Tu Es Ma Lumière

53 - Worries - Part 2 *Modern*

He follows them as they walk through the various hallways. He feels a pang of jealousy as they hold each other's hand, walking at a brisk pace to wherever they were supposed to be going. To wherever she was. He didn't have that, he noted. The closest thing he had to that was Olivia, and God only knew where she was right now. Their no strings attached agreement was fun in the moment, but it did sting at times, to have his brother unintentionally rub the fact that he had a proper relationship in his face. He quickly squashes that bitterness down. He was the one who asked to come see Mary, the one who he could have had a relationship with if he didn't cut it off to keep his thing with Olivia going.

Neither of them are talking very much, he notes. But how could he blame them when Mary's mother had gotten a hold of her phone and made the call to Mary's best friends to tel them that his suspicions were right. James' words had given him the clues, but Bash's call had given him the confirmation that he needed. Something happened to Mary that required her to go to the hospital. And judging by the police's involvement and the lack of her ex-husband, it was because of Darnley that things had happened. And it was because of Darnley that Mary was in hospital.

They finally made it into the hallway where Mary's room was. Francis glanced into the window that showed her room, accidentally ending up staring at it. Sure enough, there she was.

Mary was laying in the hospital bed, covered in her hospital gown and the blankets. Her arms were laying over the blanket and she was asleep. Her hair was brushed out over her shoulders, long and black and normal. But what wasn't normal was the amount of cuts and bruises were around her body. She was completley covered in them, her two eyes black and her lip busted up. A few small stitches were around her cheekbones and cupids' bow. Her two arms were covered in bruises, too. He could make out hand prints not just on her wrists, but on her biceps and upon her throat. His fists clenched as he took in the cuts and welts he found there, even a few burns wrapped up in gauze. He didn't know what other damage there was, but surely there had to be some.

He tutted, taking in the breathing tube down her throat and the plugs in her nose. There were machines all around her, but most of them correlated by her right side, monitoring something that he couldn't see because of the blankets.

James was there, he was curled up asleep on her other side, his head resting on her chest. His arms, a folded pillow for his head. The little boy was covered in his jacket, his shoes on the floor near his slumbering little body. He seemed undisturbed by the state his mother was in, or the probable beeps emanating by the machines all around him.

The woman he now knew as James' grandmother was standing at the foot of the bed. Her arms lay at her sides uselessly, the fists clenched tightly together. She appeared to be near tears, her hawk-like eyes firmly trained on her daughter and grandson. Her hair was messy and falling out of the once tight bun. She looked to be exhausted, but the rage in her eyes was unquestionable.

In truth, Francis kind of feared this woman as she stood in front of Mary's bedside. She seemed untenable and no-nonsense, much like his own mother. Cold yet poised, but seeing her now, harmed and angry, looking at her injured cub with the cub's own cub, she seemed like a lioness ready to strike at any moment.

Without question of who had done this to Mary, Francis didn't ask. He was smart enough to figure it out. During his brief infatuation with the boy's mother, Mary had started to confide in him about her husbands' ways. How he would yell at her when she would go and hang out with her friends, the scary amount of jealousy he had whenever Sebastian was around her. Perhaps that was why Francis' hadn't met her for years, even though she was very close friends with his half brother and Francis unusually joined his brother whenever he, Kenna, Greer and Aylee would go for drinks or to the movies. Darnley's jealousy and mistrust to his wife could get that bad that after Mary would go out with her friends, James would come to his teacher the next day and tell him about some bruises his mother had, or about how angry his father was the night before. What was even sadder to Francis was the fact James didn't even realise that anything was wrong in his home life.

Darnley's jealousy was completley hypocritical, however. It wasn't as if Mary went out all night every night, leaving her husband and son. If anybody did that, it was Darnley. He had cheated on her during their entire marriage, regularly coming home drunk to high heaven with the scent of another woman on his clothing, lipstick on his collar and bruises on his neck. Over time, Mary stopped being bothered by it all, only being bothered by his actions whenever James would see him drunk, or when she would have to clean up all the empty bottles from one of his nights where he drank from dusk till dawn.

Francis had gotten so close to that woman, and had even gotten as close as to assist her in the trial of getting her divorce and full custody. But then Olivia came back, and Mary went away. Further and further until she ended up here.

"What happened?" Bash breathed. Francis looked at his girlfriend for answers. She spoke, her voice breathy and tear-choked. 

"M-Marie called last night, said that Darnley had came home drunk. They fought and-and at some point, things had gotten violent with them. He hit and she hit back. The neighbours called after the screaming got so loud, and the police came to the doors. Nobody answered it, but they saw-they saw blood." she choked. Francis' eyes grew. "Paramedics arrived, and so did Mary's mother. James was still asleep, Darnley nowhere to be found. But-but-" she paused again. "they found Mary laying in the kitchen. One of the kitchen knives sticking out of her side. Darnley tried to kill her!" Kenna suddenly wailed, burying her face into her hands. She cried, drawing Marie's attention from the room, and Sebastian's arms around her frame. "She wasn't breathing when she was admitted. Darnley stabbed her!" Kenna cried out. Sebastian shushed his girlfriend, a few stay tears slipping into Kenna's dark mass of hair.

All Francis did was stare.

~~

I warned you that I was planning a couple dark stuff, guys! I promise the next couple are gonna be lighter. Here's a spoiler if I made you guys sad, a football team of Frary children. Let a girl know what you wanna see in the comments, please!

stay safe out there,

love,

me

:).