The Irish Rose

Chapter 5

~The next day~

I woke up from my deep slumber and glanced up from my spot on the bed. I heard soft snores coming from somewhere nearby. I looked around the room, until my eyes found Aedan. He was asleep on a reclining chair, with his feet propped up and his hair a mess. I took in the sight before me, and thanked my lucky stars for such an amazing doctor. Never before had I ever been treated this good.

~Flash Back~

"Lilly if you don't come down here this minute, you know what will happen!!" my father furiously yelled up the stairs. "I'm coming I promise" I hollered back. I was scouring my room, trying to find my books for school. Oh where did I put them?! I thought to myself. I checked every draw, every table, and every nook I could think about. Suddenly my door was violently thrown back on it's hinges. I looked up from my search, and beheld my dad standing in the doorway. "LILLY VICTORIA ROSE JAMES!" my father screamed at me "I TOLD YOU TO COME DOWN STAIRS 10 MINUTES AGO!!!!" my father quickly crossed the room, grabbing me by the collar of my shirt. My heart was pounding, I was scared. I wanted to cry, but I knew that crying only made it worse. My father set me back down on my feet, but not before he could connect his fist to my face. The impact of his fist with my face sent me sprawling across the floor, where I hit the wall with a loud thud. I continued to hold back the tears, praying to God that my Dad would be merciful and spare me any more pain. But I guess God wasn't listening to my prayers right now, because my dad came back over to me, and yelled in my face, "Get up and take your punishment like a big girl! or do I have to go try it out on your little sister?" I quickly stood to my feet spending another silent prayer up to the heavens praying that this "punishment" would be over soon. Several more punches and a series of kicks were delivered to my body before I slumped to the floor, barely able to keep myself up. My dad saw this, and decided that he was satisfied with the pain that he had afflicted upon me. "Now hurry along, you have to go to school." my father said. I carefully and slowly got up off the floor, and went over to my vanity mirror. My face was already starting to show the blooming bruises on my cheek. I guess I would have to come up with some kind of lie as a reason for my face and body being in the horrid state that it was. I quickly grabbed my stuff that I could find, before I literally sprinted down the stairs. I ended up falling face forward down the last couple sets of stairs. That's when I let the tears slide. My mom came running to my side, seeing that I was sprawled out in a small pool of my own blood at the bottom of the stairs. She knelt down next to me.

~End of Flashback~

Just as quickly as the memory came, it was gone. I don't remember much from there on, but I knew that being with Dr Aedan was different. I knew he wasn't going to hurt me. I knew he had my best interests at heart, and that was all that mattered. Minutes later, the emotional roller coaster I had been ridding was gone, all that I was left with was the handsome Dr Aedan, and that was ok by me. I started to turn onto my side, to get a better view of the sleeping doctor, but suddenly was over taken by a bout of pain. I clamped down hard on my lip as the pain traveled through my body. I managed to muffle most of the noise that was going to escape my lips, but there was still enough noise, that it had awoken Aedan. I heard a muffled noise escape his lips as he let out a big stretch. His eyes flew open as he realized where he was. I was trying to be as quiet as I could, but I guess I was pretty unsuccessful because Aedan quickly sat up, all of the sleepiness that had shown on his face moments before were gone. Aedan was wide awake and concern was showing clearly on his face as he glanced over to me. "Lilly, are you in pain?" I nodded my head, not trusting myself to answer him without my voice cracking desperately. Aedan immediately got up, going over to the rack where all my IV meds were hung. "Ok, it looks like one of the nurses forgot to put another morphine drip up. You are probably beginning to feel the effects of the meds wearing off." he said in a serious manner. "I'll be right back, I'm going to go find you some meds. You don't need to be in pain right now." he muttered as he began to walk out of the room.

A few minutes later, he came back with a new bag of meds, and a syringe with a needle on the end. I took one look at the needle, and another memory came to mind.

~Flash back~

I stared in horror as my dad held a syringe with a needle the size of Buckingham Palace on the end. My dad held my arm firmly as he filled the syringe with an unknown liquid. I tried to pull away, but I was just pulled firmer into my dad's grip. "Please dad! Please don't do this. Please" I begged as my dad brought the needle right up to my arm. I begged one last time. "Dad please, you don't have to do this. I promise I'll-" I was cut off mid sentence as I felt the needle prick. After the injection, I managed to pull myself out of my dad's arms. I quickly ran up the stairs, locking my door and barricaded it with a chair. And just as an extra precaution I locked myself in my bathroom that was in my room. I had just started to turn around when I began to feel funny. I was suddenly extremely disoriented and dizzy. I ended up tripping over my own two feet. I landed on the ground, my head colliding violently with the corner of the sink counter. As I laid on my rug in the bathroom, I watched as my bathroom spun around and around until I finally just blacked out. I vaguely remember hearing my dad pounding on the door, before I heard a loud smash. I had enough sense left in me to feel afraid, but there was nothing I could do.

When I started to regain consciousness, I was laying in my bed. My panties and bra laid haphazardly on the floor. When I had the sense enough to look down at my body, I realized that I was laying on my comforter, completely exposed. When I had collected and calmed my self, I took inventory of what the clothes on the floor indicated. That's when the reality of the situation dawned upon me. I tried to remove myself from the bed, but there was something restraining me. I looked down towards my feet. I was tied to the end of my bed. I swallowed the lump in my throat, and quickly undid the restraints that were around my ankles.

I grabbed my clothes, and threw them on. And that's when I ran, I ran out of my house and into the street with tears streaming down my face. I made it all the way to the police station, before I finally passed out into the arms of one of the officers there at the station.

~End of Flashback~

"Lilly? Lilly!" I felt someone shaking me, which snapped me out of my flashback. "Lilly are you ok?" Aedan asked I looked up at him, before I just went into a complete mental breakdown. I was began to bawl my eyes out. Aedan quickly lowered the bed railing and scooped me up into his arms. I snuggled my face into his neck as the tears rolled down my cheeks, leaving salty tracks in their wake. Aedan just sat down in his chair, with me on his lap never leaving me, and kept whispering to me. It was the most comforting gesture anyone had ever done for me. We had stayed like this for a good ten minutes, before my tears were resolved to hiccups. "Lilly, are you ok?" I removed my face from the crook of Aedan's neck and looked up at him. That's when I spilled the past two flashbacks that I had had while I was here in the hospital. When Aedan fully understood the extent of this, he hugged me tightly to his body and cradled me. "I promise you Lilly, no one is ever going to hurt you like that again, so long as I live." his words were a comfort to me. He had no idea how much each one of them meant to me. I think it is safe to say, that I now knew what true love was.