Forever Yours

by Nikki J Summers

  A calmness overtook me. I saw my Nan and Grandad at the cottage playing with me as we each ran through the sprinklers in the garden on a hot summer’s day, I was laughing as my Grandad swung me around then put me on his shoulders. I saw my friends around me, making me laugh and building me up, always there for me no matter what. Then there was Joe. His beautiful face, tanned flawless skin, stubbled square jaw, grey eyes that glittered like diamonds and soft black hair touching his forehead that he was always running his fingers through. I felt so lucky to have found my soul mate, I knew some people lived their whole lives without ever finding theirs. In all the horror that I was drowning in right now, that thought shone through like a beacon in the dark. My Joe.

  I felt Cole kick my wet sticky blood soaked legs open and like a wolf he crouched over me ready to take what he wanted. I closed my eyes ready for the darkness that was calling out to me to finally take me, and prayed it would consume me before he did. I braced myself as I felt him over me and then bang… darkness.

  41

  Sam

  We saw the Volvo parked up at the side of the disused factory, partially covered by the willow trees that blanketed the roof. If we hadn’t come onto the property we wouldn’t have seen it, no one would have known what was going on in this building if they passed by.

  My men didn’t need much instruction other than which way we would each enter the building. We had our radios on us so we could communicate, and I had given strict orders that if possible I wanted to be the one to kill Peters. If Ella was in imminent danger they would shoot on sight but I wanted my retribution. She’d been under my care and in all the years I’d served in the military and special forces, I’d never lost anyone. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I lost her.

  The building was as run down as they came, broken glass at every window, over grown plants and weeds growing from the walls and up to the roof. I took my men through an entrance on the north side and we kept our heads down and our guns ready. We looked for evidence of mud or dust, anything that had recently been disturbed by Peters bringing Ella in this way. We couldn’t see anything so we listened and held our breath. Our stealthy entrance would help us get to Ella before he had chance to carry out any of the threats he’d made.

  My B team radioed in my ear to tell me there was no sign of her on the south side and they were moving to the next level. That’s when I heard the first blood curdling scream from Ella. We ran in the direction it had come from, guns loaded, aimed and ready. I indicated that I wanted to be first in so the men gathered behind and beside me. I could hear Peters’ voice coming closer, then I heard Ella. She was still alive, in pain but alive. This was it, I had the next few seconds to lock this down and secure my target, her.

  The second ear splitting scream came louder this time and we ran ready to shoot on sight. As I rounded the corner I had to catch my breath. I’ve done tours in Afghanistan, Iraq and other war zones, but nothing can prepare you for seeing a woman you know and love being subjected to what Ella was going through. She had her arms handcuffed to the camp bed, the mattress was soaked through with fresh red blood that also covered her torso and legs. Her face was bruised, swollen and bloody, the fucker had hit her more than once, but it was the sight of him on top of her, holding his cock and ready to enter her that made me howl out a scream as I belted round after round of bullets into his rapist body and head. He fell forward onto her, his disgusting form contaminating her innocent beauty with its evil. I had to get him off her, I couldn’t stand to think of him being anywhere near her.

  I ran over to the bed and pulled him to the ground, firing a few more rounds into his skull for good measure before I looked over at Ella. She lay still, naked and broken. I wanted to fall to the floor and weep, but I had to keep my head my job wasn’t over yet.

  “Give me your jackets, shirts, anything to stem the blood.” I snapped as my men, grown men of war stood by helpless looking down on this fragile little angel. She’d brought us all to our knees.

  I took my own jacket off and covered her so she was somewhat decent and pressed my fingers against her neck.

  “She’s still alive, there’s a pulse.” I grabbed the jackets and shirts the men were throwing my way and made a wade out of the clothe to stem the blood flow that was coming from what appeared to be two knife wounds positioned inside her thighs just above her knees. The blood flow was fast but we still had time. I pushed her legs together and bound them so that they could be squeezed together to apply dual pressure to both wounds to help the blood loss.

  It was at that moment as I was getting ready to lift her off the bed and run back to the car to take her to the nearest hospital that Max and Joe ran in. Seeing Ella unconscious covered in blood Joe immediately fell to the floor.

  “She’s still alive, she needs to go to hospital now.” I barked trying to keep my military head on. I couldn’t let seeing a man like Joe break down affect me right now.

  “Joe can you hear me, she needs medical help. You need to take her or she’ll die here. You go, I’ll clean this up and sort everything else.” I shouted my orders at him, desperate to get him into action. If he was doing something to help her it would help him too.

  Max moved forward to take Ella from the bed, but Joe suddenly sprang into action.

  “Don’t touch her.” He said to Max, “I’ll carry her.”

  I showed him where to hold and keep the pressure so that her bleeding didn’t get worse and helped him pick her up. Once he had her safely in his arms he ran out of the factory with Max not far behind.

  42

  Max

  I opened the back door of the car for Joe to get in with Ella on his lap. He cradled her like a child, burying his head in her hair and whispering how sorry he was and how it was all his fault. Ella was unconscious and covered in blood. We had no idea where her injuries were, only that they were in-between her legs, but the blood was saturating quickly through the clothe covering them and I knew we had very limited time.

