Peanut Butter Fingerprints

Chapter Twelve

AMERICA'S POV (SEVEN MONTHS AND THREE DAYS PREGNANT)

"ONE!" THE MASKED MAN SCREAMED as he brought the cane down upon Maxon's back.

"MAXON!" I screeched, flinging myself towards him.

My vision blurred as tears streamed down my cheeks, but I could still see the red flowing down his back as old scars split open. He squeezed his eyes tight and clenched his jaw as the next one came.

I screeched his name until my throat was raw and bleeding. I couldn't remember how to breathe, how to keep my heart beating. It was Aspen who gathered the thrashing and sobbing mess that was me into his arms and ran from the room.

It was Aspen who shook me awake from this horrible nightmare.

"Mer! Mer, it's okay!" he screamed. "It's just a dream, Mer!"

It's just a dream, Mer.

But it wasn't. It wasn't just a dream.

I opened my eyes to find him practically on top of me, his hands pinning my arms to the bed. He was breathing heavily, and his face was dripping with sweat. Someone must have ordered him to sit beside me all night in case something like this happened. I was glad he was here to keep me from hurting myself or the baby but inside I was infuriated that he was manhandling me like that.

"You're okay, Mer," he whispered out breathlessly. "You're okay."

"She caned him, Aspen. She caned him," I croaked out.

I'd cried all my tears this morning when a representative from Congress had come bursting into the room a half an hour late with the horrible news of Maxon's new sentencing. I took Stavros's hand and sprinted to the room at the end of the hall with the big TVs to find his limp body being tied up in the torture device that looked like an A.

The roars of the crowd, the pleased smile on Daphne's face, and the gasps of the Congressmen sent me into hysteria. I remembered lunging at the T V, a blood numbing scream tearing its way out of my throat. I remembered falling to my knees and cursing the world for taking him from me. I remembered feeling like time itself had stopped.

It didn't feel like there wasn't a world anymore, just that there was no good in it. I was still breathing and my heart was still beating but that was all that I was doing. I knew I was making a fool of myself in front of the entire Congress, in front of cameras, in front of the world but I didn't care if I looked like a fool. I didn't care if the world thought I was a mess of a woman.

Anger set in as Aspen's grip on me didn't loosen.

"Get off of me!" I screamed.

He scrambled off of me, mumbling a quick apology as he did so. I'd spent the entire day being manhandled by Aspen as he led me out of meetings where I'd had mental breakdowns-which mostly included me bursting into sobs and screaming at anyone who even walked within a ten foot radius of me.

I reached up, and fumbled around for something to latch onto when Aspen laced his fingers with mine.

"I gotcha," he whispered as I sat up uneasily.

Within two and a half weeks, my belly had become huge. Dr. McCrae was very persistent about doing an ultrasound, insisting that something was wrong since I was gaining weight so fast. My excuse was that I stress eat, but I knew that lie wouldn't fly for long. All of my trays went back to the kitchen full.

I'd been popping sleeping pills obsessively, which did nothing but fuel my anxiety and depression. I wanted so desperately to wake up one morning with Maxon leaning over me, urging me wake up. He'd tell me it was all just a nightmare. He'd kiss me forehead and tell me it's all going to be okay. I wanted so badly to float to that paradise.