by K E Osborn
“See what happens when you don’t listen? You’ve brought this all on yourself.” He grabs hold of my arms and places one knee on either side of my waist so he’s straddling me. I panic as I fight against him, kicking my legs and trying to free my hands from his grasp, my head thrashing from side to side while he sits atop me grinning like the Cheshire cat.
“Jason, get the fuck off me,” I yell as I struggle against him.
“Only if you promise to behave and come with me.”
I just want him off me. So, I stop thrashing around and concede. Jason slowly gets off me and stands, still holding my hands, and he drags me up off the floor. I hunch over as my stomach burns with pain. He walks me over to the elevator and pushes the button holding on tightly to my hand. Overwhelming fear engulfs me when the doors open again, and we step in. As the doors start to close, I pull his hand up and bite it, so hard he lets go.
“Ouch! You little bitch!”
I run out of the closing doors back into the apartment, turn around and see he’s following me, making it through the closing doors just in time. “Fuck!” I cry out with disappointment. I run toward the kitchen to grab a knife, but he catches me, pulling my hair violently, making me fall to my knees.
“Ahh,” I scream as he rips at my hair while I bring my hands up to try and release him. He slaps me again and again, then pushes me to the floor. In return, I turn over and kick him as hard as I can in the crotch. He haunches over as I stand and run to the elevator, pushing the button frantically. He sees what I’m doing and drags himself over to me, pulling me by the ankles until I fall flat on my face. He positions himself over me again as I try to fight him off.
“Aiden,” I yell out, hoping somehow, he might hear me.
“Don’t call for him. He can’t help you.” He maniacally laughs, making me instantly panic.
Oh God, Aiden. What’s he done to you?
I struggle against him, trying with all my might to get the bastard off me. I claw at his face scratching him across his cheek.
Jason jumps up and pulls me with him, this time standing behind me and locking my arms at my sides as he bear-hugs me from behind. He moves toward the elevator again, and I have only my legs to defend myself with. As we get closer to the doors, I pull my legs up against the wall kicking back so he falls backward onto the broken table. I roll off him, my head pounding as he grabs me by my hair again, pulling me toward him. I scream as I look around and see a vase. I reach for it and smash it over his head.
“Jesus, Jeni,” he calls out as blood gushes down his face.
My head’s pounding so much I’m finding it hard to get up and focus.
The only problem—now Jason’s really mad.
He picks me up off the floor and flings me onto the sofa, kneeling over me.
“Jason, please,” I beg.
He shakes his head, pulling his closed fist back and slamming it straight into my face. The pain sears through me like the weight of a truck. The shock is unimaginable as he continues to smash his clenched fist into my face, giving me a relentless beating.
“See. Now if you behaved, you wouldn’t have made me do this,” he yells in my face as tears stream from my bloody, swollen eyes. Pound after pound into my face, the room spins as I lose all my energy to fight back.
I have nothing left.
The room starts to turn black as I nod in and out of consciousness when, finally, the elevator chimes.
“What the fuck? Oh my God, Jeni,” Aiden screams, and the relentless pounding stops.
“You!” Jason yells as I fade in and out.
The pain in my body is beyond anything I’ve ever felt, and the urge to fight has left me.
I hear a scuffle, but I can’t see anything.
My body gives out and everything fades to black.
My head pounds as I try to open my sore eyes. One eye can open only a slight amount as the other blinks rapidly. I hear a heart monitor beeping in the background, and I try to move, but my entire body aches beyond anything I’ve ever felt in my life. Someone’s at my side, holding my hand. I can’t quite make out who it is until I hear their voice.
“Oh, my darling. Why did he do this to you?” My mom sobs uncontrollably.
I fade out.
“Jeni… Jeni, if you can hear me, know that we’re all here. Me, Chris, your mom, and the O’Connells. Jeni, please wake up,” I hear Sarah beg, then she takes my hand, but I can’t open my eyes because darkness engulfs me again.
