Through Pain We Survive

Chapter 52

***TRIGGER WARNING- violence mentions***

"Hello, my kitty Cat."

Gwen yelled to Cat on the phone. "Cat! Call the police! Get help!"

"Get away..." Cat looked at Damien, tears welled up in her eyes.

"Oh, why would I do that, my Darling? I've just come to say a little something."

"Damien, please-" Cat dropped her phone and backed away from him.

"You aren't happy to see me, my kitty Cat? I'm hurt. After all I've done for you." Damien approached her slowly.

"You've done nothing for me." She spat the words out like venom. Her back hit the wall, and she looked around.

"Cat! Cat! Get help Cat!"

Damien picked up the phone and looked at the screen. "Gwen." He brought the phone to his ear. "Is this my lovely Gwendolyn?"

"It's a co-worker, Damien-" Cat tried to get the phone out of his hand.

Gwen shivered. "What are you doing? You want someone to mess with, then mess with me! Leave her alone!"

Damien grinned. "Ooh, feisty. I like that in a woman."

"You stay away from her! Leave Cat alone!" Gwen tried getting his attention from her so he would hopefully leave Cat's apartment.

Cat grabbed Damien's wrist and forced the phone out of his hand. "GET OUT!"

Damien turned to Cat and pushed her against the wall hard. "You really want to get physical with me? You know I like playing rough."

"What, were you this way with Sara too?!" She grabbed the collar of his shirt. Her face morphed into one of terror as she realized what she'd said. She let go of his collar.

Damien smiled evilly towards her. "Sara is more compliant than you ever will be. Which makes me think I won't need you around any more."

Damien grabbed Cat by the throat and raised her off the ground.

Cat's eyes went wide, and she grabbed at his fingers around her neck, trying to get his grip loose enough to get some air.

Suddenly, a noise was heard and Damien's grip went loose. He crumpled to the ground, knocked out.

Mira Lynne stood there, a shattered vase all over Damien and the floor.

Cat fell to the floor, still rubbing at her neck. She looked at Damien, then at Mira Lynne. "Mira Lynne..." she croaked out. She stood up and embraced her as she began to sob.

"You're okay, it's okay. You're safe." Mira Lynne stroked her back to soothe her.

A few moments later, Cat calmed down. "What are you doing here?" She asks, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, but I followed you here. I didn't think you should be here alone, and I had a bad feeling when I saw him sneaking around, looking through your windows. When he went inside I snuck in. I heard him threaten you, and I saw the vase in the hallway and I had to save you." She looked down at the figure. "I take it this is Damien?"

"Yeah, this is Damien. I suppose we better call the police while he's still knocked out... Oh, heavens above, I think Gwen's still on the phone!" She grabbed her phone. "Gwen? You there?"

"Oh my gosh, Cat! What happened? Are you okay?"

"Damien tried to kill me..." She shuddered.

"WHAT?!? Oh my gosh! Call the police! How did you get away?"

"Mira Lynne saved my life. Took a vase and smashed it over his head. I'm going to call the police. Do you mind if I direct them to you since you're somewhat of a witness?"

"Oh my gosh! No, of course not. Tell them to call me whenever. Are you okay?"

"I'm... Still in shock. I'm going to hop off and call the police... As well as make sure Damien doesn't get away. I'll come by the hospital to visit Nate sometime soon, okay?"

"Of course. He should be coming home in a couple days. You take care and let me know if you need anything, okay?"

"Will do." She hung up and called the police.

Gwen stared at the phone after they hung up.

AJ looked at Gwen, dumbfounded. "Did we just hear him attacking her and someone come to her rescue? Did we also hear that he was the one who was behind Nate's accident?"

Gwen could only nod.

"Thank goodness for Mira Lynne."

"Yeah." Gwen was still in shock. "I—I don't even know what to do with this information."

"Okay, well, let's call Officer Mobus and update her on what happened with Nate and what we just found out."

After the phone call to Officer Mobus, they headed to the hospital.

Knocking, Gwen and AJ entered. Nate was asleep, but Becca was sitting up by his side. She looked like she hardly had slept at all.

"Hey."

"Becca, did you sleep at all?"

"Mmm, a bit."

"Becca, you can't take care of him without taking care of yourself. Now that we're here, will you try to go home for a bit? Gwen will drive you home. Or, if you'd rather, you can go back to our house and rest there," AJ suggested.

Becca looked at AJ like he had three heads. "I can't leave him. I don't want to leave him."

"AJ will be here and will take good care of him. Becca, you need rest. You can't get that here, and you can't take care of yourself here." Gwen looked at Becca, pleading. "Becca, I know you love Nate, and I know he loves you. But he wouldn't want you to neglect yourself."

Becca sighed. "Okay. Let's go back to your house."

"Alright. Let's head out."

Gwen and Becca returned to Gwen's house. Becca went upstairs to the guest bedroom and sat down on the bed. The events of the past 24 hours replayed in her head- from Nate calling her to invite her to dinner, him asking her to be his girlfriend, their first kiss, him dropping her off, panicking when she didn't hear from him, getting the news from Gwen about what happened, seeing him unconscious with all those lacerations and the cast in that bed, knowing he will be alright... Becca hadn't realized she was crying until Gwen came in and hugged her.

"Hey, it's all going to be alright. We all will pull through this."

"It's just— so many emotions in such a short amount of time."

"I know. I get it. Rollercoasters of emotions are not fun. I've gone through them too. It's best to just let them out."

Becca took a hitched breath. "I know he's going to be okay, but it's still so scary seeing the love of your life laying there injured so badly. You just look at them and want to take all that pain away, but you can't, and I think that's what hurts the most."

"It is tough. But you know he's resilient, he will be fine."

Becca sighed and looked down. "We just started our relationship. I can't lose him now."

"Hey." Gwen took her hands in hers. "You're not going to lose him. He's not going anywhere. He knows he can't get away with that stuff around you."

Becca looked up, seeing the hope in Gwen's eyes. She smiled. "Okay. I need to keep a positive mental state." She yawned. "But I should get a bit of sleep first."

Gwen smiled at her. "I'll be in the office next door if you need anything." Gwen decided to do work on AJ's computer instead of working on hers downstairs.

"Thanks Gwen," Becca said, already laying down and starting to drift to sleep.