  I drove to the nearest hospital with an accident and emergency department without even looking at the traffic lights or any other obstructions that were blocking our way. I’d never driven so fast in my life. Once we pulled up outside we abandoned the car with the doors open and flew into the reception area, Joe holding Ella and both of us shouting for help.

  A receptionist and a nurse came running over to us, closely followed by a male doctor who tried to take Ella from Joe’s arms but he froze.

  “I can’t.” Joe sobbed, holding onto Ella, “I can’t let her go.”

  “You have to mate or she’s gonna die.” I stated bluntly, trying to get through to him. He needed to know that holding onto her now wasn’t helping the situation.

  The receptionist and nurse, sensing Joe’s reluctance to pass Ella over to another man, prized her out of his arms and held her themselves, carrying her to a bed before they wheeled her off down the corridor.

  “Look after her.” I cried, “She’s pregnant.” The nurse nodded her acknowledgement to me as she left us behind.

  Joe shrunk to the floor sobbing as I watched them turn the corner and heard the calls of the crash team giving out orders and calling for different staff to assist them.

  “It’s over Joe,” I knelt down beside him and patted his shoulder, “It’s going to be okay, she’ll pull through she’s strong. It’s finished now, he can’t hurt you anymore.”

  “I wish he had hurt me.” Joe said through his sobs. “I’d find that easier to deal with than this.”

  A while later the receptionist came to us to take some details and show us to the family waiting area. Somewhere more private than the public waiting room, where we could sit, drink weak tea and coffee out of plastic cups and live for a few more hours with the hope that our lives weren’t about to be altered forever. How either of us would cope with the loss of Ella, I had no idea. In fact I couldn’t even comprehend it, she was too young and full of life and energy to just leave us. She’d be okay, she had to
be, I just knew it.

  We were all alone in the family room. I sat staring at the TV having no idea what was on the screen; Joe sat in the corner, hunched forward with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. I’m not entirely sure whether he’d nodded off with all the nervous exhaustion or whether he was suffering from some sort of panic attack brought on by the trauma but he suddenly started panting, getting out of breath and crying out ‘no, no, no’ over and over.

  “Calm down mate.” I said gently going over to him but he screwed his eyes closed and said to me, “She’s gone, I felt her. She’s gone.” He wailed like an injured animal in pain, “She’s left me Max, she’s gone.”

  I didn’t know what to do with him, he was in a full panic attack mode now and I was worried for his safety and state of mind. I ran out to the hallway and flagged down two nurses. They took one look at him and one went off as the other tried to talk to Joe telling him to calm down, breathe, and copy her breaths.

  When the second nurse returned she had a doctor in tow and a syringe. The doctor looked Joe over and after hearing his ranting gave the nod for the nurse to inject something.

  “What are you giving him?” I asked.

  “It’s diazepam, it’s just to calm him down.” She smiled over at me.

  Once it kicked in he calmed down and I took a deep breath. This day had been the worst in my life and even though I wasn’t a religious man I prayed to God that it would have some kind of happy ending.

  A few hours later and after multiple enquiries about Ella the doctor we saw in reception when we brought her in finally came into the family room to us. Joe looked up at him and in a flat tone said, “She’s dead isn’t she.”

  We both held our breath for his response.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t come to talk to you sooner, I was in with Ella doing the necessary surgery on her leg wounds to repair the damage to her arteries and muscles. She’s a very, very lucky lady a few centimetres higher and the femoral artery would have been severed. She’d have bled to death in a minute or two if that had been the case. One of the knife wounds Ella had on her legs cut into a branch of the femoral artery, hence the blood loss, but we were able to repair that damage. There has been some muscle damage too but nothing major and no major nerve damage either thankfully.”

  “What does that mean in English Doctor?” I asked in confusion.

  “It means she’ll be up and walking in a few days. Little steps just to start to build up her strength in that area again, but there’s no lasting damage. She has stitches on all three knife wound areas of the legs and hip. She will have slight scarring on the inside of her thighs and on the cut over her tattoo on her hip.”

  Joe lifted his head to stare at the doctor, “He cut her tattoo?”

  “It isn’t cut off, there was an incision made across the name.” he stated and Joe shook his head, “Mother fucker.” He whispered to himself.

  “The facial wounds will all heal and there’s nothing broken so she won’t have any scarring or lasting effects from those. It is just the knife wounds as I said to the hip area and on each thigh.”

  “What about the baby?” Joe said quietly obviously scared to ask.

  “Ah that’s all fine, here I have the pictures for you from the scans we carried out to check the foetus. It shows she’s ten weeks.”

  Joe looked up at the Doctor startled. “The baby survived? How is that even possible?”

  “We’ve had pregnant ladies come into our A & E department with stab wounds to the stomach and their baby survived. They’re a lot hardier than we think these little foetuses. If they want to live they will. Yours is a fighter.”

