Long Road From Home

Replaced

Anita's POV

With steps approaching the room, the strange man turned Anita up to lay on top of him, pulling the bedsheet up to cover their bodies up to their neck region.

I released a shocking gasp as our bodies collided, and for one terrifying second, our faces were so close that our mouths almost touched.

My heart slammed against my chest as I struggled to understand what he was doing.

I could feel the warmth of his body beneath mine, and the situation felt so wrong that fear immediately overwhelmed every other thought in my mind. I wanted to move away, but the footsteps outside were already getting closer.

Then the man pushed to the side, slightly behind me under the bedsheet so that I covered him completely.

I remained stiff on top of him, desperately trying to keep myself from trembling as the footsteps became louder.

Immediately, the door spun open and the thugs burst in, raising their knives and guns as if to act.

But they halted midstep when they saw me lying beneath the bedsheet, frightened and apparently alone.

No sign of the man they were looking for.

I held my breath, terrified that even the slightest movement would expose the person hiding underneath me. My fingers clenched tightly around the bedsheet while I forced myself to remain still despite the fear racing through every part of my body.

“I’m so screwed!” I muttered silently, turning sharply to the men, breathing heavily. “I thought hiding here so my husband wouldn’t spot me was the perfect idea. It turns out someone else had to stir up trouble.”

The leader of the thugs gave a small laugh. “We came for one guy and caught you in bed.” He said, laughing as he turned to his boys before returning to me. “Getting freaky in a hospital, huh?”

Their laughter filled the room, and humiliation burned across my face despite the danger surrounding me.

I could hardly believe that these men were standing there joking while I was secretly hiding a complete stranger beneath my hospital bedsheet.

They all burst into laughter.

“Next room, search everywhere!” The leader of the thugs ordered as they laughed, leaving the room.

I watched them disappear through the doorway while my heart continued pounding uncontrollably.

For a moment, I believed the danger had finally passed, and the strange man beneath me could escape without being discovered.

But immediately they stepped out, the last one of them halted upon hearing something like a male voice inside the same room they left.

“Boss.” The man said, signaling into the room. The thug leader and the other two stopped and turned, tiptoeing back into my hospital room.

My eyebrows furrowed, and my heart began to pound even faster as I noticed the men returning to the room.

I could feel the stranger tense beneath me, and the entire atmosphere suddenly became dangerously quiet.

The man I laid on pulled out his dagger as though he was preparing himself for a counterattack.

My fear intensified immediately, and I knew that any sudden movement could turn the room into a battlefield.

I quickly held his hand, pulling it back into the bedsheet before he could make any move against them. I didn't know who he was, but I knew that fighting those men inside my room would put both of our lives at terrible risk.

Just as they were about to pull open the curtain covering the door, I threw something to the ground, landing just beyond the curtain where they could clearly see it.

A pack of pads.

The men stopped immediately, and their eyes followed the small packet lying on the hospital floor.

I remained completely still, hardly daring to breathe as I waited to see whether they would finally discover the man underneath me.

“A woman’s on her period.” The thug leader said with disgusting tone. “Of course it reeks. f*****g disgusting. Let’s go!”

They turned back and left.

I released a long breath of relief the moment their footsteps began disappearing down the hallway.

My entire body felt weak from the terror I had just experienced, and I realized I had been holding my breath for far longer than I could remember.

The man jumped from the bed, holding his knife in readiness as he gently pulled out the curtain. He turned from side to side, carefully checking the hallway before finally stepping back inside.

Nobody else was there.

Only then did I notice the bruise on the side of his mouth, where fresh blood was still visible against his skin.

He looked injured, yet there was something controlled about the way he carried himself that made me even more curious about him.

He turned slowly back to me.

“I don’t like owing people.” He said as he pulled a card from his pocket and threw it on the bed before me. “You can reach me.”

He turned and walked away.

I stared at the card for so long before slowly reaching for it with trembling fingers.

Everything that had happened that night felt impossible, and yet the small card in my hand was proof that the strange man had actually been there.

I took the card from the bed and turned it to the back.

“Greg Freshman.” I whispered, staring at the name on the card before raising my head toward the door. “Why does that name sound so familiar?”

************

I was about to open the door as I returned home, but I froze upon hearing a strange utterance coming from inside the house.

The familiar sound of voices immediately made me stop with my hand resting against the doorknob.

“Eliza, have some more meal.” Harriet said, her voice filled with love and kindness. “That brat will be back soon. It’s just us two, I saved the good tonics just for you. Don’t let her get any of it.”

Her tone was playful and filled with love.

I remained frozen outside the door as my hand released effortlessly from the doorknob.

Something about Harriet's voice sounded completely different from the woman I had known for years, and the warmth in her words made confusion spread painfully through me.

I slowly turned away from the door, unable to understand what I had just heard.

My mind searched desperately for an explanation, but nothing made sense, especially after everything that had happened at the hospital.

“Mom’s right.” Came Mike’s excited voice. “You’re having twins!”

The word twins struck me with such force that my heartbeat seemed to stop completely. I turned back toward the door, my eyebrows furrowing as confusion and disbelief fought desperately for control inside my mind.

I stood there unable to move, staring at the closed door as though the truth behind it might somehow reveal itself without me having to enter.

My thoughts became tangled, and I could no longer understand what was happening inside my own home.

I had just lost my baby.

I had spent days grieving the child I believed was mine.

Yet Mike's voice had just spoken about someone having twins for him, with excitement, and Harriet had been speaking to Eliza with a tenderness I had never received from her.

My fingers loosened around the handbag I had been carrying, completely unaware that my grip had already begun failing.

The handbag slipped silently from my hand and fell to the ground.