I Am Invincible

Something was beeping obnoxiously. I tried to lift my arm to reach the bedside table where I knew my alarm clock was placed, but something was weighing it down. A hand was touching my wrist lightly, the person’s fingers gently running over my skin in small patterns. I moved my arm again slightly, and the person withdrew their hand in what I gathered was shock.
The person next to me drew in a sharp breath.

“Cameron?” I heard my name. “A-are you awake? Tell me you’re awake. Please.” The voice finished with a hint of desperation.
I struggled to open my eyes. They were so heavy, but eventually I managed to crack them open slightly before closing them again and cringing when bright white light shone into my tired eyes.

“B-baby?”
I opened my eyes again, and the first thing I saw was Zach sitting in a hard plastic chair next to my bed. I moved only my eyes as I scanned the room. I was confused. This wasn’t my bedroom, nor was it my boyfriend’s, so where the hell was I?
“Z-zach?” I whimpered, “W-where…?”

“You’re in the hospital, baby. You were hurt pretty badly. I-I’m so glad you’re okay,” Zach said, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. He turned his head to his left and I followed his gaze. Standing in the doorway was a woman in a white coat with a stethoscope around her neck. Her pale blonde hair was tightly wrapped in a bun at the back of her head and the blue framed glasses she wore were sitting on the end of her long nose.

She strode in confidently, glaring at Zach for a few seconds before looking me over with a frown on her face.
“How long have you been awake?” she asked me abruptly. My eyes widened and I glanced at Zach.
“About two minutes, actually,” he said; his voice hard.

The doctor pushed Zach out of the way and started poking and prodding me. It scared me and I wanted to tell her to stop but I couldn’t make my voice work. I think Zach noticed that I was uncomfortable because he cleared his throat and stood up, facing the doctor.
“Can you be a bit more gentle? He’s scared,” he stated, and I looked at him gratefully.
The doctor just looked at Zach in disgust and continued doing what she was doing. I squirmed a bit when she started looking at the bruises on my stomach from where he kicked me and she just scoffed.

When she moved away from my purple and black stomach, her hands reached towards my neck. I blinked. Patrick was standing in her place with a sneer on his face. I saw his fingers flex a couple of times before they rested on my throat, gently at first, but slowly putting more pressure on.

“No…NO!” I shrieked as I thrashed around in my bed, trying to get away from his deadly hands. They fought with me for a few seconds until they drew away from me. I moved as far away from Patrick as I possibly could without leaving my bed. Patrick reached for me again and I screamed out at him to get away and put my hands up to my face. I was breathing heavily and my vision was going dark and blurry from hyperventilating. Zach lightly grabbed my wrists and held them while talking quietly to me. He told me to look at him and I did so, studying his face which was etched with concern. He was telling me to take slow, deep breaths and I obliged, calming down slightly. Until Patrick reached for me again, and I struggled to wrench my arms from Zach’s grip. Zach was yelling at Patrick to leave me alone and I was screaming and crying with fright. I didn’t want the hands that had nearly killed me anywhere near me. Suddenly everything became too much and black clouds drifted into my vision and pulled me under…

~~~

I woke up to distant shouting. Someone was angry, but I couldn’t tell what they were angry about. It went on for a couple more minutes and I still had no idea what it was about until I heard my name, and that was when I recognised my father’s voice as the one shouting. He’s never known how to keep his voice down. Another voice joined dad’s, making just as much noise. I looked to my right and realised that I was alone. Zach was gone. Of course he would be out there part of a shouting match. I was just thinking this when my mom came into my room and saw I was awake.

She smiled, with a slight sadness, “Hey honey,” she said quietly. “How are you feeling? Your father didn’t wake you up, did he?”
“M-mommy? Why? Why are they yelling?” I whispered.
“The doctor shouldn’t have tried to take your pulse the way she did. She was told to take your pulse on your wrist, not your neck, but she didn’t listen and now dad’s kicking up a big fuss,” she told me grimly. “Zach said that he told her to stop, but she wouldn’t…”
“He was going t-to choke me ag-gain…” I said, tears welling in my eyes.
“No honey, it wasn’t him. He can’t hurt you anymore. The police took him away…” she trailed off as three people entered the room.

“Cameron! You’re awake,” dad cried.
“Alex, keep your voice down. He’s not deaf. And neither is anyone else here,” mom scolded. I almost smiled, but I couldn’t bring it to the surface.
Zach immediately moved to the plastic chair and reached for my hand. I didn’t want to, I really didn’t, but I flinched my hand away from his, and drew it into my chest. I looked at him in shock, my eyes wide and staring. I couldn’t believe what I just did. It was Zach, but I couldn’t let him touch me.

“I-I…” I tried to apologise, but he cut me off.
“Cam. It’s okay, I promise. Don’t apologise.”
No. I was going to apologise. I can’t believe I did that. “B-but, I-”
“You can go home on Tuesday,” the doctor interrupted me abruptly. “You’re healthy… Physically at least…”

I could tell dad was going to get worked up again, but luckily mom put a hand on his arm and silently told him to drop it. Although his face was beet red from anger, for once in his life dad kept his mouth shut as he made his way over to my bed and sat down at my feet. He glared at the doctor.
“Can you leave now? You’re not doing anything but being annoying and unhelpful,” he said rudely.
The doctor sniffed and turned around, marching out of the room with her nose in the air.

“Bitch,” dad muttered, before turning to me, his face gentle and started talking to me about trivial things. I think he knew that I didn’t want to re-live what happened, that I just wanted to forget, and I was grateful that he and the rest of my family respected my wish. Now I just wish that I could forget.