  “Like it’s Mum and Dad” I smiled and I took the scan pictures from the doctor, the little peanut had a head, body and little arms and legs. It was amazing and I couldn’t help but smile and show Joe. He just covered his face when he saw it and cried.

  “She’s asleep and dosed up with pain relief at the moment, but you can come and see her if you like.”

  “You go Joe, she’ll want to see you.” I said handing him the scan pictures.

  He stood and followed the doctor out of the waiting room and I sat back in my chair, my head against the wall behind me. I picked up my mobile and rang Sam.

  “Sam she’s okay, she’s gonna be okay. Ella and the baby. It’s all over.” I heard Sam let out the biggest sigh of relief and after sharing a few more details I hung up. This was a day I would be glad to see the back of, and I’d never want to relive it ever again.

  43

  I saw a bright light overhead, I thought it could be heaven but wasn’t heaven supposed to be pain free? I felt like I’d been run over by a bus and I felt numb below the waist. No this wasn’t heaven, please God don’t let me open my eyes and see that monster. I started to panic, my breaths coming thick and fast as I opened my eyes to find out what my reality was. A nurse or some kind of medical professional was standing over me adjusting a drip at the side of the bed I was lying on now. It was a damn sight more comfortable than the one I’d been on when I was last conscious. She smiled down at me kindly and told me I was in hospital, I was going to be okay and she was administering more pain relief for me. I thanked her then I looked to the left and I saw him, my Joe fast asleep in the chair on the other side of my bed. I wanted to hold out my hand and touch him, but I daren’t wake him he looked exhausted even in sleep.

  “He’s been there all night.” The nurse said looking fondly over at him.

  “We told him to go home and get some rest but he refused. Is he your husband?”

  “Yes.” I didn’t want to admit he was my husband to be, we already felt married, what was the point in splitting hairs.

  “He’s been clinging onto those scan pictures like his life depends on it.” She smiled.

  “Scan pictures? Is our baby still alive?” I felt petrified to hear the answer. The scan pictures could have been before the miscarriage.

  “Yes you’re 10weeks and 2 days. Not long until the second trimester, and that’s the easiest one.” She grinned.

  “How can that be?” I was shocked to say the least, but I ran my hands down to my tummy to stroke it protectively. “I lost my last baby after doing a dance class.”

  The nurse supressed a smile, “You wouldn’t have had a miscarriage because of a dance class sweetheart. Sometimes a foetus isn’t formed properly or just isn’t healthy or strong enough and it’s nature’s way to make things right. This baby you have now is a little fighter though. Enjoy it. I loved all my pregnancies it gave me an excuse to eat my weight in chocolate, although with a husband like yours I might have stuck to other less fattening indulgencies.” She winked.

  I laughed then, as much as I could with the grogginess I was feeling and a face as swollen as mine. It was lucky she was close to my Nan’s age otherwise I’d have given her my uncensored view on her roving eye. I felt the effects of the pain relief washing over me and I drifted back off into a much more stable sleep this time, knowing that I’d be waking up to the best smile ever from my favourite person.

  When I next woke I felt Joe’s hand in mine, he was sitting up to the bed and his head was resting on my arm. I stroked my thumb over his knuckles and he lifted his head to look at me. His eyes looked sore and red, his stunning face was tired and lines I’d never noticed before seemed to have appeared overnight.

  “You look like I feel.” I tried to smile but my face throbbed in opposition.

  “Maybe not. I guess I look and feel pretty hideous right now.” I sighed.

  He hung his head wearily so I released his hand and stroked his hair.

  “It’s okay, I’m okay.”

  Joe just shook his head and looked up at me again.

  “I’m supposed to be the one reassuring you Ella, not the other way round.” He drew in a deep mournful sigh, “I’m so so sorry, you didn’t deserve this it should have been me, I should be lying in that bed right now. It’s all my fault.”

  “Just stop tha
t now. This was not your fault, you hear me? He was insane, how could you be to blame for his fucked up actions?”

  Joe just shrugged, but I had to put a stop to this right away.

  “Please don’t do that. It was not your fault, he was ill. He did this not you.” I had to ask him the next question, “what’s happened to him?”

  “He’s dead. Sam shot him and got rid of the body. My guess is he’s weighted down somewhere in the middle of the sea right now. Sam took care of everything, the place is gutted now, burnt through. All the footage is erased and no evidence of what happened exists okay. You don’t have to be frightened anymore, it’s all over.”

  I looked up at the ceiling in relief. Thank God it was over.

  “The police will need to talk to you. I don’t know what you want to tell them. I said I found you abandoned in the street by the old factory, I know that sounds like a cop out but I didn’t know how much you wanted them to know.”

  I took a few minutes to think things over then decided that the sooner this was put to rest the better.

  “I’ll tell them I was robbed, stabbed and left in the street. I will give them a general description of someone like…him but I’ll leave it there.”

  Joe started to fidget and I knew he wanted to ask me something.

  “What is it? Just spit it out.”

  “Did he…rape you?” He couldn’t look at me.

  “No, Sam came just in time.” I reached out and squeezed his hand.

  “Thank God.” He looked up at the ceiling himself now and blew out a slow breath.