Page 13 of I Dreamt Of You

“In all honesty, I don’t know that much about her, we met in one of my clubs a few years back, and we… hit it off, so to speak, but I look at her now and she has changed so much. She was confident, bold, full of energy, this Millie is not the same Millie I knew then, and I don’t know what to do. She is so fragile, almost broken.”

“I think you hit the nail on the head there my friend, she is broken, you can see something in her eyes, and it worries me what she has been through. You can see she is hiding cuts and bruises too.”

I leaned my head back on the window and let out a long breath, “She told me she was in an accident. But why would you hide them if it was an accident?”

“I have no idea…” At that moment, the paramedics open the door; one steps close to us, and asks if he can have a chat.

“Emilie has regained consciousness, but is now refusing to go to hospital. Her rib is more than likely fractured, if not badly bruised. There’s not much we can do about it, we have strappedit up, and she will need to get some medication to ease the pain… is there anything else we should know? She has bruises and marks on her arms and chest, a few weeks old and some older ones…?” He stops talking while waiting for us to say something.

“We know just as much as you. She only moved down here this week, I knew her a long time ago, but other than that I’ve not seen her for years. She did say she was in an accident a few weeks back when we noticed the bruising on her arms and the ones she has tried covering up on her face, but she won’t talk about it.”

“Okay, that’s… hmm, right she will need help over the next few weeks. I take it she has no family close by?” We both look at him blankly. “Thought so, can one of you help? She needs to rest for a few weeks until the fracture or bruising starts to heal. She needs to take it easy, no heavy lifting, that sort of thing.” He opens the door and gestures for us to go in.

“Okay, I’ll help her, it’s the least I can do really.”

“Good, we have given her something for the pain, but she is refusing to go to hospital, we will take her home.”

“I’ll take her, my car’s out the back.”

Millie looks at me and rolls her eyes, I don’t give a shit what she thinks, “I’m taking you home.”

“You don’t need to, I’ll walk it, it’s not far.” She pushes herself up like nothing has happened, but I can see the pain in her eyes,

“Millie, let me help you, you can hardly stand up, it hurts so much.”Why is she acting like this?I turn to the paramedics and thank them before they leave, reassuring them she will be taken care of.

“Mike, I’ll pull my car round the front, can you stay here and make sure she stays put?” Another eye roll from her and I chuckle, knowing it’s slightly annoying her how much I want to help her. Mike nods and sits at the desk, watching over her.

“I’ll be back in a few.” Walking out to the car park around the back, I see the paramedics still parked up and head over. Knocking on the window, I wait till they roll it down.

“Can I have a word?” The guy nods at me, indicating for me to carry on. “The bruises she has, what do you think they are from? I’m worried about her.” I say simply, and they give each other a look.

“Look, I’ve been doing this job for a long time, and I’ve seen those sorts of injuries more than I would like to admit. They are not from an accident, and I’d say she has been getting those sorts of injuries for quite some time.” I fully understand what he’s trying to say. I know he can’t say much, but I appreciate what he’s telling me. No matter how brutal it is to hear, she’s been on the receiving end of someone’s fist…what sick bastard would do that to her?My face falls into a grim line; I don’t know how to deal with this.

“I had my suspicions, but I never imagined this...” I rub my hands over my face.How can anyone do this to her? She’s perfect, the fucking bastard.It makes me feel sick to think what she could have been through at the hands of another person.

“If you really care about her, and I think you do, she’s lucky she has someone like you to take care of her.” And with that, another call comes through and they leave.

Chapter nine

My Mistake

Millie

I must have passed out, as when I wake up, Jack and Mike are not in the office, and the paramedics have me on the floor. It startles me when I look down and I realise they have checked me fully over, my shirt is undone, and they are examining all the cuts and bruises I have.

“Hello, Emilie, I’m Jane and this is Dave, we are the paramedics looking after you.”

“I don’t need any help, I know I have a fracture, maybe bruised rib…did I pass out?”

“Yep, that’s what we were told by the owner, Jack?” I nod, signalling she has it right.

“When was the last time you ate Emilie?” Jane asks me,

“Um, maybe yesterday? Things have been a bit unsettled and it just slips my mind.” It may have been longer, but I’m not going to admit that, am I? “Is that why I passed out, do you think?”

“I would say it’s in the mix of a few things,” Dave says, looking at me sympathetically.

“Have you been getting much sleep?” I think he can tell from the bags under my eyes that I’ve not been sleeping.

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