Page 1 of The Book of Wrath

Chapter 1

Megan

I felt the pain before I realized what happened. One minute I was arguing with my fiancé over the stupidest of shit and the next I knew I felt pain throbbing from the side of my head. I turned away from him and that was my biggest mistake. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. The hits came fast and hard, light bursting behind my eyes as I try to stop the assault. I was in no way weak and couldn’t defend myself, that’s why he waited for me to turn my back. He knew I could take him down.

“Are you fucking done running your fucking mouth,” he spit into my face, arm raised for another hit. I couldn’t hold back my laugh. I should’ve though. Another hit, to the temple. “Done yet?”

“Feel better?” I asked him, my eyes trying to refocus on his blurry image in front of me. I couldn’t see his dark green eyes; I couldn’t see the muscles I once lovingly massaged. I couldn’t see anything past the monster he now was. He went to hit me again, but this time I moved my head, and he punched the floor instead. He let out a curse and dropped his knee into my stomach, knocking all the wind out of me. I felt something crack in my ribs. I wouldn’t let him win. Even with his knee pressed into my sternum I could get him.

I kicked my knee into his spine and took my shot. A weak ass right hook to the ribs. It was enough to get him to topple back on his ass. I was up and moving in a second. One well-placed kick to the side of his head and I ran to the front door, grabbing my phone and keys. He was yelling something behind me, but I didn’t give a fuck. I was out of there. I ran to my car and sped off down the street. He would follow me and give chase; I know how his brain works. Either that or he will just break my shit while I’m gone and told me if I just stayed and gave him a kiss and shut my mouth, things would’ve been okay.

I turned my phone and sure enough several messages came through. Calling me a slut, a whore, telling me to run to an imaginary boyfriend he thought I had. I turned off the shared location and headed to the police station. Lucky for me it was only a few miles up the road.

I didn’t know what I looked like as I parked my car in the parking lot and stumbled out of it. An officer was walking into the building but paused when he saw me stumbling through the cars.

“Miss, are you alright?” he called out and I think I shook my head. I don’t know. Hell, I don’t even know how I got here without wrecking my car. I could barely make out the officer through the throbbing pain and the light-headedness threatening to make me unconscious. He stepped closer to me, and I lost my balance and fell him his arms. Thankfully, he caught me because I’m pretty sure the pavement wouldn’t be any better for me to hit. “It’s okay, I got you. Did someone do this to you?”

“Yes,” I croaked before the world went black.

Three days had gone by when I was an unconscious mess in the hospital. Three days of touch and go with my health. Apparently, the crack I had felt when he dropped his knee to my stomach was a few ribs breaking, I had a cracked sternum from his knee being pressed into my chest. Not to mention my face is a complete mess. Bruises and cuts that I didn’t even realize I had, a busted lip and a swollen eye. I was going to be fucked up for a while.

The hospital room door creaked open, and I heard something crash to the floor. My best friend, Ally, was standing in the doorway. Her coffee cup dropped to the floor, the caramel-colored liquid all over the floor. She rushed into the room and draped her arms around my neck and squeezed. I winced at the pain that movement caused.

“Shit, I’m sorry Meg. I should’ve known better,” she quickly pulled away from me and looked back at the door. “Shit! I didn’t mean to do that either!” She quickly grabbed some paper towels from the bathroom and sopped up the coffee from the floor. “Do the doctors know you’re awake?” She asked from the floor.

“Until you walked in the room, I was pretty sure this was my seventh level of hell,” I joked which with her expression was not the best thing to do at this moment.

“So that is a no.” she replied firmly. She aggressively tossed the paper towels in the standard tall gray trash cans that were in every hospital across the country. She was never one to be serious about anything. She pressed the call button and sat down next to me. “Once the doctors come in, I’ll go get another coffee. Want one?”

“I’d rather have a strong shot of Jack at this point. But, if coffee is all I can have, sure.” I replied dryly. I could use a drink, probably not the best idea though. The door opened and a short, petite nurse came in. Her curly brown hair pulled up in a high ponytail, her pink scrubs slightly wrinkled around the ankles. She was either running to get her or she just didn’t iron her pants. Why the hell did I care so much about her pants?

