Her face. Her scars. The slap prints stretched on her cheek. Was it really her? The Elena from yesterday? His mind wandered as his eyes scoured her over and over. He couldn't accept what he was seeing, believing his eyes were playing tricks on him. He could see the scars on her face, the pain that devoured her grace, and the emblem of the once-great Elena absent in some haze.
He searched for the woman who was there yesterday before the devil set in on them. It seemed like everything that was once there, beautiful and bold of her, had packed their bags and gone on some trip around the universe never to return again. The red marks on her face were the ones easily noticeable and they spelled horror, hardly arguing that the ones beneath her clothes spelled even more. His heartbeat dropped as he stared at her with eyes dancing with fear and regret. He slowly closed the door behind him and locked it.
"Elena," one said…
"Somebody help me!" screamed the other…
She was still seated. The tinny little hairs of her body had erected to his presence. She began shaking a moment later, her mind denying to accept that he was here. He shouldn't be. He's supposed to be locked somewhere; far from her. She saw him take a step and immediately, she sprung up in a bid to create some space between themselves.
"Elena please..."
"Leave me alone!"
She noticed that the door was locked and that he stood between her and it. He kept on heading towards her, closing the gap between them. She looked at the window beside her. It was too small for her to fit through. Perhaps if I just squeeze myself enough, the thought ran in her mind. There was no way she was getting out through the window, however. And even if she did, she'd injure herself terribly or even die. Feeling that she had no way out, she finally gave up whatever escape tactics she had been thinking of.
She felt her ass knocking against the table behind her. She gasped in shock and climbed the table knocking the plate of chicken escalope with chips and the accompanying cutlery down to the floor. The mess decorated the floor beneath in a horrific way. She forced her body to move back towards the wall. Her hands fidgeted on the edge of the table as she brought her legs closer to her chest. Her shaking had started and he could see how terrified of him she was. Tears that had been pooling in her eyes finally spilled over.
"What do you want from me?" She asked in a heavy voice.
"I'm so sorry, Elena. For everything… I'm so sorry," Guilt chocked his voice making his speech a struggle in itself.
She was staring down at the table, hair now messed up, even more, shaking and trembling with accompanying tears. She cried softly. She didn't utter a word. Frail to her pain and afraid of his presence, she dared not to look at him. He could hear him approaching and she didn't nudge to look at him. She just sat there, legs closer to the chest and arms over her knees with her head hiding in between.
"Elena, please… talk to me…" He clearly had no words to say.
"Ethan, leave me alone." She spoke in muffled cries.
"Elena, I can't. Not like this."
"Then just kill me and be done with it. What worse could you do that you haven't already done to me."
He didn't know what to say now. It seemed that she was pretty ready to die rather than be there with him. She hated him, a lot. She had never felt this rage towards anyone before in her life. What he did to her, had no words that could fully describe what she thought about him and the world in general. To some extent, she stared at the knife on the floor. Her soul was crying out to her to go grab it and kill. And kill herself!
"Elena…" he cried out, "I'm sorry. What I did to you, I can't deny that… it was ugly. I will never forgive myself. But I was hoping if you could forgive me, please."
She still dared not to look at him. The courage that she had been harboring prior had evaporated into thin air the moment he walked in.
"You!" She cried, her head still hidden between her legs. "You raped me! You fucking raped me! Do you know how that hurts? Do you?"
He knew, just from his own perspective.
"No…"
"No! And yet here you are. You know what… I don't care. Do what you want to do with me. You have wasted me! You took away my dignity! You fucking raped me Ethan! Over and over even after I told you to stop!" She lashed out at him tears meandering down her face. "I don't know how I can ever forgive that! Just kill me. I'm tired of living."
"Don't say that… please." He cried out to her wiping off his tears snuffing every now and then.
"Go away!" She screamed again.
"Please Elena. I don't know how all this happened. You know I would never lay a finger on you without your permission… Elena, you know I love you!"
She finally looked at him despite all the scare and fear that had clouded her. And he saw the red slap imprints on her face again. And it reminded him of what he had done to her. The beast from the previous night had changed her life both physically and psychologically. She was weeping and shaking with every passing minute as he tried to explain himself.
"Don't tell me that! Love? Love? You raped me! Is that love to you?"
"Elena look," he said trying to catch his breath for some unrelated athletic reasons.
Ethan got down on his knees and cried out for her forgiveness one more time. She looked surprised at the length that he was going for those three words from her.
"Please. I don't know how it all happened. I will never be able to justify my actions, Elena. I know what I have done is wrong and that you hate me for it. I have no words to say that can excuse me from what I did to you. So please before I go, grant me one thing... find it in your heart to forgive me."
She listened and looked. She saw how terrified he was. Crying and shaking, he seemed innocent from down there, like a person who seemed sincere in whatever he was saying. He looked scared too but all this could not prevent Elena from accepting what was going on. He had looked innocent and sweet the previous night before he did what he did to her. She wasn't going to let her heart decide this time.
She quickly shot out of the table and headed towards the window which was just above her to her left. She managed to squeeze a portion of her face out, enough for her to scream for help again.
"Help! Somebody help m-". A hand muzzled her and dragged her back inside. That was all that Lynn and the attorney from down below could see. Some people including the hospital guards and nurses heard the noise too. Everyone looked up at the mysterious window. There she was. Calling out for help before she was dragged back in immediately.
"Elena!" Lynn cried out. She quickly raced back into the hospital building where she was. Some guards did too.