The Forgotten Night

by Becky Andrews

  “I’ll teach you what happens to dirty, lying whores like you,” he said, his hand on her throat. He bent down and kissed her forcefully on the lips, and she tried to wrestle her head away but he had her pinned up against the wall. Her left wrist was throbbing, and she was pretty sure he had broken one of her ribs or at least bruised it badly. He broke away and pushed her harder into the wall.

  “Please, please, Robert,” she begged as tears fell down her face.

  “That’s right, beg. I couldn’t have you while we were dating, I guess this is better than nothing,” he said and kissed her again, biting her bottom lip hard.

  She cried out but he pressed harder on her throat. He kissed her roughly down her jaw and down her neck then bit her viciously on the shoulder. She tried to scream, but he had a tight hold on her. She tried to push him away, but he held on tightly to her right arm. He forced her to the ground and straddled her so she couldn’t hurt him and kissed her forcefully again.

  He pulled down the straps of her camisole and forced it down to her waist. He bent down and took one of her breasts in his mouth, sucking on it then biting it. She tried to scream but he muffled her mouth with his hand. He took the other breast in his mouth and did the same thing.

  She had to get out, had to get him off of her. He slid down her and pulled off her camisole along with her pajama pants. As he reached for her underwear, she brought up her leg and kneed him. He grunted and loosened his grip. She pulled back her arm and punched him as hard as she could. He fell off of her, and she kicked him again for good measure.

  She ran for the bathroom, but before she could get inside he grabbed her foot and pulled her down. She stifled a scream as she hit the ground hard. As he pulled her toward him, she kicked with all her might and hit him in the chest. He fell backward and she crawled into the bathroom. She shut the door just as he stood up and charged it. She locked the door and sat against it, hoping he wouldn’t be strong enough to break through the solid oak panel.

  “You fucking bitch! Open this door! I’m going to kill you!”

  Cassidy sat on the cold tile, crying as he yelled at her. She could do nothing but wait for someone to find her. No way was she venturing out of the bathroom until then. Cassidy shut her eyes and willed him to stop kicking and pounding the door. She was shaking and looked around the bathroom for a shirt or anything she could wear. He had taken her camisole and pants, leaving her sitting on the floor in just her underwear. She spotted a white shirt hanging on the towel rack and reached up for it, immediately regretting the movement. She cried out in pain just as she wrapped her fingers around the material. She pulled it toward her and rested against the door again, trying to catch her breath.

  The pounding stopped, but she still wasn’t calling it safe. She would stay in the bathroom. She slowly stuck her arms through the white shirt and pulled it over her head, a fresh set of tears springing to her eyes at the pain. It wasn’t until the shirt was on that she noticed that she was bleeding. She brought her hand up to her face and looked down at her hands and saw the fresh blood. Cassidy gasped at the sight. If there was one thing she couldn’t stand, it was blood.

  Hyperventilating, she reached out for the sink, trying to pull herself up, but slipped and fell back to the ground. She was lying on the floor, facing the door, crying, too drained and in too much pain to get up. Slowly the room went black and the pain left her.

  * * *

  “Stop pacing and sit down and watch some Disney Channel,” Rachel told Andrew the next morning. It was a little after one in the afternoon, and both she and Andrew had just gotten up.

  “I can’t, Cassidy still hasn’t called me yet,” Andrew said.

  “She probably hasn’t woken up yet, we just did,” Rachel said, trying to calm him down.

  “I’m going to call her.” He sat down next to Rachel and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed her number and got her voicemail.

  “She’s probably in the shower, something maybe you should consider,” Rachel joked, trying to lighten the mood.

  “Not until she calls,” he said.

  “Tell you what, you go take a shower, and I’ll wait by your phone. If she calls, I’ll answer. If it makes you feel better, I’ll keep calling her every ten minutes until you're back.”

  Andrew looked at his sister then handed her his phone. He stood up and walked out of the entertainment room and up the stairs. He couldn’t help but worry about Cassidy. Maybe she was in the shower, maybe her phone was on silent. She was a heavy sleeper and nothing could wake her up. She had also gone to bed later than him, because she’d had to break up with the bastard.

