Link to previous Chapter 7d
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Chapter 7e - 1,681 words
Allison was awoken by someone looking for clarification of her insurance details. The person who took them when she came in had transposed a couple of digits. The sun had moved round the side of the hospital, and she looked out to a clear blue sky after correcting the error.
The sleep had helped some of the desperate pain leach away and, while everything still ached, the all-consuming aches had dissipated. Though that could well have been the effect of the medication.
She looked for her phone. It was on the unit beside the bed and from the angle she was at all she could see was that there were missed calls and messages. Who and how many would require lifting it up and while the doctor had assured her only four fingers were broken, the bruising of the other six made the thought of picking anything up a trial.
At least one of the calls was from Earl, and if she didn’t answer when he called, he’d try again, and again. Most of the messages were probably form him as well.
With a sudden realisation Allison realised that, while in reality she would need to speak with him, if she never heard from him again it would be just fine. They say that love and hate are opposite sides of the same coin, both driven by emotions and hormones. But what to call the sudden complete lack of botheredness about a man she’d lived with for nearly seven years, who she had supported and defended, and allowed to belittle, berate, and beat her.
No more. It was time to get out. Let Lucy deal with his irrational burst of violence. Unbidden she wondered what Lucy was like. Did she know about Allison? Speculating as to whether she would look similar, or be an opposite was fruitless, but she couldn’t help the thoughts rolling round her head. And did the other he worked with up in Cleveland know about Lucy, what about the ones who knew her, had been in the apartment to watch baseball, or at the party? Maybe they all had other women in Ohio and managed to keep them unknown to each other, or maybe the wives in LA knew and accepted it, maybe it was part of the way Harry, and his folks, did things.
A sudden thought came to her. She couldn’t think of a single woman she’d met, or heard of in passing, who worked for Harry. Every single employee had been a man. The kind of misogyny which wouldn’t countenance a female employee was likely the same kind which would view a mistress, or affairs, as something a man deserved without question from the woman he’d made promises to. Of course, Earl and Allison weren’t married so maybe Earl had felt less compunction about betraying their relationship.
A sense of emotional weariness rose in her breast. Coming from a tight knot in her stomach it grew until her head was full of turmoil and tears rolled down her cheeks, but they weren’t tears of sorrow or loss, they were a release, a washing away of the ties she thought held her and Earl together.
Somewhere in the fuzz of painkillers and inner turmoil, she fell asleep again.
She was woken by someone seeking to take her to have her broken fingers set. Shonda was sitting in a chair by the bed.
‘You’re back,’ Allison said.
‘Got you some clothes.’
There was a hard edge to Shonda’s voice and when Allison looked at her closely, she could see her friend’s eyes had the firm set look they developed when she was intent on something. Allison remembered it from college when she wanted to quit revising, but Shonda drove them to do another hour or two.
‘What is it?’ Allison asked.
‘We’ll talk when you get back.’
Wondering what the talk would be about, though guessing it was about Earl, helped distract Allison while her fingers were manipulated into the positions to help them knit together and heal. Concentrating on the instructions for how to care for her hands until she could start physio pushed thoughts on Shonda and Earl into the background. Now she was fretting as to how she’d be able to finish the contract she’s taken over and worrying over the future flexibility and suppleness of her hands. How would she be holding a paintbrush?
Even as she was being wheeled back to the ward her thoughts were on the future, on coping and surviving and it wasn’t until she saw Shonda, still sat in the chair be her bed, that she realised getting anywhere near the future she was worrying about meant getting away from Earl, that he wasn’t going to miraculously disappear.
The orderly waited until she’d changed into pyjamas Shonda had brought, then helped her onto the bed and reconnected the monitor. ‘A nurse’ll be along to check on things in a moment,’ the orderly said, and left.
‘How you doing?’ Shonda asked.
‘I’m sore, I’m sad, I’m angry,’ Allison said, and looked at her friend. ‘But mostly, I’m glad you’re here.’
‘Well, I’m glad you’re here,’ Shonda said. ‘It could easily have been different. Are the clothes I brought you okay? Your toothbrush and some toiletries are in a bag that I took from under your vanity unit.’
‘Was, was everything okay at the apartment?’ Allison asked.
