Rustie wakes up late the next morning. She makes her way downstairs in just her nightshirt, which has the band’s name printed on it. She managed to get several items from their vendor that made their merchandise for free.
Since no one was home, Rustie fixes herself some coffee and grabs a banana nut muffin that her mother had made a few days ago and eats it. She turns the television on to listen to the morning news. One of the local news stations has been covering them lately and has been giving them good reviews.
She listens to the newscast about the show they did a few days ago. The band they covered was extremely good, but they managed to be just as impressive. The other band let them jam with them on several songs before finally leaving.
She knew sooner or later, her secret was going to come out. It doesn’t bother her if it does, but she was worried about the reputation of the band. Also, how the label company they were signed with will react.
After Rustie finishes her muffin and coffee. She goes upstairs and changes her clothes. She shouldn’t have eaten and drunk the coffee, but she needed the fuel.
Rustie goes for her morning run and lets all her worries and fears leave her while she runs. While she is running, her mind starts composing a song about how free she feels while running. She loses herself in her thoughts and music.
Out of nowhere, she gets run over by a guy running out of a nearby house with a gun in his hand. The two of them go down. Rustie tries to disentangle herself from the guy. There is a loud bang, as she feels a burning, sharp pain in her side.
The guy looks at the woman and tries to get up. The gun in his hand had gone off. Just as he was getting up, his gun went off a second time, hitting Rustie again. This time, the bullet hit her in the thigh. She screams out in pain as she watches the guy run off.
Two guys who were running towards her grabbed the guy and took him down. Three others stopped what they were doing to help her. Rustie tries to keep from moving as the helpful bystanders help her. She could hear sirens coming towards her location.
A few minutes later, two paramedics tend to her wounds and put her on a stretcher to take her to the hospital. She passes out, but opens her eyes what seems like a few minutes later.
“She’s awake, put her back under.”
Rustie feels herself given something, and she passes out again. She feels like she is having the best sleep she has ever had. She could feel herself floating, as if she were lighter than air.
Where she was, it resembled nothing she had ever seen. She could hear the sounds of waves crashing against the shore. Music filled the air, as the notes danced in front of her. She listens to the music as it fills the air.
Rustie doesn’t know how long the feeling of where she is lasts, but she later drifts back to her body and wakes hours later. She felt groggy as she started coming around. She slowly opens her eyes and finds herself in some sort of recovery room. A nurse was standing near her.
Nurse Joy notices the young lady that she was waiting to wake up, open her eyes. A smile appears on her face “looks like sleeping beauty finally wakes up. How are you feeling?”
Rustie heard the nurse question, but tries to gather her thoughts. Her brain still felt cloudy; it was like she was trying to claw her way through a thick syrup. She manages to look directly at the nurse and, in a sleepy voice “Fine.”
Nurse Joy notices how the young woman sounded and figures she was still feeling the effects of the anesthesia. She checks her pulse and breathing and looks at her. “Well, your blood pressure is low, but it is getting stronger. I’m going to transfer you to a hospital room.”
Rustie falls back asleep and doesn’t feel herself being moved. The nurse, along with an orderly, transfers Rustie to a hospital room. Nurse Joy carefully hooks an oxygen hose up to Rustie and a machine that dispenses pain medicine.
The next time Rustie wakes up, she spots her mother sitting by her hospital bed. She feels her mother sleeping next to her in a chair. She tries to move, but feels pain when she does.
Rustie feels her bladder ready to release itself. She looks around and notices that she is in a private hospital room. She tries to get up, “MOM!”
Shirley’s eyes snap open when she hears Rustie’s voice. She looks towards her daughter, “What’s wrong, sweetie?”
“I got to pee, Mom.” Rustie looks towards her daughter with a smirk on her face.
“You’re lucky you still have your penis, sweetie.” Shirley gets up and gets the bottle for Rustie to pee in.
“You've got to be joking, Mom.” Rustie looks at the bottle.
“Sweetie, if you were equipped like me, you would be using the bedpan instead.” Shirley hated the pee bottle, but uses it.
Luckily, she had a blanket covering her, so she could do her business in private. Once she is finished, “Mom, I hate to do this, but...” Rustie hands her mother the bottle.
“It’s okay, sweetie. It’s not the first time I’ve had to clean up after you.” Shirley takes the bottle and empties it into the toilet. She rinses it out in the sink.
“Mom, what happened to me?” Rustie looks towards her mother when she asks that question.
“You don’t remember, sweetie?” Shirley looks at Rustie with a concerned look on her face.
“All I remember, mom is getting knocked down and feeling something hot and sharp pierce my upper leg. I know, I was shot again, but I was in
too much pain to feel the second shot.” Rustie felt herself being shot a second time.
“You were shot in your right side, and the bullet passed through one of your kidneys, sweetie. The second shot went completely through your right thigh. Luckily, it didn’t do too much damage to your upper thigh bone. Your upper thigh bone had to be rebuilt.”
“Great! Now, I won’t be able to play.” Rustie couldn’t believe she had been injured again.
“Sweety, you would have been able to play anyway. The bullet damaged your kidney too much, so the doctor had to remove it.” Shirley knew Rustie loved performing.
“Oh?” Rustie hadn’t realized how injured she was.
“Sweetie, tell me everything you remember, so I can give your statement to the police.” Shirley takes her cell phone out to record Rustie’s statement.
Later in the day, Rustie’s father, Norman, shows up to check on her. Her father informs her that the person who ran into her had been robbing the house she ran by. The gun they had belonged to the owner.
“Well, he pulled a hell of a time to run into me.” Rustie couldn’t believe that it was just dumb luck that she ended up being shot.
“Don’t worry, sweetie. The robber is going to be serving time for breaking and for shooting you as well. According to him, the first shot was by accident. The gun he took had a hair trigger on it. The second shot to you, he thought you were trying to stop him.” Norman had spoken to the police, who arrested the robber.
Rustie just lies in bed, talking with her parents. They hadn’t called the others yet to tell them she was in the hospital.