  Thinking about Robert brought on a fresh set of fears. What if she wasn’t sleeping, but hurt? What if she had tried to tell Robert and he lashed out? He pushed the thoughts aside as he climbed into his shower. The hot water washed away his mad thoughts, and he concluded he was probably overreacting. He stepped out and dried off, putting on the fresh set of clothes he had set out on his bed. Andrew hung up his towel and went downstairs. He stopped in front of the entertainment room and looked at his sister.

  Rachel shook her head, and he sunk down in the couch next to her. He took his phone from her.

  “She could still be sleeping. She’s a heavy sleeper,” Rachel said but the obvious worry in her voice nullified her words. “Why are you so freaked out? It’s making me freak out.”

  “Rach, she told me last night that Robert could be somewhat possessive. I’m just afraid of how he reacted when she broke it off with him.”

  “And you let her stay there alone!” Rachel practically screamed.

  “We weren’t even sure he was there, you said yourself.”

  “That doesn’t mean you couldn’t have stayed there, she needed you.”

  “She wanted to do it on her own, she thought it would be easier for him to accept.”

  “But you left her alone with that crazy lunatic!” Rachel ranted.

  Andrew dialed Cassidy’s home number and waited for someone to answer. After a brief conversation with Rose, he hung up the phone, his pulse racing frantically. Apparently, Robert had dismissed the staff last night. Rose had just gotten in, but Cassidy hadn’t come down yet. Andrew stuffed his phone in his pocket and leapt up from the couch, running for the front door and slipping on his running shoes.

  “What’s wrong? You look like a mad man, is it Cass? What happened?” Rachel called.

  “No time to explain,” Andrew said. He opened the front door and sprinted down the street toward Cassidy’s house. He heard Rachel calling his name and running behind him, but he didn’t stop to wait for her. He had a very bad feeling.

  Andrew rang the doorbell a couple of times before Rose answered. He was huffing and puffing when she opened the door and he didn’t bother explaining anything. He sprinted up the front stairs and up to Cassidy’s bedroom.

  “Rachel, what’s going on, honey?” he heard Rose ask as he hit the landing.

  “I’m not entirely sure, my brother thinks Robert might have hurt Cass.”

  “Oh my God, and he convinced us to leave last night,” Rose replied.

  Andrew stopped in front of Cassidy’s bedroom door and turned the knob. He didn’t know what to expect and was afraid of what he would find. He flung open her door and looked around. Her dress lay neatly on her made bed. She hadn’t slept in her bed, so where was she? His heart began to race. Her camisole and pajama pants, the ones she normally wore when she spent the night, were strewn about and there was blood on her carpet. What had happened last night? The anger rose inside of him. He wanted to kill Robert. He had to find her.

  “Cassie!” he called out, and his words came out choked. He turned around and saw her closed bathroom door.

  “I’ll lock myself in the bathroom and call you, okay?”

  Her cell phone was lying on her bed, flashing from all the missed calls. He put his hand on the handle to the bathroom and tried it. Locked.

  “Cassie?” He knocked softly. He didn’t hea
r anything, so he knocked again. His nerves were getting the better of him. He had to get inside. He looked around and found a hair pin on her night table. He knelt down and began to pick at the lock. It wasn’t hard, he had years of practice with the girls. It took him only seconds before he heard the soft click of the door. He set the pin down and stood, slowly turning the knob and opening the door.

  He gasped as he looked down at Cassidy’s bruised and battered body. “Oh God…Cassidy…Cassie, baby?” he said softly, kneeling beside her.

  She moaned softly. Dried blood crusted the front of her white shirt and bruises marred her face and neck. He felt sick.

  “Cassie, can you hear me?” he asked as he tried to scoop her up in his arms.

  She cried out in pain and opened her eyes.

  “God, Cassie, I’m so sorry,” he said, leaving her on the cold tile. “I should have been here,” he said, almost in tears.

