Dear Laura 2

Chapter 20

Three nights of loneliness. Three nights of sleeping in a cold bed. Three nights. That's how long he had been gone. That was how many nights had passed since he threw me on the floor and left marks on my neck. He did not even bother to come back home after the crap he pulled. I still ended up being the bad person who apparently cheated on her partner. I did not know if he was delusional, or I was.

I went to my car to fetch my laptop charger. I saw my neighbour washing his car next to mine. I greeted him.

"Don't you want to wash mine too?" I jokingly asked.

"Sure. For how much?"

"Is a smile enough?"

"I can work with that. I'm Tshepo by the way."

"Mia. Are you serious about washing it?"

"Yea. Don't worry about it."

"Thank you." I handed him the keys then made my way upstairs.

"When did you get here?" I asked Abdul when I saw him sitting on the couch.

"Close the door." He said incoherently.

"Are you drunk?"

"I said close the door." My heart started racing.

It was one thing dealing with an infuriated Abdul, but an intoxicated Abdul? I did not know what to expect. I also did not understand where he got the nerve to talk to me like that when I was the victim in all this. But, despite all that, I did close the door. He got up and took a few steps towards me.

"I leave for a few days, and you are busy talking to some guy and exchanging banter?" He must had been talking about Tshepo.

"Excuse--." Before I could finish my sentence, he slapped my cheek so hard that I hit my head against the wall that was near us. My head immediately started throbbing.

"What the hell Abdul?" Just when I thought he was done, he came with another one and I fell to the floor, where he continuously kicked me. He mostly kicked my tummy and my face. I failed to cover it. I felt like I was dying. Death would have been better.

"Who the heck do you think you are disrespecting me like that? I have had it with your looseness. You are so pathetic." He continued colliding his AirForce1s with every part of my body.

Everything ached at that point and my abdomen was screaming for help. It ached the most and just like that, I knew I was going to lose my baby. The emotional reaction to that realization numbed the physical pain that I felt.

When he stopped kicking, I looked up at him, my body barely being able to move. I was wondering why he stopped. There was horror on his face as he looked at me. I tried to figure out what he was looking at and that's when I realized I was sitting in a pool of blood. I started panicking, but I barely had the energy to.

"Why do you have blood coming out of your vagina?" He asked so genuinely, you would think that he cared. I chuckled; my chest feeling closed up.

"You just killed your kid." My voice came out hoarse. He gulped, clearly shocked at the news. He froze for a little while before turning on his heel to leave.

That's when I grabbed his ankle and said, "I hope someday you get a taste of your own medicine." He broke free from my hand then ran out of the apartment. That was the last thing I remember before I saw blackness.

I had machines connected to me when I opened my eyes.

"I'm not dead?" I asked the nurse that was checking my vitals.

"No Miss Johnson. You will be fine. You did suffer a lot of internal bleeding, broke two ribs and have a lot of bruises, but you will be okay." The nurse said.

"And my baby?"

"Unfortunately—."

"You don't have to finish that line." I think I already knew. My prior knowledge of that did not stop the tears from rushing to my eyes. I hated Abdul for killing our child more than I hated him for hitting me. I was looking forward to raising that kid.

"How did I get here?" I asked.

"Uh, I came to your house and by luck, I got there in time. I just wanted to give you a file you had left in my office before I got fired." Jabu walked in and told me.

"Thank you so much. I don't know where I would be if you had not come."

"Probably dead." He joked and I attempted to laugh but my ribs were sore. Apparently, I broke two ribs and I had been in coma for two days due to the swelling in my brain. I also had a black eye and too many bruises to count.

"I am truly grateful."

"It's no problem. Did he do this to you?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Understood."

"I'd like to be alone please." I told Jabu and he nodded. A few seconds after he left, police men walked in. It was Paul and his team again.

"We would like to talk to you. We were told this was a domestic abuse case." Paul sat next to me.

"Who said that? That's not what happened."

"It is Mia, tell them the truth. He did this to you. He did this to you and left you to die." Jabu yelled from the door.

"You don't know anything. You have no right yelling things like that. Get out of here." The pool of tears in my eyes escaped from the corners and made their way to the pillow. One of the policemen escorted Jabu out.

"This is a safe space Mia, you can talk to us. Did he do this to you? The jealous man from earlier?" Paul asked.

"Don't call him that. You dont know him. He didn't do anything. We were robbed."

"A lot of victims prefer to protect their abusers, but I can assure you, we will catch him, and he will pay for—."

"What did I just say to you? Abdul did not do this. Can you leave? I would like to rest."

"Mia, this could happen--."

"Paul, let it go. She doesn't want to press charges. It's her choice." Paul's female colleague said, and they walked out.

The minute they were out of sight, I broke into tears. I was too young for the burden I was carrying. I was too tired to carry it. I lost my source of hope. I lost my baby. I wanted nothing to do with Abdul. I just wanted to go home. I was giving up. I truly tried to make a life for myself but clearly my time had not come yet. I had the absolute worst luck in everything; friendships, men, career, you name it.