Joey Avery appears to have everything. Happiness. Loving parents. A life all mapped out. But it's all a lie. An entire life based on a lie. First of all, she's a her, not a him, though it gets people confused all the time, since her name is typicall...
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WARNING : mention of suicide, suicidal thoughts
She's covered in blood and from the look in her face, I can tell that it isn't hers. But if it isn't, it means it's his.
"He's dead."
Oh, no. She... My embrace tightens. Her face against my chest, she sobs and my whole body wants to throw fists. She doesn't deserve to go through that. He shouldn't have put her through that.
Letting go for a quarter of seconds, I pull off my hoodie before pulling hers off and giving her mine to wear instead.
"I'm going to need that one," the police officer that agreed to let me see her tells me. I hand her Joey's blood covered sweatshirt.
***
Next thing I know, we're in the hospital to get Joey's wounds checked up. I hate coming here. I've come here way too much to get stitched up after fights that got too ugly for Elizabeth to take care of me. I can see in Joey's eyes that she hates it as much as I do, which makes me more considerate. If she's scared and worried, I can't let her see how uncomfortable I am here. Last thing she needs is to feel bad for making me come here. Plus, it isn't that bad. I don't fear hospitals, I just don't like them, but who does really?
She's been staring at the floor since we got here, avoiding at all costs my eyes. Her hands intertwined, marks forming on her neck. I despise seeing her like that. I should've been there. Isn't it what I told her? That she didn't have to be scared because I'm there? I couldn't protect her from him, he could've killed her, and it would've been my fault.
My hand reaches for hers, and she finally looks up, not saying anything, just looking at me, fighting the tears in her eyes.
"It's going to be okay, princess," I whisper to her, kindly.
She's been through a lifetime of pain, of bad moments. She deserves so much better. She deserves to be happy for more than a few days. She deserves the moon, the whole fucking universe, but all I can offer her is my love, and I really hope that's enough.
"Please, don't leave me," she begs me, her throat obviously hurting.
I'm taken aback by her request. "I'm not going anywhere. I told you, Joey, one day, I'm going to marry you."
She chuckles, nodding at the same time as her head falls to the side, meeting my shoulder.
"I used to be so scared," she confesses in a raspy voice. "I was scared of what I could do to myself. I was so tired of hurting that I wanted to put an end to it, and every time I was alone, I... I had all these thoughts, very dark thoughts. I would sit in my room, lights off, and wait for everyone to be asleep before I allowed myself to cry."
She thought about suicide.
The thought of her thinking about committing breaks my heart, no one should ever go through that, no one should ever think suicide is an option. But I get it. I get that the pain and the memories were too hard to handle. I understand that she didn't have a purpose to stay alive. And I am really glad that she didn't do it. And one day, she'll be too. She'll see everything that life has to offer her. She'll see that she isn't alone, that she hasn't met half the people she's supposed to meet, that she hasn't seen enough sunrises and hasn't felt the wind on her face enough either. I'll make sure her future is bright, and up to her expectations.
"I don't want to feel like this anymore," she keeps going, "I want to let the past behind me, and look forward. I don't feel like this anymore. I might be one of the unluckiest person alive, but if there's one thing I have been lucky for is you. You're my happy ending, I just know it."
I kiss her forehead, wrapping my arms around her, bringing her closer to me as we wait for the nurse to come back with the result, sitting on Joey's hospital bed.
"I have good news," the nurse announces after walking in and closing the door behind her. "You have no sign of concussion from that hit you took to the head, and there won't be any aftereffect due to the strangulation you suffered. You might feel some pain and have difficulty speaking normally for a few days though."
Somebody knocks on the door, and it immediately opens. Two police officers walk in, notepad and pen in hands.
"Hello, Joey," one of them says, and Joey sends her a forced smile, not to be mean, just because she probably doesn't feel like smiling. "If you don't mind, we would like to ask you a few questions."
"Is there a problem, officers?" I interrogate them, protectively. "She already told you it was self-defence, what more is there to say? It barely just happened. I know you're doing your job, but maybe she needs time to proceed everything that just went down."
A hand reaches for my arm, "It's okay."
The two officers sit down across the room and begin asking questions.
What was she doing in the kitchen? Did he attack first? Was he threatening her with any kind of weapon? Did he say anything to her? How did she get the knife? Why did she thought stabbing him was the only option?
This interrogation is getting on my last nerve.
"I had no other choice," she cries, "his hands were around my neck, I could barely breathe. Don't you understand? He was going to kill me the same way he killed her!"
"Her?" the man asks.
"Her mom," the woman replies.
She came more prepared than him.
"I didn't want to kill him, I'm not a murderer."
"Of course not, we know this. You aren't a suspect; we just have to reconstruct the scene in order to make a report."
"Can I ask you a question?" Joey asks.
The officer nods.
"If I am not a suspect, does this mean it'll be over soon?"
"Yes, once the investigation is over, you'll finally be able to put this all behind you."
A few more questions, and they're gone, leaving Joey and I alone again. She lets out a sigh of relief before lowering herself in bed, her head on my chest.
She must be so exhausted.
My little warrior.
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There are only two or three chapters left, depending on how I separate them.
I can't believe that twenty chapters later, I am still here, writing those words.
I had tried writing a novel on wattpad before, but the fact almost no one was reading it kind of unmotivated me. This time, I decided to write it for me before anyone else, and I'll be taking this story to an end even though barely anyone reads it. I have faith that once it's completed a few more people will be reading it, but whatever, it'll be there for those who wants to read it.
Obsessively is far from perfect, I intend to edit it and rewrite it in the future, but I plan on maybe writing another book, very different from this one before doing anything more with this one.
Thank you for reading my story,
It would mean the world to me if you could give this story a vote, share it with your friends or post about it on your social medias. Tag me if you ever do so, I'm on tiktok and instagram under the name @thecanadianbookclub.
