Puppy Love

Chapter 15

Owen

When I open my eyes, I'm staring at the white ceiling of a patient room. I don't remember much after seeing Amelia in the room with that man, so I'm surprised when I sit up and feel a sharp pain coursing through my entire stomach.

"Hey, don't get up," someone says. I look across and my eyes fall on Amelia's, dressed in her navy-blue scrubs as if it's another old day at work.

"What happened?" I ask her as she gently pushes me to lie back down, "Where's Ryan? Where's-,"

"Could you just chill out for a second?" she asks me, handing me a cup of water with a bendy straw. I take the water from her and sip. The look on her face is hard to discern; she looks like she's afraid of something but also worried about me. "You got shot, don't you remember?"

"Not really," I say, "I remember walking down the halls looking for you, and one of the trauma rooms was locked, so I kicked in the door, and I saw you with the guy and..." I couldn't remember the rest.

"And you beat the guy half to death, Owen," she finishes for me. I look at her in disbelief, but then I understand now why she looks as though she's afraid. She's afraid of me. "He almost died. He still might."

I look at her now, begging with my eyes. "Amelia, I would never..." She averts her eyes and I know it's because she doesn't believe me.

"I'm not saying I'm mad at you for doing what you did," she says, folding her arms, "But the look you had on your face when you were beating him Owen...It's like no one was there." I hang my head in shame knowing that she had to see me like that. "Whatever it is that happened to you in the army...you need to get help." I watch as she walks to the door and leaves, and everything in my mind is screaming at me to go after her, but I can't.

A week passes, with Amelia barely checking on me. She came three times in those last seven days, and I know that she only did it because of her own guilt at leaving me alone. After I get discharged, I stop seeing her at all. She doesn't check on me even once in the two weeks I got off from work, and it breaks my heart into even tinier pieces. I feel like I've ruined my chances at having anything with her, all because of my stupid problems. I take her advice though, and I start seeing my therapist more often than just the regular once a month I had been doing. That helped to keep my mind off things until I got back to work.

My first day back is when I finally get to see her again, and ironically enough, it's in the elevator of all places.

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Amelia

When I step onto the elevator and recognise that Owen is back, my heart instantly drops. I hate myself for looking at him the way I do now, but I can't help it. He's terrified me with his PTSD, and now all I can think of when I look at him, is how violent he was that night.

"Hello," he greets me as I step on. I smile at him and turn around to face the number pad, pressing the floor for my department. I know his eyes are on me, I can feel them burning into the back of my head.

"So that's it?" he asks me out of blue, and I know what he's referring to, "No small talk, nothing?"

I sigh, stuffing one of my hands into my coat pocket as I say, "I don't know what you want me to tell you, Owen." I hear him sigh and he moves closer to me now, because I can feel the heat radiating off of his body behind me.

"I am not a monster, Amelia," he whispers near to my ear, and I close my eyes in shame. I feel his fingers touch the back of my hand, but then he pulls his hand away, probably feeling just as uncomfortable as I do. "I would never do anything to hurt you."

"I know," I say. Do I know? "It's just..." I think back to that moment and goosebumps rise on my skin. His actions have triggered dark memories from my past, and I feel the air getting hotter as my thoughts go back to my childhood years, where I witnessed the same thing happen to my own father, over a watch. I take a deep breath and turn around to face him, finally looking up at him. His eyes are soft, sad, and lost, and they make me melt. He is not a monster.