Friend

Chapter 8

Peta and Maks walked out of the hospital first, checking if there were any paparazzi outside. Nobody had let anybody know, not even other friends, all they wanted was to be sure that nobody would take a photograph from Sharna the way she was right now. When they didn’t see anybody, Val and Sharna walked outside, getting in the car Maks had driven to the front door. Sharna and Val got in and the car took off. They were going to Maks and Peta’s house, for Sharna and Val didn’t want to live in their old house.

As soon as the police were done with their investigation, they would sell it as fast as possible. Right now they would stay at Maks and Peta’s house, until they had found a new house for themselves. After a 45 minute drive the four finally arrived home. During the car ride Sharna had fallen asleep and she was still asleep when they arrived. Maks and Peta got their bags and Val slowly moved Sharna out of the car and carried her inside. He carried her upstairs till he reached the room they would be staying in. He laid her down in the bed and put the covers on her.

Val went downstairs and sat down at the table, putting his head on his hands. He was really tired, but also really scared. He wanted to believe Sharna and know she had forgiven him about him hitting her. But he hadn’t forgiven himself. He stayed in his own mind, until Peta called for him. “Val?! Val! Maybe you can wake up Sharna. Dinner is almost ready.” “I’ll get her.” Val walked upstairs and went into the room. Sharna was lying with her face towards the door and the moment he saw her, he fell in love all over again.

Her face was completely relaxed and there was a smile forming on her face. He walked over to the bed and sat down. He put his hand on her shoulder and slowly shook her. “Sharna? Sharna, wake up. Dinner is almost ready and you have to eat something.” Sharna opened her eyes and Val fell in love once again. Her eyes were so beautiful and even the bruises covering her face, couldn’t stop him from seeing her as the beautiful girls she is. Val leaned down and kissed her on her lips.
“That is a nice way to wake up. But I can’t remember that we arrived here.”
“No, you fell asleep in the car and I carried you to bed.”
“Thank you.” Sharna sat up straight and kissed him on his lips. “Let’s get downstairs, we don’t want to keep Peta waiting.”

Dinner was really nice and Sharna loved being out of the hospital. The food was amazing, but the company was even better. Afterwards the four of them sat down on the couch, the two couples cuddling together. Val had put his arm around Sharna again, but again he pulled her too tight and her shoulder started hurting again. She didn’t want to say it straight away, but when they had been talking for a couple of hours. Her shoulder was really hurting. She moved away from Val and tried loosening her shoulder. She started yawning and Val joined her. “Let’s get to bed.” “That sounds like a good plan.” Val and Sharna went upstairs, but before Sharna joined Val in bed she did the exercises for her shoulder. Afterwards she joined Val in bed and he wrapped his arm around her. “Goodnight.” And he gave her a kiss on her head. “Goodnight.”

In the middle of the night Val was awoken. He had no idea why he woke up, but when he turned towards Sharna he saw it. Sharna had rolled towards the end of the bed and she was crying and was thrashing in bed. Val got up and sat down next to her and she pulled her close. “Hey Sharna, wake up. It is just a dream. I’m here with you, wake up.”

Sharna jolted awake, tears streaming down her face. Val pulled her close again. “It is going to be okay. Don’t worry, I’m here for you.” Sharna didn’t respond, but she kept crying. The two of them stayed in bed together, in silence. Val kept trying to calm her down.

It took 30 minutes before Sharna finally calmed down and in silence the coupled laid down again. Val had Sharna in his arms and he waited until she fell asleep. Only after she had fallen asleep and slept for a couple of minutes, Val could sleep as well. The next morning the couple was still cuddled into each other arms.

Sharna had woken up before Val and she was thinking about last night, about the nightmare that woke her up. She had dreamt about Jenna, but this time they weren’t lucky. Everybody she considered close friends had been in the room, and all of them had beaten her. Everybody had listened to Jenna and the last person who hit her, before Val woke her up, was Val himself. And this time he had said that he wanted to hit her and that it was his own choice. That was the hardest part, and that was why she didn’t want to talk about immediately.

“Hey you’re awake.”
“Yes, I woke up a couple of minutes ago, but I didn’t want to wake you yet.” Val turned to face her and he looked her into her beautiful bright blue eyes. “Are you ready to talk about last night?” He asked. Sharna nodded and told him the story. After she was finished Val put her head between his hands and kissed her on her mouth.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. He kissed her on the bruise on her face, the one that he had applied. “I’m so sorry.”

“Val, I don’t blame you. Like I said before, that night you didn’t do anything wrong. And remember I was the one who told you to do it. This was a nightmare, because you were hitting me without the previous consequences. That was why I was scared. But I trust you. I know you will never hit me. But I also know you are very scared and you blame yourself. So know it is up to me to show I have forgiven you. I forgave you the moment you did it. I’ve actually never seen any reason to not forgive you. I love you beyond anything else and that will not change. At least not by what has happened. Val, I want to stay with you the rest of my life and people might be jealous of us. But as long as we have each other I don’t mind.”

She gave him a kiss on his lips and when they let go of each other, she saw he had been crying.

“Let’s get breakfast,” was all he was able to say. They got out of bed and Sharna put on one of Val’s sweatshirts. He loved when she was wearing his clothes. They went downstairs and poured themselves a cup of coffee and prepared breakfast. Maks and Peta were in the living room, watching the news. “Sharna, Val, can you come over?” Sharna and Val walked towards the living room and where shocked by what they saw. Jenna.

There was a gossip show currently playing and they showed pictures of Jenna being in handcuffs. She was taken from a car to a police station and they were wondering what had happened. They kept on watching the show, but luckily there was no talk about any involvement from Sharna and Val. “I think we might get a call soon, to ask if we know anything about it. I think we just have to say we don’t know what is going on.”
“But might it be a good idea to tell the rest of our friends? When they know they can help us and we can protect Jenna and Sharna and Val.”
“That sounds like a plan.”
“Shall we invite everybody for tonight?” They all looked at Sharna, she had to make the final decision about it.
“Let’s do it.”