“Aiden sends his love. He’ll be here as soon as he can,” Callie tells me, stroking my hair.
I wait for the darkness to come, but instead, my eyes flutter open through their soreness.
“Jeni, can you hear me?”
I go to nod, but the pain makes me moan.
“Don’t move, sweetie. Just relax,” Callie calms me instantly.
Brielle walks over with tears in her eyes. I try to speak, but only muffled moans come out. She takes my hand and holds it tight, then I see Mom, Sarah, and Chris walk in.
Mom rushes over and takes my other hand. “Oh, sweetheart, you’re finally awake.” Tears gush down her face as I let go of her hand and stretch mine out to touch her cheek. She takes hold of my hand, kissing it.
“Are you in a lot of pain?” Sarah asks.
I try to nod, forgetting about the pain, and instead, I moan in reaction to it.
Sarah and Mom flinch.
“I’ll go get a nurse,” Chris offers and exits the room.
Chris comes back with a young male nurse, who takes my hand. Panic floods my body instantly as my chest feels tight in anguish. I pull my hand from his and attempt to get away from him, but my body smarts, and I can’t move. I start to hyperventilate when he comes toward me again, so he backs away with his hands up.
“I’ll get a female nurse.” He leaves the room.
Instantly, I’m relieved when he exits, and I close my eyes, trying to bring back some semblance of normality. My heart rate slowly falls back to normal as my mom strokes my hair, trying to calm me.
A female nurse steps in and looks at me sympathetically. “Jenifer, are you in any pain?”
Chris scoffs. “Of course, she’s in pain. Look at her,” he calls out from the other side of the room.
The nurse looks at Chris and continues, “Jenifer, you’re in St. Richmond Hospital. You’ve had surgery to remove a ruptured spleen. You have quite a bit of bruising on your face and some stitches in your eyebrow. Also, your left eye socket is fractured. You’ve had minor internal bleeding which the doctors fixed for you while in surgery. Do you understand what I’ve said?” I simply moan my response. “I’ll top up your morphine levels for you now,” the nurse tells me as she fiddles with the drip hanging next to my bed.
I look around the room, and I can’t see Aiden anywhere.
I vaguely remember someone saying he’ll be here as soon as he can.
But where is he?
I slip away into the darkness again.
Another nurse shines a light into my eyes. I flinch from the brightness as my body aches accordingly. This time, it’s an elderly lady who’s examining me. The room is dark, and I can’t see anyone in my room but the nurse.
I wonder what happened to Jason to make him react so violently. I knew he had a temper and had previously hurt me, but I never knew he’d be capable of something this extreme—a tear forms in my swollen eyes.
The nurse sees the tear and takes hold of my hand. “You’re all right, darling. You’re safe. No one can hurt you here,” she reassures me. She checks a few things on the monitors and looks at me. “Try to get some rest.” She pats me on the hand as I fall asleep.
The sun’s beaming on my face. I squint as the brightness hurts my eyes. I look around the room to see my mother and Callie sitting in chairs asleep. They must have stayed overnight, and I didn’t notice them. Mom wakes and notices that the sun’s bothering me. She quickly stands and pulls the blind to face in the other direction. I feel like rushing over to hug
her, but my body won’t allow it.
“Good morning, honey.”
“Morning,” I reply. My head feels a little clearer today.
“It’s good to hear you speak,” Mom shrieks, making me wince and waking Callie.
Callie walks over to my bed and stands opposite Mom—my two mothers on either side of me—the comfort I feel is emanating from them both.
“Sweetheart, Aiden will be here soon. He’s just finishing up at the police station,” Callie tells me.
“Why is he at the police station?” I mumble.
“He’s ah… being questioned.”
Questioned?
“What for?” I ask.
Callie looks at Mom for guidance, so Mom takes the lead. “Sweetie, Aiden reacted when he saw what Jason was doing to you.”
