Shattered

The Fight

Alena

"I need a phone number for someone to get you when you're done." The woman said wiping her instruments with a cloth, my heart hammering inside my chest as I stared at her.

"I didn't drive here, I can walk home." I muttered, my voice shaking with fear as I smoothed my shirt down. "I need someone to call, they just can't come up and they must think that you're here for a meat order." She said setting her instruments down, reaching out for a number.

"My brother." I said digging into my purse, retrieving my phone and scribbling the number down. "He won't believe that I'm picking up meat, just tell him I was picking something up that was my father's, he just passed away recently." I said wistfully, the mention of my father still bitter as it slid off my tongue.

"As you wish." She said placing it on the chest before returning towards me, motioning towards the wooden table which was covered in layers of crinkled newspapers, the edges of the wood splintered from the hasty grips of other women.

"Up on the table, drop your pants and unmentionables." She instructed, my hands now trembling as I slipped them down to my ankles, my heart now pounding as the woman watched, tears threatening to fall down my face, flashes swarming my brain of the fateful night of my mother's wedding. I had been so nervous stripping down in front of Luke, this was causing a panic attack to poke its ugly head into my thoughts.

"We don't have all day! Hurry up you, I need to get this done so nobody gets suspicious!Minerva! Come in, we have another one!" She yelled, another woman rushing in, rolling her eyes as they landed on me, vanishing to the kitchen to grab something, returning with an old pot.

I slowly climbed onto the table and pulled a sheet over my lap, my entire body in a full on tremble as the woman motioned for her daughter, both of them moving towards my legs. I tried to dismiss the fact that the old woman didn't have any gloves or scrubs to change into, just a clean, white apron to cover her clothes.

"Is this going to hurt?" I managed to ask as she picked up a ghastly instrument, my heart racing as I recalled my aunt's horrific attack with something quite similar. My muscles tensed as she placed the scalpel down, my movements now rigid as I noticed how none of the instruments seemed sterile.

"What do you think?!" She grumbled, nodding towards the woman beside her who began to tie leather belts around my ankles. "Here, there's a towel to bite on." The girl said flinging an old dish towel at me, my shaking hands clutching fistfuls of the sheet that was carelessly draped over my lap.

"I'm going to start now." The old woman notified, the other girl's hands clamping down on my knees. I suddenly felt a horrid invasion followed by a sickening pain that made a deep groan spill from my lips.

"No noise!" The woman spat, removing the instrument and replacing it with one far more gruesome than the last. My hand flew to my mouth and I felt my teeth bite down on my wrist, the pain nearly blinding me.

"Hold her tighter." The woman barked, the younger girl clamping down on my trembling body. Another groan muffled into my hand as I felt another blast of agony tear through my pelvis, something stabbing my insides repeatedly, making my jaw lock down on my bones, trying my hardest not to thrash in the woman's grip.

I began to pray that this would be swift, the pain causing wails to build in my throat, but the cold gaze of the woman prevented them from releasing. My teeth pierced the skin and I could taste the blood now staining my lips as the agony continued, my nails raking my side, drawing blood onto the table, but the stinging was nothing compared to the horrible pain that seemed to be lasting a lifetime.