Page 11 of Remnants

Kaitlin

EIGHT

I sit in my car listening to the rain as it hits my windshield.

I have no idea how long I've been sitting here, staring at the entrance to the pharmacy. My guess is at least an hour, because my once-hot coffee has gone cold. I glance at myself in the rearview mirror. My face is bruised, my lip swollen, and I have a black eye. I’ve done my best to hide what I can with makeup, but I am relying on my oversized round sunglasses to cover the rest. My body aches so badly I can barely move.

Getting dressed this morning involved screaming, crying, and an extra forty-five minutes, and now all I want is the pain pills that the pharmacist had filled for me, thanks to James’ partner in the surgical group.

Well, that and I need to grab another medication before I head back home.

I sigh and summon the strength to walk into the pharmacy. My body protesting every step. I make it down one aisle and have to grip the shelf for support—I can barely breathe. The pain is so overwhelming, especially with the shapewear, and it’s making me lightheaded.

I look up at the sign above the next aisle, the words are fuzzy but I make out ‘family planning’ and head down until I see the box I am looking for.

Grabbing the box of Plan B , I walk toward the pharmacist. I’m nauseous and feel a sheen of sweat forming over my numbing body.

There is a high-pitched whine and it’s getting harder to hear. Is someone calling my name?

It is dark, but loud. Talking, machines making noise, footsteps. I can’t figure out where I am. I open my eyes, groaning at the piercing white light.

“Doc! She’s awake!” a female voice calls. Is that…

“N-Nora?” My voice is hoarse and my throat is dry as a bone. I go to lick my lips to wet them. Odd, they’re soft, I thought they would’ve been dry. How long have I been out? Where am I?

I look around as the room comes into focus. I’m in a hospital room. My heart sinks. I am in the hospital. I feel Nora grip my hand and I look at her. She looks like shit with dark rings around her puffy, red-rimmed eyes. Her short dark hair unruly, as if she had been running her hands through it.

“Hey, pretty girl.” She smiles so sweetly at me that I actually choke on a sob.

“What happened?” I ask as I try to sit up. But between the pain and the dizziness, it’s not happening.

“Stop now, Junebug.” I watch as Nora begins to fuss over me. She lifts the back of my bed up higher so I can sit up, before filling me a cup full of ice and adjusting my blanket. Before we can speak again, a woman in a white coat walks in.

“Mrs. Chambers, glad to see you up.” She smiles as her warm brown eyes stare over me.

“Where am I?” I ask weakly.

“General. You were brought here yesterday,” she states in that concerned doctor’s tone.

“Yesterday?” I start trying to get up but the doctor and Nora push me down.

“Mrs. Chambers, you need to calm down, you have a couple cracked ribs, not to mention some other pretty sustainable marks. You have been unconscious for the better part of twenty hours. You need to stay calm and allow us to assess everything.”

“No. Give me the release form, the AMA, whatever, I will sign it. I need to go home.” I glare at Nora, anger heating up my entire body. How could she? How could she take me here? Where is my phone? God, James is going to kill me when he finds out.

I watch as the doctor sighs and walks from the room, I know she will take her time, hoping I come to my senses. I am to my senses. I am completely fucking sensed . James Chambers is well known here, and that means that when they looked at my emergency contact, they immediately called him.

“How could you?” I whisper, staring at my hands.

“How could I what?” Nora bites back. Why is she mad?

“Bring me here!” I hiss. “What on earth would make you think that was a good idea?! Fucking General, Nora? Are you insane?” I shove my tray away from me, needing something to hit.

“I didn’t call the ambulance, the pharmacist did when you passed out and hit your head on the fucking floor,” she says through gritted teeth.

I instinctively put my hand to my head, only to find it wrapped.

“I tried to get them to take you to the hospital across the city since I didn’t know where your husband worked, but you were unconscious and had a head wound, and I’m no one to you so they wouldn’t listen!

” Guilt and shame begin to take over my anger as she continues her harsh whisper.

“What was I supposed to do, Kaitlin? You cracked your head, you were unconscious, and have you seen your face? Not to mention you were clutching a box of Plan B when you went down! I was afraid you were raped!”

I flinch at her words and she goes still. “Kaitlin…”

“Don’t, Nora…” I whisper as a tear rolls down my cheek. I try to force a smile, but I can tell by her dark expression I’ve failed. “He’s my husband… It’s not rape if you’re married.”

“Horseshit,” she spits as she leans over the bed rail to look me in the eyes.

“If you didn’t want sex… if you told him to stop…

then it was rape. James did this. He beat you, and then he…

” She straightens, and I see the tightness in her jaw.

I can hear her fingers tightening around her cane. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Stop! Nora, don’t even joke.” Her eyes look almost black as she stares at me.

“What part of me looks like I’m joking? Do you think I’m going to let him come near you again?

I will burn him and everything he holds dear to the fucking ground if he even looks at you again.

” The cold, possessive tone in her voice both terrifies and excites me, but I have to stop her.

She can’t do this. James will hurt her, and what he can’t do physically, he will financially.

“He’s my husband, Nora. You can’t be like this. ”

“So what? Are you telling me that you are going to go back there after he did this to you?”

I look down at my lap, unable to hold eye contact with her.

How can I not go back? To leave means I would have nothing, no one.

I don’t have friends, my family will disown me if I divorce him.

He kept me from college, I have no job, no income, and absolutely no way to survive on my own.

Everything I have is in his name. I have nothing without him.

I am nothing without him. He made damn sure of that.

“Yes,” I say, my voice small. “I am going back to him. If I leave him I lose everything. We will work it out, we always do.”

“If you stay with him you lose everything!” I wince at the volume of her voice and she backs up. “I like you, Kaitlin. I care about you. I think we connect well and I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”

“You know nothing about me. I fucked you once and you think that means I should divorce my husband?”

Nora flinches at my tone. I can’t blame her, I’m shocked by the words falling from my mouth. I’m taking my fear and anger out on her and it’s completely wrong and unjust, but before I can take it back or apologize, Nora straightens her back and her face goes stony.

“Feel better, Kaitlin. I’ll see you around.

” When the door shuts behind her, I feel my heart break.

I don’t want her to go, but I can’t bring her into this.

Nora has seen terrible things as a soldier, she’s trying to learn how to manage her life and her mental health.

She doesn’t need me weighing her down. Or worse, James turning his anger toward her.