The Decsion
1014 Words
At that moment, the doctor came in. She had a file in hand and smiled at me sympathetically.
"How are you feeling now?" She asked, her voice full of concern, as if she heard the conversation I just had.
"Much better, thank you." I said, it was the truth. Physically, I wasn't feeling much pain like before but emotionally, I was a wreck.
"Look, I know this is none of my business and all that." She started and sat on the edge of the bed.
"I've seen your bruises Lisa, I have over fifteen years of experience in this line of work, and I can see different scars. You have fresh wounds and old wounds. Who did this to you? Is it the father of the baby?"
I swallowed and stared at her. My lips quivering; tears formed in my eyes and they threatened to fall.
I opened my mouth to reply her but I broke down in tears instead. She moved closer and hugged me while I cried.
"I'm sorry, hun, I'm so sorry you have to go through all that. You're fine now, you're alright now. He won't hurt you anymore." She reassured.
I cried for five minutes more, and I finally calmed down. She smiled at me and stroked my hair.
"Wanna talk about it?" She asked, and I nodded in response.
I told her how I met Paul when I was eighteen. I had just gotten a job as an assistant teacher at a school.
He was the lead singer in a popular band, I went to his show once and fell for him immediately. He asked me out, and it was going well.
He was the sweetest guy ever, he wrote songs for me and showed me off to his friends.
Three months later, he proposed. My family urged me to marry him, saying he had a lot of potential and he would become rich and famous. I accepted it because I loved him and I wanted to get my family out of poverty.
Everything turned sour when he lost a band member in a car crash, He started drinking and became really violent.
He'd get high on drugs and do nasty things to me, even beat me up if I refused.
Everytime I tried to leave him, he'd apologize and act sweet for a while before falling back to natural state.
"Have you ever told your parents about this?" She asked
"My mom knows but she says everyone faces marital problems and I should endure it."
"That's horrible"
"That's not the worst part, the worst part is that my family has gotten into more debt because of him but they're still believing in him because he has potential. I'm the one paying the bill; I'm the one paying for his addictions and womanizing." I explained
"How did you endure all of this?"
"You know, sometimes I think about leaving but he has these horrible pictures and videos of me," I said in a small voice.
"That doesn't mean anything; you can still leave him," she replied
"Don't you think I've tried? How do you think I got these bruises?" I asked
She went silent for a while and her eyes lit up. She smiled slowly and grabbed my hands.
"I have the best idea. I can help you get away from him," she said
"How?"
"How much cash do you have with you?"
"I don't have access to anything, he is in control of all my accounts." I replied and stared at the window.
I shifted uncomfortably in the bed, I wasn't used to talking to people about my problems but somehow, with her, it was different. It was so much easier, which only made it scary.
"Can you clean and take care of a restaurant?" She asked.
"Yes, I can. Why do you ask?"
"My sister lives in Alabama, she owns a restaurant, and she needs an extra pair of hands.' she explained.
"I can do that. But I don't have any means of getting there, I don't know anyone there, so there'll be problems with accommodation."
"Don't worry about accommodations; there is a room in the restaurant. You can stay there while you find your bearing."
"Why are you helping me?" I asked, skeptical because I wasn't used to receiving favours. Everyone who helped me wanted something in return.
"Honestly, I don't know, let's just say I know what it's like to be pregnant and alone."
"You were..."
"That's a story for another day; continue resting. I'll call my sister and inform her about your interest in the job." She cut in
"Thank you but..."
"But nothing, just accept my help. I really don't want you to go back to that monster you call a husband. You don't have to divorce him, just leave. Go far away, go someplace; he would never find you. Run away from him, you don't deserve to be treated like that." She begged.
"My family...."
"Think about your baby. Do you want your baby to grow up without you? Because he might actually kill you. Don't you see it? He doesn't care about you. Open your eyes, you're lying here in the hospital and he doesn't give a shit." She blurted out.
Her words broke my heart but it was the truth, Paul didn't care about me. The only person he's capable of loving Is himself.
"Think about the offer Lisa, I'm doing this because someone else did it when I needed it the most. Now I have the chance to return it. Don't throw your life away." She said and walked out, leaving me with my thoughts.
Her words kept ringing in my ears. I tried calling Paul again, but he didn't pick up. Instead, I got a message from an unknown number. It was a video of a girl s**king him off. I closed the video and sighed.
I looked outside the window, and I saw a girl running around with her mom. They looked happy and free.
I made up my mind, I was going to leave Paul.
- Writer
