The Monster Within

Chapter 58

"Mary!" David says in relief upon seeing his wife. He races into the hospital room and wraps his wife in the biggest hug. He is practically in tears with worry after he got the call from the station that his wife had been attacked. "Thank God you're okay!"

"I'm fine David, a little bruised, but I'm fine." While Mary Margaret is saying this to calm her husband down, she felt far from fine. The trauma of what she'd just endured is still haunting her to the point where her hands are shaking slightly from fear and anxiety. She had looked into the eyes of a madman, been choked into near unconsciousness and held at gunpoint. How her husband endured being at the bad end of a gun every single day of his life is beyond her comprehension.

David could see the bruising on his wife's throat where the monster had choked her. His hands curl into fists and he grinds his teeth. He fights back tears that are burning in his eyes and lets out an exasperated breath. He cannot believe that someone would have the balls to do this to his wife and his godson. He was going to kill this man if it was the last thing he did. No one touched his wife, and no one hurt an innocent child without expecting to be strangled by him. It was his version of justice for such a monster.

He shuts his eyes tightly and takes in a deep breath. He holds onto Mary Margaret tightly and gives her a kiss on the forehead. She then turns and the two of them kiss extremely hard. Both begin shedding tears over the fear of nearly losing one another. The teacher had been afraid that she might never see her husband or son again as that man bound her and locked her in the closet with Henry, while he took a screaming Sophie. She also feels unbelievable guilt over not being able to protect Emma's children. All the way to the hospital, she kept apologizing to Emma, but the blonde didn't seem to hear it as she was in her own little world of shock. She wishes that the gun hadn't jammed, and she wished that everything had been different, that she had defended herself and the children in her care.

When the couple breaks apart, the two merely touch foreheads as David holds her hands tightly, never wanting to let her go. The fear in his stomach burned like an inferno mixed with the rage that someone had choked his wife and could have easily killed her.

After a long time in each other's arms, the uniformed officer then turns to look at Henry, who sat in a hospital bed next to his wife. Emma sits in a chair next to him, almost in a complete daze, tears staining her face. He can see the bruising on the teenager's throat as well, feeding the fire in his guts. He was going to take down this monster if it's the last thing he did. David takes a deep breath and tries to appear calm for the boy's sake.

"Henry are you okay?"

The teenager nods slowly and willingly accepts a quick hug from David as well. Once the officer steps back, the man could see that Henry's face is as pale as the white walls of the hospital, showing how extremely spooked he was. His hands are shaking too from the pure fear coursing through his body. His mind keeps flashing back to what happened... it all went so quickly that it felt like a blur, one minute he was searching for the baseball bat, the next he's tied up with Mary Margaret in the closet, listening to the man's heavy footsteps and the frightened cries of his sister fade away as the monster took her. His stomach turns violently, so much so that he ends up turning and becoming sick in a bucket next to his bed. The nurses said that he was experiencing a serious form of shock; the boy had vomited once in the ambulance and so the staff had placed a bucket nearby in case it happened again.

David rubs his back as Henry dry heaves a bit and coughs. He is shaking like a leaf and all the officer wants to do is make him feel better. Emma seems to snap out of her daze to help her son, she hands him a fresh glass of water in order to avoid him becoming dehydrated.

"Take it easy Henry," David murmurs quietly.

"B-But... it's all my fault," he whimpers, wanting to take the glass of water from his mother, but his hands are shaking so much that Emma asks a nurse to get him a straw.