I lay there, my eyes squint, and my face changes into a confused stare. “Reacted?”
Mom sighs. “He’s being questioned on charges of assault, darling.”
If my eyes could open with shock, they would. Aiden assaulted Jason? I never thought of Aiden as being violent to the point of being arrested.
“Jeni, don’t worry. I’m sure once the police hear the full story, he’ll be fine.”
I sniffle and bring my hand up to my aching head. “How long has he been there?”
“A few hours,” Callie mutters.
“How long have I been here for?”
“Three days.”
“Where’s Jason?” I ask, catching Mom and Callie off guard. They look at each other.
“He’s in St. Luke’s for the criminally insane under watch and observation until he recovers,” Callie informs me.
I sigh a relieved breath. “And Josie?”
“She’s been arrested as an accomplice,” Mom relays.
“Why did he do this to me?”
“Sweetie, the doctor says he has something called Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder. He’s sick and needs professional help.”
“He certainly needs help. Look at what he did to me,” I mumble.
I wonder what he did do to me.
What do I look like?
“Mom, do you have a mirror?”
“Jeni, I don’t think you should do this right now.”
I sigh, annoyed that she won’t help me and go to sit up in the bed, but my stomach aches as I try to push myself up.
Callie’s eyes widen. “What are you doing?” She stops me from throwing my legs over the edge of the bed.
I moan with the pain as I continue to try and sit up fully.
“Jeni, stop! I’ll get you a damn mirror. Just lie back down,” Mom chides, giving in.
I lay back down on the bed, trying to breathe through the pain as it starts all over my body. That was a bad move.
Mom hands me a compact mirror from her handbag. I brace myself as I get ready to see what Jason did to me. I sigh and hold the mirror up in front of my face. Holy shit! Bile rises in my throat as my heart beats rapidly while I look at the beaten-up mess in the mirror.
That’s not me.
It can’t be.
I sit in shock while I examine myself.
First, I see my lips, swollen and cut. Then my cheeks, yellow and blue from the bruising. Then up to my eyes. My right eye is red and bloodshot with bruising, and then I move to the left eye. It’s completely black. My eye is bright red, and the eyelid is so swollen that it’s almost shut. I exhale as tears well.
“Are you okay, honey?” Mom takes the mirror from me.
Look at what Jason did to me!
I start to softly cry as Mom and Callie hold on to my hands. “It’s going to be all right,” Mom tries to console me.
“Is she awake?” Aiden asks, standing in the doorway.
Mom moves aside to show me that he’s here, but it only makes me more emotional when I see him as he rushes over.
“I’m so sorry, baby.” Tears well in his eyes.
His eyebrow is cut, and as he reaches his hand to touch me, his knuckles are bruised and grazed. The thought of any kind of violence right now scares me, so I pull away from him, a seed of doubt surfacing. Aiden looks at me with his eyebrows scrunched in confusion as do Mom and Callie.
“Jeni, it’s me.” Aiden reaches for my hand once more, and I pull away again. I can’t seem to help my reaction as my mind flicks back to Aiden and his behavior in the shower after we lost the baby. His anger and dominance disturbed me then, but now, it’s heightened. My brain is working overtime trying to make sense of his actions and my feelings.
A switch flicks, and something inside me changes. “Leave,” I murmur to him.
“Jeni?” he questions. His face is tight as he watches my reactions.
“Just. Go,” I yell.
He shakes his head.
“Aiden… please go. I don’t want you here.”
He looks at Mom and Callie, who both have their heads tilted to one side, obviously not understanding what’s going on inside my mind—I have no idea either, except I don’t want Aiden near me.
“I’m not going anywhere.” He leans in to hug me.
I tense and scramble to try and get away from him like a scared mouse trying to flee from its prey.
“Jeni… I—”
“Just get out. Get out. Get out!” I scream while my mom holds me down to calm me.
My heart is racing so fast I can’t think.
