“She’s alive.” Everyone around me cheers, but I don’t, I see the look in his eyes. He’s worried.
“Guys, please,” I call out and everyone begins to quieten down as I turn back to her Doctor.
“She isn’t out of the woods yet. You should know that we did have to revive her twice once on the way in and once on the table. Her injuries are extensive, she has a pretty significant head injury. The next forty-eight hours are critical.”
He watches me, giving me a minute to process the information, but I don’t need to process, not yet anyway.
“Doc, her other injuries?” I ask him.
“Erm.” He inhales and closes his eyes like he’s trying to remember everything. “Several cuts and bruises covering almost every inch of her body, all at varying stages of healing. Exposed skin on her wrists. A badly sprained left ankle, broken right wrist. She has several broken ribs. There was an abdominal bleed which we have repaired, and—” he stops, casting a quick glance at Doc, who gives him a nod. He turns back to me. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your partner was sexually assaulted. Providing all goes well, she will heal physically, but the mental scars will take a lot longer to heal. I’ll provide the details of one of the best therapists I know. I’m sorry I don’t have better news for you right now.”
I step forward and grab his arm, giving it a squeeze. “She’s alive, and despite everything else. That is the best news you could have given me. Thank you.”
He gives me a nod and turns to walk away. “Wait,” I yell after him, he stops, turning to give me his full attention. “When can I see her?”
“Normally, we don’t let anyone through to recovery.” He pauses and looks down at his watch. “If she makes it through the next twelve hours without any issues, then I’ll move her to a side room so you can be with her.”
“Thanks Doc.” He gives me one final nod and then walks away. I’m on information overload, and I can’t take anymore; my knees buckle, and I drop to the floor. Maria rushes to me, and I look at her, my eyes foggy with tears. “She’s alive, for now she’s alive.” Relief floods my system, and I sob right there on the waiting room floor in front of my family.
Chapter
Forty-Eight
It’s dark, and I think I can hear something beeping and voices, maybe, but it’s muffled like I’m underwater. I realise the dark is because my eyes are closed, and I try to force them open, but my eyelids feel like they are glued shut.
My body feels cold like I’m standing outside in the dead of winter, but strangely, my hand feels warm, like maybe it’s in a glove, only the glove doesn’t quite cover my whole hand, and it feels heavy, like something is squeezing it. Another hand maybe, but who’s? I’m alone. I’ve been alone since I got here.
And the beeping, where is that coming from? I’ve heard a ship’s horn, and even trucks, but never that incessant beeping. It’s beginning to annoy me. Is this something else they’re doing to try and torture me? The beatings and rapes aren’t enough for them, they want to try and break my mind too.
I definitely hear voices. Are they really back for more already? Or am I being moved to the ship? They said it was happening soon, but how soon? I really don’t want to go; I really wish they would just kill me. I know that I need to stay strong, but I don’t know how much more I can take.
I want to cry out, I want to tell them no, I want to scream for help.
Wait, did I just cry out?
Wait, I feel that—the touch down my cheek, the whispering in my ear. I can’t make out what they are saying, but the touch, is warm and gentle. I know it. It can’t be, am I dreaming?
Chapter
Forty-Nine
Her heart rate started to spike, and then I felt her hand move. It was so small. If I hadn’t of been so focused on her, I might have missed it, but then I heard it, the small moan she let out. I wasn’t the only one who heard. The room is full of people. Doc Saunders was not happy when we all strolled in here after he moved her from recovery, but everyone wanted to see her and be near her. He finally gave in, telling us that we weren’t allowed to be a nuisance to the other doctors and nurses and that we needed to ensure Marissa got plenty of rest. She still wasn’t out of the woods, but he was hopeful.
Twenty-one hours since surgery, and I was starting to think she was never going to come out of it, but as I stand here, stroking her face, telling her that I’m here and that she’s safe, I finally start to feel a little hopeful myself.
“Move, please.”
Doc Saunders pushes through the crowd of people at the door and he walks up the other side of my woman’s bed, checking her monitors before pulling out a small light and shining it in each of her eyes. As he pulls back to a standing position, he looks at me and smiles. “It’s still early, but it looks like she’s trying to come around. I understand you all want to behere, but I’m going to ask that you all wait in the waiting room, only two in here at any one time. I don’t want her overloaded when she wakes up.”
“With all due respect, doc.” Nitro steps forward. “The waiting room’s just a little too far. But we will wait in the corridor, and before you get all worried, I promise we’ll behave and stay out of everybody’s way.” He smiles at the doc, who doesn’t seem too pleased but gives Nitro a nod anyway. He knows he won’t win this one.
Feeling like the chair is just a little too far away, I take a seat right on the edge of the bed facing my girl. Nitro moves everyone out of the room, barking orders at them to stay quiet and stay out of the way or he’ll kick everyone out, before coming back in and re-taking up his position against the wall by the door.
Doc Saunders continues to check my girl over, making notes on her chart as he goes. When he’s done, he turns to look at me. “She’s a fighter this one; she’s coming around a lot quicker than I would have expected. Just be patient, coming around from any surgery is hard enough, but add in the head injury makes it a lot harder.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s positive that she’s coming out of it on her own and started coming around so quickly. But I need you to understand that it could take days for her to come out of it. And there might be repercussions from the head injury…”
