In Fate's Hands

Elizabeth’s eyes fluttered open and she looked around. She was lying in a hospital bed and her head was throbbing. Her stepfather was sitting in a chair next to her. When he noticed that her eyes were open, he scooted closer.

“I told them you fell down the stairs. If you tell them any different, your next injury will be a hell of a lot worse than this.”

“I won’t tell,” she responded. “Why did you take me to the hospital? I didn’t think you cared that much.”

“I don’t want you dead.”

“Well then you’d better be careful. If you keep on going at this rate, I’ll be dead in no time. Then, you’ll be in jail and my mother will never forgive you.”

“You’d better watch your mouth,” he responded. When he said, “you’d”, he pointed his finger at her. Then, he turned on his heal and left.

Elizabeth pushed the button to call the nurse. She came in shortly.

“Nice to see that you’re awake,” the nurse said pleasantly.

“Thank you. How long have I been unconscious?”

“About 4 hours.”

“Wow.”

“You must have had one hard fall down the stairs.”

“Yeah it definitely hurt. Can you please send my doctor in?”

“Of course. Is there anything else you need?”

“No, thank you.”

The nurse left the room. A few minutes later, Dr. Drake entered the room wearing his scrubs and his white lab coat just like any normal doctor. But, he wasn’t’ like the other doctors in the fact that he was a whole lot more handsome and he knew it. It was pretty hard for any girl not to fall for his nice brown eyes, nice brown hair, and cute smile. When Elizabeth saw him, she even blushed a little.

“Hi, Elizabeth. I’m Dr. Drake.” He reached his hand out to her and she shook it.

“Nice to meet you,” she responded. “Can you tell me what’s wrong with me? Why does my head hurt so much?”

“When you fell down the stairs, you suffered a minor concussion. You also seem to have a lot of bruising and you broke your nose. We gave you some medicine to try to ease the pain.”

“Oh. How much longer do I have to stay here?”

“We want to keep you here overnight for observation and to make sure it’s just a concussion.”

“What about school tomorrow?”

“That’s out of the question. Elizabeth, may I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Did you really fall down the stairs? The locations of some of your bruises just don’t add up.”

“Yes I did. I’m a very clumsy person and I bump into things a lot. I guess you could say that I bruise easily,” Elizabeth lied.

“Ok I just had to make sure. Is there anyone else you wanted me to call for you?”

“No thank you.”

He turned to leave.

“Dr. Drake?”

“Yes?”

“Can you please tell me what time it is?”

He laughed and said, “Of course.” He looked at his nice big Rolex watch. “It’s about ten o’clock.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now get some rest.”

He left and Elizabeth closed her eyes, wondering if this night would change anything.

The next day when Jesse walked into school and hung out with all his jock buddies, he looked toward Elizabeth’s locker and noticed that she wasn’t there yet, which was unusual because usually she got there around the same time that he did. He tried not to think much of it; maybe she was just late or something, but she wasn’t usually late and she was almost never absent. He couldn’t stop thinking about what happened when he went to her house yesterday. Something about it just didn’t feel right to him. He saw Jayden walking down the hallway and stopped her.

“Wait, you didn’t happen to speak to Elizabeth this morning, did you?”

“No. She was supposed to call me last night, but she never did. Why are you wondering? She doesn’t want to talk to you anyway, not after the way you treated her yesterday. I can’t believe you expect her to tutor you after that.”

“I know I was a jackass and I apologized to her for that, but she still didn’t want to tutor me.”

“I don’t blame her.”

“Look, I went by her house yesterday to see if I could convince her to tutor me, but I heard a lot of screaming. I tried to look inside, but I couldn’t see anything. When I knocked on the door, a man answered and told me that Elizabeth wasn’t home and that he was having a fight with his wife. It just didn’t feel right. Something is going on over there and I want to find out what it is.”

“There’s definitely something strange about her, but I don’t think she would appreciate anyone getting into her personal life, especially you.”

“Even if she could be in danger?”

“Why would she be in danger?”

“Think about it, Jayden. She wears long and baggy clothes every day, even in the summer. She’s obviously trying to cover up her body.”

“Did you ever think that maybe she’s just really modest? I asked her why she always wears those things and she said she gets cold easily.”

“And you believe that?”

“There is definitely something off about her, but I don’t think you should just jump to conclusions.”

“I have a feeling that her life at home isn’t so good. I would rather look into this and be wrong than not look into it and be right. Something is happening that she’s not telling anyone else about, I can feel it. What else did she talk to you about?”

“Well, she did say that she doesn’t think her parents will let her go to college because they want her to live at home and they won’t pay for it, but a lot of parents are like that.”

“That’s awful. How can you hold your child back from her dreams? Do you have her phone number?”

“No, she wouldn’t give it to me. She just made me give her mine.”

“Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”

“Maybe a little bit, but maybe she just doesn’t like people calling her.”

“Or maybe she’ll get in big trouble if anybody does call her.”

“Jesse, you’re jumping to conclusions.”

