Page 82 of Broken Doll

"I don't know who I should be more angry at, you or me," Uncle Jack shouts at me. He's angry, and I don't know what I've done wrong. He grabs my face. "How fucking stupid, you should have told me!" he shouts.

I don’t know what he’s talking about, what have I done?

"You're pregnant, and I can't take you to the hospital, so there's only one way to fix this, isn't there?"

He throws me across the floor, and I close my eyes as he starts walking over to me, already knowing what's about to happen. The pain that I'm going to go through and no matter how much I'm trying to keep from crying, tears fall quickly as I see his leg swinging back and before kicking me hard in the stomach.

I cry out loud as I curl up into a ball trying to stop him, this isn’t happening.

Where there is light, there is hope, where there is light there is hope.

“Hope.” I jump at the sound of Leo’s voice. “What did the doctor say?”

“Nothing, just wants me to try some more medication,” I tell him, quickly wiping the tears away. “I’m just going to have a shower.”

“Hope, what’s wrong? I’m sorry about downstairs.”

“I’m sorry that I upset you, but I would like to have a shower.”

“I’ll meet you downstairs.”

Closing the bathroom door behind me, I turn on the shower, and I sink to my knees and start crying. From fear, because I'm scared because I don't want to feel that pain again, because this is not how it was meant to happen.

* * *

Standing in front of my bed, I think about this baby, a baby that was so far from planned that I don’t know how I’m feeling just yet or if Leo will want it. But would Leo take me to the hospital? Or would he do what Uncle Jack did? No, Leo wouldn’t do that to me. But a baby can change everything in so many different ways.

If Uncle Jack finds out about this… my body shivers thinking about it. I can't let him get me, he has to die, and Leo is being stubborn. Just let me out in public, and the moment Uncle Jack is in front of me, Leo can shoot him. I'll tell everyone that is was self-defense. But Leo won't go for it. I've written a few things down and I know Jackson will back me up. I want this to end, thisneedsto end.

Closing my eyes for a moment, the flashbacks running through my head are taking over. No matter how much I push them away, they are more powerful. All the hateful words, all the kicks, the punches, slaps, painful stomach, the two weeks of crying in pain with what was happening to me. They’re all there. I can feel Uncle Jack right next to me. I can feel him touching me. I run to the bathroom and throw up.

Sitting on the floor, I take deep breaths to calm myself. I need to think about what I’m about to tell Jackson. Friday, this will all end and Jackson and Leo will both have to agree, as we both know that they won’t find him unless I’m there.

Once I’m calm again, I walk into the living room. “Jackson, can I talk to you for a moment?” I go straight to the yard and wait for him.

“Everything okay?”

“We both know that Uncle Jack isn’t going to just come out in the open and we both know that you and Leo can’t find him—”

“No.”

“Yes, we know that he’ll have men and we have you two and a split second to shoot him.” My voice starts to become shaky and tears of fear flow again. I put my hand up in front of Jackson to make him stay where he is. “This has to end Jackson. I can’t...I can’t keep watching over my shoulder.”

“Okay, Hope look at me.” I lift my face. This is the first time I’ve looked into his eyes like this. They are hazel in color and have peace behind them, not the darkness that Leo’s hold. “Wewillend this before the week is over.”

"Friday, just listen to me. You know my friend at the park?" Jackson nods. I know that Leo got him to look into her. "I want you to give her this letter, you can read them all, and if she says yes to that, you give her letter two." I hand that over to him as he finishes reading the first one. "If it's a yes again, you give her letter three, and if it's a yes again, then Friday Leo and you can finally kill him."

“You want your friend to tell Jack that you’re going to visit her on Friday and he’ll show up?”

"I know he'll show up." I shake my head as pain runs through my body, the pain of that night, of him, kicking me over and over again.

“Hope, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, will you do it?”

“Yes, are you telling Leo?”

“No, you are.”

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