Chapter Thirty-Four
Stepping inside, the door shuts softly with a click.
I take a deep breath as I hear Gavin drive away.
“Juniper.” I freeze. I know that voice; it belongs to my husband.
He only uses that tone when he’s high and looking for a fight.
“Where the fuck did you get a SIG? And why the fuck do you have it, hm?” My mind scrambles trying to come up with a response that won’t add fuel to the blazing fire I can already feel radiating off Reece.
“Hey, you stupid bitch, did you forget how to respond to your husband when he is fucking speaking to you?”
“I’m sorry, baby! You scared me. I’ve missed you. I’ve been waiting for you to come home.”
A dark laugh escapes his chest, “Are you really going to try and lie to me in my own fucking house, Juniper?”
“Baby, I’m not lying to you. I’ve been waiting for you to come home. Where is your truck… It wasn’t parked here when I got here.”
“Yeah, and how did you get here, Juniper? When you haven’t driven your car in weeks? I pity the poor asshole mechanic for spending all that money on that piece of shit car of yours.”
“A friend dropped me off…”
“A friend? My god, you are so fucking stupid. What did I say about lying to me in my own fucking house? The one I kill myself every day paying for?”
Before I can stop myself, it comes tumbling out, “It’s not the hard work killing you… It’s the drugs you can’t manage to stay off.”
“What was that, you stupid bitch?”
“I said…” My sentence is getting cut off by Reece jumping up off the couch, barreling toward me. Without giving it a second thought, I’m undoing the clasp on the case in my hand. As I grip the SIG, the case crashes to the ground.
At first, Reece stops in his tracks. Putting his arms up like he’s surrendering, until he sees the shake of my arms holding the gun in place. He can sense my fear. A terrifying smile comes across his face. So ugly and sinister. “Oh, what happened, Juniper? Are you scared?”
“Did you forget my training, Reece? I know how to shoot,” I say, bringing the sights of the gun to his center mass. Breathe, Juni, you got this.
“Did he hype you up, thinking you could stand up to me and win?”
“For once in your fucking pathetic life, Reece, will you shut the fuck up? You're looking down the barrel of my gun. You should just learn to shut the fuck up for once. I am in control!”
“Are you really in control, Juniper? Or are you just high on the false confidence you have going on over there, hm?” He slowly takes a step in my direction, then two.
With shaky arms, I take a deep breath again and set the sights to the middle of his chest. Getting myself ready for the kick back of the shot, but he takes another menacing step.
Squeezing the trigger, I’m waiting for my ears to start ringing and for the sounds of Reece’s screams. But all I am met with is one single sound.
Click. Confused, I quickly line it up again, taking another deep breath, and I squeeze the trigger. Click.
A laugh erupts from his still beating chest. “And you dared to call me pathetic? Fuck you! You stupid bitch.” Then he whispers, “I guess you forgot to load it, Pretty Girl.” Reece slams into me, throwing me into the front door with all of his body weight.
Immediately, I start trying to fight him off me, just as I’m about to push him away, my hand holding the SIG becomes empty. Oh fuck. Crack.
Dazed, it takes a moment for my mind to catch up before my body does. I reach up to my temple and feel something wet and sticky running down my face, white-hot pain shooting to my temple. Reece is not giving up and is being so relentless. Crack. Crack.
Leaning against the now-dented front door, I start to slide until I think I’m sitting, body sagging, not able to pick up my own head.
I hear the clattering of the gun landing somewhere I can’t see.
Reece starts pacing back and forth, getting angrier with every step.
He starts muttering about things I don’t understand.
Closing in, he grabs both sides of my face, sending a knee crashing into my face.
The cartilage in my nose is shattering from the impact, but he’s not stopping.
Driving his knee again, more cartilage breaking.
Blood is pouring from my temple and now my nose.
I do what I always do and try to make myself small.
Praying he gets bored and stops enjoying this, but he doesn’t.
A boot comes crashing into my side, not once but twice, and he eyes the wrist that just healed.
Picking up his leg, he sends it crashing down, newly healing bone shattering.
Moving an inch, his boot comes down on my hand.
I don’t have to look to see that my hand is deformed, fingers lying in unnatural angles.
I try to scream, but it doesn’t come. Reece picks me up by my shoulders.
forcefully slamming me into the wall, making another dent in the drywall.
Sending my head repeatedly into it until a coldness washes over me, and all I can see is black.
Slowly, I begin to regain consciousness.
The trailer is pitch-black. Using my ears, I start to listen for any indication that Reece is still here, grimacing, waiting, but I’m met with silence.
I try to move, black edges threatening to take over my vision again.
Taking my right hand, I slowly move it to my back pocket, filling me with relief as my fingertips brush against the cold metal of my cell phone.
Finally, after fighting, the phone comes free.
Almost dropping it by the weight. Giving up, I lay the phone as close to my face as I can see.
The fading feeling starts again. I quickly open my call log and call 911.
The ringing starts to fade as everything goes black again.
“Barnsdall 911, do you need fire, law, or EMS? And what is the address of your emergency?” All the dispatcher can hear is my deep breathing.
“Hello? Is anyone there?” More silence. “GPS signal is indicating you are at trailer 3 in Hollow Creek Mobile Park. An ambulance has been dispatched.”
Hearing a vehicle pull up, I tense with fear, until I hear someone talking… on a radio?
“Osage County, this is ambulance 43 arrived on scene. It looks dark, and no one is home, but we will do a welfare check.”...
“Osage County to ambulance 43, copy.”
Now I hear footsteps approaching. The front door opens, and two people dressed as EMTs search the room until their eyes land on me. I’m awake, but I can’t talk or move. This feeling is similar to Reese Witherspoon's in “Just Like Heaven”.
“Osage County, this is once again ambulance 43. We have made patient contact; this needs to be upgraded from level 4 to level 1.”
“Osage County to ambulance 43, Medic 63 is en route. If a rendezvous is needed, radio back.”
“10-4”
They start getting to work. Slowly, they roll me onto my back.
I feel them apply a device to stabilize my neck.
Next, the one person slowly rolls me onto my side, while the other places a hard, orange plastic board under me.
Once, they settle me back flat. They start lifting the backboard onto the stretcher.
The movement to the ambulance is almost unbearable, but I can’t make a sound.
Once I’m lifted and secured into the ambulance, they start hooking up so many different things to me.
“Saint Francis, this is Barnsdale ambulance 43 en route with a twenty-something-year-old female. This is a trauma alert.”
Trauma alert? That doesn’t sound good at all. Before the darkness takes over again, I do manage to say one thing. “Please call Gavin…Gavin Petrov…and not Reece Monroe! We are, sep…” before I can finish, everything goes back.
“This is an unknown-age female, approximately early twenties, who came in via EMS…
The patient has remained unconscious from her injuries.
She did wake up briefly in the ambulance per EMS, asking not to call her husband due to the ongoing separation.
She requested that we call Gavin Petrov, who is listed in her cell phone under ‘In case of emergency’. "
I hear them talking, but I am stuck in a purgatory-like state, eyes closed, feeling paralyzed.
“From an assessment in the field. They have noted multiple contusions, facial trauma, Closed head injury, and left distal radius fracture, left comminuted metacarpal fracture, rib bruising and fractures, possible internal bleeding, severe concussion with LOC. Leaning towards domestic assault.
“Dr. Edwardz? Due to the circumstances, should we consider her a Jane Doe until we can make contact with uh.. what was his name... Ah, Gavin D. Petrov?”
“For now, yes, label her as a Jane Doe.” The Doctor says as he walks out of the room. It’s going to be okay, Juni. They are protecting you. He’s not going to hurt you anymore.