Sarah was leaning to the corridor walls, as she was holding her half emptied coffee mug. As usual, hospital was crowding with people. After she went to the bathroom, she noticed that she only left one hour to finish her shift.
******
Vanessa was in her kitchen, she was taking the last parts of the lasagna. She was about to go to bed, but her husband, Ron was watching a game on TV. He had some beers after dinner, and he was angry with the game.
Vanessa was scared with the yelling, as she was holding her arm. She thought that her husband did not meant to hurt her on the last week. She was just on his way, and he did not shoved her purposefully.
As he apologized from her, she accepted it, but that was not the first time.
“Vanessa,” he said from the living room.
“Yes?” She said.
“Don’t you want to sit down and watch the game with me?” Ron asked.
As she nodded, she walked towards her husband, and cuddled him. She fell asleep, and wake when Ron shaked her, “Come on, wake up, Nes,” he said, as he pulled his arm, almost made her fall down.
“Sorry, I think I’m just wiped out from the week we had,” she said.
“Yeah, me too. Let’s get something to eat before we go to bed,”
“You know how drinking makes me hungry.”
As she went into the kitchen with Ron, he said, “Why didn’t you wash all the dishes?”
Then she explained that he called her when she was about to clean, but Ron was angry, “And that’s supposed to be an excuse?” He said.
He started to throw the beer bottles to the bin, and shouted, “Look at me,” he continued, “It’s not difficult, Vanessa.”
Vanessa sighed.
“What are you sighing for?”
“What are you so fed up with?”
“Can’t speak?”
Then Ron threw the lasagna towards her, and the casserole hit Vanessa, in her abdomen. As she was struck with it, she was blinded with the pain.
“Clean up this mess,” Ron said, and went inside.
Vanessa cleaned the mess, as she was crying. Then Ron came and examined the kitchen, “Hmm,” he said, “Are you satisfied?”
As Vanessa nodded, Ron said, “Good. I am, too. Let’s go to bed. But you need to shower first. You smell like food.”
Vanessa was taking a shower, as she was using hot water to relieve the pain in her abdomen. Her fingers filled with cuts from the glass she cleaned. “Enough is enough,” she said to herself. Then Ron banged on the door.
“Hurry up,” Ron shouted.
As she waited for Ron to sleep, she took her time to go to the nearest hospital. As she reached to the ER, she whispered, “help,” and passed out.
******
As Sarah went inside to the ER, she asked, “What happened?”
“No idea, Doc,” nurse said.
“Let’s find her name,” Sarah continued, as nurse Samantha searched the woman’s purse. She found an ID and said, “Howard. Her first name is Vanessa.”
As Vanessa wake slowly, she was feeling a slight pain, but not as much as before. A nurse came into her room and said, “Hi, I’m Samantha, Dr. Silverman said to page her the moment you woke up. Is that okay?”
Vanessa nodded, and then she was transferred from ER to a normal room. Dr. Silverman had listened her, while she explained everything. Then she said to the doctor, “Thank you for listening,”
“Of course, that’s what we’re here for. And we can talk about your plan of action later. You rest now and try not to move too much,” Sarah said.
As Sarah changed her clothes, she went to Vanessa’s room, and saw that nurse Samantha was confronting an irate man.
“Hello?” The man said, “I’m her husband, and that means I am entitled to be with her whenever I please.”
Sarah intervened, “Sir, is there a problem?”
“Here is Dr. Silverman. She will explain everything to you,” Samantha said.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Silverman,”
“Ron,” the man said, “My last name is Howard.”
Sarah was shocked, she was aware that he would come eventually.
“You are holding my wife somewhere in here, and you are not letting me see her. Honestly, who does that?”
As Sarah tried to understand what mood Ron was in, she wanted to be cautious while handling the situation.
“You’re her husband?” Sarah asked. Then Ron held his left hand, and it was covered with band-aids. “See?” He asked, as he showed the ring.
“Do you know what happened to your wife?” Sarah asked.
“My wife is perfectly fine, all right, Dr. Silverman?”
“There is nothing wrong with her. Whatever she might have told you in there, that’s a lie, right? So, I am taking her home with me. All right? Give me all the paperwork right now.”
“Sir, I’m sorry. But your wife needs treatment at the moment,” Sarah said.
At that moment, the phone rang, and distracted Sarah for a second. Then Ron pushed Sarah, and as he was walking towards, Sarah stated that Vanessa was diagnosed with gastric ulcer, and added that if she leaves, she would die. As Ron tried to intimidate them, the nurse and Sarah nodded.
“Very good,” Ron said.
Samantha asked Sarah that if she was lying or not, Sarah said, “Her problem is much more serious, but I cannot talk about that right now,”
“Mrs. Howard, I talked to your husband.” Sarah said to Vanessa, as she secretly entered to her room.
Vanessa was shocked. Sarah tried to stop her from panicking, as Vanessa said, “But he bribes everybody, Dr. Silverman. No one even wants to listen to me!”
But Sarah had a plan, she had prepared every document, and the proof of that she was a victim of domestic violence.
Then Ron walked into the room, along with Dr. Mitchell. They acted as if nothing was wrong, and Dr. Mitchell stated that Sarah was no longer the doctor of Vanessa.
Then Dr. Mitchell stated that Vanessa is free to go as she had no problem. Sarah tried to stop them, as Vanessa was afraid, but Dr. Mitchell outranked Sarah. Then Dr. Mitchell fired Sarah.
As Sarah left the room, she met with Samantha, and “fell down accidentally,” to stay in the hospital, when nurse Samantha took her to a room. She had a plan.
“My fists are itching,” Ron said to Vanessa, “It’s time to teach you the lesson that you deserve.”
Then he saw that Sarah was there, at the bed of Vanessa. “What is this?” Ron asked angrily.
“This is where you go to jail,” Sarah said.
As Ron didn’t believed her at first, then she pulled her phone, and replayed Ron’s words.
“It’s over, Ron,” she said, “You are going to pay for all the pain that you caused your wife.”
Then the officers had rushed into the room, and arrested Ron, with the charges of domestic violence. Vanessa had hugged to Sarah, as she helped her.
“Babe! Babe, please! Tell them I’m innocent,” Ron shouted, “We’ve been through so many things.”
“Yes, Ron,” Vanessa started, “We have been through a lot. Bruises. Broken bones. All of that will heal. But I will never forget what you did to me.”
Then the officers took Dr. Mitchell too, as he was receiving money from Ron.
Sarah took Vanessa, “Come on, let’s get you back to bed,” she said, as they walked towards Vanessa’s room.
What do you think? Let us know.