I don’t want any man near me.
I want Aiden to be gone.
He looks at me, his eyes glistening with tears. Shaking his head not knowing why I’m doing this, he does what I ask and turns around, walking out of the hospital room. I hear a heavy sigh on his way out as he runs his hand through his hair.
“What the hell was that?” Mom almost yells as Aiden exits, and I burst into tears.
“I can’t…” I manage to say through my muffled tears as I bring my hands up to my face in despair.
Mom leans in and kisses me on the forehead, softening her stance. “Don’t worry, you can see him when you’re ready.”
Callie walks out to obviously comfort her son.
My crying eventually subsides, and Mom runs her fingers through my hair. “Do you want to tell me what that was about now?” I shake my head. “Sweetie, is it because you don’t want him to see you like this?”
I sniffle and decide to lie and agree just to get some peace so I can think about my reaction. “Yes.”
“Oh, don’t be silly. He’ll love you no matter what you look like.”
“Let it go, Mom.”
“Sweetie, you’ll have to let him in here at some stage. He loves you, and he wants to see you.”
“Mom, I’m kind of tired.”
She exhales and fluffs up my pillows, kisses my forehead, and hesitantly leaves. I’m all alone in my hospital room left to think—think about Jason, about Aiden, and about my life and how it has been irrevocably changed.
My feelings toward Aiden have shifted from love and pure happiness to resentment, and dare I say it, goddammed fear.
Are all men the same?
Can I trust in one man?
Should I live my life alone?
Maybe I would be better off.
Jason has damaged something inside of me, and I don’t know if I can ever truly come back from this.
I curl up in a ball as I stare out the window at the sky, the perfect blue sky, and I wonder how I ended up here, in this place, at this very moment.
Is this what Jason had planned since the day he saw me in the restaurant?
Or was this a gradual thing that escalated out of hand?
My head’s cycling through all the scenarios.
Was Jason the one I felt in the room when I had the spa bath?
Was he the one in the cinema trying to scare me?
I swear I’m not going crazy.
This man, Jason, who I once loved, was spying on me the entire time. And now, because of his illness, my whole relationship with the love of my life is in jeopardy because I can’t stan
d a man near me.
I continue to stare at the sky outside my window, and eventually a nurse walks in. “How are you feeling?”
“A little sore,” I answer honestly.
“You’ve quite the entourage waiting for you outside.”
I wonder how they must all be feeling.
“Would you like me to tell them you need rest, and that they should come back tomorrow?”
“Thank you, I’d appreciate that.”
She makes her way outside, and a few minutes later Mom comes in. “Sweetie, the nurse says you need some time to rest.” She takes my hand. “We’re going to go home and have some, too. But if you need us, we’re only a phone call away.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
She looks like she’s going to cry as she leans in and rests her forehead against mine. “I love you, baby girl.”
I smile as best I can through the pain to try and ease her concern. “I love you, too, Mom.”
She kisses my cheek and leaves me alone in the hospital room, where I hope to try and regroup my feelings and emotions.
I spend the night dozing in and out, trying to watch television and attempting to eat solid food. The nurse comes in to help me to my feet for the first time since the incident. She takes my catheter out, and I am able to use the bathroom for the first time. I’m starting to feel more human and less like an invalid as the night turns to day.
The feel of someone holding my hand, wakes me from sleep. I open my eyes before panic sets in to see Sarah standing next to me. She looks at me with a frown on her face and tears in her eyes.
“Hey,” I whisper.
“Hi.” I pull her in for a hug, flinching as she holds me oh so lightly. “Sorry, didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“It’s fine. I feel much better than I did. I mean… I’m still sore obviously, but I know I’ll be all better soon.”
She looks like she’s hesitating to say something, so I say, “What’s wrong?”
“I heard what happened with Aiden. Do you know he’s still waiting outside? He stayed all night, hoping you’d call him in,” Sarah informs me, gauging my reaction.
