In Fate's Hands

“You have to go to the police,” Jesse said as soon as she finished her story.

“No, I can’t do that.”

“Why not? This guy deserves to pay for what he did to you,” stated Jayden

“Because he told me that if I told anybody, then he would go after my mother. I can’t have that. I already lost one parent and I can’t bear to lose another. I shouldn’t have told you guys anyway. If he finds out that you know, God only knows what he’ll do to all of us.”

“But, either way, you have to get out of there; you have to move out,” responded Jesse.

“If I do that, he’ll come after me.”

“So you’re just going to sit there and take it when he hits you?” Jesse asked aggressively.

“I have to.”

“No you don’t. You shouldn’t have to take that; no one should ever have to take that;” said Jayden.

“Elizabeth, we can’t just keep on letting him do this to you. We’re going to report him to the police,” stated Jesse.

“NO! You can’t do that! Please don’t do that,” begged Elizabeth. “My mom is coming home from her business trip tomorrow and he never hurts me when she’s home. If you go to the police, I will deny everything I just said. Please just give me time to think of a plan so that no one else gets hurt.”

“Fine. We’ll give you a week and after that we’re going to get you out of there whether we bring the police into the picture or not.”

“Thank you.”

“How long has this been going on for?” asked Jayden.

“Ever since my mom married him, so basically about two years. It started out with a slap and got worse from there.”

“All this time and no one noticed…” Jesse trailed off.

“I’ve done my best to stay invisible and I guess I was pretty good at it up until yesterday. I did everything I could to cover up my life, but, somehow, everything still managed to come out. It’s nice to finally be able to let it all out.”

“I’m sure,” sighed Jayden

“Can you guys do me a favor?”

“Depends on what it is,” said Jesse.

Elizabeth took a deep breath. This was going to be hard for her to say. “Could you please not call me or come by my house after school? If I need to talk to you, let me call you. It’s easier that way and there’s less of a chance of getting caught. As much as I would love to see you and hang out with you guys, I can’t. He’ll find out and then I’ll pay for it worse than I have already. As far as he’s concerned, we have to pretend we’re not friends; this whole thing can never get back to him.”

“If it means that you won’t get hurt, then I promise,” said Jesse.

“Me too,” said Jayden.

“Good.”

A nurse walked by the room and noticed that Jesse and Jayden were in there so she told them that they needed to leave and let Elizabeth get some rest because visiting hours had ended about fifteen minutes ago. They both said goodbye to Elizabeth and left the hospital.

After they left, Elizabeth laid there deep in thought for a few minutes and tears slowly started to flow down her cheeks; voicing her feelings out loud made her realize just how different, how sheltered she was from everybody else. Why her? Why should she be the one that had to lead this miserable life? First, her father died while she was in the car with him, and now she feared going home every day. How could she let her life turn out like this? She was sick of being strong and making excuses for him. This was never what she wanted or deserved. She knew she had to make it stop, but she had no idea how.

Even though it was only about 5:15PM, Elizabeth was tired. Lying around all day can really waste a lot of energy. Eventually, she cried herself to sleep.

She woke up about three hours later wishing that visiting hours weren’t over yet. It can get pretty lonely in a hospital room when you are by yourself at night. She wondered what would make her feel better, and when she figured it out, she picked up the phone.

“Hello?” answered the voice on the other line after about three rings.

“Hi, Mom. It’s me.”

“Elizabeth! Hi, Honey, how are you?”

“I’m fine. I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“I’m good. Are you sure you’re ok? You sound a little upset.”

“I’m just glad that I finally get to see you tomorrow. I miss you.”

“Aw. Sweetie, I miss you too. But, listen, I have to go right now because I’m about to have a teleconference, so I have to leave my phone line open. I love you.”

“Ok. Love you too, Mom.”

She waited for the click on the other line before she finally hung up the phone. Her own mother didn’t even have time for her. She pushed the button to call the nurse.

“Is there something you need?” the nurse asked as she entered the room.

“Can you please get me a pen and paper? I need to write a letter.”

“Sure.” The nurse left the room. Two minutes later, she returned with a pen and paper on a clipboard. Elizabeth accepted them and said, “Thank you,” as the nurse left the room.

It was time that Elizabeth got some of her feelings out on paper.