  “Oh my god,” Rachel said softly behind them.

  Rose burst into tears as she entered the room. “I’m calling an ambulance, she needs to get to a hospital.”

  Andrew only nodded as he pushed Cassidy’s hair away from her face. “God, this is all my fault, I never should have left you.”

  “Shh, it’s not your fault, Andy,” Cassidy said and winced.

  “Don’t talk, baby, you’ll be fine. You’ll be okay,” he said, not only to reassure her but himself too.

  It seemed an eternity before the ambulance got there, but finally one of the paramedics nudged him out of the way. In moments, they had her on a stretcher and were carting her toward the stairs.

  He rode in the ambulance with her, but a nurse stopped him when he tried to follow her into the ER. “Sir, you’re going to have to wait here.”

  “No, I have to stay with her, I promised. She needs me!” he cried.

  “You’ll see her in a little bit, after the doctors have a chance to look at her. While you’re waiting, fill these forms out,” she said, handing over a clipboard. “When you’re finished, return it to the front desk.”

  Glad to have something to do, Andrew took a seat in one of the chairs and began to fill out the information. He was almost finished when Rachel rushed through the doors.

  “Where is she?” she asked Andrew.

  “They took her away, and they won’t let me see her. They said they’d come and get me after I filled out these forms.”

  “I’ll go talk to them,” Rachel said and Andrew nodded. He watched as she walked up to the desk to talk to one of the nurses. The nurse shook her head, and Rachel slammed her fist on the table. The nurse motioned behind Rachel, and Andrew looked up to see two police officers walking through the door. Rachel nodded her head and walked back to Andrew.

  “What did she say?” he asked.

  “They said the cops have to see her first, they have to get her story, and when they know conclusively that it wasn’t you who did this, they will let you back to see her,” Rachel informed him, obviously angry.

  “They think I did that to her?” Andrew raised his voice.

  “It’s just a precaution, Andrew, and if you keep yelling like that then yes, they really will believe it was you. Just fill out the damn forms. The sooner you finish, the sooner we can see Cassidy,” she said.

  Andrew nodded as he returned back to the forms. It didn’t take him long to finish. He stood up and walked up to the front desk and handed them the clipboard.

  “What patient?” a different nurse asked him.

  “Cassidy Ames,” he said tightly. “May I see her now?”

  “The police are finishing up, are you family?” the nurse asked.

  “I—uh…”

  “Only family members are allowed back there in domestic violence cases.”

  “I’m her fiancé, does that count? Her ex-boyfriend did this to her,” he said, almost frantic. “Not me!”

  “I’ll talk with the police. Sit back down for now, I’ll motion for you if anything changes.”

  Andrew simply nodded and walked back to Rachel.

  “Will they let you see her?”

  “Only family members are allowed. I told them I was her fiancé. I have to wait for the police to finish up.”

  Chapter Seven

  As Cassidy was carted away, she could hear Andrew yelling for her, but she didn’t have the strength to yell back, to tell them she needed him with her. The doctor opened her eyelid and flashed a bright light at her and mumbled a few words to the others around her.

  “Can you tell me your name?” she asked.

  “Cassidy Ames,” she said faintly.

  “Cassidy, I’m Doctor Torres. How many fingers am I holding up?”

  “Two. Where’s Andy?”

  “Very good,” the doctor told her, ignoring her question. “Cassidy, the nurses and I are going to remove your shirt and put you in a clean gown, all right?”

  Cassidy nodded.

  The doctor pulled out some surgical scissors and cut her shirt. A few of the nurses leaned her forward as they carefully removed the shirt and put her in a hospital gown.

  “Cassidy, we’re going to need to take some x-rays to see if you have any broken ribs, but first we’re going to bandage your wounds. We’ll take some x-rays of your wrist as well, see the damage done.”

  Cassidy nodded as tears welled in her eyes. All she wanted was this nightmare to be over, to be home with Andrew. They carted her away and took some x-rays of her chest and wrist before bringing her back into the same room.

