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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.