Dear Mom,
I know that I can never let you read this letter, but I just had to get my feelings out. This is me, Mom, the good, the bad, and the ugly. There’s a lot of ugly in here, but it’s about time you knew the truth.
For one thing, you have terrible taste in men. I’m writing this letter to you while lying in a hospital bed because Anthony put me here. After two years, you haven’t even noticed how I have changed, how I had to cover everything up for him. Don’t you ever wonder why I wear all those baggy clothes all year round? Well, here’s your answer: he beats me, Mom. He beats me until I have nothing left. Just yesterday, he threw me up against a wall and gave me a concussion all because a boy came knocking on the door looking for me and I was late getting home from school. I live a lonely and secluded life; he does not let me associate with anyone outside of school. The only makeup I’m allowed to wear is concealer so that I can hide all the bruises that he puts on my face; the rest are hidden under my clothes. I have no friends, no one else to turn to and I’m sick of it, all of it. You want to know the kind of man you married? He told me if I told anyone what he does to me, then he would come after you and kill you right in front of my eyes.
Please, Mom, please just come home for good. He doesn’t hurt me when you’re home; it’s the only time out of the month where I’m ever safe. I’m so scared, Mom. If he has the strength to put me in the hospital, then he definitely has the strength to kill you and me if I push him too much. I just don’t see any way out of this without anyone getting hurt. I love you and I don’t want anything to happen to you, but, when I need you, you’re never here. I feel so alone. Why don’t you ever stick around? My life would be so much easier if I could be with you for more than one week per month. Aren’t I more important to you than your job? I’m your daughter, yet you don’t even know half of the things that go on in my life. I need you so much, Mom, more than you know.

Love,
Elizabeth

As the pen moved slowly back and forth across the paper, tears started to drip from Elizabeth’s eyes. By the time she was finished, the letter was loaded with tearstains. She folded it into quarters and threw it on the night table beside her.

She looked up at the clock on the wall; it was 8:45PM. She didn’t really want to turn on the TV. What she really wanted was someone to talk to, so she picked up the hospital phone and dialed Jayden’s number, but there was no answer. When she went to hang the phone up, she noticed that there was an additional folded piece of paper lying next to her letter that she hadn’t noticed before. She reached over and picked it up. There was a phone number on it, but whose? The only people who had visited her were Anthony, the nurse, Jayden and Jesse. Obviously Anthony wouldn’t leave her his phone number because it was hers too. The nurse probably wouldn’t want one of her patients to have her phone number. Jayden already gave Elizabeth her phone number, so she wouldn’t write it again. The only person left was Jesse.

Elizabeth didn’t know why, but she found herself wondering about Jesse. Before yesterday, he had been making fun of her for a long time. Why had he changed so suddenly? One minute, he was a complete jerk, but in the next he acted like he cared. Why had he wanted to help her after she blatantly refused to tutor him? He definitely was stubborn, but so was she. There was something about him that she really liked, but she couldn’t exactly put her finger on it and, after everything, she wasn’t even sure why she liked him, but she did. She definitely did. She couldn’t help herself. She picked the phone back up and dialed the number.

“Hello?” Jesse’s voice came over the line.

“Hi, this is Elizabeth.”

“Oh, hi. Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I just wanted to call to say thanks.”

“For what?”

“For trying to protect me. I never thought you cared that much.”

“Quite honestly, neither did I. I guess when I came over your house to look for you yesterday and saw what you had to go through. I realized what your life was like and how much worse I was making it and that made me feel like an awful person.”

“Yeah you were always a pretty big jerk to me.”

“I know and I promise you I won’t ever treat you like that anymore.”

“You want to know what’s kind of funny?”

“What?”

“This is probably the first conversation we’ve ever had that doesn’t include yelling, walking away, rude comments, or sexual gestures of any kind.”

“It’s amazing how much things can change in a matter of two days.”

“Yeah, I guess it is. Do you still need someone to tutor you?”

“Yes, but I can find someone else. I don’t want to add any more stress to your life.”

“No, it’s ok. I can tutor you during our lunch period.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I want to. Meet me in the Tutor Center during fifth period and we’ll get started.”

“Sounds good. But, listen, I have to go now because I’m about to go out with some friends. Call me if you need anything.”

“Thanks, Jesse. Have fun.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

They both hung up the phone.

Since there was nothing else to do, Elizabeth finally turned on the TV and flicked through the channels. She stopped when she saw that The Notebook, one of her favorite movies, was on. It was the scene where Noah and Allie were out in the storm and they finally admitted their feelings to each other. Elizabeth watched as they kissed passionately and found herself wishing that she could have her very own Noah. What she didn’t realize was that she already had him.