saving her so he could continue to rub his presence in her face than for her safety and well-being. Suddenly, the doorway to the office was filled with an armed and masked robber. Eden began shouting, "It's too late, asshole, the police are on the way!" Then her anger turned to fear as she begged and pleaded for her life before the guy started beating her over the head with the butt of his rifle. Using her amazing strength yet again, fueled by her survival instinct, Eden surprised the gunman by overpowering him and turning his own weapon against him. She didn't know how to fire the thing, but she sure knew how to beat the living shit out of him with it. She was vaguely aware of Sam shouting through the phone, which she had dropped and replaced on its receiver. Eden was now straddling the gunman and choking the life out of him. Despite his limbs being longer and heavier, he could not pry the enraged woman's hands from his throat, nor could he buck her off of him, even though he probably had a good 30 or 40 pounds on her. So enraged was Eden that she didn't see one of the guy's hands snake out and grab a figurine of an owl that had fallen off the desk in the scuffle. He was just about to black out when he finally managed to get a grip on it and slam it over Eden's head. Eden then toppled off of him like a felled tree. When Eden next knew anything, she was in a hospital room. Her beady black eyes circled the room and landed on her probation officer. She was almost as unnerved by his expression as she was by waking up in the hospital. His slight smile didn't reach his eyes. There were no words of reassurance or anything—just silence. Even though he could clearly see she was now awake, it was Eden who spoke first. "What the hell? How did I get here?" "You took a nasty bump to the head, Eden." Eden noticed Sam's lack of empathy and words of comfort. She waited a moment, assuming he would continue on. When he didn't, she said, "So that's it? Is there nothing else you can tell me? Like, am I going to be OK and all that?" "You'll be fine," Sam said in the same business tone he normally used with her. "Where's my friend? Has Jerrod been notified?" "Relax," Sam ordered. "I was nearly killed in a bank robbery, and I've woken up in the hospital. I'm not going to just relax, Sam, and you're not going to order me around now either. Now where's my friend and husband?" As her vision cleared and she could focus on Sam's face more easily, she saw what looked like a combination of defiance and resentment on his features. "Your husband has been notified, but your friend didn't make it." Tears immediately welled up in Eden's eyes. "What?!" Again, Eden thought some form of comfort would be automatic on Sam's part. Wasn't that what one did when delivering such horrible news? But instead, he just stood there gazing down at her. "What happened, and what the hell is wrong with you? Why are you drip-feeding me information like this? Were the bank robbers caught? Did anyone else get hurt?" Eden fired off question after question when a doctor and a nurse came in and gave her a sedative.