A Bad Life

Wake Me Up Inside

Stephany woke up to the steady beeping of a heart monitor. With every beep driving a another nail into her head she slowly opened her eyes, gazing bleary around the white, sanitised room. Hospital. She glanced towards the door and saw a cop standing guard, talking amiably to a nurse. She groaned as she realised they were flirting, as the cop gently grabbed the nurses shoulder a flashback hit her. Rough hands forcing her down. Pain. She screamed, horrified by it and the nurse and cop bashed into the room. Stephany pulled at her hair and cowered into the stiff, white pillow crying while repeatedly begging "no more! Please no more! I'm sorry!" The nurse reached over and hit a buzzer. Shortly a bunch of nurses and a doctor bustled into the room as the cop stepped back outside. Stephany could only see him again. The blood and the pain around her again. A doctor gently plunged a syringe into her arm as the nurses held her still. Soon she was swallowed up by the blackness of sleep.

The beeping was back. Followed by loud arguing in the hall. She managed to open her eyes again. The blaring white was now dim white. She looked at the window to see a cop arguing with two bikers. Both looked ragged as their words floated through the glass. The taller one was calmer with his arms folded across his chest trying to calm his shorter friend and the cop down. "Look mate. All I'm saying here is we found her out in her yard as we left the pub. We took her back to his place because his aunt is a nurse here and figured she needed first aid right away we-" "yeah You figured she needed first aid and where the hell did you get the idea that moving her from a crime scene was a good idea?" the cop cut the taller one off. The shorter biker threw his hands in the air and walked away clenching his hands. She saw the taller man get closer. She sat up as she realised these men had more than likely saved her life "I am a fucking veteran mate! I saw my brothers hit by bullets and rubble from I. E. D's. I've fucking had to tie a tourniquet around a man who had his fucking leg blown off by a fucking bomb. If I felt it safe to move her I'm going to say I was well within my training" the cop backed down little by little as the bikers tirade continued and the smaller biker came back looking calmer. The smaller one stood back and she heard his question through the window. "Look, sir I'm sorry about my behaviour. I just lost my wife and son yesterday and I was here earlier to say my goodbyes and organise funerals. we just want to make sure the girls alright and then we'll leave. I've got to report for my corrections officer tomorrow anyway so you will see and question me tomorrow. So can we please just see her? She's awake now anyway" he pointed through the window and all three men turned into look at her, sitting up eavesdropping on their conversation. She saw the cop deflate as he turned the handle to let them in. Both men turned their backs to her to say thankyou and she saw their colours. Nomad Crusaders with an image of a knight with a red cross on his shield. As they turned back she recognised them. The two men from last night, or was it two nights ago now? she couldn't tell anymore. She looked at the taller one and felt safer looking at him. The shorter one sat down on a chair beside her bed as the taller one as he came closer "Hi I'm Mattis and the cranky bastard over there is Hendrix. Are you ok?" she let out a small smile as she looked at her drip and saw the words morphine. Her head spun so she lay down "I feel like a woman who's been bashed and raped, so yeah I'm fine" she let out a small laugh as both men looked taken aback. A smile stayed around her split lips, she reached out for the pitcher of water. Hendrix quickly grabbed it and poured it into the glass beside it and handed it to her. Both men shifted around nervously unsure of what to say. "you boys ever tried morphine?" Hendrix shook his head looking at her sadly but Mattis nodded "I was shot through the shoulder and was given a shot to help me through once" her brain was sluggish and hazy still but she connected the dots and remembered her father's words about soldiers. "Thankyou for your service" he smiled a little and sat down on the bed. Again the awkwardness seemed to stretch on. It was only broken by the door opening again as a nurse entered carrying a clipboard. "Mattis! Off the bed. This is a hospital not a hotel and this woman's on drugs" she slapped him on the arm playfully as he hopped off the bed and stood to attention again. "Hey Aunty. Thanks for earlier" Hendrix said "we'll talk later son. Now honey we've given you a full rape kit and tested for STD's... Sorry STI's now and your clean however, you do have some pretty serious injuries. You have lacerations on your hands, bruised internal organs and lost some blood. Luckily my nephew and his friend here brought you to safety" she said softly before looking at the cop at the door. She bent down to check the heart monitor beside Stephany head and whispered "Now Hendrix, my nephew lost his wife and son yesterday and got out of jail only a week ago and Mattis was involved in a mass shooting where many of his friends died only last night so as far as you're concerned you have never met them before but you are very grateful for them saving you. They came upon you after you beat that lowlife boyfriend of yours to death yourself. The cops won't even slap you on the wrist for it but these boys are my family now and like it or not you are involved with us now. Far as I can see it you owe us for saving your life so you can help us by keeping my boys out of jail" she gently placed her hand on Stephany head and checked her temperature "after you've healed up enough you are more than welcome to stay with us. Now how is your pain on a scale of one to ten?" she grimaced as the words sunk in and she realised she was trapped even if it was between a grumpy rock and a very cute hard place "it's about a seven mam" "I'll up your dose for a bit then we'll ease you off it gently. Don't want you to end up an addict like the scum that put you in here. Oh don't worry I'm good friends with the officers who came in to check on you and my nephews alibi after you were brought in" she added as Stephany gave her a confused look. "Right. You sleep dear I'll be doing my rounds later to check on you and you boys head back home. I'll see you both in the morning" both men got up and said goodbye Mattis flicking her a smile as he shut the door behind Old Aunt Sarah. Fuck. Where the hell is this all going? she thought as another nurse came in and adjusted her pain killers. Soon the hazy warmth of morphine flowed through her body.