bloodthirsty // heathers au

six

Veronica

The first couple months of living with JD were blissful. His father had given him a very hefty amount of cash for graduating. He was third in our class. I was first but I refused to give a speech and the second best student did it instead. Because of this large gift, he spent most of the summer at home. We spent all of our time together and I fell entirely back in love with him.

By September, he was looking for work and he had a job by the end of the month. It was an data entry job, which was easy. It was enough money for us to live and it didn't really involve other people. JD did not play well with others.

It was November when he started acting different. He was easily frustrated with me and had slapped me on more than a few occasions by December. The last month of my pregnancy was hell. JD refused to let me leave the house without him. He took my car keys so I couldn't leave. He disconnected the phones so I couldn't tell anyone.

He was insanely possessive with me that month. He was constantly hovering over me as I was just trying to relax despite the constant pressure I felt as my belly dropped. I was very pregnant and very uncomfortable. He was working my nerves by then and we were arguing multiple times a day. I had bruises on me when I finally went into labor.

JD

Crying, I thought to myself. Veronica was an absolute wreck, crying from the pain, squeezing my hand and shutting her eyes as tightly as possible. She almost looked as awful as she sounded. Her hair was in a knotted up bun on her head and it had been slipping for hours. She was sweating and her eyes were puffy from crying so hard.

The doctor said she was almost there, telling Veronica that she just had one more push. Then there was the sound of a baby wailing, Veronica gasping and the doctor exclaiming that it's a girl.

"Grace," Veronica sobbed to me and I agreed, feeling tears spring into the corners of my eyes as the doctor held my squirmy daughter up. I thought about the frivolous name we had decided upon simply because Veronica adored it.

"She beautiful." I crooned, feeling a lump rise up in my throat.

"Where are they taking her?" Veronica asked me as a nurse took Grace after a moment.

"They're just cleaning her up, darling. She'll be back in just a minute." I said and Veronica nodded but her tears worsened.

"Please be careful." She pleaded with the nurse.

"She knows what she's doing, honey." I reminded her, watching her sobs fade into sniffles. But the nurse didn't hand us back our daughter, instead they took our daughter straight to the intensive care unit for infants. She was having some difficulty breathing and they wanted to monitor her more closely. Veronica cried harder, begging to go see her baby. I felt annoyed that she was saying that. Grace was our baby, not just hers. She's mine too.

Veronica wouldn't be able to go until she came off the drugs a little bit but I wanted to go now. When I told her this, she flew off the handle. "I want us to see her together!" She screamed at me. After being shouted at by her too many times today, I snapped back at her.

"You're not in labor anymore, you don't get to be a bitch to me now." I informed her and her nose scrunched up with anger like it always did.

"You can't go see her before me! I carried her!" Veronica cried out at me.

"And she wouldn't exist had I not been there." I reminded her, to which she said nothing. "So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see my daughter." I stated but she grabbed at my arm.

"No!" She yelled and the backhand I hit her with was enough to make her scream louder. I shoved my hands over her mouth and she fought underneath me, reaching her fingertips for the Call Nurse button beside the bed. Eventually, she was stupid enough to bite me and I yanked my hand away, colliding it with her face again.

"Don't make me hit you again." I warned her but she just looked up at me with those big brown eyes filled with tears.

"I hate you." She told me. "I want you to leave." She added angrily.

"You know what, Veronica?" I asked her and she had the audacity to respond.

"What, JD?" She questioned back, her tone incredibly bitchy.

"I'll go." I said, grabbing my coat off the chair where it sat. "Good luck taking care of a fucking baby on your own. You can't even take care of yourself, you useless cunt." I added, only taking a glance at the way her bottom lip started to quiver.

As I headed for the door, she spoke up. "JD?" She mumbled quietly.

I turned around. "What?" I asked.

"Don't come near me or my daughter ever again. I'll call the police if you do." She threatened me.

"Like they believed you last time." I muttered to her and I was out the door, getting as far away from her as possible.

Veronica

The moment that I finally got to meet my daughter was the happiest one of my life. I had no thoughts of her father, no worries about the punishment I'd endure for kicking him out of our lives. All I could focus on was the absolutely beautiful baby I had made.

"Hey, Gracie." I said to her, reaching my hand inside the incubator to grab hers. They said she just needed to warm up and stay a few extra days, but she'll be okay. "It's mommy. Welcome to the world, baby girl." I added as I started to cry again.

I lived in heaven for two days, spending them in the NICU with Grace as she started to be ready to go home. It wasn't until I was discharged without her that my mind wandered its way back to the thought of JD.

I had nowhere else to go. My parents hadn't even showed up to meet their grandchild, despite the numerous calls I made home. All my friends was away at college and besides, I hadn't spoken to any of them in months. I had no one else to turn to and the mere concept of living in a shelter with that perfect baby is what made me rattle off his address to the taxi driver. When I knocked on the door because I had no keys, he opened the door.

And he was not at all happy to see me. But somehow, he was vindicated by my return. The first thing he said to me was an insult. "Look who came crawling back." He said in that deadpanned voice he used when displeased.

"I don't have anywhere else to go." I whispered to him, holding my head down in shame and fear. I knew I was in for it the second my foot crossed the threshold.

"Are you sorry?" He asked me in a tone that told me he was getting satisfaction out of this. He held every bit of power over me and I knew it's what he wanted.

"Yes." I mumbled my lie. He lead me inside.

"Then I forgive you." He said.

"Really?" I asked in a relieved tone as my head shot up. It was then that I noticed the very malicious grin he had stretching across his face.

"Are you stupid?" He questioned back to me. When I said nothing, he chuckled and raised his hand. I flinched for the first time, making the sick smile he had grow wider. "Oh, this will be so much fun." He informed me and I braced myself for the first blow. Then a second one hit and a third one after that. Too many to count followed suit but I could do nothing but lay down and take this beating I'd earned in his eyes. If I fought back, he'd throw me out and I'd lose Grace.

Eventually, by the grace of a god that doesn't exist, I was knocked out and I didn't have to feel all the pain until I woke up. When I did, JD was gone. I lifted myself up and crawled away from the mess of blood. He had cracked my head open and I knew I had a concussion. My vision was blurry and tilting. JD sat in the living room, smoking a cigarette.

"Is it over?" I asked him but he offered no answers. A voice in the back of my mind did, however.

Heather's voice.

Don't be stupid, it will never be over.