Broken Submission

Summary

"I need more than this."

Amelia glanced at Derek. "That's what happened."

The woman shook her bleached head. "This isn't a story. A quote with information that is already publicly available don't cut it. All this is going to do is make reporters think that you are happy to answer their questions."

"Then shouldn't I just not give any statement?" 

Sharon's lips pressed together. "You could go that route. But it's much easier to make a statement than it is to refute someone else's. I assume you aren't close with your ex-husband's family?"

She shook her head.

"It's just his mother, correct?"

Amelia sighed. "As far as I know, his father died when he was young. His mother though... They were really close. It--it might have just been a unique dynamic. But sometimes I got the feeling that their relationship had some... sexual undertones. And she hates me. She didn't at first. At first I felt almost like the second wife. But toward the end--when I was looking for a way out--she hated me."

The reporter leaned forward. "So what you're saying is that there is a high chance that she will attempt to demonize you?"

"Absolutely." 

Derek's hands slid over her own, subtly pulling her nails from her palms before she could break the skin. She leaned back into his chest.

"Then get ahead of the ball." Sharon centered her notepad on her lap. "You don't need to bare every intimate detail. But I need enough for people to see that you are, without a doubt, the victim here. Unfortunately Amelia, your relationship with Mr. Jenkins puts you on the radar of this city's news networks. And if you come out of this badly--so does he."

"Out of line," Derek warned. His arms tightened around Amelia. "You are my priority here. Don't worry about that. Our members aren't the kind of people to read a rag," he shot Sharon a glare, "and pass judgement. Many of them have also been on the receiving end of bad press."

Amelia sniffed and straightened, pinning the reporter with a hard stare. "What do you need to know?"

***

 City Tribune

--Sharon Dowler

Garret Xavier, recently and violently deceased, appears to be an upstanding member of the community in his native city of Greenhaven. A savvy business man and a community leader who fought proactively for gun-control and cracking down on school shootings--what then was he doing in an abandoned cabin on the north end of Brunswick? An exclusive interview with his estranged ex-wife sheds light on this troubling scenario.

"Garret... he was always controlling. And even when I left, he couldn't let go. He stalked me for, I think, almost four years now. I've finally been starting to move on with my life. I've built a stable relationship. I'm settled. That's why it shook me so badly when the signs started to appear again. You have to understand, I was afraid to step out of my apartment, scared to stay in it. They were there. The signs that he was near. But when he kidnapped me--That took me by surprise. He'd only once before come in contact with me, the one incident when I involved the police. And what happened after, in that cabin... I don't know if I'll ever recover."

The stable relationship to which Ms. Amelia Scott  (the surname Scott later disclosed to be the alias that she took after running from her marriage) refers to in the above quote is to none other than Derek Jenson, the owner of the nighttime hotspot known enigmatically as "The Club." From crisis to kink?  Amelia Scott sure knows how to keep her relationships interesting.

But what actually happened between Amelia Scott and her soon-to-be expired husband?

"He kidnapped and assaulted me. I won't to say it any other way. When people ask, they ask if I was attacked. That's passive, as if it just happened. No. He stalked me, kidnapped me, and took me to a secondary location, and I don't think he ever planned to let me to leave it."

When questioned as to the specifics of the assault, Ms. Scott has withheld comment. But sources inside the hospital have disclosed that a rape kit was used, as well as treatment for a multitude of lacerations, contusions, and... psychosis?  

This all paints a very different picture of the caring, thoughtful member of the community. Instead, we see a violent, predatory man whose authoritarian ownership of his wife drove the doomed pair on a path of terror. But this journey ends in death when Amelia Scott--beaten and confronted with her own mortality--acts in self-defense and drives a candlestick of all things into her abuser's skull, ending once and for all the regime of fear that was created by this man, Garret Markus Xavier.

 Amelia stared at the article, the light of the laptop screen draining the color from her face. Or maybe it was the nausea. Seeing her story plastered on the internet for the world to see... her stomach roiled.

"How the fuck did she get ahold of your hospital records?" Derek said, biting off the ends of his words. 

She shook her head slowly. Swallowing, Amelia asked him, "Was I treated for psychosis?"

Derek froze. Amelia could see the guilt creep across his face.

"I was, wasn't I?" she whispered. "How could you not tell me?"

His shoulders slumped. "I didn't want to add more to your plate. I figured that we would discuss it when the time was right. But... Amelia, you weren't in the hospital just a couple days. It was nearly a week before you understood what was going on."

She shook her head. "No. No, that's--that can't be right."

"I'm sorry." He dropped to his knees, eyes pleading with her. "Babygirl, I'm sorry. If I'd known you'd find out this way..."

"You would have found another way to tell me I'm psychotic?" Fear was vivid on her face. "What if I was wrong? Maybe I didn't kill  him in self-defense--maybe I'm just crazy and a murderer--"

"No. Amelia, no," he shushed her, trying to calm the panic in her eyes. "You went through something terrible and your mind couldn't cope. It's different. You're not psychotic, and if you were, they would never have let you come home until you were better. You hear me?"

She swallowed hard, chest collapsing under the weight of this new information. "What--what did I do?"

"Will you come here, please?"

She wrapped her arms around herself and slid to join him on the floor. He pulled her into his lap.

Holding her tight, he said, "You were struggling. You didn't always know where you were and what was happening. Sometimes you--would hear or see things. You would think that people were touching you. You--" his voice thickened, "you didn't recognize me."

She blinked back tears. "And--and now--"

Amelia was cut off by the sound of the door crashing open. Derek shoved her behind him as he jumped to his feet to confront the short, middle-age woman who barreled through the doorway.

"You libelous, murdering whore of an ex-daughter-in-law!"