Safe and Sound

𝐢𝐢

𝕿𝖜𝖔

𝔄𝔣𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔰𝔥𝔬𝔠𝔨𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔥𝔬𝔰𝔭𝔦𝔱𝔞𝔩 𝔡𝔯𝔞𝔪𝔞𝔰

♡

I've never given much thought to physical pain. All my life I've been carefully taken care of, I was a certified gem that needed to be kept safe. Having been tied to such a valuable name, everyone around me has made sure that not a single harm touches me.

That was until last night. In the midst of a party, of a fun and carefree time, it came when we least expect it.

I woke up in a hospital bed with my head throbbing and my right torso in stinging pain. The very moment I opened my eyes, I notice four men in uniforms talking to a woman in olive green from head to toe, stilts on her feet. My mother. She was hysterical. All that can be heard around the room were her complaints.

I get that she was shaken up by what happened to her precious daughter, but I knew for a fact that the real reason she's reacting this way is because she cared about the family's image more than anything.

On the corner of my eye, I found Parker sitting on the rather luxurious couch of this hospital room. Turning my head to look at him, his eyes were wide, lacing with concern and fear and horror all at once.

The images from last night suddenly flash right before me. I remember us, and the way trouble has found us again. I remember the look on his face just right before one of the bad guys slashed my torso and I remember the way he wasn't able to do anything.

A man speaks, his voice deep and planted with professionalism. "For now, the only thing we know is that those men purposely only harm your daughter. Their intentions were purely to injure her and not kill her. They definitely could've killed her so easily, but they didn't."

Another man begins to speak, sounding older. His voice is lacing with a heavy northern accent that sounds so foreign to me. "We are assuming that the incident from last night was merely a distraction. It was a collateral mess, intended for your husband. If you give us enough time, we could find the criminals and the people they work for."

"No, you people don't get it. I need this issue cleared out as soon as possible." My mother cried at the faces of the officers. "This unfortunate occurrence would affect my husband's candidacy at the worst way possible." Dominance lace her voice. "Those men were able to enter an exclusive party, past the guards and were able to come near my own daughter to inflict harm so easily. How do you think people are going to react to that?"

I remain silent, laying on my hospital bed, unmoving, as if I was still asleep. I listen to my mother talk and my heart races and my hands go cold because I knew right then what's going through her mind. I knew exactly what she's trying to say.

"They are going to turn this issue against my husband." I think I've never heard her so exasperated, so agitated than she is right now. "How else would they put their trust to a leader who cannot even protect his own daughter?"

Someone clears his throat. "We are trying ma'am, but it's not as easy-"

My mother exhales rather loudly. Frustrated. "You are not getting what I'm saying. I want this issue taken from the news papers and radios and televisions. I don't care if you don't find those criminals." She says. So cold, I think. So cold. "Either you take off our name from every page of the news in the entire country or you make up a story for the public to believe. I don't give a damn about what you do. Just do what needs to be done, and do it fast."