  “Cassidy, while we wait for the film to develop, a couple of detectives would like to talk to you,” one of the nurses said.

  Cassidy nodded and two police officers, one male and one female, walked into her room.

  “Miss Cassidy Ames?” the man asked and she nodded her head. “I’m Detective Rice, and this is my partner Detective Coulter. We’re here to ask you a few questions.”

  “Cassidy, do you know who did this to you?” Detective Coulter asked, stepping forward.

  Cassidy nodded and a fresh set of tears sprang to her eyes. She had to stop crying, because the deep shuddering breaths hurt her ribs. “It was my boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend,” Cassidy clarified and the detective pulled out a notepad. “His name is Robert Stokes. I was going to break up with him last night, tell him that I didn’t love him. He had been drinking…”

  “Is this the first time that this has happened?”

  “Yes. I mean he’s possessive, he always thought I would cheat on him or betray him somehow,”

  “And did you?”

  Cassidy sighed. “It’s complicated.”

  “What happened with Robert exactly, Cassidy?” Detective Coulter asked kindly.

  “I went upstairs, and he was in my room, waiting for me. I could tell he’d had a couple of bottles of vodka, maybe more. He was calling me a bitch and a whore. I tried to get to the bathroom, but he grabbed me by my throat, and then hit me across the face.”

  “It’s okay, Cassidy, take your time.” Detective Coulter squeezed her hand comfortingly.

  “He threw me to the ground, and I hurt my wrist. When he pulled me up by my hair, I punched him and I broke his nose, I think. He threw me against the wall. I fell down and he…he began to kick me…”

  The detective handed her a tissue, and she dabbed her eyes.

  “Then he pinned me against the wall and said…he said…since he couldn’t have me while we were dating…he…he was going to. He kissed me and bit my neck and forced me to the ground….” Cassidy didn’t want to relive the images. She didn’t want to do this alone.

  “Excuse me, detectives. If you don’t mind, I’d like to fit my patient’s wrist with a brace,” the doctor said, walking into the room. Cassidy made a mental note to thank the doctor. She didn’t want to talk about or even think about what had happened next or what could have happened. The doctor brought over some bandages and a wrist guard and placed Cassidy’s arm as gently as she could on the tray beside the bed.

  The detectives wai
ted patiently until the doctor finished. “You’ll need to ice it every twenty minutes the first couple of days. Elevate it and take the pain medication I will prescribe. Since it’s only a sprain, it should only be about three weeks until it’s fully healed. You don’t want to push it, you may take it out when it starts feeling better, but put the brace on at night until the end of the third week,” she said, after finishing. “And we’ve received the film from your chest x-ray, and you do not have any broken ribs. All we ask is that you keep an ice pack on the bruised ribs fifteen minutes each hour.”

  Cassidy nodded. “Can I see Andy, now?”

  “Is he family? Only family members can come back,” the doctor explained.

  “Does it count if he’s my fiancé?” she asked, pointing to the diamond ring that lay on the table in front of her, even though Andrew hadn’t given it to her.

  “I’ll be back soon, then,” The doctor smiled and left the room.

  “Cassidy, can you finish telling us what happened?” Detective Rice asked.

  Cassidy took in a deep breath. “Yes…” She closed her eyes. “He forced me to the ground…he…he pulled my camisole down and…bit me a couple of times,” she said, as tears rolled down her cheeks. “He…he…”

  Cassidy felt a hand grasp hers, and she opened her eyes to see Andy sitting next to her. She squeezed his hand back and closed her eyes again.

  “Then he pulled off the camisole and my pants…I kicked him as hard as I could and he fell off of me…I got up and kicked him a couple of times and ran for the bathroom…but…he grabbed my leg and pulled me down…I kicked him again in the chest and he flew backwards…then I crawled to the bathroom and shut and locked the door before he could get to me. He was yelling and screaming at me and threatened to kill me…” She broke down into sobs.

  “It’s okay, baby,” Andrew said, standing up.

  Cassidy opened her arms for him and he rested his head next to hers on her pillow. “Calm down, I’m here,” he said.