“You’re awake Miss. Monroe,” she said as if I didn’t know I was awake. “You’ve been out for quite some time. I need to check your vitals now that you’re awake.” She set about her duties, checking my BP, checking for a fever, checking my eyes to make sure there was no internal damage that might be overlooked. I’ll give her credit; she didn’t hurt me. Unlike that horrid nurse when I was a child who fell while riding my bike. That woman took pleasure in causing me more pain.

“I’ll go get the doctor now,” she said as she exited the room. I looked at Ally. She was watching every beep on the monitor as if it was telling her the story of what happened. I know she wanted to ask, but she wasn’t because I had apparently just become conscious again. I guess no one knew that I woke up during the night for short bursts of time.

“Do you know where Ryan is?” I asked her. Her gaze dropped to the floor. Okay, so she might know what happened already. She took a moment before collecting her thoughts and answering my question.

“Riverside Correctional Facility,” she replied. Philadelphia? Why the hell is he in Philadelphia? She must’ve noticed the confusion on my face. “He was running. The cops went to your place after you showed up at the station. He jumped in his car and sped out of the driveway, hitting a cop on his way out. He went straight up I-95 as if he was heading somewhere. He flipped his car right outside of the sports complex. No idea why he took that exit though.” I sighed. I had an idea. There was a Phillies game that evening. It was the entire reason for our fight. He forgot what the day was and got tickets to the game with his buddies.

“Aside from the cop and him, did anyone else get hurt?” I asked her, not able to stomach it if someone else got hurt because I ran that day.

“No, just him. The cop has a gnarly bruise on his leg, but for the most part he is good. He’s come in to check on you a few times. Can I be honest with you?” I knew she wasn’t going to wait for an actual reply. “If Ryan is the reason, you are in here, he’s getting what he deserves.” She never liked him. She always said he gave her a bad vibe. I never understood it, but I do now. He wasn’t like this when I met him.

“Do you know if he is okay?” I asked, guilt still painting a horrible picture in my head of his wrecked Ford F-150. If I hadn’t left, he wouldn’t have wrecked his car. I could’ve healed up. I should’ve just stayed home.

“I see the wheels in your head turning and you better not be blaming yourself for anything that asshole did,” Ally scolded me. She has been my best friend for almost three decades. She was right though, but I can’t help it.

“If I would’ve stayed home, he wouldn’t have wrecked his car or hit a cop and neither would be hurt,” I retorted dryly, staring at my hands.

“Well, you confirmed my suspicions. If you would’ve stayed there, I wouldn’t be in the hospital talking to my best friend. I would be in a funeral home helping plan your funeral. Do you know how bad your shit is?” She exclaimed. I just shook my head. Before she could respond a knock came at the door.

“Come in,” I answered. A tall, olive-skinned man walked into the room. His light brown eyes sparkled like a diamond glistening in the sunlight. He had dark brown hair, short and curly, slicked back nice and neat. He didn’t wear the usual white doctors’ jacket, instead he wore a light grey button up with black slacks, and a baby pink tie. You could tell just by looking at him that he went to the gym probably at 5 in the morning every day.

“It’s nice to officially meet you Miss. Monroe. My name is Dr. Caden, but you can call me Arthur. I wanted to go over your scans and explain to you a few things we would like to move forward with as soon as possible. As much as Miss. Strom would’ve loved to help in making the decisions in your best interest, she is not on your emergency decision form,” his voice sounded like what I imagined liquid honey and smoke would sound like. I tried to focus on what he was saying, I really was.

“Can I make changes to that please?” I asked him quickly. I knew Ryan was the main person on my emergency contact. I saw Ally out of my peripheral, she knew too.

“Of course. We can make those changes as soon as we go over your charts. It’s imperative that we get your thoughts on moving forward with some procedures. You came in pretty banged up and as much as we can assume what happened, we aren’t going to do that. So,” he turned to Ally, “could you please give us the room?”

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