Myhead 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.”