“Ok maybe I am, but what if I’m not? What if I’m right? What then? We’re just going to sit back and watch as this happens to her?”

“Why do you care about her so much all of a sudden? Just yesterday, you were calling her poor and making fun of her.”

“I don’t know. Maybe I just feel bad and want to make it up to her. So will you help me?”

“Yeah I guess I will.”

“Ok good. I need you to text me if you see her at all today. If she doesn’t show up, I’m going to drive over to her house again and see if she’s there.”

“And if she’s not there?”

“Then I will call the hospitals around here.”

“You really think it could have gone that far?”

“Who knows?”

The bell rang to signal the beginning of homeroom, so Jesse and Jayden split up. Neither of them saw Elizabeth throughout the whole day. After school, Jesse drove over to her house again just like he said he would; there was no car in the driveway, but he decided he would knock anyway. No answer. He knocked for about 10 minutes to make absolutely sure that no one was home and then walked back to his car. Once he got back into the car, he took out his cell phone, dialed 411, and asked for the number of the hospital closest to her house. Once he was connected, he waited patiently for someone to answer.

“Hello?” said the nurse.

“Hi, I was wondering if you had a patient in your hospital by the name of Elizabeth Bancroft?”

“Hold on one moment please.”

“Thank you.”

He waited about 3 minutes until the nurse came back on the line.

“Yes, sir, Elizabeth Bancroft is checked into this hospital.”

“Can you tell me her floor and room number?”

“She’s on the second floor room 228.”

“Thank you.”

He slammed his phone shut and then opened it back up again and called Jayden. He told her that Elizabeth was Westchester General Hospital and to meet him there.

10 minutes later, he and Jayden both arrived at the hospital.

“Did the nurse give you any details as to why she’s checked in here?” Jayden asked as they were walking in and making their way towards the elevator.

“I don’t think she was allowed. I’m not a family member. She just said that Elizabeth was here and she was in room 228.”

They stayed silent until they were right outside her room.

“Just remember that she might be lying as far as excuses go,” said Jesse. “She could just be covering up for her dad.”

“That man that you were talking about is not her dad. Her dad died when she was a little girl. This guy must be her step dad or someone she lives with or something.”

“Oh wow. I wonder where her mom is.”

“I don’t know. She never mentioned her mom to me.”

“Well let’s just go in and see how she’s doing.”

“Ok.”

They both peered in the window outside Elizabeth’s room and could see that she was watching TV. Jayden knocked on the door and they both entered the room as soon as they heard Elizabeth say, “Come in.”

Elizabeth’s mouth dropped open slightly when she saw that Jesse was there. Maybe he really does care, she thought.

“What are you guys doing here? I’m especially surprised to see you here,” she said, pointing at Jesse.

“We were worried about you. You didn’t show up for school today and I had a really bad feeling that something happened yesterday,” replied Jesse.

“Yeah, Elizabeth, tell us what happened to you,” said Jayden.

“I was really clumsy yesterday and I fell down my steps. I was wearing socks and the wood was really slippery. I fell down from the top, rolled, and hit my head. By the time I hit the bottom, I was completely out.”

“Are you sure that’s what happened?” asked Jesse.

“Of course I’m sure. Why would I lie about that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you are covering up for someone.”

“Like who?”

“Like that guy who answered the door yesterday when I came over your house and tried to see you. The bruises on your face make you look like you got punched instead of fell down the stairs.”

“Well you’re wrong.”

“Am I?”

“Get out of my room, Jesse. You don’t know what you are talking about. I can’t believe you actually had the nerve to come here.”

“Excuse me for caring about what happens to you.”

“Do you really care about me or do you just want to use me to tutor you so that you can pass your math class?”

“I actually care about you more than I thought I would.”

“And you expect me to believe that after the way you treated me?”

“Believe whatever you want, but it’s true. I didn’t think I would care this much, but I do and I’m not going to stand by and let you get hurt.”

Elizabeth turned to Jayden. “Do you agree with him?”

“To be honest, I think something is definitely off about you, but I’m not quite sure what it is yet. There’s something you aren’t telling anyone. Whether it’s what he says it is, I don’t know. I think you should tell us the truth though. We just want to help you.”

“Well thank you for that, but you can’t help me.”

“Try us,” responded Jayden.

“I can’t.”

“Elizabeth, if you don’t tell us exactly what is going on, next time, it could be a lot worse than just having a bump on your head,” said Jesse.

“But, if I do tell you, someone could die.”

Jesse and Jayden were startled; they weren’t expecting a response like that. Jesse regained his confidence.

“Fine then I guess I will just have to report this guy to the New York Division of Youth and Family Services and see if I’m right about him,” Jesse said.

“No, please don’t do that!” Elizabeth pleaded.

“I have to. It’s the only way I’m going to be able to live with myself. If I do nothing and something worse happens to you, I will always feel guilty. Unless of course you want to tell us what’s going on and we can come up with an alternate plan.”

“Ok, fine, I’ll tell you.”