Winning her back

4. Cold night

*Warning* Sensitive content ahead

I could hear the rain pouring heavily and the distant thunder, even from my office on the second floor. It was soothing, like a melody. A melody that never ended. Clark had left about an hour ago. The rain started soon after and hadn't stopped since.

Rubbing my forehead, I stamped and filed the last pile of papers. I looked down at my watch to discover that it was past ten o'clock. I mentally cursed myself for not keeping track of time. Surely, everybody must have left by now.

Working in a private practice was different than working in a hospital. Besides having never ending responsibilities, the practice was  more intimate, with cases being more sensitive and delicate than hospital cases. As much as I preferred working in a hospital setting, I just couldn't do it. I couldn't bare to work with the person who put me in the situation I now find myself in. Unfortunately for me, there was only one hospital in this town. I was lucky enough to meet Chuck during a conference a while ago. He was the first to offer me a job after I left the hospital. For that, I will be forever grateful to him.

Gathering my belongings, I made my way out, making sure to lock up each floor in the process. Peeking through the blinds, the rain seemed tireless and wasn't going to stop anytime soon. I was going to get soaked.

Opening the door on my way out, I was met with a pair of dark brown eyes. Eyes that belonged to a stranger with a scruffy beard and scruffy clothes. Even soaked, one could tell that his clothing was too big for him. He must have been in his thirties, I couldn't be sure, it was pitch black outside and the beret on his head made it even harder to tell. It didn't take long for me to put two and two together, to conclude that the man standing before me, was homeless.

"Please help me miss", he pleaded. "I've been stabbed. I need a doctor, you're a doctor ain't yeh?"

It was just now that I realized he was clutching his torso. I immediately felt a sense of guilt, knowing that I couldn't fully help him.

"You need to go to the hospital", I said with my eyebrows drawn up. "This is a private practice, I don't have enough equipment to deal with trauma". I paused, contemplating what I was just about to say. "I can drive you to the nearest hospital".

"Hospitals are expensive yeh see, I don't got no health insurance, can't yeh help me miss?"

I bit my lip and looked past him. It was still raining and there was no one in sight. I couldn't just leave him in such a state.

"Let me have a look", I said, opening the door further.

"I can't thank ya enough miss", I heard him saying from behind me.

Grabbing a pair of gloves, I made my way to the treatment room. I heard him follow closely behind.

"How did you get stabbed ?", I questioned as I put on my gloves.

"Ya know how gangs are, you can't trust nobody nowadays".

Well, he was right about the last part.

"Alright, let's have a look at this wound".

As he slowly removed his hand from his torso, I realized that there wasn't any blood on his shirt or his hands. On closer inspection, there was in fact no wound. Confused, I looked at his face, only to see a sly smirk starting to form.

"Yeh see pretty lady, ye really shouldn't trust anybody nowadays". That's when I saw it. A pocket sized knife aiming right at me. Maybe I should have screamed, or made a run for it. Or even tried to fight him off. For some reason, I remained paralyzed. My body froze. It was like my mind and body were detached from each other. Fear hadn't kicked in yet.
I was overwhelmed mostly. Overwhelmed that this was actually happening to me. Overwhelmed that God hadn't punished me enough.

The first hit hurt. So did the second, and third. After a while, my body became numb. I couldn't feel the hits on my stomach anymore, or the hair being pulled from my scalp. I couldn't even feel the cuts through my flesh or the compression between my thighs. I could still taste though. At least one of my senses was functioning properly. I could taste my tears and the blood that resulted from biting my lip.

Fight. My subconscious said over and over again. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. Every sound that came out of this mouth made my stomach flip inside. The aftermath of my body is going to be brutal, I thought as he pounded into my body. Then, everything stopped and silence fell. My whimpers subsided and so did his groans. I thought it was finally over, but God wasn't done punishing me yet. More hits were yet to come. Hits which would scar me for life, emotional and physical scars.

Soon enough I would start to black out, thinking that maybe one could find humor in this situation.The girl who deserted God, ended up being cheated on and raped.

How's that for a parable.