The Stolen Mind

Epilogue

               My eyes slowly open, a bright white light nearly blinding me. I tried to sit up but was welcomed with excruciating pain in my abdomen. A faint beeping echoed the room, but everything seemed fuzzy like I was in a dream almost. The pain I was feeling indicated that this was not a dream. My vision focused enough to let me know that I was in a hospital room. In the hallway, my parents were talking with a tall doctor with a white lab coat on and a stethoscope around her neck. I tried calling out for them, but my throat was dry and sore, preventing any sound from escaping my mouth. What happened? My brain tried to think what happened, but everything was blank. I needed someone to tell me what was going on.

               There was an IV in my left arm that was running fluids into me. The heart monitor occasionally would beat when my heart started to beat faster, which at this moment was sky high. Next to my leg was a call light and thankfully, I gained enough strength to push the button. My parents should be in here with me. I need to know what was wrong with me. A few moments later, the doctor and my parents turned and saw that I was awake. The doctor was the first one to walk in. She has long, silk black hair that was tied back in a ponytail. Her heels clicked against the tiled floor as she walked to the foot of my bed.

               "Hello, Alessa. I'm Dr. Lewis. How are you feeling?" She asked, my parents walking in the room silently.

            "I'm in a lot of pain. What happened to me?" I asked, trying to hide the discomfort I was feeling all over.

              "I'll have your nurse get you some more pain medications. You lost a lot of blood after being assaulted. We had to rush you to emergency surgery to stop the internal bleeding." The doctor spoke.

              Assault? Everything seemed to click as if that simple word triggered what happened. Jax had broken into my apartment and nearly killed me. I killed him. Oh my God, I killed someone. I was pregnant. The test was positive. There was blood, a lot of it. The pain of my insides feeling as if they were being ripped out. A miscarriage. I wasn't sure whether to be sad or relieved by the fact. Am I monster for feeling more relief? These thoughts started to consume me, and the heart monitor started beeping loudly. I wanted to calm down but some much happened, and the pain mentally and physically was suffocating.

               "Alessa, take some deep breaths. You are safe here." Dr. Lewis tried to console me, but it wasn't working.

               Why was it getting harder to breathe? Flashes of Jax's dead body filled my mind. I should be happy he's dead. He deserved it. I was protecting myself. Why did I feel guilty for killing him? Tears welled up in my eyes as a wave of nausea hit me. I was a murderer. First Jax was dead and now my unborn child that I barely had a chance to acknowledge. There was no way a child could survive all of that. I clenched the blanket that laid on top of me, trying not to completely lose it. I wanted to cry, scream, curl up in a ball. Anything to get rid of these thoughts and pain engulfing me. There were faint voices of my parents talking to me, but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

             "We are going" the voice cut in but was gone that quickly. "Medication" "Rest." The few words I heard didn't really process in my mind.

              Tears were rolling down my heated cheeks. Everything was blurry again and the pain seemed to get worse. Then something stringing was on my arm, no inside my arm. I glanced over to see a nurse pushing a medication into my IV. Moments later, sleep devoured me, and I gladly let it take over.

              The next time I opened my eyes, my body felt a thousand times better than before. I must have needed the rest that I had gotten. This time I had time to process everything that happened at a slower rate. It wasn't as overwhelming as before. My nightmare was over though. Jax could no longer hurt me. The doctor said I'd heal just fine. It was confirmed that I had a miscarriage along with other internal bleeding from Jax. The police told me it would still take time for Dr. Daring's trial to occur, but it was pretty likely he'd get life sentence for everything he did to me. At least he got to rot in jail and truly suffer for what he did. My biggest enemy now would be myself. Fully recovering, physically and mentally would be a lengthy process.