‘Do you mean ‘Was Earl there?’ Shonda said.
‘Yes,’ Allison said. ‘Before I went to get my fingers set you had that face from college, the one where you wouldn’t let me skip on a study session and were getting ready to enforce the study code we’d made in the first week when I thought I’d be a top student.’
Shonda smiled. It broke through the seriousness that was holding her. ‘You could have been a top student. You know that don’t you.’
‘If I’d done a degree in Canadian studies at community college,’ Allison said. ‘But I got the degree I was capable of. You would have got magna cum laude just by turning up to some lectures and reading the coursework. Everyone knew you’d graduate summa cum laude. I thought you’d go off and be a civil rights lawyer.’
‘It wasn’t a law degree.’
‘No, but one of the law schools would have snapped you up. You had the grades and-’
‘Absolutely no desire to spend more time in a lecture hall and study cubicle while racking up debt.’
‘Didn’t you get the recent relief from the government?’
‘I did! But who knew that would be something?’
The promised nurse arrived and took Allisons blood pressure and pulse, checked the monitor, and gave painkillers. He said, ‘You missed the meal options, but there’ll be something available, or your friend can bring you something in unless…’ he checked the patient chart. ‘No, there’s no restrictions on food so, yeh, whatever’s available when the meals come round, or whatever you want by using your friend as a collection service.’ He looked at Allison with some concern and said, ‘Though I’d recommend nothing to rich or spicy, and not a huge portion. Your body will be busy working on repairs and while it needs the fuel to work with if you try and take on board too much it’ll need to choose between repair and digestion. Vomiting up your dinner is never a nice thing and doing it in hospital is a sure-fire way to end up with being poked, prodded, and put on a nil-by-mouth or no-solids regime for a spell and neither of those are fun.’
‘Yes nurse,’ Allison said. ‘I’ll see what comes round later. Thank you.’
The nurse departed and Allison rested her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes.
Shonda said, ‘Shall I go and let you rest?’
Without opening her eyes Allison said, ‘Not until you tell me why you have the focus face on. Did something happen when you went to the apartment.’
‘Earl was there. There was a bit of shouting. Is your name on the lease for the apartment?’
‘Er, no. I’m a named tenant, but not actually a lease signee. Why?’
‘Earl said you can stay to the end of the lease if you want. He’ll clear his things out.’
‘He said that?’
‘Well, there was more invective and he wasn’t polite about it.’
‘Did he say where he would be?’
‘I didn’t ask. But I tell you, don’t spend too long in the apartment. Clear your stuff out and leave him a note.’
‘Clear out to where? I’ve nowhere to go. I can’t afford a place by myself.’ Panic rose in Allison’s chest. Here was the way out she’d wanted, needed, and the sickening realisation that it was a door to nowhere made it difficult to breath.
Shonda put a hand on Allison’s shoulder. ‘Ally, don’t go panicking. I got you. Hell, you can come stay with me for a spell. We’ll put your stuff in a storage unit until you’re set. Look, it won’t be ideal for you, but I have the extra room, and you can do your thing from anywhere with an internet connection in the short term. Right now, we just need to get you well and away from him. You’re hear for a day or two. Then you can have a couple of days at the apartment, and I’ll arrange that we can get the stuff you need to mine, and the rest in storage. Corrina’s already said she’ll keep a watch for you while I’m not there.’
Allison was crying. She felt like she’d spent most of the day crying. She said, ‘I can’t think right now.’
‘Of course you can’t,’ Shonda said. ‘You’re in pain, you’re hurting, and those painkillers will be meddling with your thinking. Why don’t you get some rest. I’ll come back in the morning and we can chat more. Maybe Corrina can come see you as well.’
Allison said, ‘Don’t go just now. Please. Just, I need someone here.’
‘I’ll stay until you get off to sleep,’ Shonda said.
Chapter End
I wrote this post about a story where I had a first chapter written. I'm trying to push on and finish a first draft in 2024.
If you'd like to be tagged in for future chapters, let me know.
Thanks
Stuart
Link to collated chapters HERE
Link to the short story which is the seed for this is HERE
Any LA based or knowledgable folks who want to pitch in on local things I get wrong, please do. I've never been and there's only so much I can learn on the internet.
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