bleed // heathers // bruises alternate ending // CANCELLED

eight // recall the night

Vertes gave Veronica her water and said she'd be back later, that she was going to check up on Giselle. And Veronica tried to think of when she stopped fighting.

It was the night when JD held the gun up against her and Giselle. Giselle was asleep that night and her and JD haven't talked since the cops left. But she laid down in bed, trying to sleep and forget the entire day, when she felt the bed indent.

"I told you to sleep in the guest room." Veronica said to her husband.

"Oh, baby, you don't tell me what to do." JD replied, snickering.

"I do whatever I want to." Veronica replied.

"Hey," JD began, trying to brush her hair behind her ear.

"Don't touch me." Veronica said. "I want a divorce." She added.

"That's not your choice." JD told her, kissing her cheek.

"Stop." Veronica argued. But he didn't and he continued to kiss her, moving down to her neck and biting. "Seriously, cut it out!" Veronica cried as JD climbed on top of her.

"I'm gonna make it clear that you don't tell me what to do." He said, staring directly into her eyes and sending shivers down her spine.

Veronica pushed the rest of the memory away, wanting to forget how he forced himself inside her and how, after a few times, she stopped fighting and added to the moment.

Giselle stood in front of the nursery, staring at her baby sister. She can remember when her mother stopped fighting, she just had to think of it really long and hard.

She remembers the way her mother screamed that night and begged her father to stop. But little Elle didn't understand what was happening. After a bit, her mother started to make a different noise and didn't sound as scared. Heather was with her the whole time and while Elle asked what was going on, Heather wouldn't answer. She offered to play Barbies with her or tried to sing so she would go back to sleep. Nothing worked.

Veronica came into the room, limping and bruised. She looked at her daughter, who was faking being asleep.

"He hurt me, Ellie. He really, really hurt me." Veronica said. "I told him I wanted a divorce, for you. I can't stand the way he hurts you. I don't care about how he hurts me. But he hurt me really badly tonight." She continued. "I cannot leave him, he'll kill me, Ellie. He will kill me if I leave, even if it is for you. I'm scared he'll kill you too."

"These aren't things to say, dear." JD said. "Come here, I won't kill you, or Elle." He held his arms out, and Veronica ran to his arms. "I love you, you know that right?"

"I know." Veronica looked up at him. "I love you too."

"And I'm sorry I had to do what I did. But I needed you to see, that I'm in charge. Okay?" JD apologized.

"Okay." Veronica said meekly.

Giselle sat up as soon as her parents left the room, intertwined. Just like the photographs.

Giselle went back to her mother's room. She knocked on the door. "Mom?" She asked and Veronica sighed.

"Yeah?" Veronica asked.

"What happened that night? The night that, um, he tried to, I don't know. The night of the gun incident." Giselle asked.

"What are you talking about?" Veronica asked, playing dumb. She knew exactly what Giselle meant.

"I heard you screaming that night, and then I heard something else. I heard when you came in my room, when you talked about how he would kill you if you left him." Giselle explained.